Homeschooling in the ACT: The Complete 2026 Guide to Registering and Staying Compliant

Home education is legal in the ACT, and it has two features parents appreciate: registration lasts up to two years, and there are no routine home visits. You register with the Education Directorate before withdrawing your child, submit a Statement of Intent, attend one online review meeting, and file a short report each year. This guide walks through every step in plain English, with links to the official sources.

For the one-page checklist version, see our ACT quick-steps guide. This article is the full explainer.

Is homeschooling legal in the ACT?

Yes — home education is legal in the Australian Capital Territory, registered with the ACT Education Directorate under the Education Act 2004 (ACT), Chapter 5. There’s one order-of-operations rule that matters: “By law, you must register for home education” before withdrawing your child from school or starting home schooling. Eligible children are aged 6 to 17 and live, or usually live, in the ACT.

You do not need a teaching qualification, and there’s no set curriculum. What the ACT asks is that you register first, commit to a high-quality education, and keep up a light rhythm of a Statement of Intent, one early review meeting, and an annual report.

Who can register, and at what age?

Registration covers children aged 6 to 17 who live, or usually live, in the ACT. Because you must be registered before withdrawing your child from school, timing matters.

A couple of practical points:

• Register before you withdraw. Keep your child enrolled at school until your registration is approved — the ACT is explicit that registration comes first.
• You apply per child; lodge for each child you’ll be home educating.

Not sure how to shape a balanced program for your child’s stage? The free Cordia Start Wizard helps you get started in a couple of minutes.

How registration works: approval, then the first three months

The ACT process is front-loaded into the first few months, then settles into a light annual rhythm. The Directorate confirms approval within 28 days of receiving a complete application, and registration is granted for up to two years (you can request or discuss a shorter period).

Within the first three months of a new registration, two things happen:

1. You must submit a Statement of Intent — within three months of the start date on your child’s Registration Certificate.
2. The Directorate holds a single online review meeting covering your Statement of Intent, your home-education plans, and compliance with the registration conditions.

After that, there’s no recurring visit cycle — just your annual report and, eventually, renewal.

What your Statement of Intent and reports must contain

Your key documents are the initial Statement of Intent and, later, the annual and renewal reports. The Statement of Intent (and, at renewal, a Written Statement) must each set out “the educational opportunities you will offer your child” and “the strategies you will use to encourage your child to learn.”

At renewal, you also provide proof you’re responsible for the child and a Home Education Report detailing how your child has progressed “intellectually, including their literacy and numeracy skills” and “socially and emotionally.” That report may incorporate a progress report from a commercial home-education provider, if you use one.

The through-line is clear: the ACT wants to see what you’ll offer, how you’ll motivate learning, and — over time — how your child is actually progressing across the whole person, not just academics.

Do you have to follow a curriculum?

No — the ACT does not mandate a set curriculum. Registration commits you only to “provide a high-quality education for your child” — defined as one that “meets a child’s needs and recognises them as an individual,” with “no single way to provide it,” assessed for “a balanced approach, including intellectual, social, emotional and physical learning.”

On the Australian Curriculum specifically, the Directorate’s wording is telling: “You do not have to use it, but we encourage you to be aware of the [Australian Curriculum]. It might be useful in some cases, like part-time school arrangements or if the child will return to school soon.” So awareness is encouraged, not required — placing the ACT firmly among the flexible, outcomes-based jurisdictions.

That freedom means the responsibility for balance sits with you. A structured plan that naturally spans intellectual, social, emotional and physical learning makes it easy to show the Directorate a balanced approach while teaching in your own style. That’s exactly what Cordia is built to generate — a personalised, well-rounded plan you can point to. See how it fits on our pricing and founding-families page.

Record-keeping and the annual report

You need to keep a record of your child’s learning journey to support the annual Home Education Report — so light, consistent records are the backbone of ACT compliance. The Directorate’s own list of examples is generous:

• a diary or learning journal;
• photos or videos;
• your observations and reflections as your child’s educator;
• dated workbooks from different subjects or learning areas;
• work samples with notes on when the work was done and what it aimed to achieve;
• a list of goals, outcomes or milestones with notes on how and when they were achieved;
• creative works that may be displayed, performed or recorded.

A Home Education Report is required once a year, and you must also provide plans, materials or records if the Directorate asks. Importantly, the ACT does not conduct routine home visits: “We do not visit you at home, but we may ask for photos or videos that show your home is suitable.” A planning tool that logs your child’s learning as you go turns the annual report into a simple assembly job.

Renewing your registration

Because ACT registration lasts up to two years, renewal comes around less often than in the annual-cycle states — but the timing rule is firm: you must apply to renew at least three months before your registration ends, and the Directorate describes this as required by law. Set a reminder for the four-months-out mark so you’re never caught short.

Renewal asks for a little more than the initial registration. Alongside proof you’re responsible for the child, you provide a Written Statement (the renewal equivalent of the Statement of Intent) setting out the educational opportunities you’ll offer and the strategies you’ll use to encourage learning, plus a Home Education Report on how your child has progressed intellectually — including literacy and numeracy — and socially and emotionally. If you use a commercial home-education provider, its progress report can be incorporated into that report.

This is exactly why keeping a light learning record through the two years matters: when renewal comes, your report is a matter of summarising what you already have, not reconstructing two years from memory. A balanced record across intellectual, social and emotional development mirrors what the Directorate is asking you to report on.

A simple step-by-step to get registered

1. Register before you withdraw your child from school — this is the ACT’s core rule.
2. Confirm eligibility — child aged 6–17, living (or usually living) in the ACT.
3. Apply — approval is confirmed within 28 days of a complete application; registration lasts up to two years.
4. Submit your Statement of Intent within three months, and attend the online review meeting.
5. Keep records through the year — journal, work samples, photos, milestones.
6. File your Home Education Report once a year.
7. Apply to renew at least three months before your registration ends.

The ACT rewards parents who register in the right order and keep a light learning record. With up to two-year registrations and no home visits, the ongoing load is genuinely modest.

Ready to build a balanced plan for your child? Start with the free Cordia Wizard, compare frameworks with our Tasmania guide, or browse more guides on the blog. Wherever you are, you can find your state’s official steps here.

Sources

This guide draws on ACT Government primary sources, accessed July 2026. Always confirm the current detail on the official pages before you apply:

• ACT Government — Home education / home schooling (registration, Statement of Intent, reports, renewal, no home visits).
• ACT legislation — Education Act 2004 (Chapter 5, the home-education framework).
• ACARA — The Australian Curriculum (the curriculum the Directorate encourages you to be aware of).