The Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) has released its 33rd NQF Snapshot report, summarising quality rating results for education and care services operating under the National Quality Framework (NQF).

Australia’s reputation for high quality children’s education and care continues to grow. The report finds the proportion of services rated Meeting National Quality Standard (NQS) or above has increased to 85%.

As at 31 March 2021, 12,925 services are rated Meeting NQS or above, with 30% rated Exceeding NQS or above. More than 12,000 quality rating reassessments have also taken place, with almost half of these being for services rated Working Towards NQS. Of these services, 67% improved their overall quality rating after reassessment.

Our NQF Snapshot provides analysis and information on the profile of the education and care sector, the quality ratings of services, and the distribution of ratings by service type, provider management type and geographic location.

In addition to detailed information about the quality of education and care services, the Snapshot and interactive Online Snapshot include data about temporary service closures related to the impact of COVID-19 and other aspects of service regulation.

On 2 April 2020, in recognition of the COVID-19 global pandemic, Education Ministers announced four critical areas for time-limited regulatory action, including the temporary suspension of quality assessment and ratings. All state and territory regulatory authorities have now recommenced the assessment and rating process.

Snapshot highlights include:

• 16,403 NQF approved education and care services across Australia
• 93% (15,233) services have received a quality rating
• 85% (12,925) of all quality rated services have an overall quality rating of Meeting NQS or above 
• 33 Excellent rated services
• 55% (9024) services with a quality rating against the 2018 NQS.