How government assessors rated every Queensland childcare centre
Every single childcare centre in Queensland has been given a rating by the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority, but there’s a twist to the findings that may leave some parents angry. SEE HOW YOUR CENTRE RATES
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The number of government inspections of Queensland childcare centres is less than half of what it was in 2019.
According to the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority between January and September 2020, 184 Queensland child care centres were inspected.
Over the same period in 2019, 442 centres were inspected.
The national register also shows six of Queensland’s childcare centres have not been inspected since 2012.
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Childcare centres are assessed on seven criteria – education, health and safety, physical environment, staffing, relationships with children, partnerships with families and communities and governance and leadership.
Everton Park Child Care and Development Centre is one of just eight Queensland childcare centres with an “excellent” rating.
Centre director Hilary Webb said the inspection process was important to ensuring childcare centres were providing the best possible care for their students.
“The inspections are important to make sure we are providing the best possible service for the children,” she said.
Despite achieving the highest possible rating Everton Park Childcare and Development Centre does not follow the practices of most centres. It has no toys, is set up like a home, encourages children to climb trees and play with the centre’s chickens.
“What is best for the child is at the heart of everything we do,” she said.
“We often look at what we are doing and ask ‘Should we still be doing that?’ even if
it is something that we have always done. That doesn’t mean we can’t do it better.”
The national Education Council suspended the assessment and rating of centres in a meeting on April 2.
Queensland’s assessors recommenced assessments in June.
An Education Department spokesman said monitoring continued remotely during the assessment shut down.
“During the suspension of assessment and rating, monitoring of services continued in Queensland, with the health, safety and wellbeing of children continuing to be the prime consideration of the RA,” the spokesman said.
“Where appropriate, monitoring was conducted remotely, via a tele-monitoring process, but wherever a risk assessment indicated that it was necessary to manage a potential risk to a child or children, authorised officers continued to visit services and conduct investigations in person.”
Education Council deputy secretary Greg Donaghue said child safety remained key when the decision to halt assessment was made.
“Ministers were advised that in making the decision, regulatory authorities undertook to continue to apply child safety as the primary consideration in regulatory decisions,” he said.
“I’m not in a position to comment on how the decision of the regulatory authorities relates to cleanliness of facilities, or other aspects of children’s health, but refer you to the broader principles noted above regarding child safety being the primary consideration of such decisions.”
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Originally published as How government assessors rated every Queensland childcare centre