Abstract

The Individual Education Program (IEP) is the foundational instrument for realizing Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4), which aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education for students with special needs (SEN). This narrative review critically analyzes recent peer-reviewed literature (2020–2025) to identify systemic and practice-level deficits obstructing effective IEP implementation in Malaysia. Employing a qualitative narrative approach, the study synthesized 16 peer-reviewed manuscripts from major educational databases. The analysis focused on IEP procedural quality across three critical dimensions: assessment information considerations, dynamics of IEP meetings, and teacher involvement. The review is also structured around central themes, including the concept of the IEP conceptual framework, the role of stakeholder collaboration, and the relevant obstacles that make this process challenging. The results indicate that significant barriers remain related to teacher preparedness, particularly the lack of training and competency gaps, specifically in areas such as goal setting and assessment. There is a continued disjuncture between the policy ideals of collaborative, individualized planning and the actual state of things, whereby IEPs tend to be an administrative necessity rather than an active pedagogical mentor. The review concludes by drawing implications for teacher education, policy making, and practice in Malaysia, where a multi-faceted approach is proposed as the way forward to close the implementation gap and maximize the potential of the IEP as a tool for educational equity.