Teachers Registration Act Review

The Teachers Registration Act 2000 (the Act) was introduced to regulate the teaching profession in Tasmania. It established the Teachers Registration Board and its key powers and functions. The Act provides minimum professional standards for Tasmanian teachers and requires the Board to consider the welfare and best interests of students to be of paramount importance when performing its functions and exercising its powers.

Since the Act’s first introduction in 2000, much has changed, including:

• The Commission of Inquiry, which highlighted the need for the Act to better protect Tasmanian children and young people in schools. It set out issues and limitations with the current Act and recommended changes. The Tasmanian Government has committed to implementing these recommendations by July 2026.
• The introduction of the Framework for Teacher Registration in Australia, outlining a nationally consistent approach to the registration of teachers across areas like professional standards and development requirements.
• A national commitment to the registration of teachers in early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings through the National Early Childhood Education and Care Workforce Strategy and subsequent Review of Child Safety Arrangements, that endorsed teacher registration in ECEC as a key mechanism to enhance child safety.
• A more comprehensive national evidence base showing more Tasmanian students come from disadvantaged backgrounds than their national counterparts, with consequently lower levels of attendance, literacy and numeracy.
• TheRoyal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and the Commission of Inquiry providing us with a much deeper understanding of how to make our institutions safe for children and young people.
• The release of the Productivity Commission Inquiry Report A path to universal early childhood education and care (September 2024).
• The update of the Education Act 2016 and the Review of Education Regulation, making recommendations and implementing legislation that reflects changes in contemporary understanding of best practice regulation to deliver outcomes.

The review of the Act represents the next step in modernising education regulation in Tasmania, redesigning it to better meet the needs of children and young people, keep them safe and prepare them for the future. This follows the creation of the Education Act 2016 and the Review of Education Regulation.

The objective is to review the Teachers Registration Act 2000 and make recommendations to ensure:

• children are safe while they learn
• teachers, including those in ECEC, are high quality and meet professional standards
• the legislative framework reflects modern regulatory practice and is fit-for-purpose.

The review will be overseen by a Steering Committee which collectively has the following skills and experience:

• An independent chair with knowledge of the subject matter, skills and expertise in the preparation of legislation, government policy development and government risk appetite
• A representative from each education sector who can bring skills and expertise from their sector but will have an outcome-focused approach and the ability to collaborate with other Steering Committee members
• A representative with skills and expertise in regulation including delivery of an outcomes-based approach to regulation.

A Project Team from the Department for Education, Children and Young People will support the Review and the Steering Committee.