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Thank you for your patience. 

Regards 

Customer Feedback – Customer and Information Services

Department for Education | GPO Box 1152, Adelaide SA 5000

t 1800 088 158 or (08) 8226 1000 | e [2][email address] | w
[3]www.education.sa.gov.au  

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OFFICIAL

Good afternoon, Mr Bessiris

 

I refer to your correspondence to the Department for Education
(department), Customers team dated 1 December 2023, which you describe as
a freedom of information (FOI) application, and your subsequent email to
Customers dated 19 February 2024, which has been forwarded to Information
Release for consideration. The department acknowledges and sincerely
regrets overlooking your 1 December 2023 email, and that a response was
not provided to you at that time. 

 

Accessing Department for Education records

Access to departmental records can be made under the [1]Freedom of
Information Act 1991 (FOI Act) which gives you a legal right to:

 

o request access to documents held by State Government agencies,
Government Ministers, Local Councils or State Universities
o request the amendment of documents about you which are incomplete,
incorrect, out-of-date or misleading
o seek a review of a decision made by a State Government agency,
Government Minister, Local Council or University

 

You can lodge an FOI application electronically (online), or in writing
either by completing the attached form, or simply via return email to this
address.  The online FOI application form is available at
[2]www.sa.gov.au/foi. Further information, including about fees and
charges, is available at:
[3]https://www.education.sa.gov.au/departme...
and at
[4]https://www.sa.gov.au/topics/about-sa/go....

 

There is a FOI application fee of $40.75; however, if you have a current
pension/benefit card, you can submit a copy of it with your application
and request a fee waiver. Further detail about this is provided below.

 

Email dated 1 December 2023 

In this email you stated:

 

‘Dear SA Department for Education and Child Development,

I would like to better understand how government schools in South
Australia can access their school's respective NAPLAN results, what
specific NAPLAN data is provided to the schools and how the NAPLAN data is
displayed.

1. Platforms to Access NAPLAN Data for Government Schools in South
Australia: I would like to know what platform the South Australian
Department of Education and Training makes available for their government
schools (primary and secondary) to access their NAPLAN data, including any
websites, types of personalised documents sent to individual schools, and
specific software programs. E.g. In NSW, schools have access to their data
on a website called, "NSW Schools Online" and a "Scout Reports" tool which
is also used in the ACT.

2. Specific Data Disclosed: I would like to know what data fields are
disclosed in the reporting of NAPLAN data to individual government schools
in South Australia. E.g. Name, School, Participation Code, Proficiency
Standard, Scaled Score, Student Date of Birth, School Postcode etc. I
would like to know all data fields given to the schools in South
Australia.

3. Data Displays: Finally, I would like to know how the data is displayed
when given to the schools. E.g. Is the data in the format of a
spreadsheet? A series of tables? Infographics such as pie charts, box and
whisker plots, bar graphs etc? All of the above? A combination of the
above display methods?

Thank you very much for taking the time to read through my FOI request and
I look forward to hearing back from you.’

 

FOI application invalid

Please be advised that your FOI application is unable to be processed
because it is invalid pursuant to sections 13(b), 13(c) and 13(d) and
13(e) of the FOI Act. An explanation of each section is provided below.

 

Section 13(b)

Section 13(b) of the FOI Act requires that an application ‘must specify
that it is made under this Act’. To ensure that your application complies
with the requirements of the FOI Act, I encourage you to access the
Freedom of Information Application form available online at
[5]www.sa.gov.au/foi.  

 

Section 13(c)

This section requires an application to be accompanied by the prescribed
fee of $40.75.  Please note an agency may request further payments to
cover the cost of finding, sorting, compiling and copying documents.
However, you will be notified in advance if any further payment is
required. The [6]Freedom of Information (Fees and Charges) Regulations
2018 detail the charges that may be incurred in the processing of a FOI
application. If however you believe that the fees or charges would cause
financial hardship and you are able to provide documentary evidence for us
to consider, such as a copy of a current Commonwealth concession card, you
may request a waiver of fees.

 

Payment via cheque or money order should be made out to the Department for
Education. Documentation can be scanned and emailed to
[7][email address] or sent via post to:

 

Department for Education

Information Release

Customer and Information Services

GPO Box 1152

ADELAIDE   SA   5000

 

Alternatively, payment can be made via an Electronic Fund Transfer. If
using this option, please ensure you quote the relevant reference number
which is DE24/03930 and provide evidence of payment, e.g. a screenshot or
similar once done, please email the evidence of payment to
[8][email address]

 

·         Bank: Commonwealth Bank of Australia

·         BSB: 065-266

·         Account Number: 1000-1576

·         Account Name: EDU-Operating Account

 

Section 13(d)

This section requires the application to contain ‘such information as is
reasonably necessary to enable the document(s) to be identified.’  Items
1, 2 and 3 of your application are questions, and do not specify what
document(s) you are seeking access to. Please note that as the purpose of
FOI is to facilitate access to documents and not to answer questions, your
application needs to identify what document(s) you seek access to.

 

Section 13(e)

This section requires that an application ‘must specify an address in
Australia to which notices under this Act should be sent’

 

Email dated 19 February 2024

In this email you stated:

 

‘Dear SA Department for Education and Child Development,

 

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information
reviews. I am writing to request an internal review of SA Department for
Education and Child Development's handling of my FOI request 'Platforms
for Accessing Government School Data such as NAPLAN Results'. I first
applied for my FOI request on the 15/12/2023. My request is long overdue
and I am dissatisfied with how long it has taken to get a response. I
expect a more prompt response following this complaint.

 

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on
the Internet at this address:
[9]https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...

 

An internal review will generally be available in relation to a FOI
determination made by an agency regarding an application for access to a
document, or FOI application for amendment to your personal records.  

 

Please note that your application for internal review is invalid, because
no determination issued by this agency exists for you to appeal.    

 

For an internal review application to be valid it must:

 1. be made to the Principal Officer of the agency that made the
determination you are seeking to have reviewed
 2. be accompanied by the application fee of $40.75 that must be paid when
you lodge your Internal Review application, if your review request is
for access to documents.

 

An application for internal review form is attached for your reference.
Please note that the option to request a fee waiver as set out above, also
applies to internal review applications.

 

Should you have any queries regarding the above, please find our contact
details below.

 

Regards

 

Lucy

Information Release

Customer and Information Services
Department for Education | 31 Flinders Street, Adelaide SA 5000
t (08) 8226 3231 | e [10][email address] | w
[11]www.education.sa.gov.au
[12]Facebook | [13]Twitter | [14]LinkedIn

This email may contain confidential information, which also may be legally
privileged. Only the intended recipient(s) may access, use, distribute or
copy this email. If this email is received in error, please inform the
sender by return email and delete the original. If there are doubts about
the validity of this message, please contact the sender by telephone. It
is the recipient's responsibility to check the email and any attached
files for viruses.

 

References

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