Common areas of non-compliance in early childhood education and care services in 2024-25

The Education Standards Board (ESB) undertook unscheduled regulatory activities at various education and care services during 2024-25. The increase in regulatory activity aligned to our regulatory priorities being adequate supervision, inappropriate discipline, medical management and improved serious incident reporting. 

In the period the top six National Law and Regulation breaches across ECEC services were: 

1. Offence relating to protection of children from harm and hazards (S167(1))
2. Offence to inadequately supervise children (S165(1))
3. Premises, furniture and equipment to be safe, clean and in good repair (S103(1))
4. Policies and procedures to be followed (R170(1))
5. Offence to inadequately supervise children (S165(2))
6. Procedure for administration of medication (R95)
    

We encourage services using ACECQA’s Guide to the NQF to support compliance in the above areas. The breaches highlight the importance of: 

1. Taking reasonable precautions and employing adequate supervision to ensure children are protected from harm and hazards at all times. 
2. Regular checks of your facility including all indoor and outdoor spaces, buildings, fixtures and fittings are suitable for their purpose and support access for every child.  
3. Ensuring policies and procedures are regularly reviewed, well-documented, and easily accessible to staff and families. 
4. Regularly reviewing medical management plans, ensuring authorisations and details of medications are correctly recorded, storing medication correctly and ensuring another person checks the dosage and witnesses’ administration of medication.  
    

Approved providers are strongly encouraged to review service practices associated with the National Law and Regulations outlined above.