The Queensland independent school sector has welcomed the state government's response to the Non-State School Accreditation Framework review, in which 21 of the 24 recommendations were agreed to in principle.
Independent Schools Queensland (ISQ), the peak body representing more than 230 independent schools across the state, drew on a significant amount of feedback from its member schools as the basis for its submission into the review.
Chris Mountford, ISQ Chief Executive Officer, said it was encouraging to see so much of the feedback carried through into the final report.
"The overarching feedback from our members was that they wanted to see a more constructive relationship between the Non-State Schools Accreditation Board and non-state schools, ensuring every school is set up to succeed,” he said.
“To see the recommendations outlined in the final report clearly guided by this feedback will give non-state schools, and importantly their school communities, greater confidence about the future regulation of the sector.”
ISQ is now calling on for the recommendations to be “implemented collaboratively and not mired in unnecessary delay or over-regulation.”
“We look forward to ongoing collaboration with the Department of Education throughout the implementation of these recommendations and any subsequent legislation,” Mountford said, also acknowledging the work of the review’s lead, Ms Cheryl Vardon AO.
“This review is highly significant to our sector, and for it to mean anything it was vital that stakeholders from right across the non-state school sectors were consulted,” he said.
“Ms Vardon did an incredible job in not only ensuring this consultation occurred but that it was thorough, and the subsequent feedback was taken on board when putting together the final report.”
The original version of this story appeared as a media release from Independent Schools Queensland (ISQ).