School education is vital for the personal development and prospects of students, for the economic prosperity of the state, and for fostering positive social and cultural outcomes. Despite attracting large and increasing amounts of funding, school education in New South Wales faces wide-ranging challenges. These challenges relate to funding disparities, declining or stagnant student achievement, school overcrowding, curriculum design, teacher working conditions and teacher shortages.

This paper provides an overview of school education in New South Wales, the major challenges it faces and the reforms that have been implemented to address those challenges.