Can we help with your complaint?
We will investigate complaints about the compliance of these providers with standards:
- VRQA-registered independent schools, school boarding premises, registered training organisations (RTOs)
- non-school senior secondary or foundation secondary providers
- parents of children registered for home schooling
- student exchange organisations (SEO)
- VRQA-approved employers of apprentices or trainees
You should make a formal complaint directly to the provider as your first step.
We will also investigate complaints about:
- VRQA authorised officers or contractors engaged to undertake functions of the authority
- the service provided by the VRQA and interactions with VRQA staff
To make a complaint about:
- government schools contact the Department of Education
- Catholic schools contact the Victorian Catholic Education Authority.
All schools must have a policy for handling complaints. These policies must meet the minimum standards for school registration.
Our online form includes a list of options for your complaint, for example:
- the quality of training
- bullying and harassment
- errors on certificates
- assessment procedures or course attendance
- the condition of facilities or boarding premises.
If you have a complaint that isn't covered by us, you may find help from the other agencies listed on this page.
How to make a complaint
What we do with your complaint
When we receive a complaint and have your contact details, we will take the following steps:
- Within 5 business days, we will send an acknowledgement that we received the complaint.
- We will determine if we can address the complaint and confirm the details in writing.
- If we can help, we will decide how to proceed, whether it be an investigation, audit, review, or another action.
- We will inform you if we cannot investigate.
- If we proceed with an investigation, we will only collect, use and disclose personal information where it is necessary to do so or where authorised or required by law.
- We will then notify the education or training provider of the complaint and ask for their response.
- Once we have completed our investigations, we will report the outcome and determine if any rectifications or further action is required.
- We will then provide our decision to you and the education/training provider.
Full details of the policy and process we use for complaints can be found in our complaints management policy and complaints management procedure.
If we discover that a VRQA-registered school, school boarding premises, RTO, education provider or SEO has not met the relevant registration standards, they must take action to comply with these standards in the future.
An investigation may lead to a review or audit of the education and training provider outside the normal review cycle.
We cannot provide compensation to the complainant or offer any other forms of resolution.
Anonymous complaints
We accept anonymous complaints. However, it may limit our ability to investigate your complaint.
You have the option to discuss the issue anonymously with our team before making a formal complaint.
If you are not satisfied with how we handled your complaint
You can ask for an internal review of a decision by contacting our Complaints Unit.
If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the internal review, contact the Victorian Ombudsman.
If you are concerned about our handling of your personal information, contact the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner.
Who to contact if we can't help
| Complaint type | Contact |
|---|---|
| Refunds, fees and charges | Consumer Affairs Victoria |
| School teachers | Victorian Institute of Teaching |
| Employment and workplace issues including staff entitlements | Fair Work Ombudsman |
| Occupational health and safety breaches | WorkSafe Advisory Service |
| Discrimination (based on disability or any characteristics protected in the Equal Opportunity Act), sexual harassment, racial or religious vilification and victimisation | |
| Child protection and welfare | |
| Registered training organisations (RTOs) not registered with VRQA | Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) Training Accreditation Council (Western Australia) You can also search for the registration authority of an RTO at Training.gov.au(opens in a new window). |
| VET FEE-HELP and VET student loan disputes | Commonwealth Ombudsman – VET student loans |
| International students | Commonwealth Ombudsman – Overseas Students Education Services for Overseas Students (ESOS) framework Some support for international students is available from the Australian Government Department of Education |
| The VRQA or other government agencies | Victorian Public Sector Commission For complaints about the way government agencies handle personal information Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner. |
Privacy and confidentiality of complaints
The VRQA manages complaints in accordance with the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 (Vic) and the Information Privacy Principles.
When handling your complaint, we will:
- only collect, use and disclose personal information where it is necessary to do so or where authorised or required by law.
- secure any personal information we collect to prevent loss, misuse, unauthorised access or disclosure.
Confidentiality
When you make a complaint to the VRQA, your information will be kept confidential.
We will check with you before we talk to the person or organisation your complaint is about. This is so we can be fair to everyone involved.
If you don't give us permission to share your information or tell us who you are, it may affect our ability to investigate the issue or give you an answer.
You can talk to our complaints team at any time about privacy issues.
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