Who to contact

Complaints about public schools in NSW

The department takes complaints and feedback seriously and is committed to resolving issues about NSW public schools locally where possible. Complaint handling in the department is fair, efficient and accessible.

If you have a complaint or concern, 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.

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. If you do not know the Director Educational Leadership for your school, you can ask the school to provide this information.

Use our School Finder to locate a public school, explore designated intake and catchment areas, and access contact details for all public schools at 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. We will acknowledge a complaint within 3 business days and finalise your complaint, where possible, within 20 business days.

Help with making a complaint

The department provides reasonable adjustments to support people to communicate a concern or participate in the complaint process.

We can assist parents, carers and students with a disability, including the deaf or hearing impaired, those with a speech impairment, and those who do not speak or understand English well. The department provides interpretation and translation services for people who require language support to effectively communicate their concerns or participate in the complaint process. This can include onsite, online, or telephone interpreting for meetings and interviews. The National Relay Service can also assist a person who is deaf or has a speech impairment. Other adjustments may include changes to the physical environment or using assistive technology where it is fair and reasonable to do so.

If you need another kind of support to make a complaint, please let us know and our staff will do their best to help you.

People making complaints can have a support person or an advocate to assist in making or addressing a concern. The person making the complaint is responsible for arranging this support. The department can suggest a support person or advocate if one has not been organised. A support person or advocate must be over the age of 18 and can be a family member, friend, union or professional association representative, legal representative or department employee.

A support person is someone who assists in resolving a complaint by providing practical and emotional support to the person making the complaint. A support person can ask questions and speak at meetings if they have information that is relevant to the situation. A support person cannot speak on behalf of, advocate for, or make decisions for the person making the complaint.

An advocate is someone who is authorised to speak and make decisions on behalf of the person making the complaint.

Free advocacy services are available to support people with disability and their families through the Disability Advocacy Futures Program. Support organisations are also available if you or a family member identifies as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. Contact the local Aboriginal Education and Wellbeing team at the school’s local education office or the local NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Group (AECG).

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, including how support persons and advocates can assist.

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 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.

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.

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.

For more information, see Feedback and complaints about an ECEC service

Managing complaints locally

Complaints may be made in person, by phone, by email or letter, or through the department’s online complaint form. 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 decisions. 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.

What to expect when raising a concern or making a complaint

When raising a concern or making a complaint, you can expect that it will be managed fairly, locally, and informally wherever possible. 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.

You will receive an acknowledgment of your complaint and will be told who will be addressing the concerns raised.

The complaint manager is responsible for addressing the concerns that have been raised in a way that is appropriate to the circumstances. You may be asked to provide additional information about the situation or be asked to attend a meeting to discuss the way forward..

We will tell you when the complaint process is finalised, including the complaint’s outcome and what will happen next. We will follow up with you to check that any agreed action has been taken. If you do not hear from us, have additional information or are not sure what will happen next, you can contact us.

What not to expect

Many concerns can be resolved locally, quickly and efficiently. Most complaints are managed by the relevant school or service in a way that is appropriate to the circumstances. This is consistent with the principle of resolving complaints locally and informally where possible. This means that most complaints will not result in a formal investigation. Complaint managers do not need to gather evidence or investigate complaints for the purpose of making findings or determinations in relation to specific particulars. Once they have a clear understanding of the concerns, they can decide what action to take to address the concerns identified in the complaint and communicate the outcome to relevant parties.

You may not receive specific details of the action taken in response to a complaint. For example, when this would involve disclosing confidential or personal information about another person, including an employee, student or community member.

How long it will take to resolve a complaint

It will depend on the nature and seriousness of the issues that have been raised. While many complaints can be resolved promptly, some make longer.

We are committed to acknowledging complaints within three business days. In circumstances where a complaint requires specialist handling, we will inform you who will be handling it and how to contact that person.

We aim to resolve most complaints within 20 business days. If it is likely to take longer, we will provide you with regular updates on the progress of your complaint until the matter is resolved.

Our goal is to handle all complaints fairly and transparently, keeping your informed throughout the process. 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 for an update.

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

Possible action includes:

• Implementing changes to address the issue
• Providing a explanation or apology
• Reviewing or amending policies, practices, or procedures.
• Suggesting conflict resolution approaches, such as mediation or a facilitated conversation
• Staff training or other measures to address underlying or systemic issues.

If no action is taken, we will provide with clear reasons for this decision.

Distinguishing complaints from other processes

The way we manage a concern depends on the nature and seriousness of the situation, and if there are other dispute or appeal processes that apply.

Although a person may refer to a concern as a ‘complaint’ or raise a concern through complaint mechanisms, there are some situations where the community complaint procedures do not apply.

Common concerns that are addressed through other processes include:

Concerns relating to employee behaviour which are addressed with reference to the department’s guidance on misconduct and direct management action.

Concerns relating to student behaviour which are addressed with reference to the Student Behaviour Policy and associated guidance.

Concerns relating to enrolment, suspension or expulsion decisions which are addressed through the relevant appeals process

Privacy and data breaches which are addressed through the relevant process

Decisions to restrict access to departmental premises which are addressed through the relevant review process.

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.

We expect that the person raising the complaint and other people involved in addressing it will only share complaint information on a ‘need to know’ basis. This includes when this is needed to manage risks, advance the complaint’s management and ensure fairness.

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.

Follow up

As part of addressing a complaint, the complaint manager creates a plan to monitor the progress of any action taken. This plan can be informal but should clearly identify who is responsible for each action and the timelines for implementation. This may include:

• Contacting the person who made the complaint within 20 business days (excluding weekends and public holidays) or within a reasonable timeframe to confirm whether agreed actions have been implemented or completed.
• Discussing any necessary restorative actions and deciding who will take responsibility for progressing them.

Anonymous complaints

A complaint can be made anonymously. An anonymous complaint is where a person does not provide their details. It is not considered an anonymous complaint if a person provides their details but requests their identity is not disclosed.

If a person does not provide their details, it may be difficult to resolve a complaint if we need further information to clarify the issues or take action to resolve the complaint. If contact details are not provided we cannot provide 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. 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.

People can raise concerns 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.

The department addresses concerns according to their nature and seriousness. Although a person may refer to a concern as a ‘complaint’ or raise a concern through complaint mechanisms, there are some situations where the Community Complaint procedures do not apply.

We will tell you if an issue will be managed under a different process.

More information:

• Personalised support for student learning
• Disability Standards for Education
• Programs and services including enrolment and support options for students with a disability
• School enrolment

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

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.

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. Your request should explain why the outcome or process was unfair or unreasonable.

Line managers will generally conduct a complaint review when this is requested. They will consider whether decisions were reasonable and whether department processes were followed.

Line managers can often review complaints if they were previously involved. However, consideration will be given to whether there is a perceived, potential or actual conflict of interest between a person’s private interests and public duties that cannot be managed.

For a conflict of interest to exist, there needs to be more than a professional relationship or circumstances where the person gave a direction to make a particular decision or acted in response to a decision. A person will not be prevented from managing a complaint or review solely because they have information about a situation, have been involved in other decisions, or have supervised people involved in the situation.

We will only review the management of a complaint once.

A reviewer may decide not to start or continue a review in certain situations, including when:

• The complainant disagrees with the outcome but provides no substantial evidence that it was incorrect or the process was unfair
• There is not enough information to proceed, even after reasonable efforts to gather more details
• The complaint is raised more than 12 months after the event, or the available information is outdated or no longer applies
• The person making the complaint does not respond to reasonable requests for additional information, including requests to clarify or summarise the information provided
• The timeframe has lapsed with no special circumstances identified
• The review would involve an unreasonable and substantial diversion of the department’s resources when balanced with the seriousness of the concern.

Options for review by independent organisations

If you believe that you have not been treated fairly or that the outcome is unreasonable, you can:

• seek independent advice about external review options
• seek an external review if you are not satisfied with the outcome of an internal review
• raise your concerns with an external agency at any time.

The action taken by an agency is at the agency’s discretion and there is no automatic right to an external review of the complaint handling process.

The NSW Ombudsman may manage complaints from people who have been treated unfairly or unreasonably by a NSW Government agency, which includes the department. For further information refer to the NSW Ombudsman’s How to make a complaint or phone (02) 9286 1000.

Complaints regarding discrimination, such as age, race, sex, or a disability and breaches of human rights may be referred to:

• The Australian Human Rights Commission – for more information, go to their Complaints page or phone (02) 9284 9600
• Anti-Discrimination NSW – for more information, go to their How to make a complaint page or phone (02) 9268 5544.

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

Unreasonable behaviour refers to actions by a person that are unacceptable and, due to its nature or frequency, create significant health, safety, resource, or fairness issues for those involved in the complaint process. Examples include:

• Threatening, aggressive, or intimidating actions, language, or tone
• Discriminating against employees based on identity, religion, or disability
• Submitting complaints that lack substance
• Raising complaints about events that occurred too long ago to allow meaningful investigation or resolution
• Communicating in ways that are inappropriate, excessive, or unreasonable.

The department must take action to address any unacceptable, improper or unreasonable behaviour by a person raising a complaint or another person involved in the complaint that raises substantial health, safety, resource or equity issues.

If a complaint requires unreasonable and substantial diversion of resources (which outweigh the substantive concerns) and/or the person raising the complaint does not reasonably participate in the complaint process, the department may decide:

• to finalise a complaint on the available information
• not to take action
• to limit the scope of inquiries.

Managers can decide to limit communication, for example, by advising that further communication that does not raise substantively new information will be noted and filed without further response.

Unacceptable or improper conduct by an employee may constitute misconduct.

For further information on the complaint handling process for community complaints, see the Community complaint procedures (2024).