Ensuring inclusive outcomes for young people with disability within school-wide positive behaviour support

Access to inclusive education is a human right for all children (United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2016), the provision of which is a legal and professional responsibility for educators and a matter of policy across jurisdictions (Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership, 2018; Commonwealth of Australia, 2020). Yet recent inquiries suggest that many Australian children with disability experience educational exclusion and over-representation in exposure to restrictive practices (e.g., Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability, 2020). For some children with disability, behaviours of concern become a barrier to educational inclusion, particularly when schools are ill-equipped to provide tailored promotion, prevention, and intervention within a supportive environment (Kurth & Enyart 2016). In the absence of academic and social and behavioural supports responsive to learner diversity, young people with disability face continued exclusionary practices and remain at heightened risk for a range of diminished life outcomes.