Changes to the Education Act 2015

From 2 January 2024, new laws will apply to government and non-government schools in the Northern Territory (NT).

The laws have been informed by the recommendations of a review of Part 7 of the Education Act 2015 that occurred in 2021.

Summary of changes

The changes will focus on:

• improving safety and wellbeing for children and young people in all schools in the NT
• updating the law in the NT that non-government schools must follow when applying for registration and for staying registered.

To find out more about the changes, read the Education Legislation Amendment Bill and Explanatory Statement.

What the changes mean

• All schools must adopt and apply the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations
• Principals can now share information about the students transferring between their schools - read about information sharing.

Non-government schools:

• must follow new processes for registration and regulation
• must report yearly assessment results and changes affecting school operations to the registrar
• follow a new process for complaints management
• must follow new requirements for managing student behaviour, including suspending, excluding and expelling
• follow new requirements on information sharing
• follow a new process for requesting a review of a decision of the registrar.