FAQ · Education 8

Queensland says you need a blue card if you teach, coach or tutor children on a commercial basis. A paid role that includes teaching, coaching or tutoring one or more children commercially needs a blue card, and the examples include a private tutor of school students, a language teacher giving private lessons, and a music teacher giving lessons to children. A volunteer who receives no payment or other reward does not need a blue card, and neither does a registered teacher working at a school as part of that role, or a parent volunteering in their own child's activities. You also do not need one under this category if you provide the service through a university, TAFE or a registered training organisation, though another category may still require a card. The owner of a private tutoring business, a driving school that teaches children, or a business giving private music lessons to children needs a blue card, while a business that serves only adults does not need one under this category. Blue Card Services can be called on 1800 113 611 or 07 3211 6999.

UNSW says 2027 accommodation applications are open, but many options may already be unavailable because demand is high, so it points people who miss out to its off-campus support team. You register on the resident portal, start a new application, and choose apartments or a college, with at most four apartment preferences or three college preferences, and you must list at least two preferences. College applications ask extra questions about why you chose those colleges, how you would contribute, and your views on communal living, and you may upload up to two optional documents such as references or transcripts, which apartment applications do not require. The fee for a new resident is 50 Australian dollars and is not refunded even if you are refused. Offers are made on a rolling basis until a college or apartment is full, and accepting one means paying 1,500 Australian dollars in advance, which is later subtracted from your final payments if the room is left clean and undamaged. You must have an offer to study at UNSW to be eligible, and if a visa is refused you can ask in writing for the advance fee back and attach the refusal letter.

New South Wales requires parents to provide an immunisation certificate when they enrol a child at a primary school. The NSW Immunisation Schedule sets out which diseases a child should be immunised against and the age for each dose, and the Australian Immunisation Register records the vaccinations. A medical exemption or natural immunity is still shown on the immunisation history statement as up to date. If you choose not to vaccinate, you can still enrol the child without an immunisation certificate. If there is an outbreak of a vaccine-preventable disease, that child may be asked to stay at home until it is safe to return to school.

NSW Education says peanuts, tree nuts and nut products are not to be used in curriculum or extracurricular activities, though that rule does not cover foods labelled as may contain traces of nuts. School canteens must remove food and drink items that list peanuts or tree nuts as an ingredient. The department recommends an allergy-aware approach rather than a food ban, and it says calling a school nut free is not an effective way to prevent anaphylaxis because it can create a false sense of security. If a student who was not known to be at risk has a suspected anaphylactic reaction, the school activates emergency procedures and seeks medical help at once. Whenever an adrenaline device is used, an ambulance is called. If a child has a diagnosed anaphylaxis risk, the school writes a health support plan with the parents or carers, the student where appropriate, and relevant health professionals, and these procedures are mandatory for NSW government schools and their preschools.

Flinders University says applications to live on campus for 2027 are open, and you can apply for a full year from 20 February 2027 to 27 November 2027, for semester 1 from 20 February 2027 to 10 July 2027, or for semester 2 from 10 July 2027 to 27 November 2027. You apply online and need a non-refundable application fee of 50 Australian dollars, your details, your intended course, and international student details if they apply. Residents are selected on merit and on whether the available room is appropriate, and in some cases you may be invited to an interview. Offers go out in three rounds, in December, early January and late January, and an offer can be deferred for 12 months. An offer of housing does not guarantee an offer to study at Flinders. If the housing offer arrives before you are accepted into your course, the page says to accept the accommodation and tell the university straight away if you will not be studying there.

The Korean Cultural Centre Australia page for 2026 says its Korean language classes are free, offered online and in a classroom, and open to local residents aged 18 and above. Seats are limited and filled first come, first served, each person may register for only one class, and an application sent outside the registration period is not valid. Term 1 registration runs from 6 January at 10 am AEDT until 25 January, with classes from 2 February to 6 June and a break from 30 March to 12 April. Term 2 registration runs from 22 June at 10 am AEDT until 12 July, with classes from 20 July to 14 November and a break from 28 September to 11 October. Online classes use Zoom for one and a half hours, and classroom classes at the centre run for two hours, using the Sejong Korean textbooks from 1A to 2B. A hard-copy textbook costs 30 Australian dollars in cash at the centre only, with no delivery, while the e-book can be viewed online but not downloaded.

The Department of Home Affairs says the Adult Migrant English Program is a free service that helps eligible migrants and humanitarian entrants improve their English and settle in Australia. If you are 18 or older and speak little or no English, you can join when you are a permanent resident, hold an eligible temporary visa, or are a citizen who held an eligible visa in the past. Someone aged 15 to 17 may also be able to join and should ask a provider. If the eligible visa started on or before 1 October 2020, you can stay until you reach a vocational level of English, with no time limit on starting or finishing. If the visa started after that date, you must register with a provider within 6 months, start within 12 months, and finish within 5 years, though a provider can sometimes allow a later start or a longer stay. Face-to-face classes may be full-time, part-time, in the evening or at the weekend, at about 300 places in cities and regional areas, and a volunteer tutor may also help.

Joining the National Library of Australia is free for Australian residents and can be done online with a name, email address, postcode and telephone number, which creates a digital login straight away. That login lets you use electronic resources and request collection items for the reading rooms, and requested items are held for 7 days from the date of the request. If you do not need the physical collections, you do not need a library card. If you want to use the collections on site, reading-room staff must see proof of identity before they give you a card. With the card you can collect the items you requested and add credit to print, photocopy and scan in the reading rooms. The email address on the account is the one you gave when you first created the login.