Nearly two dozen illegal schools exposed in crackdown

Nearly two dozen illegal schools have been exposed in a state government crackdown in the past year, shutting down illicit education operations amid serious concerns about unqualified educators and child safety risks.

The Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority (VRQA) says it uncovered 23 entities potentially operating unregistered and illegal schools after receiving more than two dozen complaints.

The authority began collecting and publishing data on illegal schools in the 2024-25 financial year, with nearly all the unregistered operations put out of business after VRQA investigations.

The authority disclosed little detail about the nature of the unregistered schools, but they include operations that are registered under the official home-schooling program but operated for profit.

Unauthorised schools have been found providing education to children both in-person and online.

Unregistered schools run by teachers who refuse to get COVID vaccines and catering to vaccine-sceptic parents have also emerged as an issue in the sector since the pandemic, according to the homeschooling peak body.

The VRQA refused to confirm how many illicit schools it had shut down or to provide any detail of their locations or identity to “maintain the integrity of investigations”.

“If the VRQA receives a complaint about an unregistered school, it will investigate whether the provider should be registered,” an authority spokesperson said.

This can include children registered for homeschooling, according to the body. The authority wrote to more than 8000 families registered for homeschooling in Victoria, warning them of the issues around unregistered schools.

While the authority can issue fines to providers, it did not confirm whether it had issued any fines.

The Home Education Association of Australia said illegal schools were a national issue that had spiked since COVID-19 in 2020.

“During COVID, we had contact from teachers who didn’t want to get vaccinated and wanted to … replace their teacher salaries by tutoring homeschooled kids, basically by setting up ‘pop-up’ schools,” association vice president Janelle Barnes told The Age.

Barnes said people often discovered the illicit programs through social media, making them difficult for authorities to detect.

“Some of the people who are setting up these programs are actually a risk to children, and that’s a big concern,” she said.

The vice president of the national network said she had heard of a case where someone uncovered a teacher acting as a tutor. The teacher was struck off the teachers’ register for inappropriate behaviour.

“It’s a for-profit situation, where the person who’s charging for their time and at the end of the day, we’re not the ones who can decide whether they are an unregistered school or a tutoring service,” Barnes said.

She said it was a challenge for families who wanted to educate their children at home to understand what was a part of the system and what wasn’t.

“Especially when they’re being provided information from these sorts of people who are in it for the money,” Barnes explained.

Homeschool families in Victoria must be registered with the VRQA, but they can use a homeschool co-operative system, which teaches some classes.

But the unregistered schools often try to be both a school and a co-op, researcher and teacher Dr Rebecca English said.

She said illegal or unregistered schools were also a growing issue in NSW and Queensland, and that families might not be aware they were sending their kids to an illicit school or program.

“I’m concerned parents will be pinged for doing what they thought was right when they just didn’t know and aren’t across the whole legislation, which is difficult for most parents to read or understand,” she said.

As well as child safety concerns, the unlawful programs may not be meeting the required standards.

“[Parents] might think, if the child is in the equivalent of senior-secondary, that they might be working toward an ATAR, when they’re not,” she said.

Another issue was that children in these programs could be doing subjects that didn’t count towards a high school certification, the academic said.

There was a growing interest among parents looking for alternative education for their children because they felt their kids were struggling socially, academically or for other reasons.

“Mainstream school has not worked for their young person,” she said.

The VRQA received 189 complaints about schools in the 2024-25 financial year, and 129 in the previous financial year.

In 2024-25, the VRQA received 70 in-jurisdiction complaints about registered schools and 27 about unregistered schools.

Changes to education laws that came into effect this year increased the VRQA’s power to investigate whether providers need to be registered.

“The purpose of the amendments is to protect students from harm and ensure they receive a quality education in a safe environment. The amendments significantly increased the penalty for operating an unregistered school,” the VRQA said.

Complaints about registered schools were most commonly allegations about compliance with the care, safety and welfare minimum standards.

Deputy Premier and Minister for Education Ben Carroll said anyone with concerns should contact the VRQA or use the state register to check if a school is registered.

“Child safety and a high-quality education are at the core of Victoria’s regulatory framework, which is why we take allegations of unregistered schools extremely seriously.”

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