The choice of childcare centre for your child has a huge role in the quality of early education and care they receive during some of their most formative years.
Let’s say you’ve found two childcare centres roughly the same distance from your home. One has a rating of “Exceeding National Quality Standard” and the other “Working Towards.” What do these ratings actually tell you, and how should it affect your decision?
If you’re a parent looking for answers about how childcare centres are evaluated in Australia, this guide covers the National Quality Framework (NQF) and the centre ratings that matter for your child’s early education and care.
What Is the National Quality Framework (NQF)?
The National Quality Framework (NQF) defines standards and legislation around childcare and education. Early education providers that are covered under the NQF include long day care, family day care, preschool/kindergarten and after school hours care.
The following parts of the National Quality Framework will be most important to you as a parent.
National Quality Standard (NQS)
Childcare centres are assessed under the National Quality Standard and given an overall rating reflecting performance across seven areas of operation.
There are five levels of quality ratings under the National Quality Standard:
- Excellent rating – the highest level, given only to services that apply and demonstrate exceptional practice. This rating is awarded by the ACECQA rather than the state regulator.
- Exceeding National Quality Standard – the service goes beyond the standard in most or all seven quality areas.
- Meeting National Quality Standard – the service meets the standard across all seven quality areas.
- Working Towards National Quality Standard – the service provides safe care, but has one or more areas that need improvement.
- Significant Improvement Required – the service is not meeting the standard and there is an unacceptable risk to children.
The Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF)
The Early Years Learning Framework is Australia’s national curriculum for children from birth to five years. Educators use the EYLF to plan activities and programmes in line with the EYLF’s learning outcomes.
Play-based learning, intentional teaching, and dramatic play are examples of approaches used in childcare centres to encourage development.
Operational Requirements
The NQF requires childcare centres to meet operational guidelines across educator-to-child ratios, staff qualification requirements, supervision standards, and health and safety.
The regulatory requirements ensure a more consistent level of care and safety for children and peace of mind for families. All early childhood education centres are regularly assessed and monitored to ensure compliance.
How the National Quality Standard Assesses Childcare Centres
Childcare centres are assessed by the state regulatory authority and given a rating across each of the seven quality areas outlined by the National Quality Standard.
For parents, these ratings are the most reliable way to gauge the quality of a childcare centre. Unlike user-submitted reviews, like Google’s five-star rating system, these NQS ratings cannot be fabricated and provide a clear, unbiased breakdown of how each part of the centre is operated.
Using a centre’s quality ratings alongside genuine reviews from other attending families is the best way to find out whether a childcare centre has the high level of service it claims to offer. You can look up any centre’s current rating, along with the date it was assessed, on the ACECQA website or the Starting Blocks website, which ACECQA also runs.
The seven areas of quality ratings are:
1. Educational Program and Practice
This quality area looks at how aligned the centre’s program is with the EYLF and tailored to each child’s needs and interests. Assessors check that educators have the relevant qualifications and plan activities that are effective for growth and development.
2. Children’s Health and Safety
A childcare centre is assessed on how well it safeguards children’s health, safety, and well-being. This covers areas like hygiene, supervision, responsiveness to allergies and emergencies, and safe food handling.
3. Physical Environment
This looks at whether the centre’s indoor and outdoor learning environment is clean, well maintained and safe. The physical environment rating is a measure of whether children have opportunities for independent play and exploration and whether the centre encourages sustainable practices.
4. Staffing Arrangements
Staffing arrangements evaluate whether the centre meets the required educator to child ratios, has a qualified team of educators, and how staff are trained. For example, a centre with a high staff turnover can lead to inconsistencies in care, which is then reflected in the quality rating for this area.
5. Relationships with Children
Childcare centres are assessed on how educators interact with children. Assessors look for warm, responsive relationships that help children feel secure, build confidence, and learn to regulate their own behaviour.
6. Collaborative Partnerships with Families and Communities
This quality area assesses a childcare centre’s working relationship with families and the wider community. These include how the centre shares information about each child’s progress, how it takes on feedback from parents and the community, and how it involves families in decisions that affect their child’s care and learning.
7. Governance and Leadership
Childcare centres are assessed on whether they have strong leadership and effective management in place to continue improving the quality of services. This covers approaches across day-to-day management, employment, training, and curriculum planning.
A childcare centre that consistently achieves a good rating in each of these quality areas is one you can trust to provide safe, nurturing, and genuinely enriching early education for your child.
At Raising Stars, our early learning centres in Five Dock and Gregory Hills have an Exceeding National Quality Standard (NQS) rating from the NSW Department of Education. We pride ourselves on delivering above and beyond the required care and education standards for each child at our centres. Join our waitlist or get in touch with our centres to find out more about how we can provide quality education for your little one.