Page 5426 - Week 14 - Thursday, 30 November 2017
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Leave granted.
MS BERRY: As Minister for Education and Early Childhood Development, I am pleased to table the Education and Care Services National Regulation Amendment.
The 2014 review of the national partnership agreement on the national quality agenda for early childhood education and care made a number of recommendations for changes to the Education and Care Services National Law and Education and Care Services National Regulations that were agreed by the Education Council on 31 January 2017.
The Education and Care Services National Law Amendment Act 2017 was given royal assent in Victoria on 27 March 2017. This gave effect to recommendations from the NQA review. I previously tabled the national law amendments in May this year.
Victoria is developing the amending national regulations over two stages. The first tranche is to give effect to the overall changes that commence on 1 October 2017. The second tranche will be developed to support the changes commencing on 1 February 2018. Tranche 2 amendments will be tabled later this year. This is the last sitting.
The majority of changes arising from the review will commence on 1 October 2017, except in Western Australia, where changes are to commence no later than 1 October 2018. The revised national quality standard, NQS, and some related changes will commence on 1 February 2018.
The 52 areas of reform recommended by the review can be broadly categorised into three themes: a simplified and more transparent assessment and rating process under the national quality framework; improved guidance for all services providing care to children over preschool age and authorised officers in relation to documenting child assessments for educational programs; and measures to improve oversight of and support within family day care services to increase the integrity and transparency of delivery and improve outcomes for children.
The amendment regulations for tranche 1 support the changes to the amending law that can be summed up as: the removal of supervisor certificates; the introduction of a national educator to child ratio for out of school hours care; and a range of changes to strengthen the regulatory model for family day care. The Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority, along with state and territory regulatory authorities, has been working within the sector in order to prepare the sector for the first round of changes.
The amending regulations were passed by the Education Council on 15 September 2017 and published on the New South Wales legislation register on 22 September 2017. Under section 303 of the Education and Care Services National Law Act 2010, any amending regulations must be tabled by the relevant minister. The normal disallowance provisions used by the parliament or assembly are then applied.
Extensions to transitional regulation 242 and 264 until 2020 have also been agreed to by the Education Council. These transitional provisions relate to the definition of an
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