Almost one in five Victorian childcare centres fall short of national quality standards

ALMOST one in five Victorian childcare centres are falling short of national quality standards — despite topping the country’s preschool rankings. See the best and worst performing centres.

Jindi Woraback Children's Centre was one of eight Victorian centres rated “excellent”. Elianna, Olivia and Razin. Picture: Tony Gough

ALMOST one in five Victorian childcare centres are falling short of national quality standards — despite topping the country’s preschool rankings.

The latest report on the quality of Australia’s early childhood system shows Victoria has the highest rate of centres either meeting or exceeding official benchmarks.

But more than 700 across the state are still lagging behind in at least one of seven key areas.

Nine have been warned there is “significant improvement required”, while eight have achieved the maximum “excellent” rating.

The new data, from the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority, shows Victoria trumps most states on several measures, including the proportion of centres meeting all standards (80 per cent, compared to the national average of 70 per cent).

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Under the National Quality Standard, introduced in 2012 by state and federal education ministers, makes it compulsory for all centres providing family day care, long day care, kindergartens and outside-school-hours to be given a “quality rating”.

Centres are rated on seven key areas, including education program, health and safety, physical environment, staffing, and relationships with children, families and communities.

Currently in Victoria, 1213 centres are “exceeding” the standard, while 1747 are “meeting” and 724 “working towards” the standard.

The Education Department yesterday reassured parents that all centres with a “working towards” rating were providing “a safe education and care program but have areas identified for improvement”.

However the nine centres rated “significant improvement required” face sanctions, increased oversight from the department — and potential closure if they do not boost their performance.

“If a service has (this) rating, we would encourage families to consider their choices very carefully,” the spokeswoman said.

“We take a zero-tolerance approach to situations where the children’s health, safety or wellbeing is compromised”.

At the top end of the scale is Jindi Woraback Children’s Centre in St Albans, in Melbourne’s west, which was one of eight Victorian centres rated “excellent”.

Razin does a bit of gardening at Jindi Woraback Children's Centre, one of eight Victorian centres rated “excellent”. Picture: Tony Gough

Centre director Michelle Walker said assisting children with “additional needs” had been a key focus, as well as a curriculum based on “research and knowledge”.

Ms Walker said people too often underestimated the abilities and learning capacity of preschoolers.

“We as adults forget that we are learners ourselves,” she said.

Early Learning Association Australia chief executive Shane Lucas said while there had been frustrations about the pace of its rollout of the NQS, it had been considered a great success overall.

Parents can check the ratings of their childcare centres at mychild.gov.au

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