Education and care services - Assessment and rating

The Department of Communities' Education and Care Regulatory Unit is responsible for assessing and rating education and care services against the National Quality Standard.
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Services receive a rating for each quality area and an overall rating. These ratings must be displayed by the service and will be published by the  and on the . 

Self Assessment and Quality Improvement Plan

The Education and Care Services National Regulations 2012 set out that for each service, the approved provider must ensure that a , outlining key strengths, areas for improvement and reflecting on practice throughout the year, is developed and updated at least annually. The most recent version of the Quality Improvement Plan must be submitted to the Education and Care Regulatory Unit on request.  

Assessing a service

The Education and Care Services National Regulations 2012 set out how services will be assessed. When assessing a service the Education and Care Regulatory Unit must:  

  • review service information (compliance history, rating and assessment history)
  • review a service's current Quality Improvement Plan, and
  • visit the service to observe practice.

Authorised officers who assess and rate services are appropriately qualified and trained in the assessment process. More information about the assessment and rating of education and care services is available at the  website.

National Quality Framework

The  (NQF) is Australia鈥檚 system for regulating early learning and school age care including: legislation and national quality standard, and learning frameworks.

Resources for Assessment and Rating

Assessment and rating resources available from ACECQA

Video resource

During the 2022 ECRU Roadshows the was shared to assist approved providers to understand their obligations beyond general ratio and qualification requirements.

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