Guide for Selecting a Special/Inclusive Education Post-Graduate Course in Australia

If you are considering completing a special education/inclusion degree to give the skills to assess, program for, instruct and monitor learning progress for students with disability there are features of a course you should consider.

InSpEd has endorsed several courses, see below, and these will provide appropriate preparation. InSpEd relied on publicly available information and courses that we have not endorsed may contain relevant content. The points in the guideline will allow you to ask universities about whether particular content is included in their course.

Provisional Endorsement

Using the InSpEd Standards as a guide, nine criteria have been identified as essential components of a postgraduate qualification in special/inclusive education. These criteria address the skills and knowledge required to work in a range of special education positions in prior to school, school and post school positions. Information available on University websites has been used to identify courses meeting the nine criteria through compulsory units of study. Universities not meeting the criteria for provisional endorsement may do so following the provision of more detailed information. Full endorsement will be given if universities provide additional supporting information relating to the content of their courses.

Current Endorsed Courses

The following courses have provisional InSpEd endorsement.

We expect that these will be the courses offered in 2026.

To date, more than 30 relevant courses across Australia have been assessed and those meeting the nine essential criteria through compulsory subjects have been given provisional endorsement by InSpEd. Other courses will be added once they are identified as meeting the criteria. Courses will be checked on an ongoing basis to ensure that the criteria continue to be met.

Grandfathered Endorsed Courses

Providing sufficient evidence that courses completed many years ago meet the strict special education standards applied by InSpEd has proven to be difficult for many applying for certification. In order to make the process easier, we are grandfathering past courses that have the approval of the Expert Panel. For current and future courses, we will require institutions to apply for endorsement.