Complaints & Appeals

To get this information in your language, call us on (03) 9462 6077 or email office@prace.vic.edu.au

We want to provide great service to our community, and want to know if there’s anything we can do better.

If you have any concerns or complaints about Prace or our staff, let us know. Find out how to do this below.  This includes problems with our products, services, rules, or how our staff behave.

When we handle concerns and complaints:

• We take them seriously
• We respond quickly
• We treat everyone fairly
• We make sure nobody is treated unfairly
• We consider the diversity of our community
• We follow all laws, including privacy and child safety laws.

When we deal with a child safety concern or complaint, we will:

• Give it top priority
• Listen to and support the child or young person
• Encourage them to talk to a trusted adult
• Respect their culture
• Give more support to vulnerable young people.

If you’re worried about a child’s safety or wellbeing, call us at (03) 9462 6077 and ask for a Child Safety Officer.  If a child is in immediate danger, call 000. Look at our Reporting Child Safety Concerns flowchart for help.  

Click on these links to see information for young people about:

The Child Safe Standards
The Reportable Conduct Scheme

For other complaints and concerns:

1. Talk directly to the person involved, if possible. Ask a Prace staff member for help.
2. To make a formal complaint:
   • Write down your complaint and give it to the program or service coordinator. If it’s about the coordinator, send it to their supervisor.
   • Explain what happened, how it affected you, and if you have any evidence or tried to fix the problem before.
   • Tell us what you want us to do.
   • Ask a Prace staff member to help you write your complaint.
3. We will acknowledge your complaint within 10 business days.
4. We will try our best to investigate your complaint within 20 business days.  This may include talking to you and others involved. If it takes longer, we will let you know.
5. After the investigation, we will write to you explaining what we have done or will do to fix the problem. We will also tell you why we made that decision.
6. If you’re still not happy, you can appeal.

If you don’t like the outcome of the complaints process:

1. Write to us within 10 business days to appeal.  You can ask us for help with that.
2. We will acknowledge your appeal within 10 business days.
3. Prace will review your appeal.
4. We will talk to you and others involved. You can bring a support person if we meet face-to-face. We might bring in an independent mediator to help.
5. We will let you know the outcome of the appeal.
6. If you’re still not happy, we will tell you how to make an external complaint.

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If you are studying with Prace and your course includes assessment tasks, you have the right to appeal a result if you don’t agree.

1. Write to us within 10 business days of getting your result, telling us why you disagree.
2. We will acknowledge your complaint within 10 business days.
3. We will try our best to review the assessment within 15 business days.  We might bring in an independent assessor to help. If it takes longer, we will tell you.
4. We will let you know the outcome of the review.
5. If you’re still not happy, you can ask for another independent assessment, but you will have to pay for it.

You can also appeal other decisions made by Prace, like course entry or special considerations on assessments.

If you are still not happy or want to complain to an outside organisation, there are external bodies you can contact. Look at our Complaints and Appeals Policy and Procedure for details.