Curriculum development for students with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities: how about a quality of life focus?

The education of students with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD) challenges practitioners, families and policy makers. These challenges have philosophical, ethical and moral dimensions and variously impact curriculum, assessment and pedagogy for these students. The imminent arrival of the Australian Curriculum throws a spotlight on education generally and curriculum development specifically for these students. This paper reviews the nature of education for students with PIMD as a context for putting forward (the improvement of) quality of life as a preferred focus for curriculum and program development. The authors argue that this focus is consistent with the tenets of inclusion, has an emerging evidence-base, and is facilitative for policy and practice development.