Assessment and Rating in South Australia

This article aims to support your understanding of South Australia’s current assessment and rating process.

As of 30 June 2023, 55% of services in South Australia are rated against the 2012 National Quality Standard (NQS) compared to 12% nationally. The current average reassessment cycle time is eight to ten years, meaning that a lot of South Australian services have had no or limited engagement with the Education Standards Board (ESB) for a considerable time.

Many educators will not have participated in the assessment and rating process; data from the Royal Commission into Early Childhood Education and Care shows that at December 2022, 45% long day care and non-government pre-school services were assessed before the current director started at the service. There are also some approved providers operating services in South Australia who are based interstate, and who therefore may not be familiar with the approach (regulatory posture) of the ESB.

The purpose of assessment and rating

An assessment and rating enables a service to showcase its strengths within its unique context and enables the ESB to engage the approved provider in a process of self-evaluation to achieve continuous improvement.

How each service meets the standards and elements of the NQS is informed by the service philosophy and will vary based on the needs of the children, families and community. One of the main goals of the assessment and rating process is to experience the service as children and families would on a typical day, so that we can get an accurate picture of the unique service context.

Authorised Officers assess quality against the NQS and regulatory compliance against the national law and regulations. All Authorised Officers receive training from the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) and once they are tested as reliable, they can regulate against the National Quality Framework. A teaching qualification in early childhood education is not an essential requirement for an Authorised Officer, though most do have a qualification. Important skills for Authorised Officers are gathering and analysing evidence, communication and administrative law decision making.  

Further information can be found in Section 3 of the Guide to the National Quality Framework.

What happens before an assessment and rating?

A pre-assessment and rating visit occurs approximately two to three months before the start of the process to support a service’s preparation for an assessment and rating.

This is an opportunity for the service to receive guidance from the ESB on areas for continuous improvement and, if required, for Authorised Officers to set clear expectations on what voluntary compliance is and looks like.

An Authorised Officer contacts the service one week before the visit and shares the self-assessment tool and supporting information. We encourage services to prepare for the visit by self-assessing their compliance against the National Law and National Regulations.

The visit usually takes between one to two hours and the Authorised Officer will review aspects of the self-assessment as part of the visit. If rectifications are needed, the Authorised Officer will discuss these during the visit.

The period between the pre-assessment visit and the assessment and rating visit is a service’s opportunity to address any rectifications or improvements. When possible, the same Authorised Officer undertakes the educative visit and the assessment and rating.

How does an Authorised Officer prepare for the assessment and rating visit?

The first step in preparing for the assessment and rating visit is to issue a commencement letter, outlining the assessment and rating process and requesting the service submits its Quality Improvement Plan (QIP) within three weeks from the date of the letter.

When the QIP is received, the Authorised Officer conducts a desktop assessment of all service records held by the ESB. In addition to the QIP, this includes compliance history, notifications and the information gathered at the educative visit. This enables the Authorised Officer to develop a plan for the assessment and rating visit by identifying areas for focus and evidence gathering.

Approximately one week before the visit takes place, the Authorised Officer contacts the service to clarify expectations for the day. Where possible, we try to be flexible when setting the date and time for the visit; we appreciate that we need to work within the service context and wish to minimise disruption for children.

What happens on the day of the assessment and rating visit?

On arrival, the Authorised Officer introduces themselves by presenting their authorisation card and begin their visit with a walk-through of the service and introductions to the team.

During the visit, the Authorised Officer gathers information across the seven quality areas, for each standard and element of the NQS. Evidence is gathered by:

• sighting or collecting documentation
• photographing displays or learning environments
• observing practices
• discussing practices with educators and service leaders.

They will ask questions of educators and service leaders when they see practices they are not sure about or that appear inconsistent.

If non-compliance is found, an Authorised Officer communicates this to the service during the visit. Issues that can be rectified quickly or easily and have minimal impact on the service quality may be addressed through the minor adjustment process throughout the draft report phase.

If the non-compliance is more serious, the Authorised Officer performs a risk assessment, in line with our Compliance and Enforcement Policy to decide if further action is needed.

When the Authorised Officer completes their observations, they hold an ‘end of day’ discussion with the service. This discussion allows the service to give specific examples of contextual evidence and clarify any evidence gathered through observations.

An Authorised Officer is not able to provide a rating outcome at the visit because all the evidence gathered must be analysed before they can finalise the rating.   

What happens after the assessment and rating visit?

The Authorised Officer analyses all the information gathered, assigns a rating for each element and standard of the NQS, and begins drafting their report. If the Authorised Officer requires further information, they contact the service.

The report gives a thematic overview of the findings against each element and standard of the NQS, with evidence provided to justify the rating. The Authorised Officer will include as many QIP notes as possible to support services with their continuous improvement.

The draft report is usually provided to the service within three to five weeks of the visit.

The service has ten working days to give feedback on any inaccuracies in the report. We welcome feedback, including evidence to support your feedback. All feedback is thoroughly assessed and any changes, along with justifications for the decisions, are documented in the report.

The final report is issued within 60 calendar days of the assessment and rating visit.

What happens if you are not happy with your rating?

If you disagree with a rating and the matter is significant enough to warrant a reconsideration of the service’s rating, we encourage you to lodge a first-tier review application.

A first-tier review is a review of the point-in-time assessment of the service. We can consider additional information during a first-tier review, but that information must relate to the facts at the time of the assessment.

Any changes made since the ratings assessment cannot be considered by the first-tier review. An application for a first-tier review must be submitted through the NQA IT System within 14 calendar days of receiving the final report.

If you have any questions on the assessment and rating process, please contact the Education Standards Board on 1800 882 413, or email educationstandardsboard@sa.gov.au.