Disability Action Plans

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Source: Tertiary Education Commission

The Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) expects TEOs to take a proactive approach to improving outcomes for disabled learners. TEOs are required to develop and submit a Disability Action Plan (DAP) or DAP progress update as part of their Investment Plans. As most TEOs have now submitted a DAP, the focus has largely shifted to the progress updates.  
DAPs help ensure TEOs meet their responsibilities under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
What is a Disability Action Plan?
We want to ensure TEOs avoid discrimination against disabled people, and disabled learners experience better outcomes throughout their education journey. 
A DAP helps a TEO to identify good practices and offers a blueprint for change. The DAP sits alongside other Investment Plan requirements, including Learner Success Plans, designed to improve outcomes for all learners, in particular, learners most in need. 
The DAP Guidance, which TEC provides, supports you to develop your DAP, or DAP progress update, and gives suggestions on how to use the Kia Ōrite Toolkit as part of this development. 

Disability Action Plan progress update template
Template for Disability Action Plan progress update for Investment from 2026 (DOCX 277 KB)  
TEOs are encouraged to use the template, which was introduced in 2025, or use the template’s headings to guide their own document.  
The Kia Ōrite Toolkit describes best practice
The Kia Ōrite Toolkit is a New Zealand code of practice to achieve a tertiary education environment that supports disabled learners.
A TEO’s DAP must show clear evidence that they are using various processes and measuring their progress against the Kia Ōrite Toolkit and its best practice standards.
Access the Kia Ōrite Toolkit
Find out more about the Kia Ōrite Toolkit for achieving equity
Giving effect to the Tertiary Education Strategy (TES)
Creating and implementing a DAP and improving outcomes for disabled learners also helps TEOs give effect to the TES – specifically, Objective Two: Barrier-free access.
Supporting your learner success approach
Fundamental to our work is understanding all learners and their needs and aspirations. Developing and implementing a DAP helps ensure an organisation fully understands the needs of disabled learners. Alongside Kia Ōrite, DAPs are a vital resource to support TEOs to redesign their businesses with learners at the centre.
Ōritetanga – tertiary success for everyone
Disability Action Plan report back for 2023
2023 was the second year TEOs were required to submit a DAP as part of the investment round. DAPs were assessed, and feedback provided to TEOs. A sector-level report on the development of DAPs in 2023 is available below.

The 2022 sector report is also available:

FAQs

The DAP Guidance is advice from the TEC on how to develop a DAP and what it should cover.
Kia Ōrite is a toolkit for best practice, developed by a group of sector experts. It advises TEOs on how to best support disabled learners at all stages of their learning journey.
They are two separate resources but support each other and should be read and used together.

TEOs must submit a Disability Action Plan if they: 

We strongly encourage all TEC-funded TEOs to engage with the Kia Ōrite Toolkit and develop a DAP at the earliest opportunity. Doing so will mean taking all possible steps to reduce discrimination against disabled people, including staff, learners and those in the wider community, and improve educational outcomes for disabled learners.

TEOs must submit a Disability Action Plan progress update if they: 

More information
TEC staff are available to answer any questions about the DAP Guidance, the Kia Ōrite Toolkit and the investment process. Please contact your Relationship Manager or the Customer Contact Group on 0800 601 301 or at customerservice@tec.govt.nz

MIL OSI

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