Quality of early childhood service providers

This page provides information on:

• the National Quality Framework (NQF), ensuring quality education and care services for children
• the National Quality Standard, which rates these services
• Quality Education and Care NT (QECNT), which monitors early childhood education and care standards in the Northern Territory (NT).

National Quality Framework

The NQF regulates and ensures the quality of education and care services.

NQF assist families by:

• making sure services meet the needs of families
• providing parents with information about the quality of the services their children attend.

What services are included

Services in scope of the NQF include:

• long day care
• family day care
• 3-year-old kindergarten
• preschool
• outside school hours care, including vacation care.

For more information on the NQF go to the Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) website.

The National Quality Standard

The NQF includes a National Quality Standard which rates services. The quality rating can help you decide the service that is best for your child.

Quality ratings of local providers are available on the national register of services on the StartingBlocks and ACECQA websites.

For more information on the National Quality Standard go to the ACECQA website.

Quality Education and Care NT

QECNT is responsible for ensuring the NQF is applied in the NT.

The role of QECNT includes:

• approving early childhood services
• monitoring early childhood services
• rating the quality of services
• undertaking serious incident and complaint investigations.

For more information go to the Department of Education website.

Contact

You can contact Quality Education and Care NT by either:

• phone: 08 8999 3561
• email: qualityecnt.det@nt.gov.au.

Further Information for providers and services can be found on the Department of Education's, QECNT page.