“It’s our polite nudge in the ribs to help you and your team stay organised and on task.”
This week’s subject is: Continuous improvement.
Element 7.2.1: There is an effective self-assessment and quality improvement process in place.
How can the insights from your service’s latest assessment and rating report transform feedback into a key driver for continuous improvement?
The final assessment and rating (A&R) report offers valuable feedback for your service, enabling you and your team to celebrate strengths and pinpoint new opportunities for ongoing quality improvement. By utilising the report’s insights, services can drive meaningful, sustainable changes that benefit children, families, educators, and the broader community.
The A&R report’s value lies in its role as feedback from authorised officers, drawing on observations, discussions, and documentation reviewed during the assessment. This external perspective complements the service’s internal self-assessment, helping services meet element 7.2.1’s requirement for services to have an effective system for self-assessment and quality improvement. This involves ongoing reflection, planning, and action to enhance outcomes for children. The assessment and rating report directly supports this by providing objective data that informs your QIP.
Research from the 2019 Quality Improvement Research Project highlights meaningful engagement with the assessment and rating process as a key driver for quality improvement. Services adopting a growth mindset, viewing feedback as an opportunity, rather than criticism can recognise progress, reframe challenges, and establish new goals. This approach transforms potential setbacks into pathways for innovation, such as participating in action research or embedding exceeding themes across all quality areas.
To effectively integrate the report into your Service’s continuous improvement:
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- Share and discuss the report with the team to celebrate strengths and reflect on feedback. Acknowledge and celebrate efforts and progress that have led to success.
- Use the report’s QIP notes, compliance summaries, and standard specific insights as a foundation for critical reflection to inform the review and update of policies, procedures, practices and the Service philosophy.
- Address any identified breaches of the National Law or Regulations as a top priority.
- Update your Service QIP; incorporate the QIP notes from the report to refine self-assessment and set new goals. Regularly revisit and revise the QIP, ensuring it reflects current practice, ongoing reflections and measurable progress.
- Use the report as a benchmark for periodic reviews. Engage in critical reflection, adopting a growth orientated mindset and language to evaluate changes, celebrate progress and drive continual improvement.
- Use the report to inform professional development and support the educational leader in guiding program development.
- Identify and prioritise areas for quality improvement and develop specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound (SMART) goals.
- Explain quality ratings and strategies for implementation to families, encouraging their input on decisions about children’s learning and wellbeing, raising awareness of the NQF and the assessment and rating process.
- If your service was rated Exceeding in all areas, consider applying for the Excellent rating through ACECQA.
Resources:
Using your Assessment and Rating Report to Support Quality Improvement
Making Quality Assessment and Rating More Effective
Developing and Reviewing your Quality Improvement Plan
Practical Ideas to Support Quality Improvement
Within System7 go to Quality Area 7/ Modules 31, 32 and 33 to submit self-assessment notes and if required, open a QIP issue if you identify any areas of improvement.
The Childcare Centre Desktop has a range of resources to assist services with continuous improvement. These include QIP Register of Goals, Record of Service QIP Review, Compliance checklists, Pre-assessment checklists templates and much more.
Resources, NQS Element, Regulation and System7 links:
Childcare Centre Desktop – Childcare Centre Desktop
National Quality Standard – QA7 / 7.2.1: Continuous Improvement
National Regulations – 31, 55, 56
System7 Module – QA 7/ Modules 31, 32 and 33
If you have any questions, send us a note via the Contact page here!
