ACT ILP Template: What Every Individual Learning Plan Must Include

Parents often receive an ILP document from school and feel unsure whether it actually contains everything it should. Sometimes the plan is sparse — a few goals written in vague language, a list of adjustments without any indication of who is responsible or how progress will be measured. It looks official. It may not be complete.

This post covers what the ACT Education Directorate requires an Individual Learning Plan to actually include — the specific components that must appear for the document to be considered valid under the Directorate's own ILP Guidelines.

Who Needs an ILP in the ACT

An ILP is mandatory for several student cohorts in ACT public schools:

• Students receiving targeted disability support through Disability Education Programs or specialist schools
• Students placed in out-of-home care (OOHC)
• Students referred to Student Support Services

Beyond these mandatory categories, a parent or carer can request that an ILP be initiated for any student they believe requires additional support to access the curriculum. Importantly, this right exists regardless of whether the student has a formal diagnosis. Under the NCCD framework and the Disability Standards for Education 2005 (DSE 2005), schools have the authority to "impute" disability based on observed functional impacts — and the legal obligation to provide adjustments applies from that point.

If your child's needs are significant but you've been told an ILP isn't available because there is no formal diagnosis yet, that position is not consistent with the law. Request it in writing and reference the DSE 2005.

Required Components of a Valid ACT ILP

The ACT ILP Guidelines specify what must appear in the document. Not every school formats their ILP identically, but these elements must be present:

1. Identified Curriculum Focus Areas

The ILP must clearly identify which areas of the curriculum are the focus of planned support. This is not a generic statement — it should specify whether the focus is literacy, numeracy, communication, social skills development, or some combination, tied to the student's specific assessed needs.

2. Measurable Learning Outcomes (SMART Goals)

This is where many ILPs fall short. Goals must be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timebound.

A goal like "improve reading comprehension" fails this test on multiple counts — it specifies no condition, no measurable threshold, no timeframe, and no measurement method.

A compliant goal example: "Given access to a text-to-speech tool and pre-teaching of key vocabulary, [Student] will correctly answer 4 out of 5 literal comprehension questions about a grade-level passage within the classroom reading block, as measured by weekly teacher assessment, by the end of Term 2."

Every goal in the ILP should be written with this level of specificity. When a school proposes vague goals, parents have every right to ask them to be rewritten before signing.

3. A Comprehensive Intervention Plan

This section must detail:

• Curriculum adaptations: what is being modified in the content, delivery, or assessment of curriculum
• Teaching strategies: specific instructional approaches the teacher will use (e.g., chunking tasks, visual supports, explicit instruction)
• Physical environment modifications: seating arrangements, sensory accommodations, accessible resources
• Assistive technology: any technology tools included as part of the adjustment (e.g., speech-to-text, text-to-speech, noise-cancelling headphones)

Each item should be specific enough that a substitute teacher reading the plan could implement it.

4. Monitoring and Evaluation Plan

The ILP must include a formal Monitoring and Evaluation Plan that specifies:

• What data will be collected to measure progress toward each goal
• Who is responsible for collecting it — named staff members, not just "the teacher"
• How often it will be reviewed — the Directorate recommends at least once per term

Without this section, the ILP has no accountability mechanism. Adjustments can be listed and never implemented, and there is no formal process to detect the gap.

5. Named Team Roles

The document must identify:

• The Case Coordinator: the school staff member responsible for overseeing implementation
• The Chairperson: typically the Principal or designated executive delegate
• The Recorder: the person responsible for taking and distributing meeting minutes

These are not just formalities. The Case Coordinator is your primary school contact for ILP implementation. If adjustments are not happening, this is the person you contact first.

6. Review Date and Timeframe

The ILP must specify when the next formal review will take place. Strategies can span two weeks to one full academic year depending on the student's needs, but the Directorate's strong recommendation is that goals are formally reviewed each term.

Confirm the review date during the meeting and follow up in writing if it isn't documented clearly.

What a Valid ILP Does NOT Look Like

An ILP that consists primarily of:

• Generic descriptions of the student's diagnosis
• A list of supports with no assigned staff responsibility
• Goals written in aspirational language with no measurable outcome
• No review date or monitoring mechanism

...is not a compliant ILP. It is documentation that will not protect your child's access to education when staff change, priorities shift, or resources are reallocated.

This distinction matters practically: if an ILP is vague, a school can point to it as evidence that support is "in place" while implementing nothing specific. A well-constructed ILP with SMART goals and named responsibility creates a document that can be used to hold the school accountable.

How Often Should the ILP Be Reviewed

The ACT Directorate guidelines specify that ILP strategies can run for between two weeks and one academic year. However, the strong recommendation is at least one formal review per term.

Parents have the unilateral right to trigger an ILP review at any point by contacting the Case Coordinator. You do not need to wait for the school's scheduled cycle. If adjustments are clearly not working, or if your child's circumstances change significantly (new diagnosis, significant behavioral escalation, change in external therapy), request a review in writing and document that request.

Where to Get Support With Your Child's ILP

Free advocacy services in the ACT — ADACAS and Advocacy for Inclusion (AFI) — can assist parents in reviewing ILP documents and identifying gaps. However, both organizations operate on triage protocols with weeks-to-months wait times due to NDIS demand.

For parents who need to act before an upcoming ILP meeting, the Australian Capital Territory Disability Support Blueprint includes a complete breakdown of ACT ILP requirements, SMART goal frameworks, and the specific questions to ask when a proposed ILP is vague or incomplete.

A Note on ILP Signing

Parents are asked to sign the ILP at the conclusion of the meeting. If you are unhappy with the goals, the adjustments, or any component of the plan, you do not have to sign it immediately. You can request time to review the document, ask for a revised draft incorporating your feedback, and sign once you are satisfied.

If you sign an ILP you have concerns about, add a note alongside your signature identifying the specific sections you dispute. This preserves your right to raise those issues formally later.

The ILP is a legal document. Treat it as one.

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