NQF Snapshots

National Quality Framework (NQF) Snapshots provide an overview of the Australian children’s education and care sector, including the progress and results of quality assessment and rating against the National Quality Standard (NQS).

Launch the NQF Online Snapshot - this interactive tool allows you to hover over and sort for information on the NQF.

Download the latest NQF Snapshot (Q1 2023 – data as at 1 April 2023).

Download the latest NQS data (Q1 2023 – data as at 1 April 2023). 

Download the latest NQS time series data (Q1 2013 – Q1 2023).

You can view previous NQF Snapshots in the Resources section on this page.

89% of children’s education and care services meeting or exceeding standards

The proportion of children’s education and care services rated Meeting National Quality Standard (NQS) or above remains at 89%, according to the latest quarterly NQF Snapshot.

“There has been a consistent rise in the proportion of services rated Meeting NQS and above since quality ratings were first published – from 56% in 2013 to 89% today,” said ACECQA CEO Gabrielle Sinclair. “This reflects the fact that 68% of services initially rated Working Towards NQS have improved their quality rating to either Meeting or Exceeding NQS at reassessment.”

The Snapshot shows there are more than 17,000 services approved under the National Quality Framework (NQF). There has been consistent growth each year in the number of approved services including a 2.3 percentage point increase in the past 12 months.

Additional figures providing more detailed analysis continue to be added to the Online Snapshot, including geographic representations of the proportion of staffing and physical environment waivers across the country.

Children’s education and care services approved under the NQF include long day care, outside school hours care and family day care services, as well as most preschools and kindergartens.