School communities across NSW are urged to provide feedback on the draft Plan for Public Education as the consultation period enters its final week.

NSW Department of Education Secretary Murat Dizdar encouraged all parents and carers, teachers and school support staff to have their say about the future of public education before the window for feedback closes on Friday 25 August.

“The Plan for Public Education is our long-term vision for how we as a Department will continue to build excellence and equity in our education system and increase pride in the teaching profession,” Mr Dizdar said.

“For the first time, the department has consulted on our draft strategic plan using an online feedback tool. It has been a highly effective way of gathering important insights and contributions from the community.

Mr Dizdar said there had already been more than 7700 submissions during the consultation period.

“Once the exhibition period closes, all the feedback will be carefully considered so that the final plan reflects what we heard during the six-week consultation period,” he said.

“This is a unique opportunity to work together on what we want teaching and learning to look like in our schools in the coming years, and I want to hear from our whole community.

“So, whether you’re a teacher or work in a support role at a school, or a parent or carer or grandparent, I urge you to go online read the draft Plan for Public Education and provide your feedback.”

The online ‘Have Your Say’ tool has drawn approximately 5555 individual and 2137 group responses since it was launched on 17 July at the start of Term 3.

Most individual responses have come from teachers (51 per cent) and school leaders (23 per cent), while feedback from parents and carers currently makes up six per cent of submissions.

To support engagement with the online tool, the Department ran information sessions on the draft plan with teachers and school principals, as well as student and parent representative groups. This included Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families and non-English speaking communities.

The draft Plan for Public Education is on exhibition and the community is invited to provide feedback until Friday 25 August.