Nunavut School Support Plan: What Is an ISSP and How Does It Work?

If your child has a disability or a learning difference in Nunavut, the most important document in their school life is something called an Individual Student Support Plan — or ISSP. Not an IEP. Not a 504 plan. Not any of the documents described in every Ontario- or US-based advocacy guide you may have stumbled across online. An ISSP.

Understanding what that document is, who creates it, and — critically — what it legally obligates the school to do is the starting point for any meaningful advocacy.

What the ISSP Actually Is

The ISSP is the operative legal document under the Nunavut Education Act (2008, updated 2020) that governs how specialized support is planned, documented, and delivered to a student with identified learning or disability-related needs. It serves as a single integrated planning document that encompasses what other provinces might separate into individual accommodation plans, behavioral support plans, or full IEPs.

Within an ISSP, there are two fundamentally different types of support:

Individual Accommodation Plan (IAP): Used when a student is capable of meeting the standard curriculum expectations for their grade level, but needs changes in how they learn or are assessed — not what they learn. A student on an IAP gets accommodations like extended time on tests, a scribe, text-to-speech technology, or scheduled sensory breaks. Crucially, an IAP is not noted on a student's final transcript. They graduate with a standard territorial diploma.

Individual Education Plan (IEP): Used when a student cannot access the approved curriculum even with robust accommodations, and the actual learning expectations need to be modified or reduced. Under an IEP, courses are tracked differently — a modified Grade 10 English course might be coded as IEP1149 on the official transcript, which signals to post-secondary institutions that the student was working toward modified rather than standard outcomes.

This distinction matters enormously. A parent who doesn't understand the difference may unwittingly agree to an IEP when an IAP would have been appropriate — which can affect their child's graduation pathway for years.

Who Creates the ISSP

The ISSP is developed by the Student Support Team (SST), which is specifically defined under the Nunavut Education Act. The team typically includes:

• The classroom teacher
• The Student Support Teacher (SST) — a specialist educator dedicated to overseeing individualized support
• The school principal
• The parents or caregivers

In Nunavut, it's also highly recommended — and culturally appropriate — to include the Ilinniarvimmi Inuusiliriji (School Community Counsellor or SCC), who can help ensure the plan reflects Inuit values and community context. Elders or other community members can be part of this process when the family chooses.

Parents are not passive recipients at this meeting. The Nunavut Education Act explicitly grants parents the right to accept or reject the ISSP. This is a legal right, not a courtesy. You can decline to sign a plan that you believe is inadequate.

What the Law Requires

Section 43 of the Nunavut Education Act creates a binding obligation on the Department of Education. If the Student Support Team determines that a student requires specialized assessments or services to access the curriculum, "the Minister shall ensure that the services or assessments are provided." That word — "shall" — is not optional language. It creates an enforceable legal duty.

This matters because a common response from schools is that they cannot provide a service due to budget constraints or staffing shortages. While resource scarcity is a genuine and painful reality across the territory — the 2023–2024 Annual Report documented just 131 Student Support Assistants serving 10,852 students across 25 isolated communities — it does not legally excuse the Department from its statutory mandate to your child.

Territorial attendance data makes the situation even more pressing. With an overall attendance rate of 69% for 2023–2024, specialist support is already fragmented. When students are absent, ISSPs stall. When the plan isn't being implemented, parents need to know their escalation options.

The Tumit Model: Where Your Child Fits

The Department of Education uses the Tumit Model of Student Support to structure how support is provided. "Tumit" means footprints. It's a five-tier framework:

• Levels 1–2: Universal classroom strategies and small-group interventions. No formal ISSP required.
• Level 3: Targeted behavioral interventions requiring an IAP and Student Support Teacher involvement.
• Level 4: Significant curriculum modification requiring an IEP and Student Support Assistants.
• Level 5: Intensive 1:1 support for students with complex or severe disabilities.

Understanding which level your child is at — and whether the support being offered actually matches that level — is essential before you walk into an ISSP meeting.

What Parents Should Do Before Signing

Before signing any ISSP, get answers to these specific questions:

1. Is this an IAP or IEP? Ask the school team to clearly explain which type of plan is being proposed and why. If it's an IEP, ask them to explain exactly which curriculum expectations are being modified and what the graduation implications are.

2. What are the specific, measurable goals? Vague goals like "she will improve in reading" are not acceptable. Goals need to be SMART — specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time-bound. A valid goal sounds like: "She will correctly decode 80% of consonant-vowel-consonant words by June 2026 as measured by weekly oral reading assessments."

3. What support will be provided, and how often? If an SSA is being promised, the ISSP must specify the exact frequency and duration — for example, "An SSA will provide 120 minutes of direct 1:1 support daily during math and language arts blocks." A vague commitment to "support as needed" cannot be enforced.

4. What happens if a new teacher arrives? In Nunavut, teacher turnover is severe. The ISSP is your protection — but only if it's specific enough that a brand-new educator who arrives in September can implement it without a briefing from someone who left. Push for specificity.

5. What is the review date? An ISSP must be reviewed regularly. Get the date in writing.

If the school team cannot agree on an ISSP — or if you believe the plan being offered is legally insufficient — you have the right to escalate through the District Education Authority (DEA) and ultimately to the Minister of Education for a formal review under Sections 49–51 of the Act.

Getting the Plan Right from the Start

The ISSP is not a favor the school does for your child. It is a legal document, developed through a collaborative process that the Nunavut Education Act mandates must include you as an equal participant. You have the right to reject it. You have the right to ask for specific supports to be documented in writing. And when the plan is not being followed, you have escalation pathways that go well beyond the principal's office.

The Nunavut Special Ed Advocacy Playbook walks you through every stage of this process — from preparing for your first ISSP meeting to formally escalating a dispute to the Minister — using templates and strategies grounded in Nunavut law, not Ontario or US legislation that holds zero weight in your child's school.

Understanding the ISSP is step one. Knowing how to use it as leverage is what actually changes outcomes.

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