Media release – Jo Palmer, Minister for Education, 13 March 2025
Response to Final Report of Independent Review of Education in Tasmania
The Tasmanian Liberal Government has accepted the recommendations from the Independent Review of Education in Tasmania.
Minister for Education, Jo Palmer, said of the 14 recommendations, 13 have been accepted in full and one accepted in-principle, with further analysis to be undertaken around funding professional associations to deliver discipline-specific professional learning.
“We’re now focussed on carefully considering the findings of the Final Report and taking action to implement these recommendations, with improved outcomes for Tasmanian learners being front of mind in this work,” Minister Palmer said.
“I’m delighted by the excitement I’m observing across the Tasmanian community about the possibilities stemming from our independent review.
“From the Tasmanian education sectors, key stakeholders and families, there is so much goodwill to ensure we see meaningful change for our children and young people.
“Importantly, work is already underway to progress a number of these recommendations, including supercharging our literacy strategy, improving school staff wellbeing, ensuring alignment between our education system and the University of Tasmania, and getting ready to trial a multi-school organisation model.
Of the 14 recommendations, three will be collectively led by Tasmanian education sectors and three led by the Department for Education, Children and Young People.
Eight will be implemented independently within each sector with learnings shared through the Advisory Council for Education, which is made up of the Secretary, Department for Education Children and Young People and the Executive Directors of Independent Schools Tasmania and Catholic Education Tasmania.
The Tasmanian Government released the Final Report from the Independent Review of Education in Tasmania on 22 January 2025.
Independent Review Of Education Report Released – Tasmanian Times
Simon Warriner
March 14, 2025 at 16:51
It is regrettable that the Terms of Reference neglected to include the impact of the constant changes of leadership occurring within schools, and that the disconnection of that leadership from the community being served had on school culture and performance.
I watched my local school go from being lauded and unprompted by people across the region, to one that lost 50% of its year 5 students at the end of that year after several years of increasing dissatisfaction.
The success was due to a principal who lived within walking distance of the school. The failures were all drive-in drive-outs, and the further they were away, the worse it got.