Sydney - Aspect (Autism Spectrum Australia) is celebrating the culmination of a pioneering three-year journey implementing the Aspect Learning Improvement Collaborative (ALIC), adapted from world-renowned education expert Dr Lyn Sharratt’s mainstream learning framework.
The program, launched in 2023, marked an Australian-first in bringing Sharratt’s 14 Parameters for System and School Improvement into an autism-specific education setting. Now, after three years, ALIC has delivered measurable improvement in student outcomes, transformed teaching practices, and promoted a culture of collaboration across Aspect’s 10 schools and 113 satellite classes, supporting more than 1,500 Autistic students.
ALIC has embedded an ethos of “system-ness” across Aspect Education’s 950 staff, ensuring every student’s progress is visible through data walls, collaborative inquiry and consistent assessment practices. Teachers and leaders have engaged in professional learning, shifting from a mindset of “my students” to “our students.”
Maryanne Gosling, Aspect’s National Director of Education said the impact has been profound.
“Three years ago, we set out to increase student achievement while strengthening our teachers’ knowledge in an autism-specific context,” said Ms Gosling. “Today, we see more consistent teaching, stronger collaboration across schools, and most importantly, students achieving new levels of growth and independence.
“I am incredibly proud of the commitment shown by our staff, whose collective effort and belief in every student’s potential have been the driving force behind this success.”
Global education leader Dr Lyn Sharratt, who partnered with Aspect to adapt her framework, praised the milestone.
“The transformation at Aspect proves that every student can learn and achieve high standards given the right support. By putting faces on the data, Aspect educators have created clarity and consistency in teaching that is changing lives. This work has the potential to be a global benchmark for autism-specific education,” Dr Sharratt said.
Across Aspect schools, ALIC has been applied in ways that reflect the unique needs of each community. In some schools, it has deepened intentional teaching practices by grouping students according to their learning styles. In others, it has brought together multiple sites under a cohesive, data-driven culture that unites teachers around shared goals. And in primary and secondary settings, ALIC has supported interest-based learning, giving students clearer pathways to set and achieve their own goals.
Aspect is committed to sustaining these gains, with the next phase of ALIC focused on deepening student voice in co-constructing success criteria, expanding data collection to literacy and numeracy, and strengthening teacher networks for long-term impact.
Karilyn Gumley, Deputy Director, Aspect Education who has led the project across all 10 schools, said sustainability is now the focus.
“ALIC is no longer a project but an embedded practice across all our schools and satellite classes. We are building communities of learning where staff, students and families work together to support growth. That is the legacy of ALIC.”
For more information please contact:
Karen Keech karen@establishedpr.com.au 0411 052 408
About Aspect
Aspect (Autism Spectrum Australia)
is one of Australia’s largest autism-specific service providers, with one of the world’s most extensive autism-specific educational programs. A not-for-profit organisation, we work in partnership with people of all ages on the autism spectrum to co-develop, co-produce and co-deliver supports and services that are individualised, goal driven and grounded in evidence-based practices.
