Parliamentary Education Office

Outputs
Parliamentary education resources and programs.
Performance information Performance results
Curriculum-aligned programs for students and teachers are delivered at Parliament House, online and in schools to encourage ongoing engagement with Australia's parliament.

Feedback from teachers using Parliamentary Education Office (PEO) services showed very high levels of satisfaction with education programs.

Programs were consistently conducted in accordance with the booking schedule.

Relevant and accurate print and digital resources are produced that explore the role and value of the Australian Parliament and are aligned to the Australian Curriculum.

Various PEO webpages and publications were updated and refreshed regularly to ensure accuracy.

PEO website evaluation showed users have a high level of satisfaction with the information and resources on the website.

Provision of a range of resources and services to support members of parliament in their engagement with communities and to increase citizen understanding of and engagement with Parliament. Senators and members were satisfied with the provision of services and support.

Overview

The Parliamentary Education Office (PEO) delivers parliamentary education services on behalf of the Australian Parliament to students, teachers and others across Australia. Since 1988, approximately 2.5 million people have expanded their knowledge of the Australian Parliament through participating in a PEO program.

The PEO is led by the Director, PEO, Lee Katauskas, with strategic oversight by the Clerk Assistant (Procedure) and is administered by the Senate Department. It is jointly funded by the Senate Department and the Department of the House of Representatives.

The PEO is guided by the PEO Advisory Committee which is comprised of members and senators and is co-chaired by the Deputy Presiding Officers, meeting three times a year.

The full-time equivalent staffing level for the PEO in 2023–24 was 13.8 (14.2 in 2022–23). The cost of providing the services of the PEO in 2023–24 was $2.0m ($2.0m in 2022–23).

Education programs: onsite, digital, outreach and Teacher Professional Learning

The PEO's student education offerings include onsite programs delivered at Parliament House and programs delivered in classrooms across Australia through digital delivery and through outreach. The PEO also offers Teacher Professional Learning (TPL) programs, both digital and in-person.

The PEO continued to experience strong demand for onsite student programs with approximately 2,100 programs delivered in 2023–24 (similar to the previous financial year).3

Demand for digital programs also remained strong with the PEO expanding the number of programs from 15 to 20 per week during the reporting period. As a result over 370 digital programs were delivered, a 6% increase from the previous period.

In 2023–24, the PEO conducted outreach to New South Wales and the Northern Territory, delivering programs to over 850 students from 15 schools. The Northern Territory outreach program was undertaken in collaboration with educators from the Museum of Australian Democracy and the Australian Electoral Commission.

While on outreach, the PEO also delivered TPL programs to approximately 30 teachers and pre-service teachers at Western Sydney and Charles Darwin Universities. TPL programs provide professional learning for teachers and pre-service teachers to support the delivery of informative and engaging civics and citizenship programs for students. In total, in this reporting period, the PEO delivered 25 TPL programs, the same number as the previous period, with nine of these programs delivered in collaboration with stakeholder partners such as the National Archives of Australia, the High Court of Australia and the Queensland and South Australian Parliaments' Education Offices.

In this reporting period the PEO has also been part of a collaborative project with the Department of Parliamentary Services and the Department of the House of Representatives to bring school bookings onto the Book Canberra Excursions website, making it easier for school groups to book PEO education programs and building tours as part of their Canberra excursions along with other major Canberra institutions.

Content: online and print

Interest in the PEO website, peo.gov.au, including its subsite auconstitution.peo.gov.au, remained strong during the reporting period, with over 1.4 million users (representing over 3.5 million unique page views, an increase of 6% from the previous period) accessing high-quality information about Australia's system of government and the Australian Parliament.

To ensure the PEO website continues to meet the needs of users the PEO, in collaboration with the Senate Public Information Office, commenced a review of its navigation, functionality and layout.

In 2023–24, the PEO also undertook an evaluation of teacher packs, with approximately 80 teachers responding to an invitation to provide feedback on these resources. The evaluation indicated that there was strong demand for PEO print resources to be digitised and made available on the PEO website. As a result, the following print resources are now available for free download on the website:

  • Australian Constitution pocket edition
  • Rights, power, action: a practical classroom guide for teaching Australia's system of government
  • Teaching civics and citizenship: a classroom guide
  • Your Parliament, and
  • PEO Poster Packs.

Services for members and senators

The PEO provides a complimentary annual allocation of resources to senators and members to support their engagement with teachers, students and community groups across Australia. In addition, in-person and virtual briefings on PEO content, programs and bespoke resources are provided to parliamentarians on request.

During the reporting period, the PEO continued to support parliamentarians' engagement with visiting school groups and the Speaker's Parliament in Schools program through the provision of print products, bespoke resources, and briefings for parliamentarians and staff.

The PEO provided secretariat services to support three PEO Advisory Committee meetings, briefed the committee on various aspects of the PEO's work and responded to queries and feedback from committee members.

With the support of the Presiding Officers, the PEO also commenced a project to enhance its digital programs by supporting parliamentarians to create short videos that can be used in digital programs.

Performance outlook

Over the next reporting period, the PEO will continue to strategically manage its ability to meet demand for its onsite, digital and outreach programs within resources, particularly as the demand for digital programs continues to rise.

In support of parliamentarians' engagement with young people in their communities, the PEO will implement an engagement activity to mark the International Day of Democracy in September 2024. The PEO will also enhance its TPL programs through the development of online modules for inclusion in these programs.

The project to move school bookings onto the Book Canberra Excursions website will progress from its current development phase to implementation, requiring adjustments to some administrative processes.

In addition, the PEO will conclude and implement the outcomes of the review of its website to improve the layout, navigation and accessibility of the site. The Federal Parliament history timeline and the Australian Constitution online websites will be incorporated into the PEO website.