Access, Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity Policy
Principle Alignment
This policy is grounded in:
- Wa (Harmony): Promoting a respectful, welcoming, and community-focused environment.
- Omoiyari (Anticipatory Compassion): Proactively meeting the needs of diverse students and staff, including reasonable adjustment and barrier removal.
- Oubaitori (Blossoming in One’s Own Time): Supporting individual progress, recognising difference in abilities, backgrounds, and experiences.
1. Purpose
To promote and maintain a respectful, inclusive, and equitable environment for all students, staff, and stakeholders, while upholding the core requirements of professional Shiatsu practice and educational standards.
2. Scope
Applies to all current and prospective students, staff, and contractors at ASC, and to all College learning, assessment, clinic, administrative, and community activities.
3. Policy Statement
- ASC is committed to providing an environment free from discrimination, harassment, and vilification in all forms — including antisemitism, Islamophobia, racism, and other conduct that incites hatred or contempt based on race, religion, ethnicity, or any other protected attribute.
- Access and participation in all ASC programs is open to all—subject only to core requirements for safe/professional practice in Shiatsu and Oriental Therapies.
- Reasonable adjustments are offered for learning and assessment where possible and appropriate.
- Diversity across age, gender, sexuality, race, culture, ability, and belief is welcomed and respected.
4. Principles and Practice
4.1 Non-Discrimination and Equity
- No person is unlawfully or unfairly disadvantaged in admission, participation, or employment at ASC for any protected characteristic.
- Vilification — conduct that incites hatred, serious contempt, or severe ridicule of a person or group based on a protected attribute — is prohibited in all ASC environments, whether in person, in clinical settings, or online. This prohibition applies to all members of the ASC community including students, staff, contractors, and visitors.
4.2 Adjustments and Support
- ASC is committed to providing reasonable adjustments to enable students with disability, health conditions, mental health needs, or unique learning requirements to participate in training and assessment on the same basis as other students.
- The process for requesting adjustments, the adjustments available within ASC’s specific training context, and the inherent requirements of the Diploma in Shiatsu and Oriental Therapies are set out in full in the companion procedure documents:
- Students seeking support or wishing to discuss their needs should contact the Director — Student Wellbeing & Progress at info@australianshiatsu.college.edu.au or 03 9387 1161.
4.3 Staff Disability Awareness and Inclusive Education Capability
ASC recognises that an inclusive student experience depends on all staff — including administrative and student support staff, not only trainers and assessors — having foundational knowledge of disability, reasonable adjustments, and inclusive communication.
To this end, ASC commits to the following:
- All staff who have contact with enrolled or prospective students must complete disability awareness and inclusive education practices training as part of their induction with ASC, whether their role is in teaching, administration, or student services.
- Disability awareness training is included as a standing requirement in the professional development cycle for all relevant staff.
- Mental health literacy training (including understanding of common presentations such as anxiety, depression, and neurodivergence in the context of adult learning) is included as part of induction and PD for all staff with regular student contact.
- ASC uses the DEWR Trainer and Assessor Guide and associated resources as reference material for trainer and assessor capability in this area.
- Records of disability awareness and mental health literacy training are maintained in each staff member’s personnel file and in the staff training register.
This commitment sits alongside and reinforces the obligations set out in the Reasonable Adjustment Procedure and the Reasonable Adjustment Guide.
4.4 Physical and Practical Requirements
- Shiatsu practice involves significant physical activity (including work at floor level, hands-on engagement, and body movement). Where this cannot be safely or reasonably undertaken, course completion may not be possible.
4.5 Inclusive Practice
- Course materials, teaching, and communications are designed to be clear, accessible, and culturally responsive.
- Students/staff are trained to recognise and challenge bias and uphold inclusive behaviours.
- Pronouns and Respectful Reference
- ASC recognises that all students have the right to be referred to in accordance with their affirmed gender identity, including use of preferred pronouns.
- Where a trainer, staff member, or contractor has a genuine objection to using certain pronouns, a neutral accommodation is permitted: the individual may refer to the student by their name in all communications, avoiding pronouns entirely.
- This approach must be applied consistently, respectfully, and neutrally, without drawing attention to the student’s gender identity or singling them out.
- The College will monitor this arrangement to ensure that it does not impede the student’s participation, engagement, or access to learning. Adjustments to the approach may be made if necessary to uphold the principles of equity, inclusion, and safe participation.
- ASC is committed to religious and cultural inclusion for all members of its community. This includes awareness of and sensitivity to forms of religious hatred such as antisemitism and Islamophobia, and a commitment to ensuring that no student or staff member is made to feel unwelcome, unsafe, or diminished because of their faith, ethnicity, or cultural background.
- First Nations Cultural Safety
- ASC is committed to fostering a culturally safe learning environment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples — one in which First Nations identity, knowledge, experience, and worldview are acknowledged, respected, and never challenged or diminished.
- Cultural safety means more than the absence of racism or discrimination. It means that First Nations students and staff feel genuinely seen, welcomed, and valued — and that the learning environment does not inadvertently reproduce the exclusion, marginalisation, or erasure that First Nations peoples have experienced historically and continue to experience in many institutional settings.
- ASC acknowledges that First Nations peoples do not always have the same level of access to VET as non-Indigenous Australians, nor the same positive experiences of educational institutions. ASC actively works to ensure this College is different.
- ASC recognises a natural resonance between its own educational philosophy — grounded in respect for natural cycles, seasonal rhythms, relational presence, and the interconnectedness of all things — and many of the values that characterise First Nations relationships with Country, community, and healing. This resonance does not constitute equivalence between distinct knowledge systems, but it reflects a genuine orientation of respect and openness that ASC brings to its engagement with First Nations peoples and perspectives.
- In practice, ASC’s commitment to First Nations cultural safety includes:
- Ensuring training materials, teaching practice, and communications are reviewed for cultural appropriateness and do not perpetuate stereotypes or unconscious bias
- Supporting staff and trainers to develop cultural awareness through professional development opportunities as they arise
- Actively seeking engagement with First Nations communities, practitioners, and knowledge holders — including through ASC’s industry engagement activities — to inform training practices and ensure First Nations voices can contribute to the College’s development
- Ensuring that students may meet cultural obligations — including ceremonies, community responsibilities, and Sorry Business — without disadvantage to their studies, managed through existing flexible attendance and special consideration processes
- Welcoming and supporting any First Nations student who wishes to disclose their identity and ensuring their experience of ASC is one of genuine inclusion
- ASC acknowledges that its current engagement with First Nations communities is at an early stage and is committed to deepening this over time. This commitment is reviewed as part of ASC’s continuous improvement cycle.
- This standard applies regardless of whether First Nations students are currently enrolled. The obligation to foster a culturally safe environment is not contingent on the presence of First Nations students — it reflects the kind of institution ASC chooses to be.
4.6 Fair Processes
- All applicants/students have the right to know course requirements, communicate needs, and appeal any access/participation decision under the Complaints & Appeals Policy.
4.7 Supporting Documents
This policy is supported by and should be read alongside:
- Reasonable Adjustment Procedure — Adjustment Framework
- Reasonable Adjustment Procedure — ASC-Specific Adjustments and Inherent Requirements
- Code of Conduct Policy — Students and Staff (Section 3 — Definitions, including defined terms for vilification, antisemitism, and Islamophobia)
- Student Wellbeing Policy and Procedure
- Complaints and Appeals Policy
5. Responsibilities
| Role | Responsibilities |
|---|---|
| Executive Management | Policy oversight and compliance |
| Course Coord/Admin | Access/equity enquiries, documentation |
| Teachers/Assessors | Implement adjustments, model inclusion |
| Students/Applicants | Communicate needs, seek support early |
Appendix A: List of Protected Attributes
In accordance with federal and Victorian anti-discrimination and equal opportunity legislation, including the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (Vic), Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth), Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth), Disability Standards for Education 2005 (Cth) and the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act 2001 (Vic), ASC prohibits discrimination, harassment, vilification, or victimisation based on any of the following protected attributes:
Federal Legislation—Protected Attributes:
- Age
- Race, colour, national or ethnic origin, immigrant status
- Religion or political opinion
- Sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity
- Marital status
- Pregnancy or breastfeeding
- Family or carer responsibilities
- Physical or mental disability
Victorian Legislation—Protected Attributes:
- Age
- Breastfeeding
- Disability
- Employment activity
- Gender identity
- Industrial activity
- Lawful sexual activity
- Marital status
- Parental or carer status
- Physical features
- Political belief or activity
- Race (including colour, nationality, ethnicity and ethnic origin)
- Religious belief or activity
- Sex
- Sexual orientation
- Personal association with someone who has, or is assumed to have, any of these personal attributes
ASC is also committed to recognising and addressing the needs of additional disadvantaged groups and will not tolerate any direct or indirect discrimination, harassment, or vilification under these or any other attributes protected by law. This includes a specific commitment to addressing antisemitism and Islamophobia, which ASC recognises as forms of religious and racial vilification that are both unlawful under Victorian law and contrary to the values of this College. Definitions of these and other relevant conduct terms are provided in the Code of Conduct Policy – Students and Staff (Section 3 — Definitions).
ASC’s commitment to cultural safety for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is addressed specifically in Section 4.4 of this policy, in recognition of the particular historical and contemporary context that Standard 2.5(b) of the Standards for Registered Training Organisations 2025 identifies as warranting specific attention.