How to talk to your child’s teacher about concerns

Talking about your concerns if you are unhappy with your child’s school is important. Try these three steps to help you work with your child’s school to find a solution.

1. Let the school know you’re worried

The best way to raise your concerns is directly with the school. Hearing from parents is often the first step for schools to know there is something wrong. There are many things your child’s school may be able to offer, including in-school support and flexible options. They could also help with advice or a referral, if you need.

You can make an appointment at the school to talk with your child’s teacher or the principal. If you don’t know who to contact, get in touch with the administration by calling or emailing first, and ask them who you should speak to. The school website may also explain how their complaint process works. Your Department of Education regional office may also be able to help you through this process.

2. If you think you need to take the complaint further

If you have spoken with the school and are unhappy with the outcome, you can ask your Department of Education regional office to help. The regional office can work with you and the school to review what has happened. You need to submit a Request for internal review form (Word Doc, 95KB) within 28 days of receiving the outcome of your original complaint.

3. Seeking a review

If you’ve tried speaking with the school, and also asked the regional office to review and are unhappy with the result, you may want to contact the Queensland Ombudsman and request an external review. The Ombudsman is not part of the Department of Education which means its review will be dealt with by people who do not work for the department.

If it’s something else

There are some issues that are handled differently from a standard complaint about a school. These include:

• issues about harm, or risk of harm, to a student attending a state school, which must be managed in accordance with the Student protection procedure (PDF, 298KB).
• complaints about corrupt conduct, public interest disclosures; or certain decisions made under legislation, which will be dealt with as outlined in the Excluded complaints factsheet (PDF, 226KB).