Education Minister Yvette Berry wants disability issues resolved for public school parents. She should do the same for the Feedback and Complaints process. Photo: Ian Bushnell.
The Education Directorate is in the midst of one of the biggest reform programs of its existence, one that will fundamentally change the way literacy and numeracy are taught and how public schools will function.
In short, it has a lot on its plate.
Schools and their teachers, it seems, have always been in that situation.
Therefore, it is not surprising that some parent complaints can go unresolved or even disappear in an environment of constant change and stretched resources.
However, the call from the ACT Council of Parents and Citizens Associations this week for an overhaul of the school system’s complaints process indicates that frustration is growing among parents who feel they are not being heard.
Ideally, complaints should be dealt with at the teacher and school level whenever possible, but the Council notes that this is not always feasible, especially when trust has broken down.
Even when escalated to the Directorate’s Feedback and Complaints team, some complaints are referred back down the line, leaving parents in limbo.
Too many parents feel like they are not being taken seriously, or their complaints are not even acknowledged.
The Council says 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.
P&C Association executive officer Veronica Elliott says it reflects a dismissive attitude that treats parents and carers as the problem, not the issues they are bringing forward.
“Dismissing families’ concerns at this scale is not just outrageous. It’s deeply insulting,” she said.
It also reflects a defensive posture, perhaps more concerned with the potential reputational damage to the Directorate than resolving problems.
The Council wants a complaints body that can operate at arm’s length from the Directorate, similar to an ombudsman, which can earn the trust of parents.
However, if such a body were established, it would need to be well-resourced and avoid falling into the trap of a sclerotic investigation and laborious case building.
Parents want to be heard and for prompt action to be taken, not lengthy processes.
The Council is particularly concerned about the way parents of children with a disability fare in battling for an inclusive public education.
Last week, the Directorate felt the anger of these parents when a seemingly innocent social media post timed for the current enrolment period spruiking services available at public schools sparked online fury.
To many, the Directorate seemed completely out of touch with what was happening on the ground and the reality of parents’ struggles to secure their children’s educational needs.
It was enough for Education Minister Yvette Berry to respond publicly and ask the Directorate to investigate each parent’s claims.
The disability area is one fraught with challenges, most definitely for the parents and their kids, but also for schools and teachers struggling to meet their needs.
But overcoming these challenges will fail if parents are not listened to. As Ms Elliott says, complaints are not just “problems to manage” but critical feedback that highlights where systems are falling short.
Not every complaint is valid, but it is all information.
The Directorate might resist a complaints overhaul at a time of already great change, but Ms Elliott argues that it is precisely the right time to do so.
The Council’s call and the social media blow-up are warning signs for the Directorate, which needs parent buy-in for the changes in train and to come.
