Research shows quality early education and care leads to better health and education outcomes later in life.
National Quality Framework (NQF)
The National Quality Framework (also known as the NQF) aims to improve the quality of early childhood education and care services in Australia.
The NQF is Australia’s system for regulating early learning and school age care including: legislation and national quality standard, sector profiles and data, and learning frameworks.
Providing children with quality experiences early in life can lead to better health and education outcomes, building a productive and fair Australia.
The NQF includes legal requirements that all services must comply with, including:
- the number of staff and their qualifications
- ensuring children’s health and safety
- service space and layout
- the quality of developmental and learning experiences for children.
What types of services are operating under the NQF?
The types of services operating under the National Quality Framework include:
- Long day care
- Family day care
- Preschool/kindergarten (apart from Tasmania and WA)
- Outside school hours care.
National Quality Standard
The NQF sets a high National Quality Standard (NQS) to encourage services to continually improve their programs and practices.
Services are assessed and rated against the seven quality areas of the NQS:
1 - Educational program and practice
Your child is supported to participate in play and learning
2 - Children’s health and safety
Your child is protected from illness and hazards
3 - Physical environment
Your child plays in a safe and well maintained environment
4 - Staffing arrangements
There are enough qualified staff to give your child the attention they need
5 - Relationships with children
Your child is made to feel supported and welcomed
6 - Collaborative partnerships with families and communities
Local community involvement and respect for the beliefs and values of families
7 - Governance and leadership
Your child is cared for in a positive and well managed environment.
Our resource on understanding the National Quality Standard for early childhood education and care services shares more information on these quality areas.
How do services get a quality rating?
The regulatory authorities in each state or territory assess and rate services against the 7 quality areas of the National Quality Standard.
Each service receives individual ratings for all 7 quality areas, along with an overall rating. These ratings are required to be publicly displayed by the services.
Services receive one of the following ratings:
- Excellent National Quality Standard
- Exceeding National Quality Standard
- Meeting National Quality Standard
- Working towards National Quality Standard
- Significant Improvement Required
Services rated Exceeding in all 7 quality areas may apply to the Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) to be awarded the Excellent rating.
If a service is assessed and there are serious compliance issues it is rated Significant Improvement Required. The regulatory authority uses penalties to make sure the service improves or stops the service from operating.
What do the quality ratings mean?
Our national quality system sets a high bar for services: they need to be providing quality education and care in all quality areas to be rated Meeting the NQS.
The NQS quality ratings can help you choose a service for your child. It is important to look at the rating for each of the seven quality areas as well as the overall rating.
You can also discuss quality ratings with the service provider, to check the service's rating visit Find Child Care.