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Information for parents and carers

The Office exists to support you in resolving complex, ongoing issues between you and your child’s government school.

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The Minister for Education has appointed a Chair and 2 Deputy Chairs to the Independent Office for School Dispute Resolution (IOSDR), who are experts in resolving complex disagreements.

Unlike most complaints handling bodies, the IOSDR uses an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) approach. This approach does not investigate past events with a view to making findings on who was right and who was wrong, nor does this approach assign blame or responsibility to the current situation.

Working with the IOSDR requires you and the school to agree to focus on the future, given the student the best opportunity to succeed at school and in their education.

The IOSDR does not advocate for parents/carers or the Department of Education (the Department). Participation in seeking a resolution to the issues is voluntary for both parties.

What to do if you have a complaint

You should always talk to school staff in the first instance, as they are best placed to quickly resolve issues.

If you contact the IOSDR directly we will explain the work we do, our approach to resolving conflict and help you connect to the appropriate place within the Department to help resolve your complaint.

The Office will only become involved through a direct contact in exceptional cases, where the safety or welfare of a student is directly at risk. Because we are independent, the involvement of the Office requires the agreement of both the school and the family, and we don’t have the authority to compel the Department or families to work with us.

Steps for raising a complaint

Please note: As of June 2025, the Department has implemented a new complaint management policy. The section below is being updated to reflect these changes.

In the meantime, you can contact us if you have any questions about your complaint and the IOSDR’s potential role.

The Department’s policy explains the 3 steps to raise a complaint.

These steps can be summarised as:

Open all

Speak to the classroom teacher or year level coordinator — they are most likely able to help you. If you then need to make a formal complaint, raise this with the Assistant Principal or Principal.

If the school cannot resolve your concern, you can raise your complaint with the Department’s local regional office. The regional office may then a Community Liaison Officer or CLO to work with you, the school and other necessary experts to help resolve the complaint.

If the matter remains unresolved, you can contact the Department’s Complaints and Improvement Unit (CIU). A member of the CIU will contact you and discuss possible measures which can be taken. This may include the matter being referred to the Office if the matter can be resolved using the ADR approach.

Matters the IOSDR can receive

The following criteria applies for the IOSDR to consider taking a complaint.

Other decisions or actions not listed above may be considered as appropriate to the work of the IOSDR if:

Matters the IOSDR cannot receive

Here is a list of some of the decisions and actions that are not suitable for our office, or the ADR approach we take to resolving complaints.

Please note: If you are seeking a judgement or finding on a particular matter, the IOSDR process is not suitable and the matter should be reviewed by the relevant Department process. This review will lead to a finding and you will be advised of the outcome of the review in due course.

The Office will also not take matters that are being dealt with in another jurisdiction such as the Victorian Ombudsman, VCAT or a court of law.

Referring a dispute

Normally if a dispute is eligible it will be referred to us by the Department’s Complaints and Improvement Unit (CIU) as part of the Department’s normal complaints escalation process.

You can speak directly to us if you think that your dispute has not been referred but should have been. The Office will need to contact the Department to check the details of the matter and will assist you to connect with the Department if the matter has not yet been raised there first.

Please note: Students should attend school, even if there is an ongoing dispute, unless there are significant and reasonable concerns about the student’s safety, health or wellbeing.

If these legitimate concerns exist, they should be made clear in your contact with the Department, so that the concerns can be properly assessed and the matter can be dealt with urgently. These concerns can also be considered by the IOSDR.

What happens next

If you and the school agree to work with the IOSDR, the Department will let you and the school know to expect our call. The Chair of the IOSDR will assign a case manager and we will organise a time that is suitable for you to speak with us.

This initial conversation provides an opportunity for you to explain the situation, let us know what’s important to you and what the outcome is you are seeking. We can also answer any questions about our role.

We will speak to the school principal so they understand our processes, and what the next steps might be.

The IOSDR processes are very flexible, so conversations and meetings are usually face-to-face and can be at a venue outside of the school, if that’s your preference.

All members of the Office will adopt ADR approaches to resolving matters, with the main focus on achieving an outcome acceptable to all involved.

Possible outcomes or agreements

Decisions on what the future will be are agreed to by you and the principal. Various outcomes can be achieved through having the dispute handled by the IOSDR. Primarily, the Office strives to assist parents, carers, students and principals to reach an agreed outcome that they agreed to implement.

If the dispute indicates a systemic problem, the Office may recommend that the Department review or update its policies or practices, or take further action to address the problem.

If the dispute remains unresolved

Where it is not possible to resolve a matter, the IOSDR can then assess the information it has and make recommendations to the Department about what to do next. The IOSDR does not have the authority to order an outcome. Parties can withdraw from the process at any point.

Having the matter received by the IOSDR does not remove your right to contact other entities such as the Victorian Ombudsman, the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal or the courts. However, the discussions and statements made during the IOSDR process should not be used in these other proceedings.

Where other entities are engaged, the IOSDR will generally stop being involved.

Improving the systems

The Office also works with the Department to improve its overall complaints management processes. When workable solutions are reached for complex problems, these can help make improvements across the whole system.

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Updated 27 March 2026

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