Registration and regulation of non-government schools

From 2 January 2024, the registration rules for non-government schools will change.

This is a requirement under the recent changes to the Education Act 2015.

New registration requirements

Under the new rules, the registrar must be satisfied the non-government school:

• is accountable for its safe, legal and financially viable operation and have in place corporate governance arrangements
• has curricula, teaching and assessment policies and practices to effectively deliver education services
• provides a safe, healthy and supportive learning environment

The registrar will develop detailed standards and an evidence guide to support non-government schools to comply.

Both the standards and evidence guide will be published on the NT Government website.

Non-government schools that are already registered have until 31 December 2024 to gather evidence to show their compliance.

To find out more, read section 125 of the Act.

Initial assessment of compliance with the registration requirements

Under the new rules, all newly registered non-government schools must go through an initial assessment to check they meet the standards. This must be done within the first 6 months to 2 years of the school’s operation.

Previously, this would only happen after the school had been operating for 5 years.

Breach of registration requirements

The Act currently provides minimal guidance on how:

• to address non-compliance concerns identified during an assessment or special investigation
• any identified concerns may result in a school’s registration being varied, suspended or cancelled.

Under the new rules the registrar will follow a new process when dealing with a breach of the registration requirements.

By doing so, the registrar may:

• provide support to the school when the breach is first identified and throughout the escalation of the breach
• Issue a compliance notice that advises the school of the actions required to address the breach if the breach continues
• issue a show cause notice to the school if a breach continues beyond the requirements of the compliance notice
• vary, suspend or cancel the registration of the school if it continues to breach the registration requirements
• suspend the registration of the school without issuing a compliance notice - if a school is responsible for a serious incident or a breach of registration requirements that may impact on the safety, health or wellbeing of a student at the school.

The registrar can also do this if the school has a history of failing to comply with the:

• registration requirements or
• a condition of registration.

To find out more, read sections 155 to 155E of the Act.