Use of Under the Roof provisions

Maintaining ratios and supervision of children and use of the 'under the roof' approach within early childhood education and care (ECEC) services has been a recent national focus.

The phrase 'under the roof' refers to staff-to-child ratios being calculated across a whole service, not per room, and affords flexibility to educators to be responsive to children and their requirements.

Importantly, the 'under the roof' approach does not remove the need for adequate supervision to be the primary consideration, and protection from harm and hazard must always be maintained.

The need to adequately supervise children at all times when using the 'under the roof' approach was highlighted by the Australian Children's Education and Care Authority's (ACECQA) Review of the Child Safety Arrangements under the National Quality Framework (NQF) where it was identified that 'although the NQF is aligned with child protection mechanisms and principles, there are opportunities to address emerging issues, close loopholes, strengthen policies and practices, and support staff capabilities and improve the protection of children in the face of new online technologies' (ACECQA 2023).

Regulation 122 of the Early Childhood Education and Care National Regulations 2011 requires educators to be working directly with children to be included in ratios. This means that individuals working in an ECEC service kitchen, office or on a break, cannot be included in ratios. Ratios must be consistently maintained. Some jurisdictions - Queensland, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia - have specific legislative provisions which allow some flexibility for educators who are taking short breaks and not working directly with children to be included in ratios. These modifying regulations apply a time limit to the short breaks. Even when these regulations are relied upon, adequate supervision and protection from harm and hazard must always be maintained.

Regulatory Officers are encouraged to consider the context of each service and gather evidence to determine if services are considering:

• the age, number and ability of the children
• that ratios include educators working directly with children (regulation 122)
• the educators' knowledge of each child and age group of the children
• the number and positioning of educators
• areas where children are playing and types of activities the children are involved in at the time
• risks in the environment, including the placement of furniture and types of experiences provided to children
• the experience, knowledge and skill of each educator
• if used, the implementation of their supervision maps, highlighting spaces where educators should be positioned in the environment to avoid areas being unsupervised.

This content has been adapted from Compliance focus - educator ratios and adequate supervision (NSW Department of Education, March 2024).

Further information is available at:

• QA2 Active supervision - Ensuring safety and promoting learning (ACECQA)
• Educator to child ratios (ACECQA)
• Information sheets (ACECQA)
• Child safety review (ACECQA).