Individual Education Programme (IEP)

The Individual Education Programme (also known as an Individual Education Plan) is a programme developed for students with special education needs. It outlines the student's goals and the time in which those goals should be achieved. The programme also describes the teaching strategies, resources, monitoring and support, and the evaluation required to enable the student to meet those goals.

This programme is developed in a meeting between parents/caregivers, the child's teacher, the child (if they wish to attend) and specialists as appropriate. The aim is to identify current strengths, to set short and long term goals together for the child, and record their learning progress. It is also to identify:

• teaching practices that will help the child learn
• changes that need to be made to the way the curriculum is taught for that child, and to resources and materials
• any additional or specialised equipment the child needs
• the best way to provide personal care, where required
• how parents/caregivers and families/whānau can support the learning programme at home
• timeframes, responsibilities and ways to monitor and evaluate a child's progress towards reaching goals.

The IEP should be reviewed at least twice a year in a meeting with parents/caregivers, and the same support team that developed the plan. Parents/caregivers will receive a copy of the revised programme after each meeting.

For more detailed information on the development of Individual Education Programmes read The IEP guidelines: Planning for students with special education needs (1999).