Education Managers

Education Managers oversee the strategic direction, quality assurance, and operational delivery of educational services in settings such as universities, vocational training organisations, and specialist education providers that fall outside mainstream school or early childhood contexts. They develop curriculum and learning programmes, manage budgets and staffing, ensure compliance with regulatory frameworks including those set by the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) and relevant accreditation bodies, and drive improvements in educational outcomes and institutional performance.

Develop and implement strategic plans aligned with institutional goals and sector reforms including changes to VET funding or tertiary education policy. Oversee curriculum design and programme development to ensure alignment with AQF levels and industry competency standards. Manage annual budgets, monitor expenditure, and allocate resources across departments or learning programmes. Recruit, appraise, and develop teaching and support staff, including managing professional development and compliance with teacher registration where applicable. Ensure institutional compliance with regulatory requirements from bodies such as ASQA, TEQSA, AHPRA (for health education), or state-based education regulators. Monitor and report on key performance indicators including student retention, completion rates, and learning outcomes. Liaise with accreditation bodies to prepare for audits, manage recommendations, and maintain programme approval. Lead quality assurance processes including review of teaching practice, assessment methods, and student feedback mechanisms.

The standard entry pathway requires a bachelor degree or higher (ABS Skill Level 1). Specific qualification requirements vary by employer and state. Some employers may accept equivalent experience. Check yourcareer.gov.au for available courses and dewr.gov.au/skills-reform/free-tafe for subsidised training options.

You'll spend huge amounts of time chasing compliance and regulatory changes that shift constantly: ASQA audits, AQF updates, funding policy swings. The role is often reactive firefighting rather than creative leadership. You're also trapped between staff who want more resources and bosses who want cost cuts, with little real power to satisfy either side.

In reality, these jobs concentrate in major metros where universities and large VET providers cluster.

Published for ANZSCO unit group 1344, the wider group this job sits in, not for this job on its own.

This is the median for full-time employees who are not managers and are paid at the adult rate, before tax and salary sacrifice. It is a guide to what the work pays, not a wage rate.

Source: ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.

• Conflict Resolutioncore
• Goal Setting and Planningcore
• Inclusive Practicecore
• Policy and Procedure Adherencecore
• Policy Interpretationcore
• Problem Solvingcore
• Regulatory and Legislative Awarenesscore
• Report Writingcore
• Risk Identificationcore
• Stakeholder Communicationcore
• Team Collaborationcore
• Verbal Communicationcore
• Workload Self-Managementcore
• Written Communicationcore
• Continuous Learning and Upskilling
• Cultural Awareness and Sensitivity
• Empathy and Emotional Intelligence
• Feedback Collection and Actioning
• Microsoft Office Suite Proficiency
• Negotiation
• Process Improvement Identification
• Reporting and Analytics
• Research and Analysis

• ABS OSCA 2024, occupation definition and task statements
• ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.
• ABS, 2021 Census of Population and Housing based on usual place of residence (Custom Report). OSCA Experimental Estimates.

Role data is drawn from official Australian Government sources, and each figure names where it comes from. Where a role is not in the ABS classification, the page shows no government figures for it. Data may not reflect every local variation.

Where our numbers come from.

Last updated: 30 October 2026