About the NQF Review

The National Quality Framework (NQF) provides a national approach to the regulation of the quality of education and care services across Australia.

An important national conversation about quality children’s education and care in Australia started a decade ago, with over one million children currently attending education and care services across Australia.

Following on from the last review in 2014 the 2019 NQF Review is a check in to understand which areas of the NQF can still be improved, including the National Law and National Regulations.

As the first step of the 2019 NQF Review, we developed an Issues Paper which was used as the basis for Australia wide consultations on the NQF and to seek feedback on important or critical issues.

The Issues Paper starts with an overview of the objectives of the National Law. Following this opening section, issues for public discussion have been divided into four key categories: approvals, operation, public awareness of quality, and compliance and enforcement.

You can find a summary on the feedback provided to the Issues Paper in the Consultation Summary Report.

Based on this feedback, the government developed options for consideration for regulatory changes in the Consultation Regulation Impact Statement (CRIS).

Governments have now reviewed and made decisions on options presented in the CRIS. These decisions are presented in a Decision Regulation Impact Statement (DRIS), developed to assist Education Ministers in deciding which, if any, options for change should be implemented.

A summary of the proposals and final decisions made by Ministers can be accessed here and the Act making agreed changes to the National Law can be accessed here. These changes to the National Law are not yet in force. They are expected to be brought into effect in 2023 along with changes to the National Regulations.