[3] The corps grew out of the Australian Army Education Service (AAES), which was established on 29 October 1943 during World War II,[1] under the command of Colonel Robert Madgwick.

Initially, they deployed to Japan as part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force, where they provided education support for service personnel and their children.

[6] Later, members of the corps were sent to Korea during the Korean War, where they were attached at battalion level to provide soldiers with training in the field.

At the same time, In the (former) Territory of Papua New Guinea, Australian National Servicemen in the education corps provided courses in literacy, numeracy, and citizenship to non-commissioned ranks at various army barracks.

[1] Currently, the corps is made up entirely of commissioned officers in the specialist service officer/professionally qualified stream,[9] although in the past the RAAEC has had some NCOs allocated to it.