National Quality Framework
In 2009, the Australian Government in partnership with all States and Territories, agreed to begin making important changes to early childhood education and care. The changes respond to a large body of research which shows that a child’s life course is determined by their early childhood experiences. (Sammons, et al. 2007 and Waldfogel, J. 2004)
As a result the National Quality Framework was agreed to by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) and progressively implemented from July, 2010.
The National Quality Framework (NQF) aims to improve the quality of all Long Day Care, Family Day Care, Out of School Hours Care and PreSchools throughout Australia. To this end, the NQF will assist providers improve their services to foster posititve development of children and empower famililes to make informed choices about services available.
Complementing the NQF is the implemetation of Universal Access, a Federal Government initiative to enable every child to attend a preschool program with a qualified kindergaten teacher in the year before they attend formal schooling. By 2013, children will have access to 15 hrs of preschool per week. The relevant NQF qualification requirements and Staff-to-Child ratios and associated time frames will also apply to universal access pre school programs.
The NQF will set a new National Quality Standard for providers of early childhood education and care through the provision of the following areas:
- Improved educator to child ratios to ensure more individualised attention
- Improved educator qualifications requirements to further skill educators in supporting children’s learning and development
- A new rating system to provide transparent information about the quality of services to families
- The establishment of a new National body to oversee the quality standard
With the progressive implementation of the National Quality Standard, a number of delivery dates have been established.
Click here for detailed time lines for implementation of NQF
Click here for list of available resources and for list of available information sessions.