National Quality Framework – How can it help me?
Fact: Research shows quality early education and care leads to better health, education, and employment outcomes later in life.
National Quality Framework
The National Quality Framework aims to improve the quality of early childhood education and care services in Australia.
Providing children with quality experiences early in life can lead to better health, education and employment outcomes, building a productive and fair Australia.
The National Quality Framework includes legal requirements that all services must comply with.
These include requirements for:
- the number of staff and their qualifications
- ensuring children’s health and safety
- service space and layout
- the quality of developmental and learning experiences for children.
What services are included?
- Long day care
- Family day care
- Preschool/kindergarten (apart from Tasmania and WA)
- Outside school hours care.
National Quality Standard
The National Quality Framework sets a higher national quality standard to encourage services to continue to improve their programs and practices.
Services are assessed and rated against seven quality areas of the National Quality Standard:
1
Educational program and practice
Your child is supported to participate in play and learning
2
Children’s health and safety
Your child is protected from illness and hazards
3
Physical environment
Your child plays in a safe and well-maintained environment
4
Staffing arrangements
There are enough qualified staff to give your child the attention they need
5
Relationships with children
Your child is made to feel supported and welcomed
6
Collaborative partnerships with families and communities
Local community involvement and respect for the beliefs and values of families
7
Governance and leadership
Your child is cared for in a positive and well managed environment
To know more about these quality areas, and how they impact your child and quality of education and care, read our factsheet on understanding the NQS for early childhood education and care services.
How do services get a quality rating?
Assessors will visit each service to rate it against the seven quality areas of the National Quality Standard.
The quality areas are made up of standards and elements that describe what research shows are the most important parts of a quality early education and care service.
Services receive a rating for each of the quality areas and an overall rating based on these results.
Services must display their ratings.
How are most services rated?
The services will receive one of the following ratings:
- Significant Improvement Required
- Working towards NQS
- Meeting NQS
- Exceeding NQS
- Excellent
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