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Last Friday, FDCA distributed a bulletin to members detailing that Education Ministers have approved key reforms to the National Quality Framework (NQF) to strengthen child safety. These changes follow the 2023 Review of Child Safety Arrangements under the NQF and are focused on:
A factsheet outlining the changes is available on the ACECQA website here.
When do the changes commence?
Note: These dates apply nationally except for Western Australia, where commencement may be later. Please check state specific legislation for confirmation.
For more information on what this means for approved services and educators, please view your member bulletin that was emailed on Friday 20 June.
There’s only 5 days remaining before the end of financial year (EOFY), so now is the time to secure your ticket to the must-attend event of 2025 – the FDCA National Conference.
To celebrate the end of financial year we’re giving three lucky FDCA members the chance to get a full refund on their conference ticket.
Simply purchase your conference ticket by 30 June 2025 and you will go into the draw to have the cost of your ticket refunded in full, valued at $699!*
To purchase your ticket, click here
Purchasing your ticket before the EOFY could also give you the chance to invest in your professional development while reducing your tax liability by claiming a tax deduction^ for the 2024/2025 financial year.
Everyone wins with Early-Bird pricing!
Purchase your ticket before June 30 and you’ll not only go into the draw to win a full refund on your ticket (valued at $699), but you’ll be accessing your early-bird discount where you save $50 per ticket.
Exclusive FDCA member early-bird pricing for the FDCA 2025 National Conference will end on 30 June 2025, so be sure to secure your ticket before the deadline and save!
*All FDCA members who have purchased tickets before June 30 will be entered into the draw.
^As we don’t know your financial needs or circumstances, we recommend seeking professional financial or tax advice based on your individual circumstances.
Do you have experience in delivering innovative approaches in family day care to meet the needs of families in your community?
Innovative approaches might include things like in-venue care, dual educator models, recruitment and workforce development initiatives such as traineeships, local community partnerships, multi-care arrangements and/or partnerships with other service types (e.g. OSHC, preschool).
Services are invited to share their views and experiences in delivering innovative approaches in family day care in a short survey, which will take no more than 10 minutes. The results of the survey will help inform and strengthen future FDCA advocacy initiatives.
Your input is vital
To establish a national picture of innovative models of family day care, we need your input! If you have views and/or relevant experiences (current or past) in delivering innovative approaches to family day care, please share them here.
We are pleased to announce that FDCA will be hosting a FREE live Tax Webinar for members this Thursday, 26 June at 6:30pm AEST.
Navigating tax obligations can be complex and time-consuming, particularly for family day care educators and small business operators. As the national peak body for family day care, we are committed to supporting our members and ensuring you have access to accurate, timely, business support and practical tax advice.
Special guest, Ben Mueller, Director and Principal Accountant at FDC Tax will address member questions, provide tax tips and discuss a wide range of tax-related topics.
Where can I watch?
The webinar will be streamed live across a variety of FDCA's channels, including our website, Facebook page and YouTube channel.
Educational programs are a vital part of demonstrating quality practice in family day care. Regulation 75 requires that all families are provided with clear, accessible information about the educational program being delivered to their children. This ensures families are informed and engaged in their child's learning journey, whilst supporting transparency and building trust.
Regulation 75 - Information about the educational program to be kept available is a common breach in family day care settings.
Approved providers must ensure that the program is both displayed for families and available for inspection at every family day care residence or venue.
Educators need to consider both where the educational program is displayed in their environment and how families are supported to access and engage with it. This may be through wall displays, digital portfolios, learning journals or family communication apps.
Key points
For more information see the Guide to the NQF - QA1: Educational Program and Practice.
FDCA Learning Hub Courses that cover this topic include Belonging, Being and Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework (V2.0) and Delving Deeper into Documenting and Assessing Children's Learning. These can be accessed via the FDCA member zone.
On 16 June, the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) published a report evaluating the effectiveness of the Department of Education and Services Australia’s compliance activities within the $13.6 billion Child Care Subsidy program. The ANAO’s report can be accessed here.
While the key focus of the report was to assess the performance of the Department and Services Australia in managing their specific and shared CCS regulatory functions and activities during the 5 year period 2018-19 to 2023-24, it yields some valuable findings and insights relevant to the family day care sector:
What’s next?
The ANAO report found that overall management of CCS compliance activities by the Department and Services Australia was partly effective. It made seven recommendations including the need for the Department and Services Australia to improve their oversight of shared regulatory functions and data and reporting systems, as well as develop a joint compliance and enforcement strategy.
What does this mean for the family day care sector?
The ANAO Report signals the Government’s strong ongoing commitment to ensuring CCS funding integrity by all providers. We encourage all family day care services to review and strengthen internal compliance systems, especially around session reporting, gap fee evidence, EFT payments and educator oversight.
Rest assured that FDCA will continue to advocate on your behalf for differentiated, proportionate enforcement frameworks that recognise the operational diversity of family day care.
The 2024 Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) results are now available. Conducted every three years since 2009, the AEDC provides a national snapshot of early childhood development as children begin full-time school across the following five domains:
This year’s data includes insights from over 288,000 children across 7,323 schools - covering more than 94% of eligible children nationwide.
The findings are publicly accessible and can be used to inform and support the work of individuals and organisations across the early childhood education and care sector, as well as in health, education, and community services.
Visit the updated AEDC website to explore the data, tools, and resources available for policy development, service planning, and community initiatives.
Learn more on the Department of Education website.
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