Regional Education Manager

A Regional Education Manager oversees the strategic direction, operational performance, and staff development across multiple education facilities or schools within a defined geographical region. They report to senior leadership and are responsible for implementing state and national education policies, managing budgets, monitoring student outcomes, and ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements including those set by the education department. The role requires regular travel between sites and coordination with principals, teachers, parents, and government bodies.

Develop and implement regional education strategies aligned with state curriculum frameworks and national education priorities. Monitor student achievement data across multiple schools and identify areas requiring intervention or support. Manage regional education budgets, approve expenditures, and ensure accountability in spending across schools. Conduct performance reviews and provide professional development guidance to school principals and senior education staff. Ensure compliance with education department policies, Work Health and Safety legislation, and child safeguarding requirements across all regional facilities. Chair regional education committees and coordinate meetings between principals, teachers, and community representatives. Investigate and resolve complaints from parents, students, and staff escalated from school level. Prepare quarterly and annual reports on regional educational performance, student outcomes, and staffing for the education department.

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 a lot of time managing politics and complaints instead of improving education. Principals often resist your decisions, parents escalate minor issues that waste weeks, and you're caught between what teachers need and what the education department demands. The job is heavily driven by compliance paperwork and government reporting deadlines rather than actual teaching outcomes.

These roles exist mainly in metropolitan areas and large regional centres where there are enough schools to justify a regional structure. Rural and remote areas rarely have dedicated regional manager roles; those schools report directly to state offices.

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
• Cultural Awareness and Sensitivitycore
• Goal Setting and Planningcore
• Policy and Procedure Adherencecore
• Policy Interpretationcore
• Problem Solvingcore
• Process Improvement Identificationcore
• Regulatory and Legislative Awarenesscore
• Report Writingcore
• Reporting and Analyticscore
• Risk Identificationcore
• Stakeholder Communicationcore
• Team Collaborationcore
• Verbal Communicationcore
• Written Communicationcore
• Community Development
• Continuous Learning and Upskilling
• Empathy and Emotional Intelligence
• Feedback Collection and Actioning
• Inclusive Practice
• Microsoft Office Suite Proficiency
• Negotiation
• Quality Assurance Monitoring
• Research and Analysis
• Workload Self-Management

• 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.

What Regional Education Manager workers move into, from ten years of tax records.

Last updated: 30 October 2026