Childcare centres ratings overhaul will make it easier for parents
Childcare centres will be forced to display a star rating on their front doors like unhygienic restaurants, in a bid to give parents a clear indication of the quality of care kids are receiving.
NSW
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Childcare centres will be forced to display a star rating on their front doors like unhygienic restaurants, in a bid to give parents a clear indication of the quality of care kids are receiving.
The move by the state’s education minister Sarah Mitchell will strip out confusing bureaucratic language from the Federal Government’s National Quality Framework and replace it with an easy to understand rating out of five stars.
“This is something that we know families have been wanting for a long period of time, it is something we have consulted with the sector about,” she said.
“We have had a quality rating system in place nationally across Australia but one thing is that we’ve found is that parents and families are often a bit confused by that system, they’re not quite sure what the ratings mean,” she said.
“It is about clarifying that information, a simple cut through that starts that conversation and makes sure parents are informed.”
From January 1 next year all centres in the state will be required to display their star rating on a large A3 sticker. It will also identify areas were they have not met the minimum standard.
There will also be an injection of an extra $8 million to send in Department experts to poor performing centres to help them lift their game and improve their offering.
“We have had a working towards quality program in place for the last year where we have been targeting support for those services that do need to improve we’re putting additional money into that to help services lift their quality,” Ms Mitchell said.
Last year the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority found one in four NSW childcare services received a “working towards” national quality standard rating, the equivalent of a two star rating while 45 per cent of services were rated as “meeting” their target, the equivalent of three stars.
ACECQA CEO Gabrielle Sinclair said the extra cash to target underperforming childcare centres to lift standards was good because some centres did not know how to improve.
“You can’t have a rating system unless you also have an enabling system and so that is really critical that that is happening at the same time,” she said.
“A lot of them haven’t been able to move from “working towards” to “meeting” or “exceeding” because they’re not sure how.”
“We would never open a service unless it was safe and it had all of the components ready to do quality improvement.”
Mum Caroline Power, 38, from Sutherland said she was feeling her way in the dark when she chose a childcare centre for her four-year-old daughter Penelope because there was no clear information about quality.
“Had there been a star rating, it would have been so much easier without having to rely on other peoples opinions,” she said.
She said the star ratings system would also incentivise services to lift quality.
“If you see a product like food that has a two star rating, I am going to choose the four star rating.”
Industry group Early Childhood Education CEO Sam Page said the new initiative would allow parents to have a conversation about how their centre could improve.
“It also gives services the opportunity to proactively engage and focus on quality as
an ongoing priority,” she said.