Enquiries, compliments and complaints help us improve our schools and services. We want to hear about your experience with the Education Directorate, and we will work with you to solve any outstanding problems.
Anybody – parent, student, carer, or member of the community can submit enquiries, compliments or complaints. We will reply in a timely manner, listen to your needs, and treat you with respect.
You can use the online Education Directorate contact form 
to lodge your enquiry, compliment or complaint. If you need help to complete the form, our team can help. Please call 6205 5429 to receive a call back from one of our officers.
We are also able to provide:
- interpreting and translation services
- communication support for people who are deaf or hard of hearing and those with a speech impairment.
Enquiries
If you have a question about an ACT public school or Education Directorate service, we recommend you start with the school or service directly. If you are unsure who to contact, use the online Education Directorate contact form to submit your enquiry.
Compliments
We love to hear about the people, services and programs that have had a positive impact on our community. Your words of thanks, encouragement and praise will be shared with the teams involved. You can always send those directly to the schools and services you deal with, or use the online Education Directorate contact form to provide a compliment.
Complaints
Complaints that relate to an ACT public school
Step 1: Start with the school
If your complaint relates to an ACT public school (including preschool, primary school, high school, college or specialist school), talk to the relevant teacher, your school principal or executive staff member. If you are unsure about who to talk to, we recommend contacting the school front office to help you to find the right person.
Depending on the type of complaint, a staff member at the school may:
- try to fix the matter or improve the situation (this may include reviewing a policy or procedure)
- apologise or acknowledge that the situation could have been handled better or differently
- provide an explanation of what has happened and why
- ensure that privacy laws are adhered to and still enable issues to be discussed in general terms.
If the school is unable to meet your expectations, they will provide clear reasons for their actions and decisions.
Every student and every family is important to us.
We appreciate your patience and understanding as we respond to your call, email or enquiry as soon as we can. Sometimes, we need to gather further information before we can come back to you.
Step 2: Complete the online form
If after working with the school you feel your complaint has not been resolved, we encourage you to complete the online Education Directorate contact form .
After we receive your complaint, we will refer it to the relevant business area to assist you in resolving this.
What you can expect from us
Whether you raise concerns with the school or the Education Directorate we will:
- take all complaints seriously
- treat the complainant with respect and listen to understand their needs
- reply in a timely manner
- encourage and support the complainant to seek early resolution of complaints at a local level (with the original decision-maker) wherever possible and, as quickly as possible, tell the complainant how we handle complaints
- ensure all acts and decisions consider all relevant human rights when assessing and responding to complainants
- share the complainant’s feedback, with their permission, with relevant areas of the Directorate to inform service improvement
- appropriately disclose any conflicts of interest that might affect or appear to affect a staff member’s handling of their complaint.
What we ask of you
We ask that you:
- treat us with respect, in all communications
- provide us with honest, constructive feedback on our service
- provide information that is timely, accurate and complete
- tell us if you need help to understand or access our service.
When we all work together, our children and young people can learn, develop and reach their full potential. Verbal or physical abuse is never okay and will not be accepted at our schools. Teachers and school staff are entitled to be safe and respected at work. We ask you to consider this in every interaction – be it in person, on the phone, by email or online. People who engage in violent or aggressive behaviour at schools will be directed to leave the school premises and police may be called.
Anonymous complaints
Parents, carers, students, or any other member of the community can make a complaint. It can be made anonymously, and even though we still review the claims made, this can affect our ability to investigate, resolve and respond to the complaint. It also affects our ability to provide feedback on any action taken in response to the complaint.
Complaints about early education and care services
For education and care services (including long day care, family day care, outside school hours care, playschools, occasional care, public and independent preschools), contact Children's Education & Care Assurance (CECA).
Complaints about non-government schools
Complaints about the registration, administration, management, and operation of a non-government school should be raised with the school.
To notify the Registrar of non-government schools with concerns about compliance with the conditions of registration, use the Education Directorate contact form .
Complaints about services run by Parents and Citizens Associations
Contact the P&C Association directly or ask your school to provide their contact details.
Do you feel your complaint was addressed fairly?
If you believe you have not been treated fairly or that the outcome was unreasonable, you may wish to pursue your complaint with an independent organisation:
ACT Ombudsman
Phone: (02) 6276 3773
Indigenous line: 1800 060 789
International: +61 2 6276 0111
Website: ACT Ombudsman
ACT Ombudsman complaint form
ACT Human Rights Commission (ACT HCR)
Phone: (02) 6205 2222
Website: ACT Human Rights Commission
The ACT HRC can investigate complaints about a range of matters, including:
- discrimination and vilification
- sexual harassment
- health services including health records
- disability services including abuse, neglect or exploitation of a person with a disability
- services for children and young people.