Meet the ACECQA team – Qualifications Assessment

his month, We Hear You speaks with ACECQA’s Qualifications Assessment team about their frontline work assessing education and care qualifications from around the globe.  

Under the Education and Care Services National Law, ACECQA is responsible for determining the qualifications required for educators and early childhood teachers (ECTs) in National Quality Framework (NQF) approved education and care services, including the assessment of equivalent qualifications. Applications for qualification assessment are submitted by individuals who wish to work with children preschool age and under, or school aged children who attend outside school hours care services.

Applications can be submitted online or through a paper-based application form. Once an application is received, the Qualifications Assessment team completes an initial check of the application, including checking whether all of the required information has been submitted. Guidance is available on ACECQA’s website detailing the information required for a ‘complete’ application. If information is missing, the team contacts the applicant to advise what must be submitted in order for the application to be assessed.

Since 2012, ACECQA has received over 8000 applications for qualifications assessments, and more than 2000 individuals have been approved as ECTs.

Tania, a Qualifications Assessment Officer who has worked at ACECQA for almost five years, highlighted the broad range of applications received.

“Some assessments are relatively easy to process, while others are very challenging,” Tania said. “We’ve received applications from dozens of countries all around the world, with the qualifications to be assessed spanning several decades.”

The team receives applications for the assessment of vocational, undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications, with most from overseas. A high volume of applicants come from the UK, Ireland and New Zealand. As the Qualifications Assessment team works with a diverse range of applicants, including those who have English as a second language, customer service and an ability to convey sometimes complex information in a straightforward and understandable way is critical.

“We understand that it’s their livelihood and it’s a really important step towards them having a successful career in Australia,” Tania said. “That’s why we are on hand to answer any questions about their applications, as well as Australia’s education and care sector more generally.”

To find out more about the work of the Qualifications Assessment team and the qualification requirements of the NQF, head over to the Qualifications section of our website.