Under roof ratio?

Thank you for your email enquiry dated 13 September 2014 regarding ‘under the roof’ ratios.

The Department of Education, Training and Employment (the Department) is the Regulatory Authority responsible for the regulation of education and care services in Queensland under the National Quality Framework (NQF). The NQF comprises the Education and Care Services National Law (the National Law) and the Education and Care Services National Regulations (National Regulations) that apply to education and care services including most long day care centres, pre-Prep, outside school hours care services, family day care and kindergartens. Whilst most services in Queensland are regulated under the NQF, a small number of services are captured by the Queensland Education and Care Services Act 2013.

The NQF includes the National Quality Standard (the NQS) intended to promote continuous quality improvement in education and care. The Department’s website at provides useful information and resources tailored to support the implementation of the NQF in Queensland.

The Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) is the national entity overseeing the NQF in education and care services in Australia. Valuable resources including copies of the National Law and National Regulation are available on the ACECQA website.

Educator to child ratios and qualification requirements
Under the National Law, an Approved Provider of a centre based service must comply with staffing arrangements outlined in Part 4.4 of the National Regulations. This includes educator to child ratios outlined in regulation 123 and qualification requirements outlined in regulations 125 to 135, which are dependent on the size and nature of the service. In addition, Queensland also has some specific transitional provisions that also currently apply. Attached is a fact sheet which outlines the staffing requirements and qualifications in Queensland including time frames for any transitional provisions.

In accordance with regulation 121, the minimum number of educators and their qualification requirements are calculated across the service, regardless of the individual room configuration. This means that ratios are not calculated on the number of children and educators present in a ‘room’ or ‘group’. This flexibility in calculating ratios allows services the ability to tailor the operation of their service to meet the needs of families and children enrolled.

The ratio required is always calculated according to the youngest age of the child allocated to an educator for the purposes of calculating ratios. Under regulation 122 the educator must be ‘working directly with children’ at the service. Regulation 13 of the National Regulations defines ‘working directly with children’ as being both physically present with the children and being directly engaged in providing education and care to the children. Please note that an educator is still considered to be working directly with children for the purposes of the educator to child ratio requirements if they are taking a rest pause or are briefly absent in accordance with Regulations 313-317.

Adequate supervision
The educator to child ratios outlined in the National Regulations provides the minimum requirements which education and care services must meet. The Approved Provider needs to consider the size and composition of groups for educators to achieve quality education, health, safety and wellbeing outcomes for children. Beyond complying with the minimum ratios, under section 165 of the National Law, the Approved Provider and Nominated Supervisor must ensure that children being educated and cared for by the service are adequately supervised at all times.

National Quality Standards
The NQF also introduces the National Quality Standard (NQS) which is intended to promote continuous quality improvement in education and care. Services are assessed and rated against the seven quality areas of the NQS.

When considering ratios and the NQS, Approved Providers are also required to refer to the following Quality Areas within the NQS:
- Quality Area 2 – Children’s Health and Safety;
- Quality Area 3 – Physical Environment;
- Quality Area 4 – Staffing Arrangements; and
- Quality Area 5 – Relationships with Children.

Additional resources
An illustration of how ratios may be applied across a service is available on the ACECQA website.

A podcast which explains about how ratios can be applied across a service is available on the Department’s website.

It should be noted that while there are resources available, it is prudent for approved providers to seek their own legal advice to ensure that they are complying with the legislation.

I hope this information is of assistance.