Capability reviews are an independent and forward-looking activity, assessing an agency’s current capability and how well it is positioned to meet its future objectives and challenges over a four-year horizon. The aim is to facilitate discussions around the agency’s desired future state, highlight organisational capability gaps and identify opportunities to improve them.

The Department of Education’s role is to provide strategic direction and national leadership for Australia’s education system – through early childhood, schooling, higher education and research. 

The review of the department considered the trends and challenges for delivering a higher performing national education system in the coming four years. It outlines the review’s assessment of the department’s capability maturity across the framework’s five domains: leadership and culture, collaboration, delivery, workforce, and enabling functions.

The review identified findings that highlighted strengths and opportunities to improve the department’s organisational and people capability. In addition to the department’s priorities, the review identified these additional priority areas for capability uplift:

1. Continue to develop a holistic strategy which is central to the department’s role as steward of the education system as a whole.
2. Further enhance collaboration with external stakeholders by strengthening partnerships, harnessing their expertise and building trust, levers that are central to system performance.
3. Monitor and influence the transparent sharing of data with the department’s federated partners, integrating data analytics and information systems.
4. Increase current workforce skills and knowledge in regulation, service and program delivery, and optimise existing skills in policy and public administration craft.