Under the Education Act 1990 every child has the right to receive an education. The Act provides that:

• the education of a child is primarily the responsibility of the child’s parents, and
• the state has a duty to ensure every child receives an education of the highest quality, principally through providing public education.

Children of compulsory age are required to be enrolled at, and to attend, a government school or a registered non-government school, or to be registered and receive instruction for home schooling. 

The audit aims to assess whether students who may experience difficulties in receiving an education in a mainstream classroom environment in New South Wales (NSW), or who choose to not be educated in a mainstream classroom environment, have access to a quality education, regardless of their circumstances, when in alternative educational settings.

This audit will assess the effectiveness of the NSW Department of Education and the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) in supporting students to receive a quality education when delivered in alternative education settings.

In doing so, the audit will have two criteria to examine whether: 

1. Agencies provide or support alternative education settings for students to ensure continuity of education:
   1. Alternative settings are accessible and available in a timely way to students.
   2. Transitions into and out of alternative settings support continuity of education.
2. Agencies are effectively implementing quality assurance and safeguarding mechanisms for alternative education settings:
   1. Agencies support students to receive a high quality education in alternative settings.
   2. Education programs in alternative settings are appropriate to meet the diverse learning needs of students. 
   3. Agencies ensure that child safe standards and/or child protection protocols are applied as relevant.
   4. The Department monitors outcomes for individual students in alternative settings. NESA checks that home schooled children are receiving instruction.

Included within the audit scope:

•  NSW Department of Education alternative educational settings:
  • distance education
  • schools for specific purposes catering for students with emotional disturbances or behavioural disorders (‘behaviour schools’)
  • schools in Youth Justice NSW detention centres
  • hospital schools
• Agency management of non-government alternative education setting providers, where relevant
• Home schooling in NSW (regulated by NESA).

Excluded from the audit scope:

• policies and practices at non-government schools, early childhood education and outside school hours care services, or vocational education and training services
• schools for specific purposes catering for students with disability (these were considered through a previous audit, Supporting students with disability)
• support classes located in mainstream schools (these were considered through a previous audit, Supporting students with disability)
• suspension centres and tutorial centres
• in-depth student behaviour management policies and practices (these will be the focus of a future audit on the forward work program)
• merits of government policy objectives.

If you have experiences or views on alternative education settings, you can share them with the Audit Office. This can be done anonymously if you wish. We will consider all feedback provided as we audit the NSW Department of Education and NESA.  

Please note that the audit mailbox will close COB Friday 28 February 2025. 

You can provide feedback on this audit either through the ‘contribute to this audit’ button in the left hand menu (or the comment icon on top right for mobile) or through this link. 

We may use your feedback to identify key themes, risks or issues which may then be further investigated during the audit. In some instances, we may use extracts of contributions in our audit report as examples of feedback provided where appropriate. If we use extracts of a contribution, we will not identify the source in the report. 

However, please note:

• We will not examine individual matters, nor can we investigate all issues or concerns raised. In general, the audit team will look for supporting evidence from other sources (such as documentation, data and audit interviews). Please contact the Department of Education, NESA or the NSW Ombudsman regarding individual matters (details below). 
• We will not share your feedback with any party, including the Department of Education or NESA, nor do we publish feedback on our website. 
• While we will consider all feedback provided, we may not contact you to discuss. 
• We are not able to answer questions or provide information collected during the course of the audit. 
• Performance audits focus on assessing whether public money is spent efficiently, effectively, economically and in compliance with the law. The Auditor-General is not permitted to question the merits of government policy objectives. Please visit the Performance audit guide for audited entities (including non-public sector entities) for more information on how we undertake performance audits.

The Audit Office is required by section 38 of the Government Sector Audit Act 1983 to keep information gathered during the course of a performance audit confidential and the Audit Office takes its responsibilities under these sections seriously. 

Exceptions include the Auditor-General’s Report to Parliament – a public document – and where the Audit Office is permitted or required to disclose information under other legislation.

All information that the Audit Office receives, and working papers that the Audit Office creates during an audit, are classed as excluded information in Schedule 2 of the Government Information (Public Sector) Act 2009 (GIPA Act). An access application under the GIPA Act cannot be made for excluded information. 

For more information on our confidentiality obligations, please visit Our confidentiality and reporting obligations for contributions page.

If you have questions or feedback about individual matters, you can: 

• contact the NSW Department of Education through the website 
• contact the NSW Education Standards Authority through the website 
• make a complaint to the NSW Ombudsman online or by calling 1800 451 524.