In 2022, education ministers agreed to changes to the National Quality Framework (NQF) based on findings from the 2019 NQF Review.
The 2019 NQF Review included extensive consultation with the sector, families and other parts of the community which informed government decisions.
The first round of
approved regulatory changes, relating to the transportation of children, came into effect on 1 March 2023.
The second round of approved regulatory changes, coming into effect from 1 July 2023, will:
- assist in addressing workforce challenges by providing flexibility for services when replacing educators during short term absences and resignations
- improve oversight of providers by regulatory authorities by expanding the definition of ‘person with management or control’ of the service to better capture persons exercising significant influence over the operation of services and closer alignment between the Education and Care Services National Law and the Family Assistance Law on matters relating to the ‘fitness and propriety’ of approved providers
- provide flexibility to family day care (FDC) services, that have been operating for at least 12 months, by allowing some adjustments when calculating FDC coordinator to educator ratios. This change will assist in addressing workforce challenges within the FDC sector
- improve the provision of quality education and care by ensuring all FDC educators hold at least an approved certificate III level qualification prior to commencing their role. Existing educators will have a period of up to 12-months to complete their qualifications
- for the first time since the introduction of the NQF in 2012, moderately increase several prescribed fees as well as introduce a new category to differentiate fees applied to ‘large’ and ‘very large’ services
- increase the incentive and reduce administrative burden for services applying for the Excellent rating by extending the period of approval from 3 to 5 years
- implement a cut-off date for the original national approved learning frameworks in early 2024, at which point services will be required to use the new versions of the national
approved learning frameworks.
A third and final round of regulatory and legislative changes will come into effect later in 2023.
All decisions made by education ministers from the 2019 NQF review have been published on their
website.
The 2019 NQF Review website provides the Decision Regulatory Impact Statement (DRIS) and comprehensive frequently asked questions (FAQs) on all of the incoming changes to the National Law and Regulations.
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