Staff Guide to EIP Adjustments

As the semester kicks off, the Access and Disability Services team would like to share the Staff Guide to EIP Adjustments, which has been created to support staff who are responsible for implementing reasonable adjustments under a student’s Education Inclusion Plan (EIP).

This guide serves as a quick reference guide to understanding the common reasonable adjustments, and the responsibilities of the staff member and student.

At ACU, we have a dedicated Access and Disability Service for students who have temporary or ongoing health conditions, disabilities, mental health conditions, neurodivergence, or significant carer responsibilities that may affect their studies. These support services are designed to ensure that students with disabilities can participate in education on an equal basis with students without disabilities, in accordance with the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (DDA) through the Disability Standards for Education (2005).

At the institutional level, this process is facilitated by reasonable adjustments being recommended and implemented through academic adjustments and listed on a student’s EIP.

The EIP maintains academic standards while implementing reasonable adjustments through several key strategies:

• Integrity of academic standards: adjustments are designed to uphold the integrity of academic standards, ensuring that the learning outcomes and assessment criteria remain unchanged despite the accommodations provided to students.
• Individualised assessment: each adjustment is tailored to the specific needs of the student while still aligning with the inherent requirements of the course and type of assessment. This ensures that all students are evaluated based on the same academic criteria, regardless of the adjustments made.
• Collaboration with advisors: the process involves negotiation between the student and an Access and Disability Advisor, ensuring that adjustments are relevant and appropriate for the specific assessment context, thereby maintaining fairness and consistency in evaluation.
• Flexibility and independence: the EIP emphasises flexible application of adjustments that enhance student independence, rather than dependency, which supports the goal of academic achievement without compromising standards.
• Monitoring and review: continuous assessment of the impact of adjustments on both the student and the overall academic environment is conducted to ensure that the adjustments do not disadvantage other students or affect academic integrity.

These principles collectively ensure that while students receive necessary support, the core academic standards and learning objectives are preserved. Please visit the Staff Access and Disability Service webpage where you can access further resources and information on the support services available to students.