Our strategic directions
Ensuring equity for regional, rural and remote learning communities is a priority under Our Plan for NSW Public ÌÇÐÄvlog¹ÙÍø and continues to be a focus for the department.
In 2026 we will continue to work through our Strategic Excellence Plan (2025-27) to improve learning outcomes for regional, rural and remote learning communities.
We consulted widely throughout 2024 to ensure our focus moving forward would meet the needs of regional, rural and remote schools. This included reviewing close to 3,000 inputs from our schools, stakeholders and education partners to understand the top priorities for regional, rural and remote learning communities.
The strategic directions outlined in our Strategic Excellence Plan were shaped, and continue to be guided, by this feedback. They include:
Under this strategic direction we will:
- work with school leaders to identify the professional learning needs of their early career teachers and middle leaders, and work with teams across the department to optimise delivery in Regional, rural and remote settings.
support the in-region delivery of department priorities including explicit teaching, high performance and gifted education, wellbeing and classroom management, and leadership development.​
scale up delivery of the connection events series, providing quality, face-to-face professional learning across regional, rural and remote NSW, building on the success of the past 3 years.
Under this strategic direction we will:
increase understanding of regional, rural and remote learning communities and existing equity gaps through the sharing of research, data and lived experience.
develop tailored programs and resources that address the delivery of departmental priorities in regional, rural and remote contexts.
work across the department to inform policy proposals and reforms that respond to the needs of regional, rural and remote schools, promoting the prioritisation of regional, rural and remote schools for the implementation of whole-of-system supports.
Under this strategic direction we will:
- strengthen departmental processes and interagency collaboration at a system level to navigate cross-departmental issues affecting regional, rural and remote communities.
- enable timely resolution of interagency matters affecting schools by developing clear and streamlined processes, allowing teaching staff to focus on student learning.
- advocate for system-wide policy and operational improvements across agencies to ensure policies and procedures are designed to meet the needs of regional, rural and remote contexts.
- facilitate the effective implementation of departmental priorities and recommendations in unique settings schools, in alignment with Our Plan for NSW Public ÌÇÐÄvlog¹ÙÍø and relevant reviews.
- Increase awareness of and tailored support for unique setting schools across the department and facilitate connections across Government more broadly.
- Support collaboration, knowledge sharing and process improvements to inform equitable resourcing and ensure positive outcomes for students.
Further detail on how we are supporting schools across regional NSW can be found in the Regional, Rural, Remote and Unique Settings Strategic Excellence Plan (staff only).