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Child Care Quality
Read the Latest NCAC Report

The National Childcare Accreditation Council (NCAC) has just released its latest report into the quality of Australian child care services.

The NCAC data reports on the 1102 Australian child care services, which received an accreditation decision between 1 July and 31 December 2010 and shows that:

25 per cent failed to ensure that potentially dangerous products, plants and objects are inaccessible to children
29 per cent failed to implement effective and current food, safety and hygiene practices
28 per cent failed to ensure toileting and nappy changing procedures were positive experiences; and
22 per cent failed to document children's learning and use a planning program
20 per cent did not act to control the spread of infectious diseases and maintain records of immunisations.

Minister for Employment Participation and Child Care Kate Ellis said that although the data showed that many child care services were doing well, far too many are failing to meet basic standards of hygiene, safety and education.

"The more than 800,000 Australian parents who place their children in care each week deserve to know that they are safe and well looked after…Many parents would be horrified by these statistics," she said.

Ms Ellis says the Government's National Quality Framework would work to address some of these issues by boosting staff ratios, improving training and qualifications and by making the child care sector more transparent.

"Under the National Quality Framework, child care services will receive a rating from high quality, through to unsatisfactory and this rating will be made public on the My Child website," she said.

What Do You Think About The New Rating System?
Under the new rating system child care services will be assessed on their performance across the seven quality areas that make up the new National Quality Standard and given one overall rating.

All services will need to display their approval and rating information and ratings will also be available on the internet.

According to Government, the rating system will provide parents with consistent information which can be used to assist them in comparing services and will help services identify the areas they need to improve.

There are five levels against which services across Australia will be assessed based on the National Quality Standard:

Unsatisfactory: indicates that a service is not meeting the standard and the regulator is working closely with the service to immediately improve its quality. If there is no improvement the service will be closed.
Operating Level: indicates that a service is working towards meeting the standard. All new services will commence operation with an Operating Level rating.
National Quality Standard: indicates that a service is meeting the standard.
High Quality: indicates that a service is exceeding the National Quality Standard.
Excellent: indicates that a service demonstrates excellence and is recognised as a leader in the sector. Services will need to apply to be assessed against this rating.

» Take our mini poll – tell us if you think the government's new rating system will have a positive impact on the child care sector.

We will report on the results of this mini poll next month, in the meantime go to CareforKids Social to talk about the new ratings system with other child care professionals and share your views.