Education

If a youth is in detention, they need to participate in education and training programs 5 days a week.

Each youth detention centre has a school and a training centre located inside it.

A principal leads each school with highly qualified teachers taking all classes.

Teachers and detention centre staff work together on programs that meet each youth’s individual learning needs and work towards their rehabilitation.

Classes are small and every youth gets individual attention and instruction at his or her level.

Teachers work with youths to:

  • catch them up if they have any learning gaps in literacy or numeracy
  • help them learn new skills
  • support them to develop skills for returning to education, training or employment when they leave detention
  • improve their social skills

Teachers and detention centre staff deliver programs that aim to support a youth’s successful re-entry into the community. Youths may also work to gain qualifications while in detention.

The junior schools draw their programs from the Australian Curriculum. We send school reports home every 3 months.

Support for youths

During the school program youths can also get help from:

  • special education teachers
  • guidance officers
  • speech and language pathologists
  • occupational therapists

Youths get advice about returning to school, as well as careers, employment and skilling opportunities that will be available to them when they leave detention. This helps their return to the community providing a focus for the youth after detention.

Other programs

Youths have access to a range of other programs at their detention centre, including:

  • behavioural programs
  • social programs
  • cultural programs

More information

Learn more:

Last reviewed:15 October 2025

Last modified:15 October 2025

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence