Our vision is 'We are committed to equity and excellence in everything we do'.
Our purpose is delivering for Queenslanders and their communities responsive services focused on equity and excellence.
Machinery-of-government changes
The following table outlines those functions that left the department due to machinery-of-government changes on 18 December 2023, and the related annual reports where the non-financial performance information and financial statements can be located for the 2023–24 reporting period.
Outgoing functions
| Office of Racing | 18 December 2023 | Department of State Development and Infrastructure |
| Office of Industrial Relations | 18 December 2023 | Department of State Development and Infrastructure |
* Financial statements for the period 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024 can be found in the related annual report.
# Non-financial performance information for the 2023–24 reporting period can be found in the related annual report.
Our strategic direction
Our
Strategic Plan 2023–27 was published on 1 July 2023 with an update on 18 March 2024 to reflect machinery-of-government changes.
The Strategic Plan 2023–27 outlines how we will achieve our vision through our strategic objectives:
- a strong start for all children
- every student realising their potential.
Achieving our strategic objectives is supported by our focus on capable people delivering our vision and investing in infrastructure to build sustainable, energy-efficient and future-focused teaching and learning facilities.
Each objective has a set of strategies to achieve our goal, and performance measures to monitor our progress.
Our strategic objectives and service areas
Our strategic objectives are delivered through our service areas, which support us to provide a broad range of responsive services to support government and departmental commitments and priorities.
A strong start for all children |
Early Childhood Education and Care Queensland children engaged in quality early years programs that support learning and development and strengthen successful transition to school |
Every student realising their potential |
School Education Queensland students engaged in learning, achieving and successfully transitioning to further education, training and work |
Each service area includes performance information about how we achieve the desired service delivery outcomes by delivering services efficiently and effectively. More information on performance measures is available in
Appendix B and
Appendix C.
Our challenges
In delivering on our strategic objectives, we identified the following challenges.
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Skilled workforce: Ensure workforce design, supply, retention and capability meet our service delivery needs and reflect the diversity of students and communities we serve.
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Digital security: Enhance capacity and capability to maintain the integrity and security of our information and systems.
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Building resilience: Strengthen our prevention and preparedness for disruptive events and climate impacts.
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Future-proofed investment: Respond to the needs of diverse communities and invest for future generations.
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Safety and wellbeing: Address complex issues impacting the wellbeing and safety of children, students, communities and workplaces.
Our opportunities
We also identified opportunities to deliver on our strategic objectives.
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Leadership: Empower leaders at every level through high-quality development opportunities.
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Integrated services : Work across government and foster meaningful partnerships to respond to changing communities.
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Performance improvement: Support a culture of continuous improvement to enhance outcomes.
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Innovation: Embed future focused approaches to drive outcomes and innovation.
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Investment: Target responses and investment to meet community need.
The department monitors and manages its strategic risks and the areas of lowest risk appetite to respond to our challenges and opportunities, and deliver our strategic objectives. Information about initiatives to manage these risks can be found throughout the report.
Queensland Government's objectives for the community
The government's direction is informed by its broad objectives for the community. The objectives reflect the government's vision for Queensland and outline its plan to build future prosperity and growth across the state. We support the following government objectives for the community:
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Good Jobs: Good, secure jobs in our traditional and emerging industries.
- Investing in skills by educating young Queenslanders for the future of work and to prosper in the economy.
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Better Services: Deliver even better services right across Queensland.
- Educating for the future by giving children and students the best start and investing in our teachers and schools.
- Backing our frontline services and our diverse workforce by engaging healthy, safe and capable people across Queensland communities.
- Keeping Queenslanders safe by supporting wellbeing and safety in early childhood services, schools, communities and workplaces.
- Connecting Queensland by leveraging technology and innovation to connect all students to world-class digital learning.
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Great Lifestyle: Protect and enhance our Queensland lifestyle as we grow.
- Building Queensland by creating jobs and driving fit-for-future investment in social infrastructure and technologies.
- Growing our regions by driving economic prosperity and sustainable investment in services across our diverse and dispersed communities.
- Protecting the environment for future generations by investing in energy-efficient, cleaner and greener technologies in schools and workplaces.
- Honouring and embracing our rich and ancient cultural history by supporting culturally responsive learning in early years and schools and strengthening cultural capability in our workplace.
Queensland public service values
The Queensland public service values guide our employees' behaviour and decision-making:
- Customers first
- Be courageous
- Ideas into action
- Empower people
The importance of adhering to and demonstrating the values is promoted through our Integrity Framework, Mandatory All Staff Training and Management Foundations program.
Reframing the relationship
We are committed to reframing our relationship with Aboriginal communities and Torres Strait Islander communities and to moving forward together with mutual respect.
Our
2024 reframing the relationship plan commits to developing our cultural capability when we provide advice to government and when we deliver services to the community.
Our commitment is embedded within our key strategies, including Equity and Excellence whichacknowledges that valuing Aboriginal cultures and Torres Strait Islander cultures and voice is essential in our approach to student engagement and learningand the Early Childhood Workforce Strategy which was co-designed with Aboriginal educators and Torres Strait Islander educators.
Public sector ethics
We are committed to embedding a robust organisational culture that celebrates acting with integrity and demonstrating the highest standards of ethical conduct.
Our approach to public sector ethics is contained within our Integrity Framework and Standard of Practice (SOP), which supports and is aligned to the
Public Sector Ethics Act 1994 (Qld) and the Code of Conduct for the Queensland Public Service (COCQPS).
A range of measures ensure our people have the appropriate knowledge, and our administrative procedures and management practices promote public sector ethics, including:
- Our Mandatory All Staff Training program is completed within 1 week of joining the department and annually thereafter. The program contains components on our values, the operation of the COCQPS and the SOP and disciplinary action in the event of a breach.
- Our Management Foundations program is completed by all leaders and financial delegates and builds their understanding of the legislative, regulatory and operational responsibilities and accountabilities of leaders.
- Our decision-making framework and guide support our staff to make good decisions in the best interests of the community we serve.
- Our annual action plan monitors, maintains and manages governance controls to improve performance and embed a zero-tolerance approach to fraud and corruption.
Our people
As at 30 June 2024, we had over 96,000 employees (headcount), or over 76,000 full-time equivalents (FTE). Approximately 94% of the workforce are based in schools.
The table below shows the FTE as at 30 June 2024.
Table 1: Staffing
| Total FTE1, 2 | 76,242 | 76,459 |
Notes:
- 2023–24 target/estimate is reflected in the FTEs in the 2023–24 Service Delivery Statement (SDS).
- The 2023–24 actual is based on 30 June 2024 MOHRI Reporting. The increased FTEs relates to new initiatives approved during 2023–24.