Why Jason Clare's new education super agency is flawed. Here are eight glaring problems

By Scott Prasser

CANBERRA TIMES September 23 2025

Federal Education Minister, Jason Clare, has announced a major reorganisation of the Commonwealth's school education architecture amalgamating four current, separate federal bodies into a "super agency", the new statutory Teaching and Learning Commission.

Being brought together is the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA); the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership School Leadership (AITSL); Education Services Australia (ESA) and the 2020 formed Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO) will all be brought together.

Federal Education Minister Jason Clare. Picture by Gary Ramage

The new commission is an addition to the existing Commonwealth Department of Education and the statutorily based federal National Schools Resourcing Board (NSRB) that advises on school funding issues.

There are several problems with this new arrangement.

Firstly, the Minister has not clarified exactly the problem these changes are addressing. Seeking to "improve co-ordination" and reducing overlap between agencies is good management speak, but are process issues not policy outcome goals.

Amalgamations rarely resolve such problems and often create new problems as different disparate organisations try to work together.

Second, these four organisations do different things. ACARA does curriculum and NAPLAN; AITSL focuses on teacher professional standards; ESA looks after technology for schools; and AERO seeks and disseminates evidence to improve education outcomes. In other words, they are not a single fit.

Third, these bodies are different in purpose and in governance reflecting their varied roles. ACARA is necessarily a joint federal-state representative body and funded as such. AITSL is under the federal minister's control but interacts well.

ESA is client-oriented, and AERO independently researches evidence gaps. Therefore, one organisational model cannot fit all.