Review of Education Regulation

Draft Education Legislation Amendments (Education Regulation) Bill 2021

The Tasmanian Government is committed to ensuring that public consultation processes are open and transparent and we are seeking your input on the Draft Education Legislation Amendments (Education Regulation) Bill 2021.

The Draft Bill will amend 6 separate pieces of legislation including the Education Act 2016, the Teachers Registration Act 2000 and the Office of Tasmanian Assessment, Standards and Certification Act 2003. It also makes minor amendments to seven pieces of subordinate legislation.

The Draft Bill makes important amendments such as:

broader application of the Education Act 2016 principles to facilitate an approach to regulation that is centred around the learner and achievement of outcomes for learners
providing for a performance framework for the regulators, including the development of outcome-based performance targets
establishing skills-based boards for the Teachers Registration Board (TRB), Office of the Tasmanian Assessment, Standards and Certification (TASC) and the Non-Government Schools Registration Board (NGSRB).

The Draft Bill has been developed following considerable consultation with relevant stakeholders.

A Fact Sheet has been developed for the Draft Bill.

Consultation on the Draft Bill closed on 22 August.

Document to assist navigation

To assist you to navigate and understand the Bill, we have mapped the Report recommendations to the specific clauses in the Draft Bill.

Public Submissions

In accordance with the Tasmanian Government Public Submissions Policy submissions will be treated as public information and will be published on our website once consideration of submissions has concluded. No personal information other than an individual’s name or the organisation making a submission will be published.

Important Information to Note

Your name (or the name of the organisation) will be published unless you request otherwise. In the absence of a clear indication that a submission is intended to be treated as confidential (or parts of the submission), the Department will treat the submission as public.

If you would like your submission treated as confidential, whether in whole or in part, please indicate this in writing at the time of making your submission clearly identifying the parts of your submission you want to remain confidential and the reasons why. In this case, your submission will not be published to the extent of that request.

The Department will not publish, in whole or in part, submissions containing defamatory or offensive material. If your submission includes information that could enable the identification of other individuals then either all or parts of the submission will not be published.

About the Review

The Teachers Registration Board Tasmania (TRB), the Office of Tasmanian Assessment, Standards and Certification (TASC), the Registrar Education (The Registrar), and the Non-Government Schools Registration Board (NGSRB) regulate and drive quality in the Tasmanian education system.

These entities provide services for all education sectors. They support government schools, independent schools, Catholic schools and Vocational Education and Training.

As part of the 2019-20 State Budget, the Government committed to a review of the regulatory framework supporting these entities. This was supported by all education sectors.

The regulation administered by these entities can affect:

the quality of teaching that learners experience
how learning is assessed and recognised
the quality and safety of their learning environments; and
the extent to which students are participating and engaged in learning pathways.

The review will seek to achieve the following outcomes:

a modern governance framework that allows an agile approach to delivering critical functions
a sustainable, transparent, and more efficient funding model
a model that drives the adoption of better practice regulation focused on delivering educational outcomes for learners
a model which ensures the provision of independent advice to the Minister.

Governance

Steering Committee

The Minister established a cross-sectoral steering committee chaired by Mr Tony Luttrell, with representatives from each of the government, independent and Catholic school sectors, the Department of Treasury and Finance and the Department of Premier and Cabinet.

The Steering Committee comprises:

Mr Tony Luttrell (Chair)
Dr Gerard Gaskin – Executive Director Catholic Education Tasmania
Mr Tony Crehan – Executive Director Independent Schools Tasmania
Mr Tim Bullard – Secretary, Department of Education
Mr James Craigie – Deputy Secretary Department of Treasury and Finance
Ms Sue Kennedy – Director Intergovernmental Relations, Department of Premier and Cabinet