Teacher Aide Funding and Aide Hours for Disability in Victorian Schools

One of the most common frustrations parents raise is simple: "My child needs a teacher aide, but the school says they don't have funding." Understanding how teacher aide hours are actually determined — and where the money comes from — is the first step to advocating for more.

Teacher aide support in Victorian schools is not a fixed entitlement determined by a diagnosis. It is allocated through a combination of school-level funding, individual student funding, and school decision-making about how to deploy those resources. That last part — school decision-making — is where most of the friction lives.

How Disability Funding Actually Works in Victoria

Since the rollout of the Disability Inclusion model (complete across all Victorian government schools as of Term 1, 2026), disability-related funding reaches schools through three channels:

Tier 1 — Student Resource Package (SRP): Every school receives base funding per student, including a component for disability. This is not tied to individual assessments — it flows to the school regardless.

Tier 2 — School-Level Disability Inclusion Funding: Additional funding calculated from the school's enrolment profile. This is designed to build the school's overall inclusive practice capacity — not to be assigned to individual students, but to fund whole-school approaches to inclusion, professional development, and shared support staffing.

Tier 3 — Individual Student Disability Inclusion Funding: This is the targeted individual funding, determined through the Disability Inclusion Profile (DIP) process. A student must be assessed through the DIP meeting and meet the Substantial or Extensive adjustment threshold across enough of the 31 activity domains to receive Tier 3 funding.

Tier 3 is what most families are talking about when they discuss disability funding. It is also the most significant source of individual aide hours for students with high support needs.

What Tier 3 Funding Actually Pays For

Tier 3 funding is provided to the school, not directly to the family. The school decides how to deploy it, but must document that it is being used to meet the specific adjustments identified in the student's DIP and IEP.

For many students, Tier 3 funding does translate into teacher aide hours — either a dedicated aide working with the student during specific periods, or a shared aide who supports several students with different needs. However, the school has discretion in how they use the funding. That discretion is one of the main pressure points in advocacy.

If your child has been assessed as needing Tier 3 funding and you believe the aide hours being provided are insufficient, the SSG (Student Support Group) is the place to challenge this. You can formally request that the SSG document the specific aide hours the school is committing to, aligned with the adjustment levels identified in the DIP.

When There Is No Tier 3 Funding

The absence of Tier 3 funding does not eliminate the school's legal obligations. The Disability Standards for Education 2005 (Cth) requires schools to provide reasonable adjustments to all students with disability, funded through Tier 1 and Tier 2 resources when Tier 3 is not in place.

Reasonable adjustments can include teacher aide time — particularly for students whose disability significantly affects their ability to access the curriculum, manage the school environment, or participate safely in school activities. Whether a particular level of aide support constitutes a "reasonable adjustment" depends on the student's individual circumstances and the school's obligations, not simply on what the school can comfortably staff.

When a school says "we can't provide aide time because we don't have Tier 3 funding," they are describing a resourcing preference, not a legal position. If a student genuinely requires aide support as a reasonable adjustment under the DSE, the school's funding challenges do not extinguish that obligation.

What Parents Can Do to Advocate for More Aide Hours

Document the specific impact of insufficient aide support. Keep records of incidents, incomplete work, behavioural escalations, or distress directly linked to periods when your child lacked appropriate support. This evidence matters both at the SSG and in any subsequent escalation.

Request the DIP if it hasn't been completed. If your child hasn't been through the Disability Inclusion Profile process and has significant support needs, the DIP is the primary mechanism for securing Tier 3 individual funding. Push the school to initiate this through the SSG.

Ask the SSG to specifically address aide hours in the IEP. When an SSG meets, request that the Individual Education Plan explicitly document the types and frequency of adult support being provided. Vague statements like "classroom support as needed" are unenforceable. Specific commitments like "direct aide support during Maths and English sessions, three days per week" are accountable.

Challenge refusals in writing. If the school refuses to commit to specific aide support, follow up by email and ask for the refusal in writing with the school's reasoning. This creates documentation for escalation and tends to produce more considered responses than verbal conversations.

Request an urgent SSG if support has been suddenly reduced. If aide hours have been cut without consultation — particularly mid-year or between funding periods — that reduction should be reviewed at an SSG. You have the right to request an urgent SSG meeting in writing.

How Much Funding Does a School Actually Get?

The exact dollar amounts in Tier 3 DI funding are not publicly published in a simple per-student rate — the DET calculates funding based on the assessed level of adjustment (Supplementary, Substantial, or Extensive) and the student's profile. However, parents who want to understand the funding picture can formally request that the school's principal provide a summary of the disability-related funding the school is receiving and how it is being deployed for their child.

Schools are generally reluctant to share this, but a written request citing your right to understand how your child's assessed needs translate into school resourcing is a legitimate starting point.

In rural and regional Victoria, the funding picture is particularly strained. Research has found that some high-needs rural primary schools have more than 40% of their student population requiring adjustments, leading to severe dilution of DI funding across too many students with too few resources.

That systemic pressure is real — but it is the DET's problem to solve, not yours to absorb by accepting inadequate support for your child.

The Victoria Disability Advocacy Playbook at /au/victoria/advocacy/ includes templates for requesting aide hour commitments through the SSG process and for formally challenging inadequate support under the Disability Standards for Education 2005.

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