Framework for NSW Department of Education reporting
Learn how the NSW Department of Education reports to NESA on compliance of government schools with curriculum and policy requirements over a five-year cycle to fulfil legislative obligations.
About the Framework
By agreement through Memorandum of Understanding, the NSW Department of Education (the Department) provides an annual report to the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA). The report is provided for the purpose of NESA fulfilling its legislative obligations pursuant to Section 27A of the Education Act 1990.
The report is included in NESA’s annual advice to the Minister for Education and the Secretary of the Department, on the compliance of government schools with similar requirements to those that apply to non-government schools.
These requirements are detailed in the NSW Registration Process for the Government Schooling System Manual (the Manual).
While all requirements in the Manual apply to government schools and are relevant to the Department’s assurance processes, the Framework sets out the:
- subset of requirements that are subject to reporting
- form of reporting over a five-year cycle.
Reporting requirements
The requirements that are subject to annual reporting by the Department are:
- Staff (B3)
- Curriculum (B4)
- Enrolment and attendance (B7)
- Safe and supportive environment (B8)
- Discipline (B9)
- Boarding facilities, where relevant (B10)
- Distance education, where relevant (B11).
Five-year registration cycle
The requirements identified above are the subject of the Department’s annual reporting to NESA over a five-year registration cycle. Each year a subset of these requirements will be the focus of the Department’s annual report.
Five-Year Plan
The registration cycle for annual reporting is based on a documented Five-Year Plan, which describes the subset of requirements for each calendar year.
The Five-Year Plan:
- is a flexible and negotiated document created in response to emerging compliance risk areas and NESA and Department priorities.
- specifies the curriculum and policy areas that are the subject of the Department’s report to NESA.
Current Five-Year Plan
| Focus Area A – Curriculum Requirements | Focus Area B – Policy Requirements |
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| Focus Area A – Curriculum Requirements | Focus Area B – Policy Requirements |
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| Focus Area A – Curriculum Requirements | Focus Area B – Policy Requirements |
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| Focus Area A – Curriculum Requirements | Focus Area B – Policy Requirements |
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| Focus Area A – Curriculum Requirements | Focus Area B – Policy Requirements |
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Reporting components
For the curriculum and policy requirements specified in the Five-Year Plan, the annual report is structured under 5 categories.
Scope
A record of the monitoring events that were conducted by the Department for the specified curriculum and policy requirements, which includes:
- the number of monitoring events conducted and the focus requirements
- the number of participating schools
- details of the participating schools, for example, location, Years of schooling
- any relevant centrally managed processes.
Policies
An overview of the Department’s policies relevant to the curriculum and policy requirements that were subject to the Department’s monitoring.
Monitoring processes
A description of the Department’s assurance processes that were implemented to assess school compliance against the identified requirements. This may include a description of:
- the approach to school visits and other forms of audit, including random, cyclical and unannounced visitations, risk assessment strategies and any approaches to sampling across types and locations of schools
- monitoring activities conducted in schools or centrally managed and how these assure compliance with the requirements
- staff involved in the monitoring processes and any relevant training provided.
Findings and actions
An overview of the findings for the year as a whole generally and for each of the areas specified in the Five Year Plan. This may include:
- any specific findings for particular schools or groups of schools
- specific instances, or patterns of issues, requiring address or mitigation to assure compliance with the requirements
- the mitigation's applied (including programs for continued monitoring).
Evaluation and future directions
A description of any amendments to policies, procedures or support to government schools in response to any findings that have system-wide relevance.