February update from the Chief Executive

This month I am pleased to share some positive results against one of our key regulatory priorities, the adequate supervision of children.

In Terms 3 and 4 of 2023 we commissioned training for OSHC services that included how to improve adequate supervision practices. In that period of time, we have seen a significant decrease in the number of incidents relating to children reported as ‘missing or unaccounted for’ in South Australia with the quarterly average dropping from 14 incidents per month in Quarter 3 of 2023, to just 5 per month in Quarter 4. It is pleasing to see these activities have contributed to improved safety and wellbeing of children.

ACECQA has released its quarterly National Quality Framework (NQF) Snapshot for Quarter 4 2023, providing information on the Australian early childhood education and care sector.  The South Australian snapshot shows a slight reduction in the number of SA services holding an Exceeding National Quality Standard (NQS) rating.

This result is expected as we increase the number of services rated under the 2018 NQS and aligns us more closely with other jurisdictions. When the NQS was updated in 2018, there was a national agreement to strengthen how the Exceeding rating was awarded. This month we released a fact sheet to support you and your community’s understanding of this change and its impact on ratings.

Finally, to support our commitment to meaningful, transparent engagement with regulated parties, we are establishing a Regulatory Roundtable where the ESB will bring together peak bodies and large approved providers. The Roundtable will be a forum for the ESB to report on regulatory issues, emerging risks and sector performance, set expectations on compliance and leverage the experience of the sector to support our regulatory reforms.