Community Feedback
During the 2017-18 reporting period the Directorate logged over 2,220 items of feedback comprising notifications, suggestions, requests for information and service, compliments received in writing and complaints received in writing and by phone. Written feedback is recorded in an online Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool which allows members of the community to directly lodge their feedback with the Directorate; and in doing so receive a tracking code for their feedback, and specify whether the feedback related to a notification, a request for information, a request for service, a compliment or a complaint. The CRM tool allowed the Directorate to ensure that all written feedback received a response either by the Education Support Office or by the relevant ACT public school.
Of the feedback logged in the CRM, during 2017-18 there were:
- 331 complaints;
- 9 compliments;
- 245 notifications;
- 1,055 requests for information;
- 532 requests for service; and
- 48 suggestions.
In addition to the feedback logged in the CRM, community members also lodge feedback directly with schools or to individual teams within the Directorate. Schools and business areas generally respond directly to the community member.
In some cases, complaints are escalated to the Directorate’s Complaints and Liaison Unit, Families and Student’s Section, School Operations area, or People and Performance Branch. These business areas assisted the customer to resolve the complaint, and may have enlisted the expertise of other areas of the Directorate, and/or provided a written response to the complainant. Escalated cases handled by the Complaints and Liaison Unit were recorded in the CRM and were included in the count of items described earlier in this section.
Feedback About ACT Public Schools
The 2,220 CRM records logged during the period, 302 were complaints about ACT public schools. These complaints comprised:
- 35 complaints about communication;
3628 complaints about enrolment;1817 complaints about facilities and infrastructure;1615 complaints about inclusion and engagement;2214 complaints about policies;8375 complaints about staff behaviour;113110 complaints about student behaviour management; and- 8 complaints about teaching and learning.
For further information contact:
Director, Governance and Community Liaison
(02) 6207 2990
Children's Education and Care Assurance
The National Quality Framework (NQF) for the education and care sector established the Education and Care Services National Law 2010 (the National Law) and a uniform approach to the regulation and quality assessment of the education and care sector. The Director-General of the Directorate is the ACT’s Regulatory Authority.
The National Law places obligations upon the ACT Regulatory Authority, Children’s Education and Care Assurance (CECA), to undertake investigation, compliance, enforcement and assessment and rating functions against the NQS. The team is comprised of expert officers working in the following areas:
- Quality Assurance;
- Audit and Risk Management; and
- Investigations.
As at 30 June 2018, the team had processed 811 notifications. Of those 811 notifications, 59 matters were investigated, 23 matters were subject to risk audit, and one matter was subject to both investigation and risk audit. At the end of June 2018, there were approximately 15 investigations in progress, and 63 cases closed of which 19 have been carried over from 2016-17. Major areas of investigation for the financial year were: allegations of harm to children; staffing arrangements and inadequate supervision and missing/unaccounted for children.
For further information contact:
Director, Early Childhood Policy and Regulation
(02) 6207 1114