A groundbreaking collaboration led by Autism Spectrum Australia (Aspect) is reshaping how schools share expertise to support autistic students, with teachers across sectors joining forces to build inclusive practice beyond policy and into the classroom.
When 150 educators, researchers and policymakers filled a room at NSW Parliament House in October 2025, it wasn’t another professional-learning day. It was the start of something larger: a statewide effort to dismantle silos and create a shared, practical blueprint for inclusive education.
The event – Aspect’s inaugural Community of Practice (CoP) Spotlight – brought together school leaders from government, Catholic and independent schools, alongside students and parents with lived experience of autism. Its goal: to shift collaboration from one-off training to an ongoing network of professional learning and mutual support.
“You can’t have inclusion in isolation,” says Ms Maryanne Gosling, Aspect’s National Director of Education. “If we hold knowledge in silos, only certain kids can be supported. Collaboration means that expertise becomes shared and used across our whole community.”
Breaking down barriers
Aspect’s model has always blurred boundaries between specialist and mainstream settings. With 110 classrooms operating inside the grounds of partner schools – around 60 sites across New South Wales – the organisation has long championed a “shared-space” approach to inclusion.
That philosophy underpins the new Community of Practice framework. Rather than schools working independently to solve similar challenges, Aspect is connecting practitioners who can learn directly from each other’s classroom experience.
“Every school has tried to rally and find the strategies that work for their children,” Ms Gosling explains. “But where that doesn’t work, those kids can end up feeling like they don’t belong – or being asked to leave. Collaboration gives educators a way to share what works, so more students can stay connected to their local community school.”
The event in October was deliberately broad, showcasing examples of good practice across multiple sectors. Teachers presented short vignettes of what has worked in their classrooms, paired with researchers validating those outcomes.
By design, it was also crowded. The 150-person cap was reached weeks before, with a waitlist of 20 more – evidence, Ms Gosling says, that teachers are “desperately looking for this”.
For policymakers, it offered a visible demonstration of what can happen when systems relax their boundaries. “When you bring people together and show what can happen across those walls, it changes the conversation,” Ms Gosling says.
From one-off PD to sustained practice
Many teachers attending the launch spoke of the limits of conventional professional development: an intensive day of theory followed by little follow-up or coaching. The Community of Practice model aims to replace that with continuous, localised support.
“Think of it like having a network on the other end of the line,” Ms Gosling says. “If you’re in a classroom with 30 students and something isn’t working, you can call someone who’s tried it before, or invite them to come in and model it. That’s what true professional learning looks like.”
Smaller, regional Communities of Practice will begin rolling out through 2026, allowing teachers to connect with peers facing similar contexts and student needs. These groups will meet regularly – both in person and online – to plan lessons, share data, and reflect on what’s working.
Aspect’s own schools already run structured “learning walks and talks”, where teachers visit each other’s classrooms to observe and refine inclusive strategies. The Community of Practice will extend this peer-to-peer model across systems and sectors, with Aspect providing facilitation and mentoring.
Collaboration, however, requires time – a resource teachers rarely have. Aspect has tried to address that internally by granting its staff an additional week of non-teaching time for professional learning and planning, with parents’ support.
“It’s not a lot – one week out of 42 – but it sends a message that teachers’ time to plan is valued,” Ms Gosling says. “They don’t just need PD days; they need time to sit with someone who can say, ‘Have you thought about trying this?’ and help make those small pedagogical adjustments.”
For schools outside the Aspect network, she emphasises that the principle matters more than the format: “It might be relief time, curriculum-development time, coaching – whatever form it takes, teachers need space to plan.”
Voices shaping inclusion
Over five decades, Aspect has seen profound change in both awareness and expectations surrounding autism.
“Because we’re better at understanding autism, our prevalence rates are much higher,” Ms Gosling notes. “Parents now know what they didn’t know before, and they’re looking for support. That means educators need more specialist knowledge and systems that let them access it.”
Public attitudes have evolved too, reflected in the prominence of autistic voices at the Community of Practice launch. Speakers included Michael Theo, whose journey from a difficult school experience to success as an actor and consultant was featured on ABC‘s Australian Story in 2025.
“It is important that we listen to those with lived experienced and give them the opportunity to speak to what structures had to be in place for them to thrive – and what happens when they aren’t,” Ms Gosling says.
A highlight of the Spotlight event was a Year 12 student and Deputy Premier of the NSW Youth Parliament, who described rebuilding her confidence after exclusion earlier in her schooling. Her story illustrated the power of teachers who “planned for difference” and made her feel she belonged.
“It’s about doing things with people, not to people,” Ms Gosling stresses. “Proper collaboration means students and families are part of the conversation, not an afterthought.”
The Community of Practice’s inclusion of parents and young people alongside teachers and researchers ensures that future practice is grounded in lived experience.
“Your most impactful strategies will come when you collaborate – with the person you’re trying to help, and with their carer or family,” Ms Gosling says.
Teachers interested in joining a local Community of Practice can register through Aspect’s website, with regional networks forming progressively through 2026. Each will focus on specific contexts – rural or metro, primary or secondary – so members can swap strategies that truly apply to their classrooms.
“This isn’t about ticking a PD box,” Ms Gosling says. “It’s about building capability across the whole sector so every child can feel they belong.”
If early enthusiasm is any guide, Aspect’s Community of Practice may become a template for other states and systems. The appetite for genuine collaboration is clear, and the framework provides a way to sustain it.
“Educators don’t sign up for competition,” Ms Gosling reflects. “They sign up because they care about students. Once you remove the system constraints, they’re ready to share everything they know.”
Further information: Educators are invited to register their interest to be part of future Communities of Practice: https://www.aspect.org.au/our-services/workshops-and-webinars/be-part-of-future-communities-of-practice
Read more: Aspect expands autism education network nationwide
