Employees of the
Early Childhood Regulatory Authority (ECRA) come from a range of professional backgrounds.
Many have a background in the education and care sector, while others have experience as regulators in different fields. There are legal professionals, data and systems specialists, and people with a public service background who have policy and program skills that translate well to a regulatory environment.
Most staff members work directly with education and care services in the Department of Education’s regional offices, while others have specialised jobs with the central office in Brisbane.
Qualifications required
The regulatory authority has leadership, management and support roles. While there are no mandatory qualifications to work for the regulatory authority, there are several pre-employment checks and post-employment training required for certain roles, including:
- Police check—employment with the regulatory authority is subject to a Queensland Police check.
- Blue Card—most authorised officers regularly attend education and care services premises to undertake the duties of their role. It is therefore a requirement that authorised officers are subject to a working with children check and in Queensland, this means they must hold a Blue Card or exemption card.
- Training—there is mandatory training that all regulatory authority staff undertake as part of their capability development. New staff are supported to undertake this training throughout their induction. Additionally, authorised officers undertake training focused on the core regulatory skills necessary to fulfil their role.
- Testing—there are mandatory annual tests that authorised officers must take to ensure they remain up to date with the knowledge and skills required for their roles.
Authorised officers
Authorised officers are appointed under the
Education and Care Services National Law. Their roles, powers and responsibilities are set out in the
National Law and Regulations and in the
Education and Care Services Act 2013 (QLD).
Authorised officers have specified powers to enter services and conduct activities such as quality assessment and rating, monitoring and investigating early childhood education and care services in response to incidents and complaints. In carrying out these functions, they have powers to gather evidence, and request and require information from certain individuals.
Authorised officers are expected to carry out their activities lawfully, fairly, professionally, transparently and in a way that is proportionate to risk.
Becoming an authorised officer
An authorised officer is not a specific role that you can apply for. Rather, a number of different roles within in RA require authorisation under the
Education and Care Services National Law.
Where authorisation is a requirement of the role, it will be noted in the role description. The successful applicant will be supported to become authorised as part of their induction process.
Becoming authorised requires employees to undertake mandatory training and testing. If a role includes performing quality
assessment and ratings of education and care services, additional training and testing will be completed through the
Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA).
Find a job with the Regulatory Authority
Job opportunities are advertised via the Queensland Government's
Smart jobs website. Look for jobs from the Department of Education that have ‘regulatory’ or ‘regulation’ in the role title (e.g. ‘Senior Regulatory Officer’ or ‘Manager, Regulation’).
You can sign up for the job alert service from Smart jobs to be notified when positions of interest are advertised.
Regulatory Authority technical competencies
View the technical competencies in the
Regulatory Authority Capability Framework that support capability development and professional pathways for all regulatory staff.
The technical competencies complement the
leadership competencies for Queensland (LCQ), but focus on the specific skills and expertise required to effectively regulate the education and care sector under the regulatory authority's risk-based framework,
regulating for quality.