Recommendation 7.10 – Complaint management

What has been achieved to date

All governments share a vision for more accessible and inclusive education for school students with disability. 

The Australian Government has published a Toolkit to help parents and caregivers of students with disability to raise, escalate and resolve complaints about their child’s education. It was developed with help from Children and Young People with Disability Australia.

State and territory governments, which are responsible for the day-to-day operations of schools, are progressing work to implement this recommendation based on their local needs.

Some examples of state and territory progress to implement the intent of this recommendation include, but are not limited to:

• The Tasmanian Department for Education, Children and Young People undertook a major review of its Enquiries and Complaints Policy and Procedure. The Policy and Procedure have been amended to include information for parents/caregivers and students about their rights and options when making a complaint. The Policy and Procedure were further amended to include information about external alternative dispute resolution and advocacy and specialist disability advice providers. These amendments will help parents and caregivers of students with disability raise or escalate a complaint about their child’s education.

These amendments will help parents and caregivers of students with disability raise or escalate a complaint about their child’s education.

What the Disability Royal Commission said in the final report

a) State and territory governments should create or expand existing complaint management offices that operate within educational authorities at arm’s length from schools to help resolve complaints about schools, specifically complaints concerning the treatment of students with disability. These offices should be empowered to:

• provide students and parents with information about their rights and options when managing complaints
• request information and conduct conciliations, connecting families with advocacy support and specialist disability expertise where needed
• initiate a formal investigation if a complaint is serious or otherwise indicates systemic issues
• support and assist the complainant in referring matters to the appropriate regulator or independent oversight body if a complaint cannot be effectively resolved
• work with schools to analyse complaints and regularly report on how education systems might improve to reduce future complaints
• work with school principals to ensure school policies are student-centric, accessible, efficient, safe, trauma-informed and culturally appropriate.

b) The Australian Government should include new duties and measures relating to complaint management procedures in the Disability Standards for Education 2005 (Cth) (Education Standards) to help achieve national quality and consistency, and ensure complaint handling processes are student-centric, accessible, efficient, safe, trauma-informed and culturally appropriate.

c) State and territory school registration authorities should embed new complaint handling duties and measures for compliance, as defined in the Education Standards, in registration requirements for all schools in their jurisdiction as a basis to monitor and enforce compliance.

d) School principals should ensure their school-level operating policies and procedures for handling complaints:

• satisfy the Education Standards requirements
• are student-centric, accessible, efficient, safe, trauma-informed and culturally appropriate
• are observed in practice.

Joint Government Response July 2024

The Australian Government and state and territory governments supports the Disability Royal Commission’s vision to build workforce capability and expertise and strengthen complaints management practices.

Considerable progress has already occurred in relation to these recommendations as part of the National Teacher Workforce Action Plan and the review of the Disability Standards for Education 2005 undertaken in 2020.

More recommendations

View progress on other recommendations made by the Royal Commission.