About the program
The current Inclusion Support Program was established by the Australian Government in 2016 as a key component of the Child Care Safety Net. The program's purpose is to build the capacity of educators working in eligible Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) services to provide inclusive practice for children with a range of abilities within mainstream services.
Inclusion Agency support
Gowrie SA is the Inclusion Agency (IA) for South Australia delivering free inclusion support services under the Australian Government’s Inclusion Support Program (ISP). We provide assistance to all eligible Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) services to build their capacity to include children with diverse needs and/or backgrounds within mainstream services.
The Inclusion Agency will assist ECEC services to include all children by providing tailored inclusion advice and support from Gowrie SA Inclusion Professionals. The Inclusion Professionals are part of a multi-disciplinary team located in both the metropolitan area and regionally.
The main cohorts of focus under the Inclusion Support Program guidelines include:
- have a disability or developmental delay
- are presenting with challenging behaviours
- have a serious medical or health condition, including mental health
- are presenting with trauma-related behaviours
Meeting the needs and requirements of:
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children
- children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds
- children from refugee or humanitarian backgrounds
- may also require specific considerations, such as cultural support, to ensure that these children are able to participate fully in ECEC services and experience positive outcomes.
Gowrie SA is working towards inclusion for all children and assists the following types of eligible Child Care Subsidy-approved services:
- Long day care
- Outside school hours care, including vacation care
- Family day care
- Occasional care
- Mobile services.
How will Gowrie SA support your service?
We have a large and diverse team of experienced Inclusion Professionals who will work directly with a service to:
- Develop and implement a tailored Strategic Inclusion Plan (SIP), which will support the Quality Improvement Plan (QIP).
- Assist educators and teams to critically reflect on their practices and identify barriers to and possibilities for inclusion.
- Acknowledge strengths and reflect on understandings of inclusion.
- Provide practical advice on quality inclusive practices to support educators to overcome barriers to a child’s inclusion.
- Access to all Inclusion Support Program resources including specialist equipment.
- Facilitate access to funding streams to support more challenging inclusion barriers and endorse any funding applications.
- Support services to apply to become ‘Inclusion Aware.’
- Link with relevant community groups, services and organisations that support inclusion.
- Support educators to work in partnership with families and other support networks.
- Discuss available options regarding ‘Innovative Solutions’ funding.
Want more?
Gowrie SA’s Inclusion Support Program flyer can be downloaded here.
For broader information about the national Inclusion Support Program, please click here.
To view upcoming Inclusion Agency Events, visit our Events page.
