The content of this article was updated with the latest information on 15 April 2025 for the purpose of this compliance focus.

All early childhood education and care (ECEC) professionals play a critical role in creating and maintaining child safe environments.

Approved providers, service leaders and educators must take deliberate action to uphold children’s rights, be responsive to their needs and protect them from harm. This includes understanding and complying with their obligations and requirements under the National Quality Framework (NQF), such as maintaining educator-to-child ratios.

However, maintaining minimum educator requirements alone does not guarantee compliance with all laws and regulations – service leaders and staff must also consider adequate supervision requirements.

Effective staffing arrangements and adequate space provision are also vital in protecting children from harm and hazard at all times they are being educated and cared for.

Educator-to-child ratios

The NQF, which includes the Children (Education and Care Services) National Law (NSW) and Education and Care Services National Regulations (National Law and Regulations), outlines the requirements for approved providers and services relating to staffing arrangements. This includes minimum educator-to-child ratios and qualification requirements.

Section 169 of the National Law outlines the responsibilities of approved providers, nominated supervisors and family day care educators in ensuring their service is operating in accordance with the NQF.

Regulation 123 sets out the minimum number of educators required to educate and care for children in centre-based services, which varies for different age groups. Regulation 123A outlines the ratio requirements for family day care.

Understanding regulation 122

‘Under the roof’ is a term commonly used by the sector to describe the practice of counting all staff present at a service when calculating ratios, even if they are not working directly with children. It is not an official regulatory concept or referenced in the National Law or Regulations.

As per regulation 122, educators must be working directly in providing education and care to children to be counted in the ratio and comply with regulatory requirements.

When educators are on a planned break or undertaking administrative tasks, they cannot be counted in the ratio as they are not directly involved with the education and care of children.

Qualification requirements

Under regulation 126, 50% of educators required to meet ratios must have or are actively working towards an approved diploma-level education and care qualification or higher. All other educators must have or be actively working towards an approved certificate III level education and care qualification.

Services must also engage or have access to an early childhood teacher (ECT) based on the number of children attending the service (regulation 272).

Educators under the age of 18 can be included as educators when counting ratios, however they must not work alone and must be adequately supervised at all times by an educator over the age of 18 (regulation 120).

Staffing arrangements

While minimum educator-to-child ratios must be maintained at all times, approved providers and nominated supervisors are also responsible for ensuring staffing arrangements support adequate supervision to protect children from harm and hazards.

Staffing arrangements include rostering and how staff are positioned across an ECEC service.

Adequate supervision

Approved providers, nominated supervisors and family day care educators must ensure that all children being educated and cared for by their service are adequately supervised at all times (section 165).

ACECQA defines adequate supervision as educators:

• being able to respond immediately, especially when a child is distressed or in a hazardous situation

• knowing where children are at all times and actively monitoring their activities.
  

Services must also be designed and maintained in a way that provides a clear line of sight and facilitates supervision of children at all times (regulation 115). This includes toilets and nappy changing facilities, and sleep and rest areas.

Services must ensure adequate supervision during sleep and rest. Best practice includes an educator being in sight and hearing of sleeping children at all times so they can assess breathing and the colour of children’s skin. Risk assessments, policies and procedures must consider the suitability of staffing arrangements to adequately supervise and monitor children during sleep and rest (regulation 84B and 84C).

Adequate supervision must also be considered during excursions and transportation activities. A risk assessment must include the number of educators that is appropriate to provide supervision, the process for entering and exiting and procedures for embarking and disembarking the means of transport including how each child is to be accounted for (regulation 102C).

Effective supervision during mealtimes is also critical to prevent and manage allergy and anaphylaxis risks in ECEC settings.

When determining adequate supervision you should consider:

• the age, number and ability of the children

• the number and positioning of educators

• each child’s current activity
  

• areas where children are playing, in particular the visibility and accessibility of these areas

• positioning of furniture in the room, ensuring this does not create hidden spots or tight areas that restrict supervision or movement

• risks in the environment and experiences provided to children

• the educators' knowledge of each child and age group of the children
  

• the experience, knowledge and skill of each educator

• implementing supervision maps, highlighting spaces where educators should be positioned in the environment to avoid areas being unsupervised.

Further resources

• Download ACECQA’s Staffing policy guidelines (PDF 304 KB) and Six reasonable steps to ensure staff follow policies and procedures (PDF 606 KB) for practical guidance on developing and implementing policies and procedures.

• Access the Implementing the Child Safe Standards suite of resources – which includes e-learning and podcast episodes – to strengthen child safe practices within your service.