This chapter recommends that quality and compliance information about ECEC services be made more accessible to parents. It also recommends improving resources on child sexual abuse prevention and clearer processes for parents who wish to report a complaint or concern.
7.1 Parents need better access to information about service quality
When parents and educators work together in partnership and have the right information, they can and will act decisively to identify risks, raise concerns and protect children.
Under the National Quality Framework, services are assessed and rated against the National Quality Standard. They are given a rating against each of the 7 quality areas and an overall rating based on these results (explained in further detail in Appendix 3).
Currently, services are required to clearly display their quality rating and ratings certificate. However, there is no requirement for services to include this information on their website, to notify parents of their quality rating prior to enrolment, or if their quality rating changes. Ratings are also published on the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) National Registers and Starting Blocks websites. Both websites’ service search pages display minimal and high-level information about each Quality Area and what it covers. According to ACECQA’s 2023 family survey, up to one half of parents and families are not aware the quality ratings system exists.
The Review heard parents found the rating that a service was ‘Working Towards’ compliance with a Quality Area to be unclear. This language does not make it clear that a service has been found to not be meeting its minimum legal requirements.
Recent inquiries have found that parents often rely on word of mouth, the ‘feel’ of a centre, online ratings from other parents or their own impressions of educators and services based on a visit to the service. Decisions may also boil down to more practical factors, like the availability of places on desired days, or proximity to their home or workplace.
The current system assumes that parents can exercise judgements and make informed decisions as consumers and ‘vote with their feet’, which will create competition and drive demand for high quality and safety. The Review recognises the limits of a purely market-based approach to a service as essential as early education and care—noting parents in some areas (particularly rural and regional areas) may not have options. However, parents need to be in the best possible position to exercise the power they do have—either in deciding which service to use or to place pressure on a service they rely on to improve.
For this reason, the Review recommends greater transparency from services and regulators about their quality ratings and what they actually mean. This should be achieved by ensuring parents are proactively provided with information about quality ratings (and any changes to them) and supported by information and resources to help interpret and apply this information, in multiple languages, including Easy English. This should have a particular focus on the National Registers and Starting Blocks websites and include:
- clearer information about what is covered by each quality standard
- clearer information about which of the 40 elements the service is meeting or not meeting
- details of service and provider corporate ownership; and
- the compliance history of services.
Services should also have to disclose how long they have held a ‘Working Towards’ assessment.
7.2 Parents need more timely information about services’ compliance and enforcement activity
Under the National Law, a Regulatory Authority may publish information about enforcement actions they have taken. This includes information about compliance notices, prosecutions, enforceable undertakings, suspension or cancellation of approvals. Regulatory authorities have some restrictions on information they can make public about specific individuals subject to compliance or enforcement activity.
Victoria’s ECEC Regulator, Quality and Assessment Regulation Division (QARD), within the Department of Education currently publishes statutory sanctions on its website quarterly. Published information includes the name and address of the service, the service and provider name, the nature of enforcement, the reason for enforcement action and the details of action taken. The Review recommends the ECEC Regulator increase the frequency that this information is published to ensure the community can access information about enforcement activity in a timely manner.
Recommendation 17: Make accessing information about service quality ratings easier for parents 17.1 Call for the Commonwealth Government to improve information for parents about service quality and compliance on the Starting Blocks website, including: clear information on the National Quality Standard and which of the sub-elements are being met or not; details of service and provider ownership; and compliance history of services. 17.2 Call for the National Law to require services to display on their website, and inform families of, their quality ratings and any enforcement actions against them, prior to enrolment, when ratings change, and when new enforcement actions are imposed. 17.3 The ECEC Regulator should issue a modified ratings certificate which includes the period of time that a service has been rated as ‘Working Towards’ that must be prominently displayed in a service’s reception area and on its website. 17.4 The ECEC Regulator should more regularly publish the full scope of permitted compliance and enforcement activity information on its website. |
7.3 Resources on child sexual abuse prevention should be improved
Most community members lack confidence on how to respond to potential child sexual abuse. The National Centre for Action on Child Sexual Abuse released a study on Australian attitudes and knowledge relating to child sexual abuse. It found 28 per cent of people said they were ‘not confident at all’ to start a conversation with a child they suspected had been sexually abused, while 23 per cent were ‘not confident at all’ to recognise signs or behaviours that may be indicative of child sexual abuse. Another study found fewer than one in 4 Australian parents had discussed issues related to abuse with their children, and they were more likely to discuss these topics with school-aged children than pre-schoolers.
Parents know their children best. They are likely to be the first people to notice a change in their child and sense if something is wrong. However, these conversations are not easy.
With the right resources, parents can be supported to talk with their child about body safety and what are safe and unsafe behaviours from adults and other children, and how to seek help. Guidance to understand grooming behaviours and other signs of abuse is also helpful.
7.4 Make it easier to report concerns and complaints
Children, families, staff, and the community need to feel confident that concerns and complaints will be handled in a timely and appropriate manner by ECEC services. Effective systems and procedures for handling complaints emphasise to children, families and staff that their concerns are taken seriously and investigated in a timely, fair and thorough manner. They also support ECEC services to act on feedback from families and improve the quality of their education and care.
The Review heard that processes for complaints or reports are not always well-communicated to parents by services or regulators. As a result, parents may feel hesitant to raise concerns with services or other bodies. The Review heard some parents felt rebuffed by services when they raised concerns or did not receive information about what was being done to address their concerns.
The Review heard clearly that genuine partnerships, shared communication and open dialogue between educators and families are critical. Parents need to feel confident to raise concerns with their ECEC service and, when needed, with relevant authorities. When it comes to child safety concerns or suspected abuse, they need to know what to raise and who to raise it with and to understand the process and outcome of a complaint or concern that involves their child. This information needs to be clear, accessible, provided in multiple languages, including Easy English, and through multiple channels.
Parents also need to understand they can raise concerns beyond the ECEC service, including through the dedicated public complaints and enquiry hotline managed by Victoria’s ECEC Regulator.
Recommendation 18: Support parents to raise and report concerns 18.1 Work with experts to promote evidence-based advice for parents on prevention education, signs of grooming, and how to raise concerns. This should be promoted on existing and trusted channels, such as through Maternal and Child Health Services, supported playgroups, the Raising Children Network, Better Health Channel or Victorian Parents Portal, and be accessible and in multiple languages. 18.2 Update and promote advice for parents on how to make complaints or raise concerns with their early childhood education and care service, and the ECEC Regulator, including via the public complaints and enquiry hotline. |
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