BY HEJIRA CONVERY, KINDICARE

AUGUST 12, 2022

It takes passion and patience to be a great early childhood educator, and although it’s important that the people looking after our kids love what they do, formal qualifications ensure that care-givers know how to bring out the best in our little learners.  

The government says, “Proper training helps to provide better outcomes for your child’s learning and development,” and because staff qualifications have a big influence on the quality of education and care being provided, there are rules in place to ensure our educators are educated!  

Basically, your service must have a certain percentage of educators qualified in certain ways.   

The National Quality Framework (NQF) sets out the minimum qualification requirements for long day care, preschools and kindergartens (aka ‘centre-based services’), and family day care has requirements, too. 

There are also rules about first aid qualifications and training (more about that later), but for starters, we can tell you that there are three levels of early childhood qualifications: 

• Certificate 
• Diploma, and 
• Teacher level (which is a bachelor degree or higher). 

 

Within this structure, there are different NQF-approved qualifications, awarded by a variety of educational institutions, including TAFEs, colleges and universities. 

Qualifications equip educators with the theoretical and practical know-how that helps them do their job well, however, qualifications don’t dictate job descriptions. 

Individual providers decide what roles and responsibilities educators have at their service. 

As a guide, though, you can expect more qualified educators to take the lead on things like children’s learning and service quality.  ACECQA runs through some of the key things that certificate III, diploma and teacher level educators may do here (look for the bullet points!).    

When it comes to percentages, at least 50% of educators at centre-based services looking after littlies must be, at least, diploma level qualified.  

This is mandated by the National Regulations, and it means that at least half of all educators who are being counted in the service’s educator to child ratios must have, or be ‘actively working towards,’ an approved diploma level education and care qualification, or higher.  

All other educators being counted in the ratios must hold, or be actively working towards, at least, an approved certificate III level education and care qualification.    

An equivalent, or formerly approved qualification completed years ago, can get the tick of approval. 

And ‘actively working towards’ a qualification has a different meaning, depending on whether the person is on course for a certificate or diploma level qualification. You can read the finer points of this here. 

Centre-based services also have to ‘engage or have access to’ an early childhood teacher (ECT), who holds an approved ECT qualification.  

An equivalent or formerly approved ECT qualification can ensure ECT status, and a person may be ‘taken to be an early childhood teacher’ if they’ve embarked on the study, but haven’t graduated yet (provided they prove certain things). 

Depending on where you live and/or what kind of service your child attends, ECTs may also need to be registered or accredited as teachers. 

When it comes to ECT access, there are different requirements, depending on how many children are attending the service.  

If there are less than 25 tykes on-site, it’s sufficient to have access to an ECT for at least 20% of the time that the service is operating, and this access can happen via information communication technology (hello internet!).  

However, the more littlies a service is looking after, the more ECT access they need.  

A service caring for 25+ children has to ‘employ or engage’ a full-time or full-time equivalent ECT, or have an ECT in attendance for: 

• Six hours a day, when operating for 50 hours or more a week, OR 
• 60% of the time, when operating for less than 50 hours each week.  

 

Services looking after 60+ kids also need a second ECT or ‘suitably qualified person,’ and you can delve into the different hours and percentages in ACECQA’s summary table.  

At family day care, qualification requirements are more straight-forward. 

Basically, all family day care educators must hold or be actively working towards, at least, an approved certificate III level education and care qualification – except in South Australia, where they need to actually hold the certificate III qualification, or higher.  

A formerly approved qualification completed years ago, or one deemed ‘equivalent’ by ACECQA, can also be sufficient.    

Meanwhile, family day care coordinators must hold an approved diploma level education and care qualification (or an equivalent or formerly approved one).  

The rules around first aid qualifications and training are important, too.  

There’s always a chance that illness or misadventure may strike (despite the best intentions), so, by law, every centre-based service must have a first aid qualified person (or people) immediately available in an emergency, at all times when littlies are at the service.  

Specifically, there must be at least one staff member or one nominated supervisor of the service who: 

• Holds a current approved first aid qualification 
• Has undertaken current approved anaphylaxis management training 
• Has undertaken current approved emergency asthma management training. 

 

One person may hold one or more of the above qualifications, and all bases have to be covered at all times.  

In the family day care setting, each family day care educator and educator assistant must hold all three qualifications, meaning they’re trained to administer first aid and manage anaphylaxis and asthma.  

All in all, it’s good to know that educators are trained to help your child thrive.  

If you’re ever curious or concerned about your educators’ qualifications, your centre director or family day care coordinator can explain the brainpower your service is built on. 

You can learn about out of school hours care qualifications here, if your child is older.   

And no matter where you live, or how old your child is, KindiCare is the smart, but simple, way to find expert educators in your area.