Our latest occasional paper highlights variation in quality ratings across socio-economic status areas

ACECQA’s seventh occasional paper shares detailed analysis and insights into the quality of children’s education and care services based on the socio‑economic status of their location.

Children from more disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to be developmentally vulnerable and there is strong national and international evidence showing that they receive the greatest benefits from attending high quality education and care services.

The paper highlights that, while the quality of services continues to improve since the introduction of the National Quality Framework (NQF) in 2012, there are differences in the overall quality ratings of education and care services located in high and low socio-economic status areas. Services in relatively disadvantaged areas are slightly more likely to be rated Working Towards NQS, and notably less likely to be rated Exceeding NQS than those in relatively advantaged areas.

“The National Quality Framework, which guides and supports the quality of early childhood education and care in Australia, expects all providers to continue to improve the quality of their services, with the NQF based on the principles of equity, inclusion and diversity,” said ACECQA CEO Gabrielle Sinclair.

“Continued collaboration between services, families, communities and governments is essential to achieve the goal of improved educational and developmental outcomes for all children attending education and care services”.

The paper also identifies that services in the most disadvantaged areas typically find Quality Area 1 (Educational program and practice), Quality Area 4 (Staffing arrangements), and Quality Area 7 (Governance and leadership) more challenging than those in the most advantaged areas.

All seven of our occasional papers are available on the ACECQA website.