Supporting the inclusion of children with additional needs in early childhood and child care services

Inclusion Support Programme (ISP)

The Inclusion Support Programme (ISP) assists early childhood and child care (ECCC) services to include children with additional needs alongside their peers, through provision of tailored inclusion advice and support from Inclusion Agencies (IA) and access to funded support and specialist equipment where required.

The ISP consists of three key elements:

• Inclusion Agencies (IA)

  • Each state and territory has an Inclusion Agency contracted to assist eligible services to build their capacity and capability to provide and embed inclusive practice in their delivery of early learning programmes. See the full list of IA providers in each state and territory.

• Inclusion Development Fund (IDF)

  • The IDF provides funding to assist eligible services to address a barrier to inclusion that cannot be addressed by the support of an IA. There are four streams of IDF funding – subsidy for an Additional Educator, Immediate/Time Limited Support, Family Day Care Top Up and Innovative Solutions. Each stream has different eligibility criteria, application processes and approved funding purposes.

• The Inclusion Development Fund Manager (IDFM)

  • KU Children’s Services in partnership with Include Me is the IDFM and is contracted to provide a nationally consistent and equitable management of the IDF.

This website provides information about the Inclusion Development Fund for IAs, ECCC services and families.

The Inclusion Support Programme is funded by the Australian Government Department of Education and Training.  For additional information, including Frequently Asked Questions, refer to the department's website.

The development of a Strategic Inclusion Plan (SIP) is the first step to accessing support from the Programme, including funding through the IDF.

More About SIPs