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CHCIC501A: Manage children’s services workplace practice to address regulations and quality assurance

Interpret and evaluate regulations and quality assurance standards relating to children’s services

Contents

Children’s Services Regulations 2004 3

Parts 3

Divisions 4

Manage legislative and regulatory compliance in children’s services organisations 4

Policies 6

Working with staff to promote understanding and compliance 7

A ‘real life’ example 7

Ensuring current knowledge 9

Emerging trends in children’s services 10

Training 13

Identifying and meeting professional development needs 15

Staff appraisals 15

Meeting professional development needs16

Topic review 18

2 Diploma of Children’s Services: CHCIC501A: Reader LO 9349

© NSW DET 2010

Children’s Services Regulations 2004

You have probably heard the saying ‘ignorance is no excuse for breaking the law’. Since regulations in children’s services are law, it is imperative to have a thorough understanding of both the regulations and CCQA requirements. Generally speaking, the NCAC materials are written in ‘plain English’ and therefore quite easy to understand. However the regulations tend to use more ‘legal jargon’ so can sometimes be a bit more confusing. Fortunately the regulations include a dictionary which can help somewhat with the interpretation. However a resource that seems to explain many terms in greater detail can be found in the section ‘Terms used in applications and forms’ in the ‘Licence Application Guide’ (available on the DoCS website). While it can be beneficial to initially read through both the dictionary and the terms in the application guide, it is often better to have them available while you’re reading the regulations. In this way, you are looking them up and able to immediately place them into context.

You will have noticed that the regulations are divided into Parts, Divisions, Clauses and Schedules. While you don’t need to have detailed knowledge of what these all mean, it is beneficial to have a basic understanding when trying to interpret regulations.

PartsThe regulations are divided into parts, which can be likened to the chapters in a text book. Each part deals with a particular broad topic. It is easier to understand if you consider that the regulations are divided into the following chapters:

• Preliminary (the introduction)• Licensing procedures• Facilities and equipment requirements• Staffing requirements• Child number requirements• Operational requirements• Administrative requirements• Probity checks• Miscellaneous.

Diploma of Children’s Services: CHCIC501A: Reader LO 9349 3

© NSW DET 2010

DivisionsDivisions are used to divide the parts into smaller parts of a more specific nature relating to the topic. They could possibly be likened to the subheadings in a text book.

Clauses; break down the topic yet again, and in the case of legal documents such as the regulations, give detailed information and requirements for very specific items relating to the divisions. It is the clauses that hold the information we need to understand in order to comply with the regulations.

Schedules; form an appendix for the regulations, and can be considered an explanatory statement giving additional information.

There may be occasions where you read a word in a clause and aren’t quite sure what it means and so consequently disregard it—after all, the sentence still makes sense without that word in it! The problem with doing that is that the word you disregarded may have a huge impact on the meaning of the clause.

Activity 1

If you still have trouble interpreting any part of the regulations it is advisable to contact DoCS. You should also remember that the regulations set down minimum standards so centres wishing to improve on any of the clauses are encouraged to do so.

Manage legislative and regulatory compliance in children’s services organisations

Maintaining relevant records and documentsQuite a large part of meeting QIAS standards and regulatory compliance is the need to have and maintain quite a large range of records and documents. As a guide, wherever you see the words documented, recorded or written in the regulations or QIAS materials, documentation is required.

An example of the documents that you need to have will include:

• written policies and procedures• written service philosophy• staff rosters and sign-in sheets• children’s records• daily routines and programs


© NSW DET 2010

• menus• staff records including evidence of training undertaken• minutes for staff and family meetings.

Making a checklist of documents you need while working through the self-study or self assessment process is a simple way of ensuring that you have everything required. When making the checklist, leave enough columns to add ‘reference’ points, and to make a note of the current ‘state’ of the documents. It could save time later if you also made your checklist double as a planning document. By doing this you could actually use the checklist as evidence of your commitment to maintaining records and documents!

Following is an example of a table you could use that doubles as a checklist and planning method (note: some lines have been completed to give you an example but NOT in the order they would appear on a checklist if you were working through the QIAS self-study)

Required document / record

Reference

Currently available?

Modification / Amendment required? If yes give details

Person responsible

To be completed by (date)

Next review date (policies)

Tick when ‘ready to go’

Policy –Positive guidance of child behaviour

Principle 1.2

Yes No—last amended 5/09

- - 5/2010

Policy—Child Protection

Principle 5.1

Yes Yes—need to check that recent legislative changes are reflected in policy

Director 30/6/09 6/2010

While the above illustrates a table using accreditation principles, a similar table could be implemented for licensing requirements. However since there is such a large overlap of records and documents required by accreditation and licensing, a combined table may be more appropriate.

Activity 2a

Activity 2b

Activity 2c


© NSW DET 2010

PoliciesWhile this unit does not cover the development or updating of policies, the topic still deserves a brief mention, as the requirement to have and maintain policies is an important aspect of both accreditation and licensing.

The important thing to remember about policies (and procedures) is that they should reflect what the centre is currently doing, not what they aim to do. Policies need to be updated fairly regularly; especially those that pertain to aspects of care that continuously need to be reviewed in light of new research or legislation. Examples could be policies relating to sun protection, child protection, OH&S and allergies.

For informative documents on the topic of policies, go to the NCAC website and read ‘Defining Goals, Rationales, Policies and Procedures’ and ‘Why Policies are Important’. Another excellent document that gives specific details on policy writing is the NCAC Sample Policy Template, also available on the website.


© NSW DET 2010

Working with staff to promote understanding and compliance

We have just looked at understanding legislation from the perspective of the person managing a centre. However if only the authorised supervisor has that knowledge, how can we expect the staff to work within regulations and standards? The saying “ignorance is bliss” doesn’t work for them either! In my experience I have found that staff members who are doing the ‘wrong’ thing are usually doing so out of ignorance of the law or best practice.

A ‘real life’ exampleIn an emergency situation at my centre many years ago, I employed a neighbour of the centre (untrained) to stay with me for the last two hours of a day in order to have the required two caregivers. In the last half hour of the day I informed her that I was going to the toilet (she gave me a funny look, implying she didn’t understand why I was communicating this), and I went inside, leaving her in the playground with three children. Imagine my horror when I came out of the bathroom to find her also inside, wandering around looking at children’s paintings on the wall! It wasn’t until I explained that the children MUST be supervised at ALL times, that she realised she had done the wrong thing. I had made the assumption that everyone would know that, and while the three children were still happily playing at a low risk activity when I went running outside, things could have been very different, and I learnt a very valuable lesson. If you want your staff to ‘follow the rules’, they have to not only know them, but understand them too.

Working through the accreditation self study process will undoubtedly improve the knowledge and understanding of all participating staff with regards to the Quality Areas and Principles, and this also helps to better interpret and understand the regulations. However the regulations still need a closer look.

While there are some parts of the regulations that staff may not need to have detailed knowledge, it is still important that they have an awareness of the requirements. For example, in Part 2 Applications for licences, it will be the Licensee and Authorised Supervisor who will require a comprehensive understanding, while staff will possibly only participate in the self assessment procedure.


© NSW DET 2010

In Part 7 Administrative Requirements, particularly Division 2 Records, staff should at least be aware of the requirements so that they can knowledgably participate in the collection and maintenance of these records, and participate in policy development and maintenance.

The areas that staff will need to have a concrete understanding of will be:

• Part 3 Facilities and equipment requirements (Division 1 is not as relevant except for Clause 30 Space requirements—making sure unencumbered spaces are maintained)

• Part 4 Staffing requirements• Part 5 Child number requirements• Part 6 Operational requirements

Now that we have identified the regulations that staff need to thoroughly understand, it’s a matter of how do we impart that knowledge to the staff and ensure they understand it? Some ideas that may work include;

• Discussions at staff meetings—two or three Divisions can be examined as a regular agenda item with the director leading the discussion. One way of doing this might be to:

• Read through each clause from the regulations (one at a time, following the following steps for each before moving on to the next one)

• Discuss what it means—use examples of current practise• Discuss why it is important—what are the consequences to the children

staff and centre if this regulation is not being adhered to?• By briefly documenting these discussions you would have a very practical

guide for new or casual staff.• As a variation to the above, different staff members (maybe in pairs or

teams from different rooms if applicable to a centre) can be ‘rostered’ to prepare a brief presentation on two or three of the Divisions at each staff meeting.

• In preparation for meetings, the Divisions that will be discussed at the next meeting could be posted in various areas of the centre so that everyone has the opportunity to reflect and evaluate their understanding.

• To prevent this from becoming ‘tedious’, staff could be given the Divisions to read prior to a meeting, and instead of discussing the Divisions you could have a trivia quiz! You could take this a step further by keeping track of scores and having a prize or incentive either at the end each meeting, or when all regulations have been covered. Prizes and incentives would have to be customised to your staff—mine loved a paid day off that we called a ‘shopping day’ prior to Christmas!

• Instead of breaking down the regulations and dealing with them in ‘bits’, get it done in an evening and combine it with pizza or Chinese delivery! Many of the above suggestions could still be used here.


© NSW DET 2010

• A staff newsletter or factsheets could be developed—the director or all staff could have the responsibility of preparing something for each ‘issue’.

While this may seem like a lot of extra work and an increase in the duration of staff meetings, if you are only dealing with a few Divisions each time, it actually won’t take very long at all. If you are concerned about the number of meetings it would take to cover everything, you may like to prioritise the order in which you present the Divisions. This may be prioritised by looking at what is most relevant to staff in their day to day duties, or may be areas that you have observed could be improved by having a better understanding. An example of this may be a staff member who consistently leaves the Spray’n’Wipe on a table after cleaning, or perhaps someone who doesn’t communicate to others if she is leaving a room for a moment. Like children, adults will perform better if they understand why they are meant to be doing something.

I’m sure you can think of a lot of other ideas for imparting regulatory knowledge on to staff. The important thing is to not think of it as a chore, but as a way to improve quality and decrease any frustration or conflict that may be being caused by ‘ignorance’!

Ensuring current knowledgeWithout current knowledge of regulations, QIAS and best practice, not only may you not be providing the best quality care, but it may be rather difficult to comprehend the requirements of the Quality Areas and Principles.

Hopefully by this stage of the unit you will have realised that there is an amazing amount of endorsed information available on the internet. If you are not currently working in a centre with the benefit of receiving the various magazines and newsletters, you should now know how to find them on the internet, and in some cases subscribe to receive an email to notify you of when new issues are released.

The internet also allows you to download and save or print documents advising of best practice. The advantage of downloading these documents rather than buying them is that you are always guaranteed of having the latest edition and therefore the latest knowledge. Two such documents that are invaluable resources for staying current are:

• NSW Curriculum Framework for Children’s Services—available through a link from the DoCS website, and

• Staying Healthy in Child Care—from The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and available at www.nhmrc.gov.au

I’m sure by this stage of the course you are very familiar with these documents!


© NSW DET 2010

Another current initiative of the Federal Government is the National Quality Standards Framework and Early Years Learning Framework. This is still a ‘work in progress’ but more information can be found at www.dest.gov.au

Activity 3

It is probably also worthwhile to mention in this section, that most changes in regulations and standards, and new initiatives have a period of time available for public and focus or peak group consultation. At this time you will also usually find many online forums that you can participate in.

As an example, this is/has been the process for the new Children’s Services Regulations;

• Release discussion paper encouraging input• Hold briefing and consultation sessions• Provide web-based feedback surveys• Release draft regulation• Review—available to providers (centres), parent focus groups and

industry reference groups.

You can probably now understand why it’s such a lengthy process. However the point here is that there are many opportunities to get involved in these processes if you wish to, and what better way to stay current!

Emerging trends in children’s servicesAnother aspect of staying current within children’s services is the awareness of ‘trends’. Over time, trends emerge which have an effect on the demand and viability of children’s services, and can often influence policies and laws.

It is well recognised that different political parties hold different values and beliefs. A Liberal Government looks at equality for all families, while a Labor Government places more focus on the lower income families. Consequently, these political views will affect the child care industry. Under a Labor Government funding subsidies were given to community services only, but when the Liberal Government came into power they withdrew the funding to community services and replaced it with a ‘fee relief’ (now known as Child Care Benefit—CCB) scheme based on family income, and a fee rebate scheme for families on higher incomes. Since this system targets families rather than actual centres, private centres were now able to offer subsidised fees, and families gained a much larger choice in where to place their child. This provoked some dissention between private and community based centres, since it was perceived by many that community centres lost their funding while private centres acquired it.


© NSW DET 2010

However the manner in which CCB payments were paid to centres on behalf of families meant an instant decrease in cash flow to all centres, which has seen the cost of care increase like never before, as centres attempt to maintain an adequate cash flow in order to function. While CCB is a good thing for families and gives them greater choice over where to place their children, only centres with skilful managers were able to budget successfully which saw many long day care centres (both private and community) close down or merge. At the same time this saw the emergence of a large number of new private centres, some of which saw CCB as an easy way of ‘cashing in’.

Economic trends and the current economy can also play a large part in the viability of children’s services. Tough economic times or recessions can create demand if families need to return to the workforce. However high interest rates may have the opposite effect, as middle to high income families may no longer have the spare cash to send their children to a children’s service, but their level of income means they don’t qualify for high CCB rates.

Recently we’ve seen the rise and fall (or in some cases ‘partial’ fall) of several child care conglomerates. We’ve also seen a record number of child care centres sales and closures. In many cases a centre has been opened in a new housing estate or development, only to find that twelve months later, several more centres have come along. The result is that they all have high vacancy rates. Due to our democracy and fair trading, local councils don’t have the authority to say “no” to a proposed new centre, and with fluctuating economic trends it can be quite difficult to see what the future holds for different geographical areas.

Social trends are a reflection of what society believes or perceives about different issues and can also play a part in children’s services. For example, in the past we have seen different types of families such as single mothers and same-sex couples being persecuted and segregated from society. Society now accepts single mothers (and fathers) and appears to be moving towards acceptance of same-sex couples bringing up children.

The above trends naturally play a part in regulations and accreditation, as we endeavour to reflect and cater for the latest trends in our services and practices.

Seeking resources and supportThroughout the licensing and accreditation processes it is quite common for people to think ‘Am I on the right track?’ or ‘Am I interpreting this correctly?’” Due to technology, there is a wealth of information available on the internet for anyone looking to find support and resources. It is well worth spending a few hours navigating the NCAC and DoCS websites just to see what is there!

The NCAC website provides a variety of information and excellent resources in the form of:


© NSW DET 2010

• Factsheets: A huge range of topics are covered in the long day care factsheets relating to both aspects of the QIAS process, and advice and information for management and staff.

• ‘Putting Children First’: This magazine, produced by the NCAC, is automatically sent to all registered centres. However if you are not employed in a centre and would like to keep up with everything that’s going on, you are able to sign up to a subscription service that notifies you by email when each issue becomes available on their website. The magazine provides information for centres working through accreditation, as well as articles devoted to specific principles, and is a fantastic way to make sure you’re keeping up with changes!

• ‘Ask a Child Care Adviser’: These are extracts from Putting Children First but are available as ‘factsheets’. They provide information on a variety of topics relevant to the Quality Areas and Principles.

• Support documents: These give guidance for centres as they work through each specific step of accreditation. As centres progress through the five steps, they automatically receive a copy of the document applicable to the step they are currently working on. They are also available for download from the website and are a good resource for Children’s Services students!

• Quality Companions: are a series of eight publications addressing various aspects of the self-study process. New quality companions are being developed which will eventually replace the support documents.

• Online Training Module is an online interactive training program that provides an overview of the QIAS processes and standards, and is suitable for staff, families and Children’s Services students.

• NCAC Endorsed Quality Assurance Trainers: are child care professionals that have been trained by NCAC to deliver training to centres participating in the QIAS. A list of these trainers can be found on the website, and the NCAC encourage centres to access these trainers as they work through the process.

• Professional support coordinators: are available to help centres that have not achieved accreditation, and it is recommended that a centre in this position contact one for support and help to understand and meet requirements. Contact details for professional support coordinators are available on the website.

The website also provides links to relevant forms and many of the required publications. However some of the publications that are required for QIAS and sent to centres are not available in their entirety on the website, and must be purchased.

Activity 4


© NSW DET 2010

It’s probably worth mentioning here (in case you didn’t absorb the information from the last activity!) that you are able to telephone the NCAC with questions or to ask for help and support, or to be directed to relevant resources and training.

Likewise, the DoCS website provides resources to assist centres to understand and comply with regulations, including many resources that are available in a range of languages. By clicking on ‘for agencies that work with us’ on their website you will find:

• ‘Building Blocks’: the quarterly DoCS newsletter posted to centres. This is the best and easiest way to stay current in regards to regulations, with informative and interesting articles. It also advises you of when relevant seminars or workshops are being held in your region. Back issues are also available for download.

• useful links and resources for children’s services: gives a list of websites of relevant organisations to provide both information and support, and provides links to useful resources for centres including menu planning checklist for long day care and links to the curriculum framework for children’s services

• all necessary forms required for licensing, as well as a licence application guide

• links to the children’s services regulation 2004.

By clicking on ‘news & publications’, you will find links to:

• magazines• brochures• fact sheets• media releases and a host of other material suitable for families and

centres.

Don’t forget that another excellent form of support comes from your CSO. Often we think of CSOs as purely the ‘preschool police’, but part of their job role is to provide support and guidance to centres. After all, it’s in their best interest to have centres that are compliant, so what better way to achieve that outcome than to give guidance before the official licensing process begins!

TrainingSince there is so much support available from the NCAC and DoCS, that is what we have focused on here. However there are many agencies and training providers that can provide additional support and/or training if required. As you would expect, there is a fee involved, and these fees vary depending on the provider, but it is still worth consideration. Many of these providers send a calendar of training


© NSW DET 2010

events out to centres on a regular basis and can also be found by using the Yellow Pages or conducting an internet search.

Earlier we mentioned Professional Support Coordinators. ‘Children’s Services Central’ is the Professional Support Coordinator in NSW and is funded by the Australian Government. As it is a government subsidised initiative, the fee for attending training sessions is very affordable. Children’s Services Central provides a range of training methods including;

• face to face training• phone link up• online training

They also provide a coaching and mentoring program for new and/or isolated centres for directors, managers, new owners and management committees.

The range of ‘topics’ covered in CSC’s training calendar is extremely diverse. A calendar of training is available to be downloaded from www.cscentral.org.au.


© NSW DET 2010

Identifying and meeting professional development needs

Throughout this unit we have looked at various ways of evaluating staff knowledge and providing information and training, so this section will summarise some of the ideas that have been put forward.

• Staff QIAS survey—may identify gaps in knowledge or areas that the staff member doesn’t feel confident and would like to undertake more training in.

• Self-Study Report—through discussion with other team members, staff may develop an awareness that have misunderstood something and are consequently either not doing something correctly or perhaps are not working to standards required.

• DoCS self assessment—may highlight areas of the regulations that require a better understanding.

To the above we can add the following strategies for identifying professional development needs.

Staff appraisalsStaff appraisals should take place on a regular basis and are a perfect opportunity to identify gaps in performance that could be due to lack of knowledge.

ObservationEither the director or other staff may be aware that someone is not performing some aspect of their responsibilities correctly or up to the required standard. As discussed previously, this could possibly be due to lack of knowledge, requiring some form of professional development.

Staff requestThere are times when staff will simply make a request to become involved in some form of professional development. This may be because of a real or


© NSW DET 2010

perceived need where they believe they can increase their knowledge and therefore performance or it may just be that they have a particular interest in a topic. Either way, this is to be encouraged!

In response to a complaintUnfortunately there are times when a centre receives a complaint from a parent/family about a particular staff member. Assuming that this is not a child protection issue, the ensuing investigation may identify training requirements.

Meeting professional development needsWe often think that professional or staff development and training mean formal training. This certainly is one aspect, but there are many other ways; we have already looked at training in the topic Seeking resources and support. Before we move on we’ll take a moment to look at and add to our list of formal training opportunities.

Formal training opportunities can take many forms, such as:

• workshops• conferences• seminars• traineeships and short ‘statement of attainment’ or ‘certificate of

participation’ courses• longer face-to-face or remote qualification courses such as certificate III,

Diploma or Early Childhood degrees.

Many training providers will send centres a calendar of training events—usually these are planned well in advance, with the calendar showing the events for the following six months. I used to find these very useful in that I could plan for the training required for staff (as identified by above techniques), and then allow my staff to choose any other training they may be interested in. Sometimes it wasn’t required or financially viable for all staff to attend everything, so one or two would go and bring back current information and practices to share with everyone!

Another option for training providers who come to your centre but charge a set fee, or a fee that decreases the more people you have, is to combine with other centres. We found this a useful strategy for our First Aid training. We found that if we invited staff from local centres to join us at our centre, the First Aid providers were happy to come to us at a reduced fee, since their premises could still be used for other groups.


© NSW DET 2010

One of the main advantages I found with formal training, and in particular the short courses, seminars, conferences and workshops, was that whoever attended the training came back enthusiastic and motivated to put their new found knowledge to use, which had the effect of motivating everyone around them.

There are other less formal options that are equally suitable and recognised as professional development. These include;

• Attending centre meetings—as discussed earlier, centre meetings can be very productive and informative if well organised

• Attending ‘networking’ meetings—many councils, corporations and DoCS regions organise monthly meetings for directors. Often different centres take turns in hosting the meetings so not only are you networking with other directors, but you’re getting the opportunity to view the actual centres!

• Reading professional journals, publications and internet sites• Involvement in online forums or discussions groups pertaining to specific

issues• Even talking to other staff within your centre can be a professional

development activity!

As you have seen here, professional development can not only be a great benefit to the centre, but can be fun and inspirational while not having to be a drain on finances.


© NSW DET 2010

Topic review

Go through this summary of key points to check your understanding;

Do you know how to interpret regulations and quality assurance and/or where to seek help to do so?

Do you have an awareness of how you can work with staff to promote understanding and compliance?

Do you have some ideas on strategies you can use in order to stay current with various types of developments in Children’s Services?

Do you understand how trends can affect Children’s Services?

Are you aware of the types of resources and support available and how to find it?

Do you know how to identify and meet the professional development needs of your staff?

If you cannot answer these questions you can:

• Go over this unit again.• Talk to your teacher about these questions.• Discuss some of these ideas with an experienced child care worker.


© NSW DET 2010

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