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Transition to the National Quality Framework - Information for kindergarten services

Approvals

Existing licensees (licensed prior to 1 January 2012) are declared Approved Providers and licensed services are declared Approved Services from 1 January 2012. An online transition pack was emailed to services in December 2012 and Approved Providers must provide the Department of Education and Training (the Department) with the required information by 10 February 2012. The Department will issue Provider and Service Approvals by 30 June 2012.

Co-located services

For services to be considered for amendment to be combined as a single service they must be located on the same or adjoining land lots. Services should contact the Department if they believe that two or more services which they operate are eligible to be merged into one Service Approval. An amendment form is required and will be available from the Australian Children's Education and Care Authority's (ACECQA) website.

Alternative solutions

If a service holds an approved alternative solution this will continue to apply. The original decision letter issued by the Department will outline any obligations. An Authorised Officer will verify individual licence conditions prior to the Service Approval being issued.

Services with a permanent exemption or operating under a 'Temporary Guideline for flood or cyclone affected areas'
If a service holds a permanent exemption or is operating under a Department approved 'Temporary Guideline for flood or cyclone affected areas', they have until 31 March 2012 to apply for a waiver. The fee will be waived for this application.

Leadership and management

A 'responsible person' must be present at all times education and care is being provided. The responsible person could be the Approved Provider, the Nominated Supervisor or a Certified Supervisor placed in day to day charge of a service. One of these persons must be present and identified by the provider as in day to day charge at all times care is being provided. Although this is a new requirement, qualified directors and group leaders in services licensed prior to 1 January 2012 are declared certified supervisors and nominated supervisors.
All applications for Service Approval must nominate a person to be the Nominated Supervisor for the service. The Nominated Supervisor must hold a Supervisor Certificate and consent to be the primary supervisor of day to day operation of the service. The Nominated Supervisor will have primary management and control of a service in the absence of the Approved Provider.

An educational leader must also be designated. 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 director or early childhood teacher currently employed at the service.

Staffing requirements

Ratios: No change to educator to child ratios for kindergarten services. A 1:11 educator to child ratio is required by 2016, if a service is not already using this ratio.

Qualifications: No changes to key qualifications, except for removal of the requirement to have a Director (i.e where services had a licence capacity of 30 or over). Most kindergarten services currently employ an early childhood teacher due to funding requirements and are therefore well-placed to meet the new legislative requirement for an early childhood teacher from 2014. Whilst the terms director, group leader and assistant are no longer used in the legislation, services can continue to use these staff titles.

Qualifications	Requirements from 2012
Diploma qualification	First of every two educators required to meet the educator to child ratio must hold an approved diploma level education and care qualification (or be studying towards and hold at least a Certificate III or equivalent).
Minimum qualification	All other educators required to meet the educator to child ratio is required to hold a Certificate III level education and care qualification (or be studying towards).

Capacity and age ranges

No change, services must continue to operate in accordance with the age range and capacity in line with their licence conditions until approved to do otherwise. Licence conditions will be transitioned onto service approvals prior to being issued by the Department.

Any service wishing to increase their capacity or change the ages of the children being cared for at the service must apply for an amendment. If a service is considering increasing the capacity of their service, it is important to take into account the building certification requirements of that service and the impact of any change on the outcomes for children being educated and cared for at the service. A change in the physical environment needs to comply with the minimum requirements in Part 7 of the National Regulations and provide the outcomes in Quality Area 3 of the National Quality Standard - Physical Environment, but should also support the other areas of the National Quality Standard (NQS) including, for example, Relationships with Children.

Rest period condition

If a service had a rest period condition on their licence it will continue to apply until 31 December 2019, unless the service approval is surrendered, cancelled or the condition removed.

Other conditions

Other conditions, including a variation to the maximum capacity for a specified period, will carry over where required under the Education and Care Services National Law 2010 (National Law).

Information to be displayed

Under section 172 of the National Law and section 173 of the National Regulations, existing services must continue to display:

their licence until they are issued with provider and service approvals, which will be issued by the Department by 30 June 2012
emergency and evacuation floor plan and instructions (section 97 of the National Regulations)
information about the educational program (section 75 of the National Regulations) (now linked to implementation of the Early Years Learning Framework )
a weekly menu (section 80 of the National Regulations), if food and beverages other than water are provided
the contact details of the Regulatory Authority.

In addition, existing services must display:

a notice that states 'Provisional - Not Yet Assessed under the National Quality Framework', until the service receives its first NQF rating
the name of the educational leader at the service
the name and telephone number of the person at the education and care service to whom complaints may be addressed
the name and position of the responsible person in charge of the education and care service at any given time
the name of the Nominated Supervisor
the hours and days of operation of the education and care service
if applicable, a notice stating that a child who has been diagnosed as at risk of anaphylaxis is enrolled at the education and care service
if applicable, a notice of an occurrence of an infectious disease at the education and care service.

Information to be provided to the Department

As noted above, the Approved Provider has until 10 February 2012 to complete the online transition pack including:

Notifying the Department of the Nominated Supervisor and declared certified supervisors at their service. The Department will also be in contact to seek the nominated supervisor after hours contact details.

Records to kept

Services and educators must continue to keep a range of records similar to the requirements under the Child Care Act 2002. Pages 117 - 118 of the Guide to the National Law and National Regulations lists the records and documents that the Approved Provider must keep and the timeframes required to be kept.

Commence planning for quality improvement

Services should be actively planning for the commencement of the assessment and rating process in mid 2012. This may include:

engaging with the range of guides that are now available on the ACECQA website (in particular the Guide to the National Quality Standard which includes reflective questions for each of the seven Quality Areas)
undertaking a self-assessment against the NQS and related regulatory requirements to inform development of the Quality Improvement Plan
if services have not already done so, implementing the Early Years Learning Framework. The educational practices and related policies, procedures and documentation will be assessed for compliance, assessment and ratings purposes against the standards and elements in Quality Area 1 Educational Program and Practice of the NQS and the related requirements in the National Law and National Regulations. In particular the assessment will focus on the alignment with principles, practices and the five learning outcomes of the Early Years Learning Framework. A number of learning guidelines have been developed which support the Early Years Learning Framework including the Queensland Kindergarten Learning Guideline and Foundations for Success (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities).
Reviewing and updating policies as required. Services may already have many of the policies required under section 168 of the National Regulations as they may currently be required under the Child Care Act 2002. Refer to the Key changes for kindergarten services page for more information.

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