Assessment and rating: what to expect

The short answer

Assessment and rating is the process where your state or territory regulatory authority assesses your service against the National Quality Standard and gives you a rating for each of the seven quality areas and an overall rating. Expect a notice, a request for your Quality Improvement Plan, a visit by authorised officers, a draft report you can respond to, and a final rating published on the national register.

Sources
Education and Care Services National Law
Education and Care Services National Regulations
ACECQA, Assessment and rating process
ACECQA, Guide to the National Quality Framework, Section 3 National Quality Standard and Assessment and Rating

Before the visit

Under the Education and Care Services National Law and National Regulations, every approved service must self-assess against the NQS and keep a Quality Improvement Plan, or QIP. New services must have one within three months of service approval. The regulatory authority will tell you it intends to assess and rate the service and will ask for your current QIP and other documents. Notice periods have become shorter in recent years and can be only a few days, and regulators can visit without notice where there are compliance concerns, so the QIP should always be current. Use the lead time to brief educators, tidy up documentation and make sure the nominated supervisor and educational leader are available.

During the visit

One or more authorised officers visit the service. They observe practice, sight documents and discuss what they see with educators, the nominated supervisor and the approved provider's representative. The officers are gathering evidence against each element and standard, so they will look at how children are supervised, how the program is planned and documented, how routines run, how the environment is set up and how the service works with families. They may stay for one day or longer depending on the size of the service and the type of care. Encourage educators to talk about their practice naturally rather than performing for the officer. Officers may also request further information after the visit by phone or email.

After the visit

The regulatory authority sends a draft assessment and rating report, usually a few weeks after the visit. You can give feedback on factual inaccuracies and provide evidence to support your comments. The authority considers that feedback and issues the final report and rating notice. If you disagree with a rating, you can apply for a first tier review by the regulatory authority within 14 days of the notice. If you are still not satisfied, you can apply to ACECQA for a second tier review, where an independent panel considers the rating. Once the review period has passed, the rating is published on the national registers and on the Starting Blocks website for families.

The rating levels

There are five rating levels. Significant Improvement Required means the service does not meet a quality area or a legal requirement and there is a significant risk to children, which prompts immediate regulatory action. Working Towards NQS means children are safe but some areas need improvement. Meeting NQS means the service meets every element and standard. Exceeding NQS means practice goes beyond the standard in a set number of quality areas. The Excellent rating is awarded by ACECQA on application by services already rated Exceeding. The rating is not final forever. Regulators reassess services over time, and a provider can request reassessment where practice has improved.

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