Educator attitudes

What is being tracked?

Measure: Educators are disability confident and respond positively to people with disability

The Strategy was set to see the following tracked – proportion of educators who are disability confident and respond positively to people with disability. Measure wording has been revised to clarify its intent.

This measure is part of the Key sector attitudes to people with disability priority of the Strategy. This priority is about supporting more positive attitudes towards people with disability by workers in the key sectors.

The desired outcome is that workers in the education sector are more disability confident and have more positive attitudes towards people with disability.

Last updated:

Outcome area: Community attitudes Priority: Key sector attitudes to people with disability

  • Baseline value

    63%in 2022

  • Latest value

    63%in 2024

No change the latest data are similar to the baseline

View the data source

Have educator attitudes towards people with disability changed over time?

The data in the graph and the table below show the proportion of responses from educators (aged 18 and over) that were positive on being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability. Data from 2022 to 2024 are used. In both 2022 and 2024, 63% of educator responses were positive. The baseline used to track change over time is 2022.

Source: Department of Health, Disability and Ageing – Australia’s Disability Strategy Survey – Share with us | Data source overview

State and territory

Do educator attitudes towards people with disability vary between states and territories?

The data in the graph and the table below show the proportion of responses from educators (aged 18 and over) that were positive on being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability, grouped by Australian states and territories. In 2024, 73% of responses from educators in Western Australia and 60% in the Northern Territory were positive about being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability.

Source: Department of Health, Disability and Ageing – Australia’s Disability Strategy Survey – Share with us | Data source overview

Population groups

How this measure varies by…

  • Do educator attitudes towards people with disability vary for First Nations and non-Indigenous educators?

    The data in the graph and the table below show the proportion of responses from educators (aged 18 and over) that were positive on being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability, by Indigenous status. In 2024, 71% of responses from First Nations educators and 63% of responses from non-Indigenous educators were positive about being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability (please note that the proportion for the First Nations group has a high margin of error and should be used with caution).

    # Should be used with caution: proportion has a Margin of Error (MoE) >10 percentage points and/or proportion ± MoE equals <0% or >100%.

    Source: Department of Health, Disability and Ageing – Australia’s Disability Strategy Survey – Share with us | Data source overview

  • Do educator attitudes towards people with disability vary by gender?

    The data in the graph and the table below show the proportion of responses from educators (aged 18 and over) that were positive on being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability, grouped by gender. In 2024, 57% of responses from male educators were positive about being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability, as were 66% of responses from female educators (the proportion for educators in the 'Non-binary/Other' gender category was not published due to small respondent numbers).

    n.p. (not published) Data have been suppressed to avoid identifying individual people.

    Source: Department of Health, Disability and Ageing – Australia’s Disability Strategy Survey – Share with us | Data source overview

  • Do educator attitudes towards people with disability vary by age group?

    The data in the graph and the table below show the proportion of responses from educators (aged 18 and over) that were positive on being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability, grouped by age. In 2024, 67% of responses from educators aged 65 and over were positive about being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability, compared with 54% of responses from educators aged 18–24.

    Source: Department of Health, Disability and Ageing – Australia’s Disability Strategy Survey – Share with us | Data source overview

  • Do educator attitudes towards people with disability vary by educators' cultural and linguistic diversity background?

    The data in the graph and the table below show the proportion of responses from educators (aged 18 and over) that were positive on being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability, by culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) status. In 2024, 50% of responses from educators with CALD backgrounds were positive about being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability, compared with 70% of responses from educators in the non-CALD group.

    Source: Department of Health, Disability and Ageing – Australia’s Disability Strategy Survey – Share with us | Data source overview

  • Do educator attitudes towards people with disability vary by location?

    The data in the graph and the table below show the proportion of responses from educators (aged 18 and over) that were positive on being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability, by location. In 2024, 61% of responses from educators in greater capital city areas were positive about being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability, as were 67% of responses from educators in the rest of state or territory locations.

    Source: Department of Health, Disability and Ageing – Australia’s Disability Strategy Survey – Share with us | Data source overview

  • Do educator attitudes towards people with disability vary by their own disability status?

    The data in the graph and the table below show the proportion of responses from educators (aged 18 and over) that were positive on being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability, by disability status. In 2024, 65% of responses from educators with disability were positive about being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability, as were 62% of responses from educators without disability.

    Source: Department of Health, Disability and Ageing – Australia’s Disability Strategy Survey – Share with us | Data source overview

  • Do educator attitudes towards people with disability vary by their carer status?

    The data in the graph and the table below show the proportion of responses from educators (aged 18 and over) that were positive on being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability, by carer status. In 2024, 80% of responses from educators who were paid carers (only) of someone with disability were positive about being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability, as were 60% of responses from educators who were not carers.

    Source: Department of Health, Disability and Ageing – Australia’s Disability Strategy Survey – Share with us | Data source overview

  • Do educator attitudes towards people with disability vary by their experience of living with a person with disability?

    The data in the graph and the table below show the proportion of responses from educators (aged 18 and over) that were positive on being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability, by experience of having lived with someone who had disability. In 2024, 72% of responses from educators who currently lived with someone with disability were positive about being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability, as were 61% of responses from educators who never lived with someone who had disability.

    Source: Department of Health, Disability and Ageing – Australia’s Disability Strategy Survey – Share with us | Data source overview

  • Do educator attitudes towards people with disability vary by their personal connection to someone with disability?

    The data in the graph and the table below show the proportion of responses from educators (aged 18 and over) that were positive on being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability, by personal connection with someone who had disability. In 2024, 74% of responses from educators who had a close friend with disability were positive about being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability, as were 50% of responses from educators who had no personal connection to someone with disability.

    Source: Department of Health, Disability and Ageing – Australia’s Disability Strategy Survey – Share with us | Data source overview

  • Do educator attitudes towards people with disability vary by their education level?

    The data in the graph and the table below show the proportion of responses from educators (aged 18 and over) that were positive on being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability, by highest level of education. In 2024, 69% of responses from educators who had completed a certificate or diploma were positive about being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability, as were 60% of responses from both educators who had completed Year 12 and a bachelor degree or higher.

    # Should be used with caution: proportion has a Margin of Error (MoE) >10 percentage points and/or proportion ± MoE equals <0% or >100%.

    Source: Department of Health, Disability and Ageing – Australia’s Disability Strategy Survey – Share with us | Data source overview

  • Do educator attitudes towards people with disability vary by their sexual orientation?

    The data in the graph and the table below show the proportion of responses from educators (aged 18 and over) that were positive on being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability, by sexual orientation. In 2024, 63% of responses from educators who were straight (heterosexual) were positive about being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability, as were 68% of responses from educators whose sexual orientation was gay, lesbian, bisexual, or other.

    Source: Department of Health, Disability and Ageing – Australia’s Disability Strategy Survey – Share with us | Data source overview

Where did these data come from?

Data on educators being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability come from the Australia’s Disability Strategy Survey collected on behalf of the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing.

Learn more about these data
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