On 27 October 2022 the Senate referred the inquiry into the national trend of school refusal and related matters to the Education and Employment References Committee for inquiry and report by 22 March 2023. On 9 February 2023, the Senate agreed to extend the committee’s reporting date to 21 June 2023.

On 21 June 2023 the Senate agreed to extend the committee's reporting date to 10 August 2023 to allow the committee to gather data in relation to the impact of school refusal on the educational attainment of students.

Submissions were requested by 9 December 2022. The committee re-opened submissions to the inquiry and invited submissions, or supplementary submissions, by 22 March 2023.