What’s so special about specialist schools?

Victoria’s education system provides diverse schooling options, including mainstream, religious, independent, and specialist schools for students with disabilities. While specialist schools offer tailored support, their alignment with inclusive education principles remains contested. This study examines parental perspectives on specialist school choice through a qualitative descriptive design, guided by Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory and Epstein’s Overlapping Spheres of Influence. Semi-structured interviews with parents revealed four themes: infrastructure and support, belonging for both students and parents, strength-based learning and educational outcomes, and parental choice and advocacy. The findings suggest that inclusivity is not determined by school type alone but by the extent to which relational and structural supports cultivate belonging and participation. Parents perceived specialist schools as contexts that can enact inclusive practices and support positive educational outcomes, thereby challenging assumptions that specialist schooling inherently undermines social justice. These findings contribute to ongoing debates about inclusive education and underscore the importance of nuanced, context-responsive approaches that prioritise belonging, agency, and empowerment for all learners.