Report highlights new data sets across the children’s education and care sector

The Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) today released its 30th NQF Snapshot report, summarising quality rating results for education and care services operating under the National Quality Framework (NQF).

The Snapshot and interactive Online Snapshot now include data about temporary service closures related to the impact of COVID-19, as well as the volume of assessment and rating visits compared to all other visits undertaken by state and territory regulatory authorities, the level of change between draft and final quality ratings, and the proportion of ratings that result in a review.

The report finds 81% of services are rated Meeting National Quality Standard (NQS) or above, with 30% of these rated Exceeding NQS or above. Almost two thirds (65%) of services previously rated Working Towards NQS improved their overall quality rating after reassessment.

“Our latest report includes important new information, notably weekly snapshots of temporary service closures as a result of the impact of COVID-19, and the significant volume of other types of service visits undertaken by state and territory regulatory authorities in addition to quality assessment and rating visits,” said ACECQA CEO Gabrielle Sinclair.

“While the assessment and rating visit is a key component to determine overall service quality, regulatory authorities routinely undertake a wide variety of service visits to ensure that the ongoing health, safety and wellbeing of children continues to be prioritised.”

“Educators, teachers and all service staff should be proud of the high quality education and care they’re continuing to provide to children and families during these challenging and exceptional times,” added Ms Sinclair.

On 2 April 2020, in recognition of the COVID-19 global pandemic, Education Ministers announced four critical areas for time-limited regulatory action, including the suspension of assessment and ratings.

The assessment and rating process typically takes around three months from initial notification to the approved provider to the publication of the final ratings. The temporary suspension of assessment and ratings has therefore had some impact on the volume of new quality assessment and rating results in this report, with the impact likely to be much more significant in our next NQF Snapshot, scheduled to be published in early November.