Report on the review of part 7 of the Education Act 2015

In 2015, when the Education Act 2015 (the Act) underwent significant legislative reform, a commitment was made to separately review part 7.

This relates to the regulation of non-government schools in the Northern Territory (NT), at a later point in time.

This commitment was subsequently formalised within and is set out at section 161 of the Act.

Section 161 of the Act also required a report to be tabled within the Legislative Assembly by the minister responsible for education. The report details the review of part 7 of the Act, and the subsequent outcomes and recommendations for reform.

Get the review of part 7 of the Education Act 2015 PDF (975.9 KB).

Discussion paper and submissions

As part of the review of part 7, a discussion paper was prepared to guide consideration of potential reform areas.

The discussion paper was out for consultation from 2 September 2021 until 15 October 2021.

The Department of Education and Training received a variety of submissions, from a number of stakeholders in response to the discussion paper.

Get the Discussion Paper - Review of part 7 of the Education Act 2015 PDF (391.1 KB).

The department would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who participated, and contributed towards the review of part 7 of the Education Act 2015.

The public submissions received in response to the discussion paper were:

• Catholic Education Northern Territory PDF (6.0 MB)
• Association of Independent Schools of the Northern Territory PDF (158.4 KB)
• Independent Education Union - Queensland and Northern Territory Branch PDF (147.1 KB)
• Lutheran Education SA, NT and WA PDF (177.1 KB)
• Professional Teacher Association of the Northern Territory PDF (76.5 KB)
• Remote Indigenous Parents Association PDF (700.0 KB)
• Northern Territory Council of Social Service PDF (306.1 KB)
• Yirralka Education PDF (221.8 KB)
• Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory PDF (198.3 KB)
• NT Christian Schools PDF (303.5 KB)

Next steps

The recommendations from the review will be utilised to inform drafting instructions for an Amendment Bill to the Act.

An Exposure Draft of the Amendment Bill will be released and consulted upon with stakeholders during 2022.

Feedback gathered through this process will also be utilised to improve governance and administrative arrangements more broadly, for example, updates to operational processes that support implementation of the legislation.