Under roof ratio

Educator-to-child ratios are an important aspect of structural quality that affect the provision of education and care. This has been recognised in the NQF with improved ratios.

A common misconception when calculating ratios in a centre-based service is that ratios are calculated on a room by room basis. Educator-to-child ratios are calculated across the whole service regardless of grouping or room configuration.

This allows centre-based services greater flexibility to arrange educators across the service in a way that more effectively responds to the needs of children.

Regulations 123 and 124 of the Education and Care Services National Regulations set out the minimum number of educators required to educate and care for children. Remember, state/territory specific requirements may also apply and these are set out in Chapter 7 of the Education and Care Services National Regulations for each jurisdiction.

Points to remember
Educators can only be included in educator-to-child ratios if they are ‘working directly with children’. This means that the person must be physically present with the children and directly involved in providing education and care.

To calculate the educator-to-child ratio for a mixed age group of children in centre-based care, services are required to ensure that the ratio is met for the youngest children in the group first. The Guide to the Education and Care Service National Law and the Education and Care Service Regulations (pp. 89-90) provides practical guidance in calculating ratios for mixed age groups.

Educator-child ratios are minimum standards. Under the Education and Care Services National Law children must be adequately supervised at all times (s165). Ratios alone do not determine what is considered adequate supervision. At times services may need to provide additional educators to ensure children are adequately supervised. A number of factors need to be considered when determining if supervision is adequate. Further details can be found in the Guide to the Education and Care Service National Law and the Education and Care Service Regulations (pp. 65- 66).

When arranging staff, consideration needs to be given to the health, safety, education and well-being of children. All seven quality areas should be considered, for example providing children opportunities to develop responsive relationships with other children and adults as part of Quality Area 5, Relationships with Children.

To determine appropriate staffing arrangements educators and providers must use their professional discretion. The flexibility of these provisions allows services to explore innovative ways to meet the requirements in a way that suits the context of their service.

CBELC wrote: #42716 Hi Lorina,

where did you find this information?
can you send a link?