Schools Registration Board Annual Report

Establishment and function

The Schools Registration Board (the board) was established on 1 July 1995 under Part 5 of the Education Act 1994. The board is an independent statutory body with its composition and powers defined under the Act and its supplementary Regulations. Its primary function is to ensure that non-government schools comply with the educational standards determined by the Minister for Education. In addition, it must assess and determine applications for:

1. the registration of new non-government schools; and
2. the renewal of the registration of existing schools.

Members

Members of the board are appointed by the Minister (Education Act 1994 s. 48 (1-3) and as of 30 June 2005 include:

Standards for the registration of schools

The matters on which the Minister may determine a standard are contained at section 53 (1) of the Education Act 1994 and have been revised as a result of the amendments to the Act proclaimed on 1 January 2004.

The standards for registration are:

1. the proposed curriculum of a school;
2. the qualifications required of teachers at a school;
3. the facilities to be provided at a school;
4. the minimum number of students to attend a school;
5. the kinds of students to attend a school;
6. the enrolment and attendance procedures of a school;
   1. the financial viability of a school;
   2. the governance of a school;
   3. the impact of a new school on other schools;
   4. a grievance process; and
7. any other prescribed matter.

Board meetings

The Schools Registration Board met five times in 2004-05, when it considered matters relating to applications for new schools, changes to registration and reviews of existing schools, as well as other procedural and policy issues. All meetings were held in Hobart. The meeting dates in 2004-05 were:

• 30 August 2004
• 5 October 2004
• 8 November 2004
• 21 March 2005
• 2 May 2005

Registration of schools

(for a full listing of currently registered schools visit www.srb.tas.gov.au/materials.schoollist.htm)

1 Application for new school

The board received an application to register the Australia Tasmania College of Technology as a senior secondary school. The board is in discussion with the applicants to ensure that the application meets all requirements.

2 Review of registered schools

In Tasmania, there are 69 registered schools. Seven of the schools have additional campuses in other parts of the state; of these, three have more than one additional campus.

The following schools were reviewed between July and December 2004:

On consideration of reports provided by the review panels on the schools, the board approved the re-registration of these schools for periods up to six years.

The following schools were reviewed between January and June 2005:

The board will make determinations on the re-registration of these schools at its July 2005 meeting.

3 School closures/amalgamations

ABC Developmental Learning Centres, owners of Tingletree Kindergarten, informed the Schools Registration Board that it intends to close the kindergarten and operate solely as a child care centre from the beginning of Term 2, 2005. The board will consider this information at its July 2005 meeting.

There were no amalgamations in 2004-05.

4 Changes to registration

Schools are required to notify the Schools Registration Board of any significant changes in relation to its registration.

In November 2003 the Schools Registration Board determined that, in order to fully consider proposals to change registration, schools are to notify the board six months before the intended change is to take place.

Seven registered schools requested that significant changes to their registration be approved by the board. All applications for changes to registration were approved.

The following changes were considered by the board in 2004-05:

Distance education/alternative modes of delivery

The board confirmed the distance education/alternative modes of delivery status for the four schools registered as delivering such modes in November 2003. Herrick Presbyterian School notified the board that it is again offering distance education from the beginning of 2005. The board confirmed the distance education status of the school.

Policy, operational and procedural issues

1 National conference

A national conference of managers of non-government schools programs was hosted by the Tasmanian board in Hobart, in October 2004. The conference was opened by Dr Martyn Forrest, Secretary, Department of Education.

The annual conference of managers provides an important forum for the discussion of developments of national interest in the registration and funding of the non-government education sector. General issues, mostly related to accountability in non-government schools, were discussed.

2 Expanded curriculum standard - review and development

Following a request from the Minister to investigate ways in which schools can provide evidence of ‘...school based evaluation processes...’ the board expanded the curriculum standard to include a school review and development standard. The board will work with pilot schools to determine implementation strategies.

3 Code of conduct

Simon Barnsley, Deputy Secretary, Department of Education, provided the background to codes of conduct in schools to the board, the Catholic Education Office and to the Association of Independent Schools Tasmania, in March 2005. The board is consulting widely with schools and peak organisations as part of the process of determining a course of action.

4 Handbook

The board finalised the updating of the standards to reflect amendments to the Education Act. These changes, approved by the Minister in December 2004, were incorporated into the revised content of the SRB Handbook which was distributed to schools in March 2005.

5 Bulletin to schools

At the beginning of 2005 the chair, in a bulletin to schools, outlined:

• the rationale for introduction of the review and development standard;
• amendments to other standards; and
• as a reminder, the requirement of six months notification of changes to school registration.

6 SRB website

The updated information contained in the Handbook and amendments to the Education Act were included in the Schools Registration Board’s website (www.srb.tas.gov.au).

Attachment A

Janine Romaszko
Registrar

7 July 05