Division profiles
The NSW Department of Education serves the community by leading the provision of world-class education. The department protects young children by regulating preschool and long day care providers. Once children move into school, we provide them with a world-class primary and secondary education. We also work to advance the wellbeing of Aboriginal people.
Office of the Secretary
This office supports the work of the Secretary as well as the department’s relationships with key stakeholders outside of the department, to help meet strategic objectives across the Education cluster. Our work includes secretariat support for Executive; support for Ministerial Offices; and responding to Cabinet and other government business. The office is also responsible for providing assistance with media enquiries and with correspondence, helping to share stories of success in our system.
School Improvement and Education Reform Group
The group is comprised of the Education and Skills Reform, School Improvement North, School Improvement South, and the Learning Improvement divisions, as well as the Transformation Unit.
The School Improvement and Education Reform group coordinates the department’s enterprise-wide transformation agenda, including driving key school improvement priorities. Our work also includes corporate and delivery planning and support, and monitoring and reporting on the most important and complex departmental targets and strategies such as our Executive Priorities and the Premier’s Priorities.
Education and Skills Reform
The group is comprised of the Education and Skills Reform, School Improvement North, School Improvement South, and the Learning Improvement divisions, as well as the Transformation Unit.
The division drives innovation, reform and policy development based on strategic analysis and evaluation, aligned with external relations for all of the education system and delivers critical programs to improve outcomes in early childhood, schooling and skills. Our responsibilities include securing national and state funding for education services, distributing funding to non-government schools and preschool providers, promoting high-quality standards for early childhood education, and driving a whole-of-department focus on Aboriginal outcomes.
School Performance
School Performance – North & South Divisions lead and direct the operations of more than 2,200 NSW public schools. The divisions aim to maximise the academic achievements of all students and create a culture of success, learning and a desire to achieve, underpinned by innovative, adaptive and supportive strategies that support the quality of teaching and educational leadership at the school level. The divisions are responsible for the achievement of excellence in educational leadership, professional practice and school performance in preschools, infants, primary, secondary, central and community schools, specialist and comprehensive schools, specific purpose schools, intensive English and environmental education centres.
School Performance – North
School Performance – North is responsible for four School Performance Directorates. The division also has responsibility for statewide student services such as Assisted School Travel (Operations), Child Wellbeing and Mental Health Services Unit, Arts, Sports and Initiatives Unit, Community Languages and International Programs.
School Performance – South
School Performance – South is responsible for four School Performance Directorates. The division is also responsible for delivering Connected Communities, Bushfire Strategy and Strategic School Improvement.
Learning Improvement
- Monitoring, supporting and regulating the early childhood education and out of school hours care sector in NSW and ensure continuous improvement in quality. It works to ensure the sector optimises the safety, wellbeing, learning, growth and development of children in the early to middle years.
- Maximising access, inclusion and wellbeing of all students. It achieves this through the oversight of relevant policies and by commissioning programs or strategic partnerships with other agencies and service providers.
- Developing and monitoring policies and advice that support teachers to use evidence-based practice. It supports teachers to achieve high professional standards in the delivery of curriculum, assessment and reporting.
- Developing evidence-based programs, professional learning and instructional resources. It does this in partnership with schools, teachers and leaders to build teaching, learning and leading capabilities across all schools
Transformation Unit
The Transformation Unit coordinates the department’s transformation agenda for delivering school improvement and skills reform, including oversight of the Executive Priorities and Premier’s Priorities. The directorate works to track and report progress of the department’s system-level targets and provides a common approach to how we deliver business-critical projects and programs.
Teams in the directorate partner with business units across the group to identify and prioritise the issues that need to be tackled to reach our targets, design the right interventions, deliver the changes well for schools and students, and ensure we are having a positive impact.
The School Improvement Executive, and Skilling For Recovery Executive is coordinated and supported by the Transformation Unit, and provides oversight of the portfolio of school improvement and Education Reform projects and programs.