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  • NQF Transition
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    • Educator to child ratios - Implications for Queensland Services
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    • Key changes for outside school hours care
    • Key changes for long day care
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    • Key changes for kindergarten services
    • Excursions - Family Day Care and Outside School Hours Care
    • Educator to child ratios - Long Day Care and Kindergarten
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Outside school hours care

Key changes for outside school hours care

From 1 January 2012, outside school hours care (OSHC) services, including before and after school hours care and some vacation care services, will be part of the new National Quality Framework (NQF).

OSHC services licensed under the Child Care Act 2002 (the Act) as at 31 December 2011, will transition into the new regulatory framework as centre-based services. Key transitional arrangements will include that:

• the licensee will be taken to be an Approved Provider
• the service will be taken to be an Approved Service
• conditions on existing licences, where they are consistent with the Education and Care Services National Law, may continue in force on service approvals
• specified child care employees will be declared to be a Certified Supervisor (see the Supervisor Certificates and Nominated Supervisors page for further information)
• the approved provider will be required to nominate a certified supervisor to be the Nominated Supervisor of the service.

It is important to note that various service types located on the same site may be transitioned as one service approval. For example, a long day care service that also offers OSHC would not need a separate service approval.

The Department of Education and Training (the Department) will issue new provider approvals, service approvals and supervisor certificates for declared services and individuals by 30 June 2012.

Will vacation care be required to meet the National Quality Framework?

Vacation care services are currently not licensed under the Act but may be accredited/registered with the National Childcare Accreditation Council (NCAC).

Vacation care services that operate for more than four weeks per year are in scope of the NQF. Vacation care services that exist on the 1 January 2012 will be taken to hold a provider approval and service approval.

Will an OSHC service be able to take Prep children from 1 January 2012?

Yes. The Child Care Act 2002 currently prevents services being able to take Prep children from early January as they are not regularly attending the school at which they are enrolled. The children over preschool age definition in the Education and Care Services National Regulations (National Regulations ) addresses this issue with OSHC services able to accept a child who is enrolled in and will be/or is attending Prep in the current calendar year (section 4 of the National Regulations).

When making decisions about educator to child ratios, consideration needs to be given to the impact on all seven of the Quality Areas in the National Quality Standard. This is particularly relevant when considering the needs of younger children in the group.

In the National Regulations, Part 4.5 Relationships with Children talks about interactions with children and relationships with groups. Regulation 156 (1) of the National Regulations requires that the Approved Provider take reasonable steps to ensure that children (being educated and cared for by the service) are provided with opportunities to interact and develop respectful and positive relationships with each other and with staff members and volunteers, furthermore (2) refers to the Approved Provider having regard to the size and composition of the groups in which children are being educated and cared for by the service. Therefore the needs of young children should be considered within this context.

In addition to this, the expectation of the education program is to contribute to the following outcomes for each child:

1. The child will have a strong sense of identity
2. The child will be connected with and contribute to his or her world
3. The child will have a strong sense of wellbeing
4. The child will be a confident and involved learner
5. The child will be an effective communicator.

In OSHC, documentation of evaluations for the purposes of the educational program must include evaluations of the child's wellbeing, development and learning with consideration to the period of time the child is being educated and cared for by the service, as provided in Part 4.1 Regulation 74 of the National Regulations.

Key staffing requirements

The current staffing requirements for school age care under the Act will apply to Queensland OSHC services under sections 298-299 of the National Regulations from 1 January 2012. This includes:

• An educator-to-child ratio of 1:15
• At least one educator who holds or is actively working towards a minimum two year relevant qualification must be present at the education and care premise:
  • for at least seven hours and 15 minutes of the time the service is educating and caring for children (if children are educated and cared for more than seven hours and 15 minutes on that day), or
  • otherwise - at all times the service is educating and caring for children, and
• If the service educates for 30 or more children, at least one educator for every 30 children must hold, or be actively working towards, at least a one year relevant qualification.

Under the NQF, all OSHC service will be required to designate a Nominated Supervisor and an educational leader from 1 January 2012. The educational leader must be a suitably qualified and experienced educator to lead the development and implementation of educational program in the service. For many services this may be the Coordinator currently employed or engaged at the service. Existing Coordinators will be declared Certified and Nominated Supervisors under the NQF.

Regulation 122 of the National Regulations requires that educators must be working directly with children to be included in the ratios.

When making decisions about educator to child ratios, consideration needs to be given to the impact on all seven of the Quality Areas in the National Quality Standard.

Even though educators under the age of 18 can be included in the 1:15 ratio, Regulation 120 of the National Regulations requires educators under the age of 18 to be supervised. Regulation 299(6) of the National Regulations provides all educators who are under 18 years of age must hold or be actively working towards at least a minimum 1 year qualification from the approved list of qualifications for educators working with children over preschool age for Queensland.

When will national educator to child ratios and qualifications be developed for OSHC?

Once the initial legislation and assessment and ratings system is in place, Governments will turn their mind to national staffing standards for OSHC. This may occur at one of the agreed review points in 2013 or 2014, or earlier if determined to be a higher priority. The establishment of national staffing standards would be based on evidence and accompanied by national consultation and cost benefit analysis to inform the determination of appropriate standards.

Educator to child ratios

See the Educator to child ratios - Implications for Queensland Services page for information regarding ratios, excursions, rest period, rest pauses and short absences.

Assessment and rating

A key aspect of the NQF is continuous quality improvement. From 1 January 2012, OSHC services will be assessed and rated against the new National Quality Standard (NQS) and the National Regulations . Where various types of services are offered on the same site and provided under one service approval - for example, a long day care service also offering OSHC - the service may be assessed and rated as one service.

The Department's authorised officers will be responsible for assessing and rating OSHC services. OSHC services will be assessed in the same way as all other services. The duration of assessments will be determined based on consideration of service provision (i.e. if a service provides before and after school care, the visit may be spread part-time over a number of days).

Each service will need to develop and annually update a Quality Improvement Plan. By incorporating the NQS into existing quality assessment processes, services will be able to identify areas that the service is doing well and areas where there is room for improvement to be included in the Quality Improvement Plan. See the Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority's Guide to developing a quality improvement plan for more information.

What learning framework is to be delivered?

Under the National Regulations, all services will be required to use an approved learning framework.

The Early Years Learning Framework has been developed for services catering for children aged birth to five years and the My Time, Our Place - Framework for School Age Care in Australia is for school aged children.

The Framework for School Age Care in Australia is designed to inform the development of a program that enhances children's experiences and development through planned leisure activities. The framework is strongly linked to the Early Years Learning Framework and extends the principles, practices and outcomes to accommodate the context and age range of the children and young people who attend school age care settings.

Educators will be required to keep documentation of children's assessments or evaluations as part of an educational program based on an approved learning framework (section 74 of the National Regulations).

What policies and procedures is an OSHC service required to keep?

The Act requires a wide range of policies to be prepared and kept up to date. Similarly, the National Regulations require services to keep a range of policies and/or procedures. The table below outlines the content required, the corresponding sections of the National Regulations and NQS and whether these policies are new or align with existing requirements.

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This page was last reviewed on 07 Dec 2011

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