The Queensland Government has announced it supports all eight recommendations of the Final Report of the independent Home Education Unit Review.
The recommendations will reposition and enhance home education in Queensland, modernise regulation, and support processes for home education families, to be implemented using a three-phrased approach.
The review was led and chaired by Ms Deborah Dunstone, who received the 2019 Australian Council for Educational Leaders (Queensland) Excellence in Educational Leadership Award and an Australia Day Medal for her work in rural and remote Queensland.
The review benefited from the experiences and insights shared by home educating families and the commitment of a group of parents who have been part of the Home Education Expert Group (HEEG), who have met regularly with Ms Dunstone since July 2024.
Queensland’s Home Education Unit has experienced significant growth in registrations. In 2025, there are approximately 11,400 Queensland children registered for home education, an increase of 230 per cent compared to five years ago.
Improvements were sought to better support home-educating parents and ensure children and young people continue to access high-quality education when educated at home.
The comprehensive and independent stakeholder-informed review of the Home Education Unit, completed in 2024, was called to respond to the changing needs of the sector.
Queensland Minister for Education John-Paul Langbroek said it was a parent’s right to choose the type of education that best met the needs of their child.
“The government wants to work with families and the broader sector to support the educational needs of all children,” Minister Langbroek said.
“I welcome and support the recommendations of the review committee. We look forward to working with stakeholders to find the best approach to implement the recommendations.
“The Queensland Home Education Consultative Group will further enable parent voice and consultation on how we can improve home education regulation and supports, through continued and regular communication between Queensland Home Education and families,” he said.
The eight recommendations supported by the Government will see the following changes to Queensland’s home education system:
1. Transformation of the Home Education Unit to include both regulatory oversight and practical support to assist participating families. To reflect this enhanced scope, the unit will be renamed Queensland Home Education (QHE). An education leader will be engaged to guide the implementation of all recommendations and ensure effective communication with families.
2. Extension of the existing Home Education Expert Group by 6 months to 31 December 2025 to allow the establishment of an ongoing Queensland Home Education Consultative Group, thus maintaining momentum and continued parent engagement.
3. More and better resources to support parents in meeting regulatory requirements, including improved program templates, exemplar annual reports, and publication of clear and transparent information about how compliance is determined for educational programs and written reports.
4. Consider a trial of a new reporting option where parents can submit a short, standard written report and attend an online interview to demonstrate educational progress.
5. Designing more user-friendly IT resources by enhancing the home education website so parents can easily navigate and access support and resources; creating a social media presence to connect with the home educating community and provide timely information; and, developing an efficient online portal for tasks such as registration and reporting.
6. Ensuring the language used in communications with families is clear, supportive and family-centred.
7. Establishing a home education support and advisory response platform for families, where parents can access information regarding onboarding, senior pathways, NAPLAN, services and student opportunities such as regional sport, Premier’s Reading Challenge, Premier’s Anzac Prize, student leadership forums and regional community liaisons.
8. Facilitate and expand access to educational resources, including a review of student identification cards to ensure they have access to all discounts and services available to them; access to curriculum support materials as they are developed and updated; and, liaising with relevant commercial providers to promote home educators and their children for education or teacher discounts.
