A new bill concerning the Victorian education system passed in February 2025 and made amendments to the Education and Training Reform Act 2006 (Act).1
The Act aims to strengthen compliance and enforcement powers of the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority (VRQA). It seeks to make it more difficult for unregistered or non-compliant schools to escape scrutiny or consequences of non-compliance.
The changes demonstrate that the VRQA wants to have the ability to keep other bodies including the Commission for Children and Young People (CCYP), the Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT) and the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) informed of developments, including in relation to to staff conduct.
In March this year, the VRQA released a statement about its regulatory focus for 2025, namely that:
- Our 2025 cyclical review program will focus on compliance with the Child Safe Standards, including Ministerial Order 1359.
A further announcement outlined an agreement with the FWO called an ‘Exchange of Letters’ whereby each body will inform the other of compliance investigations to increase their regulatory oversight.
Key Takeaway: Coupled with the increased powers in the Act, schools and other education providers can be in no doubt that the VRQA will be focussed on child safety, health and wellbeing as its top priority, from Board line of sight to the day-to-day operations. This includes a focus in relation to employee investigations.
Immediate changes
Some of the reforms were enacted on the passing of the bill in February and therefore it is important to be mindful of these now. The following two reforms have already been enacted:
- The VRQA may now cancel the registration of a school or school boarding premises that has ceased to operate2
- The VRQA may more easily share information with a prescribed person or body3
In practical effect, this will remove the show cause process involved in the cancellation of the registration of education providers that have ceased to operate. It will also allow the VRQA to share information with a prescribed person or body such as the VIT, CCYP or FWO without receiving express written request from education providers to do so.
This may occur in the process of assessing whether prescribed minimum standards have been met.
Changes coming into effect 1 October 2025
Along with the changes already enacted, the Act will implement changes that provide the VRQA with more investigative powers that will come into effect on 1 October 2025. These powers relate to:
- Requirement that a person or organisation produce documents or information that helps the VRQA determine if they should be registered.4
- A significant increase in the penalties for operating an unregistered school or school boarding premises.5
- The VRQA is allowed to consider a Registered Training Organisation’s (RTO) historical non-compliance with child safe standards6.
- The ability of the VRQA to accept an enforceable undertaking when there is a risk or likelihood of non-compliance.7
In effect, this will allow the VRQA to issue a notice for an education provider to provide any documents that it believes are reasonably necessary.
The changes will grant the VRQA greater authority to proactively disclose information to relevant bodies such as the CCYP without awaiting a written request. It may also request information from such bodies to assist in compliance assessment.
They will also empower the VRQA to issues notices to comply to schools it believes are operating without registration. Non-compliance with these notices can lead to civil penalties outlined below.
It will increase the maximum penalty units for operating an unregistered school or school boarding premises from 10 penalty units to 120 penalty units for an individual and 600 units for a body corporate.
Application
The new reform Act applies to schools and school boarding premises that the VRQA has reasonable cause to believe are required to be regulated from operating without registration or approval. From October 1, the VRQA will have the capacity to require such providers to produce information or documents that are relevant to the health, safety and wellbeing of students. This aligns with the specified regulatory focus of compliance with Ministerial Order 1359.
Implications
The Act has been introduced to provide the VRQA with more streamlined methods to assess whether education providers are meeting minimum required standards. The Act provides the VRQA with the power to require education providers to supply relevant documents.
It will allow the VRQA to:
- Issue a notice to produce information that the VRQA reasonably believes is necessary to its determination of an education providers registration.
- Issue a notice to comply to a person or body that the VRQA has reasonable cause to believe is required to be regulated by the VRQA.
o This aims to target (among others) unregistered schools who operate and claim they do not require registration.
- Requesting in the notice that an education provider apply for registration, approval or cease engaging in relevant conduct.
What schools and education providers can do to prepare for changes in October
Schools and Education providers may consider doing the following to prepare for the upcoming legislative changes in October.
- Boards: ensure you are actually following the requirements of Ministerial Order 1359, including:
– Be responsible for sighting and approving all key child safety documents;
– Undertake training at least annually;
– Ensure reporting from management is sufficiently detailed to permit the Board to discharge its non-delegable duties and have line of sight; and
– Review and evaluate the child safety processes at least every two years AND after every significant incident.
- Management: ensure:
– Records are kept in accordance with the PROV standard and no documents relating to child safety and wellbeing are destroyed;
– Having regard to expanded information sharing powers, understand when investigations should be conducted under legal privilege;
– There is a process for assessing the ongoing suitability of staff to work with children (as opposed to just checking at the beginning).
How we can help
Contact our Education and Training team for tailored advice on how the Reform Act may impact to your organisation. We can also help to review and develop policies as well as review third party arrangement contracts.
Contact Us
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