Engaged parents and carers involved in their child’s learning and development Families play a critical role in children’s learning and development. Engaged parents and carers boost children’s motivation and confidence as learners and foster positive attitudes towards education. Key achievements in 2015–16: funding more than 190 services to deliver early years programs and services, including child and family support hubs, pre-kindergarten activities, playgroups and early childhood development services promoting effective strategies for learning, including the release of parent-focused resources to support children’s positive transition to school building the confidence of parents and families as children’s first educators through the Abecedarian Queensland pilot program providing opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families and their children from over 20 locations across Queensland to participate in play-based early learning activities, and access take home resources as part of the Families as First Teachers program partnering with non-government organisations to maintain awareness of the importance of kindergarten at community events reaching more than 22,700 followers on the counts! Facebook page by sharing practical ideas and activities for families to engage in their child’s early education and support their learning and development supporting parents and services through the Kindy Hotline. Increasing vulnerable children’s participation in early education More than one in five children starts school with vulnerabilities that can present challenges for their future learning and development. Overcoming participation barriers to provide access to quality early education programs for every child is essential to reducing developmental vulnerability and positively shaping children’s long-term outcomes. Key achievements in 2015–16: focusing on inclusive programs that reflect and community diversity to increase the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children participating in a quality kindergarten program to 85.6 per cent in 2015, up 20.3 percentage points from 2014 supporting 11,266 children from disadvantaged communities to participate in a quality kindergarten in 2015, up from 11,152 in 2014 securing an additional $14.2 million over four years to support children with disability to actively participate in kindergarten through the new Disability Inclusion Support for Queensland Kindergartens funding program partnering with the Queensland Department of Health to address the high rate of middle ear disease in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children through the Deadly Kids, Deadly Futures — Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Hearing Health Framework 2016–26 funding Early Years Connect, a professional development package designed to support early childhood educators working with children with disability, significant development delay, and complex social, emotional and behavioural needs
delivering workshops to support service providers and families to better plan, develop and deliver integrated responses to local issues. Intensive Early Childhood Development program The Projects Young Mothers for Young Women program increases opportunities for children of young women by focusing on early childhood development within Micah’s intensive family support work. Families can use a specially-designed questionnaire to identify developmental milestones in the first five years of their children’s lives. Trained educators follow-up survey completion with home visits to support families in exploring parenting skills in a warm and safe environment. Parents can also attend Group Connections to learn about their own and other children through hands-on and fun learning activities. When families are ready, they are supported to participate in early childhood education and care services, further enhancing positive child growth. Investment in programs to support early learning and development Effectively using and applying information, data and evidence underpins strategies and programs to support early learning and development. This practice is contributing to a strategic evidence base and embedding research into practice to drive better outcomes for children and families. Key achievements in 2015–16: partnering with the Queensland University of Technology to deliver the Sleep health and sleep development research project and develop resources for early childhood professionals to apply evidence-based sleep practices and principles for children aged three to five years supporting schools, communities, early years services and government to develop local strategies to improve early childhood development by delivering data for more than 95 per cent of children in Prep from the Australian Early Development Census commissioning Griffith University to undertake a project with 46 state schools across three regions in 2015 (extending to 115 state schools across seven regions in 2016) to design and implement a school-based action research project incorporating active, playful and creative learning experiences in Prep working with Queensland University of Technology to evaluate the effectiveness of supported playgroups as a model that builds parent capability and children’s early learning and development skills developing new approaches to performance accountability and investment which will support community organisations to collect, analyse and use data for targeted action to improve community wellbeing using Results Based Accountability equipping early childhood education and care services with the resources, skills and confidence to translate knowledge into practice through the Early Years Connect project.
working with the Queensland Minerals and Energy Academy to establish the Centre for Excellence in Automation and Robotics expanding scholarship programs to attract high-quality pre-service teachers in STEM subjects partnering with Queensland universities to provide a of professional development opportunities (including online coaching modules) to increase the expertise of STEM teachers in state schools appointing STEM champions in each region to lead professional development for teachers in STEM and work collaboratively with higher education institutions, industry and other partners identifying and strengthening key partnerships with business, industry and universities to develop access to STEM expertise for each school. Globally connected students through languages and cultural experiences Queensland school communities recognise the importance of preparing young person to benefit from the opportunities of a global economy and an interconnected world. Our plan to expand the study of languages and cultures from Prep to Year 12 in state schools, with a focus on Asian languages, will establish a global mindset and develop the skills to connect with other cultures. Key achievements in 2015–16: exploring professional development opportunities for language teachers in conjunction with universities and language associations providing global opportunities for principals, school leaders, teachers and students through collaboration with AsiaLink Business and the Confucius Institute at QUT, as well as international governments and partners in China, Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, Italy, Switzerland and Germany supporting the continuation and expansion of the French–Australian Bilingual program developing curriculum materials and resources for teachers and students to support implementation of the Australian Curriculum for Japanese, French, Chinese and German attracting 1742 school-aged international student visa holders to study at more than 75 Queensland state schools supporting 1325 dependants of temporary residents in their English language requirements by providing $1.2 million in funding to Queensland state schools conducting study tours and professional visits for 12,000 international students and 2000 international educators. Centre of Excellence in Automation and Robotics The Centre of Excellence in Automation and Robotics was launched at Alexandra Hills State High School in March 2016. The Centre is a joint initiative between the department and the Queensland Resources Council (QRC) which aims to provide access to coding, automation and robotics learning options for all Year 7 to 12 students at the school. The Centre operates in consultation with industry partners, the Queensland University of Technology, teachers, staff, parents and students, and builds the relationship between the school and QRC’s Queensland Minerals and Energy Academy. Teachers high-quality teaching practices An evidence-based approach to teaching and learning is crucial to improving outcomes for students. Supporting teachers to improve the based
Advancing education action plan consultation and #codingcounts discussion paper released 14 October 2015 10 week statewide consultation process concluded 23 December 2015 more than 1000 Queenslanders participated in the consultation process refreshed Advancing education action plan, a consultation report, #codingcounts and STEM supporting plans released to the public 30 June 2016. National Agreements Successful negotiation of the: National Partnership Agreement on Universal Access to Childhood Education 2016 and 2017 National Partnership Agreement on the National Quality Agenda for Early Childhood Education and Care review of the National Partnership Agreement on Skills Reform Project Agreement for the Schools Security Programme Project Agreement for Online Safety Programmes in School. Information about the outcomes, objectives, targets and performance indicators in National Agreements and National Partnership Agreements under the Intergovernmental Agreement on Federal Financial Relations is available at . The department has also continued to work in partnership with key stakeholders across the education, training and higher education sectors. During 2015–16, the department supported the establishment of the Ministerial Senior Secondary Assessment Taskforce. The Taskforce included representatives from across the schooling and tertiary education sectors. It met on occasions to guide the development of new Queensland senior assessment and tertiary entrance systems. The new system will commence for students entering Year 11 in 2018. Continuous quality improvement through evidence-informed practices, good governance and accountable decision making Good governance and evidence-informed practice are essential for the department to carry out its operations effectively. The department continues to improve its frameworks to balance its performance and accountability requirements. Key achievements in 2015–16: developing a quick guide for the department’s Corporate Governance Framework to provide users with ongoing confidence in service integrity. The guide maps the department’s governance practices to the seven good governance elements and improves accessibility to this information. implementing the Evidence Framework bringing together the essential elements for building better practice and underpinned by the Standards of Evidence to provide a common language to discuss, generate and critique evidence. launching the Education Horizon priority research grant scheme to support research aligned with the department’s education and training priorities. The department also facilitates a number of statutory bodies and entities to table separate annual reports in Parliament. Further information about these statutory bodies and portfolio entities is available in Appendix H. Boards and committees Further information about our boards and committees is available in Appendix G. Public Sector Ethics Act, 1994
workplace, and improves service delivery to clients. Looking ahead, the department is implementing changes to the complaints management system to further improve consistency in the recording of customer complaints and reporting under section 219(A) of the PSA. The department’s ‘customer complaints’ section 219(A) of the PSA can be obtained from the department’s website at Internal Audit Internal provides audit and advisory services across the department including centralised and regional functions, information systems, frontline service delivery areas, programs and projects. The Head of Internal Audit reports to the Director-General and to the ARMC, having regard to Queensland Treasury’s Audit Committee Guidelines. Internal Audit complies with its charter developed in accordance with the International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing and the Financial Accountability Act 2009. Internal Audit delivers an annual plan approved by the Director-General. During 2015–16, Internal Audit completed or was completing: 430 audits in schools and independent public schools 20 general audits 10 information systems audits. Internal Audit also audited several financial acquittals, provided ad hoc advice on audit and assurance services to several departmental ICT enabled projects, and targeted audit enquiries and independent payroll verification checks on several payroll rate changes. An internal self-assessment was also performed in accordance with the above international standards. Key achievements in 2015–16: completing a comprehensive risk-based annual audit plan providing professional and timely advice to management and clients, including project assurances enhancing internal audit reporting and collaboration with management, to address department risks using pragmatic solutions supporting departmental reform through completion of a program of regional audits focused on governance and service delivery processes enhancing data analytics to broaden the scope of computer-assisted audit techniques to identify and report exceptions to management participating in the department’s Fraud and Corruption Control Committee to enhance governance and accountability frameworks to mitigate the risk of and proactively detect fraud through targeted data analytical procedures participating in key department working groups to contribute to risk identification and mitigation perspectives receiving consistently positive feedback on the audit and advisory services from client satisfaction surveys carrying out Queensland Audit Office (QAO) audit recommendations to assess progress and completion. External scrutiny The department is subject to a number of external reviewers, including the Queensland Auditor–General, the Office of the Information Commissioner (Queensland), the and Corruption Commission (Queensland), and the Queensland Ombudsman. Information about significant external audits and reviews of the department during the 2015–16 financial year is available in Appendix F.
Proportion of students achieving at or above the National Minimum Standard Graph 11: Year 3 Reading — All students Graph 12: Year 3 Writing — All students Graph 13: Year 3 Numeracy — All students Graph 14: Year 3 Reading — Indigenous students Graph 15: Year 3 Writing — Indigenous students 16: Year 3 Numeracy — Indigenous students Graph 17: Year 5 Reading — All students 18: Year 5 Writing — All students Graph 19: Year 5 Numeracy — All students
Directions and orders Table 5: Summary of directions and orders Type of direction or order Directions or orders given to personnel other than children 2015–16 Directions or orders given to children 2015–16 State and non-state schools Prohibition from entering premises of all state educational institutions and non-state schools for up to one year — section 352 0 0 State schools Direction about conduct or movement — section 337 139 5 Direction to leave and not re-enter — section 339 18 0 Prohibition from entering premises for up to 60 days — section 340 22 2 Prohibition from entering premises for more than 60 days but not more than one year — section 341 1 0 Review of direction — section 338: the number of review applications made 21 0 the number of directions confirmed 14 0 the number of directions cancelled 2 0 Prohibition from entering premises of all state education institutions for up to one year — section 353 0 0 Non-state schools Direction about conduct or movement — section 346 14 0 Direction to leave and not re-enter — section 348 13 1 Prohibition from entering premises for up to 60 days — section 349 8 0 Prohibition from entering premises for more than 60 days but not more than one year — section 350 0 0 Review of direction — section 347: the number of review applications made 1 0 the number of directions confirmed 1 0 the number of directions cancelled 0 0
7: Administrative Arrangements Order (No. 3) 2015 Principal ministerial responsibilities Acts administered Minister for Education Early Childhood Education and Care including: Early Childhood Education and Care Regulated Services Kindergarten Programs Education including: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Distance Education Education of Students in Youth Detention Centres Home Education International Education Primary Education Secondary Education Special Education Higher Education including: State Government Policy and Planning Non-State School Accreditation Non-State School Funding Registration of Teachers Australian Catholic University (Queensland) Act 2007 Bond University Act 1987 Central Queensland University Act 1998 Education (Accreditation of Non-State Schools) Act 2001 Education and Care Services Act 2013 Education and Care Services National Law (Queensland) Act 2011 Education (Capital Assistance) Act 1993 Education (General Provisions) Act 2006 Education (Overseas Students) Act 1996 Education (Queensland College of Teachers) Act 2005 Education (Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority) Act 2014 Education (Work Experience) Act 1996 Grammar Schools Act 1975 Griffith University Act 1998 James Cook University Act 1997 Queensland University of Technology Act 1998 University of Queensland Act 1998 University of Southern Queensland Act 1998 University of the Sunshine Coast Act 1998 Minister for Training and Skills International Vocational Education and Training Skills and Workforce Development Vocational Education and Training including Technical and Further Education Further Education and Training Act 2014 Jobs Queensland Act 2015 TAFE Queensland Act 2013 Vocational Education and Training (Commonwealth Powers) Act 2012