Making a complaint about NSW public schools - guide for parents & carers

We are committed to working with parents, carers, students and families to ensure all students are happy and thrive at school. If you have a question, issue, complaint, feedback or compliment about our schools, we’d like to know.

Who to contact

Complaints about public schools in NSW

The department is committed to resolving issues about NSW schools locally where possible. The teacher or principal is often the best place to start. You can ask a question or raise an issue by contacting the school directly or through the department's online complaint form. The widget on the right of this page is a quick way of making a complaint or providing feedback.

In most situations, a complaint will be referred to the relevant school. In some situations, a complaint or feedback may be provided to the Director Educational Leadership responsible for the school, so they can decide the best approach to resolve the issue.

Finding a public school

We will support people that may need assistance to make a complaint. All complaints will be handled fairly, objectively and promptly.

Help with making a complaint

The Easy Read guide explains with words and pictures how to make a complaint, give a compliment, or suggestion to our schools. The guide also contains information about supports available to make a complaint.

Easy Read guide

What you can complain about

You can make a complaint to us about:

Any aspect of the services we provide
Any decision, including those about enrolment or support for student learning at school
Any practice, policy or procedure
Staff behaviour or conduct

How to make a complaint

Always contact the school first to talk about your concerns. They can solve most problems. It's best if you let someone know about your concerns as early as possible. Make a time to meet with a staff member or contact the school and ask for an appointment. If you are unsure who to speak to, the school’s office staff may be able to help find the best person.

The student's teacher is generally the best person to handle routine concerns about matters within their classroom and/ or area of responsibility. In primary school, this will be the classroom teacher. In high school, you can contact the teacher or head teacher of a specific subject, or the year advisor. Before you approach your child’s teacher or other school staff, be clear about the issues you want to discuss and think about how the matter could be resolved.

If you have raised your concerns with your child’s teacher and are dissatisfied, you can escalate your complaint to the principal. The principal can decide to manage the complaint or hand it to another suitable person, like another member of the school executive.

If your complaint cannot be resolved straight away, we may ask you to put the complaint in writing. Include specific details and tell us what you would like to happen as a result of the complaint.

If your concern is about a principal, you can make a complaint to one of our local Department of Education offices. The school can provide you with their contact details.

You can also use the department’s online complaint form or the Feedback Assist widget on the right-hand side of this page to make a complaint, give feedback or tell us about an idea. We will find the right place to respond to your complaint or feedback.

For more information, see our tips and advice for effective complaining.

Early childhood education and care services (including preschools, long day care, family day care, out of school hours care, vacation care, and mobile services) are responsible for managing complaints about their services, including services provided on school sites. The director, manager or other staff at the service are often the best place to start. If it is not appropriate to raise your concern with the service, or if the service does not resolve the issue, you can then contact the department to make a complaint.

Making a complaint or providing feedback about an early childhood service

Managing complaints locally

Complaints may be made in person, by phone, by email or letter, or through the department’s online complaint form or widget. In each case, a decision is made about the best person or place to manage the complaint. The department will delegate most complaints to the school, as the school is often best placed to find out what happened and fix the issue.

Any staff member who has sufficient knowledge and authority about the complaint issue may manage a complaint.

In many cases, staff can manage a complaint made directly to them, even if the complaint relates to their actions. For example, where a parent complains to the classroom teacher about their programming or student behaviour management, the teacher may be able to respond to the complaint. This often also best meets the student’s needs.

Some complaints will need the involvement of the principal or another executive staff member. For example, when a person is dissatisfied with the way their complaint has been handled by the classroom teacher or another member of staff. As issues are clarified, a complaint may be handed to another suitable person.

Who will handle your complaint and how you can contact them

Regardless of how a complaint is submitted it will, in most circumstances, be managed locally by the school. This includes complaints and feedback addressed to Department of Education regarding any aspect of our school services. In most cases, schools know the situation and can work with you to resolve any concerns. School staff, classroom teachers, school principals and Directors Educational Leadership represent the Department of Education and are committed to understanding and finding a solution to your complaint.

Few complaints are managed by a person outside the school. For example, when the complaint is about a decision made by principal or the principal’s behaviour. In these situations, the department delegates the complaint to a suitable person, such as the Director Educational Leadership responsible for the school, or a specialist area.

Once you make a complaint, we will tell you who will manage it and how to contact them. If a complaint concerns a risk to health or safety, security, or alleged corrupt conduct, criminal conduct or child protection concerns, we will manage it within our policies and procedures. This may include referring certain complaints to other agencies outside the department, such as where there are allegations of criminal conduct or where there is a risk of significant harm to a child or young person.

Our staff will find a time to talk to you when they can give you their full attention. Please remember that while our staff are in class or dealing with other matters, they may not be available to answer your questions immediately.

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your complaint, you can ask to speak with the person who managed your complaint. If you believe the complaint outcome was incorrect and/or the complaint handling process was unfair, you can request a review. Any external reviews of complaint may be conducted by an organisation such as the NSW Ombudsman.

How long it will take to resolve a complaint

It will depend on what your complaint is about.

In circumstances where a complaint requires specialist handling or an investigation, we will acknowledge the complaint and inform you who will be handling it and how to contact that person. If it is likely to take longer than 20 working days, you will be kept informed about progress on a regular basis until the matter is resolved.

In some cases, we may not be able to look into your complaint until other issues have been dealt with. We will let you know if this is the case.

If you have not heard from the person who is handling the complaint within a reasonable time, you can call or email them to ask what is happening.

What we will tell you about the outcome of your complaint

In almost all cases, we will tell you what we found, any action we are taking and the reasons for our decisions. In some matters, there may be reasons why we cannot provide you with another person's personal information.

What we can do in response to complaints

If the complaint is upheld, you may be offered one or more of the following:

action to fix the matter or improve the situation
an apology
an explanation
an admission that the situation could have been handled better or differently
an undertaking to review the department's policies in light of the complaint.

If the complaint is not upheld, we will give you clear reasons for our decision.

Your privacy when making a complaint

The person who is dealing with your complaint can advise you if we can keep your complaint private. We cannot guarantee confidentiality, as we may need to disclose your details or details of your complaint to others which may include referring it to the principal, the local network office, another area of the department, or another more appropriate public sector agency or as otherwise permitted by privacy legislation. If your complaint is about another person, we will usually tell them about the complaint and give them a chance to respond.

In accordance with the relevant legislation, personal information about the person making a complaint will not be disclosed to any third party outside the department without their consent, except where required or authorised by law.

Anonymous complaints

Yes, you can make your complaint anonymously. However, it may be difficult to resolve a complaint if you do not provide your contact details and we need further information to clarify the issues or take action to resolve your complaint. If you do not provide your contact details, you will not receive information about any action taken in response.

Making a complaint after leaving school

We generally encourage people to raise any issues or concerns about our schools at the time they arise. The longer it takes for us to hear about an issue or concern, the harder it can be to resolve. We also recognise that, sometimes, it can be difficult for parents and carers to provide feedback while their child is attending a school, or for students to raise issues while they are at school.

Parents, carers and students can provide feedback or make a complaint at the time of leaving a school or after leaving a school. You can do this by contacting the school and asking to meet with the principal, or providing feedback in writing to the school, the Director Educational Leadership responsible for the school, or through our online complaint form or Feedback Assist widget. While we may not be able to change what has happened for you, your feedback can help us to understand what happened and make changes to assist other families.

We may be limited in the action we can take about situations that occurred some time ago, as staff may no longer work for the department, potential witnesses may not be able to be contacted, and people’s recollection of events may be affected over time. We cannot investigate or take action against a person who is no longer an employee or a student at one of our schools.

Support or adjustments for students with a disability

A wide range of supports are provided in our schools to help students with a disability or additional learning needs to take part in education and get the most out of school. This may include tailored learning programs or changes to the way lessons are taught, providing extra help or extra time for learning activities, providing modified materials or specialist equipment and providing specialised learning environments.

These supports may also be referred to as adjustments.

Under the Disability Standards for Education, schools provide adjustments that are reasonable to enable a student to access educational opportunities on the same basis as their peers.

The support or adjustments for each student with disability reflects their individual educational needs and are determined in consultation with the student and/or their parents and caregivers.

If you are caring for a child with a disability or special needs and have a question or issue about support for the child at school, the first point of contact is the school. A range of staff are available in schools to help you and we recognise that students, parents, carers, teachers, school support staff and other professionals all have important roles to play. The learning and support team in each school plays a key role in coordinating and planning support for students with a disability or additional needs and will work with you to support student learning needs and resolve any issues. If you are unhappy with the outcome of raising a question or issue, you can ask to speak to the school Principal or make a complaint.

Complaints can be about any aspect of our services, including issues relating to:

Enrolling a child or young person with disability or additional support needs in our schools
The way that students with disability or additional support needs are treated
The identification and implementation of adjustments, supports and individualised planning for our students
The use of restrictive practices in our schools
Disciplinary measures in response to behaviours of concern, including suspension and expulsion
The experiences of students from an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander or Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) community.

More information:

The Disability Standards for Education: A practical guide for individuals, families and communities provides more information to help you understand reasonable adjustments, how they are decided and what is reasonable and fair to expect from a school.

Support and Resources for Aboriginal families

Know your options for complaints, compliments and feedback

We recognise and value the learning that Aboriginal children bring with them from their homes and communities into the classroom, and want to work with families to support children in their learning. If you are worried about something that is happening at school, let us know as soon as you can. If we know about something early, we can work with you to find a solution. See information for Aboriginal families about the complaints process.

When responding to a complaint, our schools are committed to:

Being understanding and open to all Aboriginal communities
Understanding that all families are different and, like all communities, these differences will affect family choices and practices
Respecting Aboriginal ways of knowing and communication
Being open to families, communities, Kinship groups and Elders being involved in the complaints process

We know that, sometimes, parents, carers and family would feel more comfortable talking with mob, or another Aboriginal person about what is happening. You can ask to speak to:

The Aboriginal Education Officer (AEO), if the school has one.
Someone in the local Aboriginal Education and Wellbeing Team, such as the Aboriginal Community Liaison Officer (ACLO) at the school’s local network office.
If you would like to speak with an independent person who can talk on your behalf or support you through the complaint process, you can contact your local NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Group (AECG). To find details of the Regional Committee for your area, go to the AECG website at https://www.aecg.nsw.edu.au/

To find the details of a school’s network office, go to: Finding a Public School.

Options for review by the department

If you have information that the complaint outcome was incorrect and/or the complaint handling process was unfair, you may ask for a review of your complaint by contacting the school principal, the director educational leadership for that school or the manager of the section of the department that handled your complaint. If you are unsure who to contact, you can use the online complaint form or the Feedback Assist widget on the right-hand side of this page.

Requests for review should be made within 10 working days from the initial complaint decision, unless there are circumstances that may have reasonably prevented a request for the review within 10 days. These circumstances may include illness, needing advice from another person about seeking a review, or an advocate or adviser being unavailable within the 10 day timeframe. Requests for review should be in writing and give the reasons for the request.

Generally, we will only review the management of a complaint once.

Options for review by independent organisations

If you believe that you have not been treated fairly or that the result is still unreasonable, you may wish to seek a review from an independent organisation.

NSW Ombudsman
02 9286 1000
www.ombo.nsw.gov.au

Australian Human Rights
02 9284 9600
www.humanrights.gov.au

Our expectations of people making complaints or providing feedback

Parents, carers, educators and our staff are all responsible for ensuring our learning environments are collaborative, supportive and cohesive. When raising a concern, making a complaint or providing feedback, we ask that you communicate in a positive and constructive manner, and treat others with respect and fairness.

Our staff will find a time to talk to you when they can give you their full attention. While our staff are in class or dealing with other matters, they may not be available to answer your questions immediately.

Our schools and communities will make sure that written communication is appropriate, fair and easy to read. We encourage you to use email and social media appropriately to connect with your school and stay up-to-date with events in the school community.

See our Tips and Advice for Effective Complaining and the School Community Charter for more information.

Unreasonable behaviour

In all workplaces, people have the right to feel respected and safe. Unacceptable and offensive behaviour has no place in our school communities.

To ensure the safety and wellbeing of students, staff and the community in our schools, steps will be taken to address unacceptable behaviour. When a person’s behaviour is unreasonable and obstructs the proper management of a complaint or other issues, a senior officer from the department may decide to restrict or terminate contact with that person. In more serious cases, this may include referral to NSW Police.

Unacceptable behaviour may include but is not limited to:

Aggressive or intimidating actions, such as violence, threatening gestures or physical proximity.
Aggressive or intimidating language, including the use of obscenities, making sexist, racist or derogatory comments or using a rude tone.
Treating members of the school community differently due to aspects such as their religion or disability.
Inappropriate and time wasting communication.

Category:

Education support operations

Topics:

Feedback and complaints

Business Unit:

Communication and Engagement