Page 1877 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 8 June 2022
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provider, or registered for home education. This is a critical expansion of the directorate’s role to ensure that all children and young people in the ACT are connected with education and the protective factors that education brings.
The amendments to non-government school registration and review acknowledge that the vast majority of non-government schools already consistently deliver high quality educational services and are compliant with their legislative requirements. Through the bill, we will alleviate the burden of five-yearly non-government school registration renewal by moving to ongoing registration, with regular risk-based reviews. This will ensure that schools can focus on their core business, which is educating children and young people.
The bill introduces non-government school registration standards, which focus on requirements relating to governance, educational courses and educational programs, safety and welfare and other operational requirements. To oversee these new registration standards and review processes, the amendments create a registration standards advisory board, with the day-to-day administrative functions remaining with the Education Directorate, through the registrar.
Should a school be found to be non-compliant with the act, amendments have been made to enable regulatory action to be taken which is proportionate to the instance of non-compliance. These amendments mean that the community can continue to be confident in the education provided by the non-government school sector and know that the oversight of the registration of these schools is supported by a strong set of registration standards and the advice of an advisory board comprised of members with appropriate experience and expertise.
Minor government amendments to the Education Amendment Bill 2022 are also being proposed. These amendments have been developed in consultation with key stakeholder groups, including the Association of Independent Schools of the ACT, Catholic Education, the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn, education unions, parents and citizens associations and relevant statutory authorities, and we continue to work in partnership with them.
The government amendments demonstrate that we have continued to listen to the feedback of our key stakeholders. They provide clarification of provisions and do not change the intent of the bill. They also address comments raised by the Standing Committee on Justice and Community Safety in their legislative scrutiny role. I will now outline the government amendments.
The government’s amendments propose to revise the intended commencement date for all aspects of the bill to 20 December 2022. This is to allow adequate time to prepare for the amendments while also providing schools with certainty of legislative requirements that will be in place for the 2023 school year. The amendments further refine the meaning of “unsafe or non-compliant” behaviour by clarifying that while behaviour may be unsafe or non-compliant even if the behaviour does not happen on school premises or during school hours, this is limited to when the behaviour reduces the safety or effectiveness of the learning environment.
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