ACT Council of Parents and Citizens Associations Executive Officer Veronica Elliott says parents are not being heard. Photo: LinkedIn.
A broken complaints system is leaving public school parents feeling dismissed, frustrated and helpless, according to the ACT Council of Parents and Citizens Associations.
The council is calling for an urgent overhaul of the Education Directorate’s Feedback and Complaints team, as well as the trial of a parent-run advocacy service.
It states that the Directorate’s own Annual Report indicates that a staggering 94 per cent of parent and carer contacts with the Feedback and Complaints team were not even acknowledged as formal complaints.
Executive officer Veronica Elliott stated that the Directorate was failing to address the concerns of parents and carers, who were not the problem.
“Dismissing families’ concerns at this scale is not just outrageous. It’s deeply insulting,” she said.
Ms Elliott said this was happening across the board with complaints ranging from bullying or violence at school, outside, or on social media to parents seeking an inclusive education for their child who may have a disability.
“We are really concerned about families of students with a disability and the opportunity to resolve issues in that space to ensure that students do have an inclusive educational experience before we get to a formal complaint,” she said.
“They need help and support, as do schools, to resolve the issues at hand, and that’s not necessarily happening through the complaints process, so we need change. We need to do something different to help these families and to help schools provide a better experience for our students.”
Ms Elliott said a body independent of the Directorate was needed, such as an education ombudsman, to provide oversight of complaints.
She said the council was calling for an independent re-examination of how the Directorate categorises, records and resolves complaints, as well as investment in family supports, including the trial of an independent parent advocacy service.
“We absolutely need someone with an independent background to provide some oversight because our families need trust and confidence that when they provide information, it is being taken seriously and they are considered genuine complaints,” she said.
Ms Elliott said not all parents had the skills or wherewithal to make and argue their complaint, and an advocacy service would support those parents.
She said complaints were often referred back to individual schools, but they were also stretched, and parents sometimes did not feel comfortable or believe their issue could be resolved at that level.
Ms Elliott said complaints were not just “problems to manage” but critical feedback that highlights where systems were falling short, particularly for families already facing barriers, such as parents and carers of students with disabilities.
She urged a more preventive approach and acknowledged that the current system could be driving parents away from public education.
“We really want to see our families being supported to engage in public education,” Ms Elliott said.
