Staff qualifications and requirements in early childhood services

Ensuring all educators have the correct qualifications and training is crucial for keeping children safe and supporting high quality education.

This is a legal obligation for:

approved providers
nominated supervisors
persons with management or control (PMC).

This page summarises the key requirements for each topic. It applies to National Quality Framework (NQF) services. To comply with legal obligations, you must refer to the linked resources. This includes ACECQA’s Guide to the National Quality Framework (NQF).

For accessibility, we abbreviate the Education and Care Services National Law (National Law) and Education and Care Services National Regulations (National Regulations).

When we refer to all services it includes the following care types:

long day care (LDC)
standalone kindergarten
family day care (FDC)
Outside School Hours Care (OSHC)
vacation care.

Educator qualification and training requirements

Educators must hold relevant qualifications to work in early childhood services. This applies to all National Quality Framework (NQF) services.

The NQF sets out the minimum qualification requirements for education and care services. The requirements differ for educators working in:
- centre-based services with children preschool age or under
- family day care (FDC) services
- Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) with school aged children.
Your legal requirements
Read the information below to understand your legal responsibilities and how to comply.
- Educator qualifications (Guide to the NQF) – operational information
- Qualification requirements (ACECQA) – links to information for all service types
- Actively working towards a qualification – some staff in centre-based services may be counted towards the qualification requirements while still studying
- Short term relief of educators at centre-based services – information about when and who can replace educators and how to record the absence
- NQF Approved qualifications checker – ACECQA list for FDC or centre-based services with children of preschool age or under
- ACECQA List of approved OSHC qualifications

Early childhood teacher requirements

How to meet your early childhood teacher (ECT) attendance, qualification and training requirements.

Attendance
Centre-based services with preschool age children or younger must:
- have access to an early childhood teacher (ECT), or
- employ or engage an ECT.
Requirements are based on the number of children enrolled at or attending the service.
Family day care services and Outside School Hours Care do not need an ECT.
Services that receive kindergarten funding from the Victorian Department of Education must comply with their funding agreement in relation to ECTs.
Read more about kindergarten funding.
Qualification
In Victoria, only people with an approved ECT qualification or equivalent can be counted as an ECT.
Your legal requirements
Read the information below to understand your legal responsibilities and how to comply.
- Qualification requirements for centre-based services with children preschool age or under – information on ECTs and other qualification requirements
- Early childhood teacher and suitably qualified person requirements (Guide to the NQF) – operational information about:
  - ECT attendance requirements based on the number of children attending
  - recording the period of time children had access to ECTs - Regulation 152 of the National Regulations
- Who is an early childhood teacher – information about who is a suitably qualified person, who is taken to be an ECT and other situations
- NQF Approved qualifications checker – ACECQA list
- Apply to ACECQA to get your early childhood qualification assessed
- Short term relief of educators at centre-based services – information about when and who can replace ECTs and how to record the absence
- Early childhood teacher and suitably qualified person illness and absence (Guide to the NQF)

First aid and safety training

Information about first aid qualification requirements for all services.

Services must have educators present at all times who hold the required first aid and safety training:
- a current approved first aid qualification
- current approved anaphylaxis management training
- current asthma management training.
A single person does not have to hold all 3 qualifications. However, there must be educators present that together hold the relevant qualifications.
Staff must be available:
- immediately in an emergency
- at any place where children are being cared for, including excursions and outings.
The qualifications vary depending on the service type (OSHC services, FDC or LDC). Please refer to the information below.
Your legal requirements
Read the information below to understand your legal responsibilities and how to comply.
- First aid qualifications and training (Guide to the NQF) – operational information for centre-based and FDC services
- Renewal and currency of first aid qualifications (Guide to the NQF)- information on when qualifications are considered current. This does not apply to CPR training and emergency life support training
- First aid qualifications and training – information on the training required for specific NQF service types such as OSHC or FDC services
- NQF Approved qualifications checker – includes a list of approved first aid qualifications for all service types

Child safety and child protection training

Information about compulsory training in Victoria.

In Victoria there are 2 types of compulsory training:
- Child protection training – Victoria specific module
- Child safety training – National module.
If you are working directly with children you must complete both types of training.
Your legal requirements
Read the information below to understand your legal responsibilities and how to comply.
- Child safety and child protection training
- Child protection and child safety training in early childhood – Victorian specific information and links to the EC PROTECT online training module
- National child safety training – links to register and complete the training through the Australian Government’s Geccko online learning system

Educator to child ratios

Minimum educator to child ratio requirements for educators working directly with children.

All approved early childhood services must meet minimum educator to child ratios.
Educator to child ratios vary according to the age of the children, and type of service. Family day care and centre-based services are different.
To be counted in the educator to child ratios, the educator must be:
- working directly with children, this means being:
  - physically present
  - directly involved in the education and care of children
- hold the relevant approved qualification or be working towards an approved qualification.
Your legal requirements
Read the information below to understand your legal responsibilities and how to comply.
- Educator to child ratios – ACECQA information for all ages and service types
- Educator to child ratios (Guide to the NQF)
- Educator to child ratio calculator for centre-based services – the calculator is a guide only to assist centre-based services
- Mixed age ratios in centre-based services – guidance on how educator to child ratios are calculated across the service
- Ratios for family day care services (Guide to the NQF) – operational information about ratios, maximum number of children and exceptional circumstances
- Family day care co-ordinator to educator ratios

Waivers

Waivers may help providers to continue operating while dealing with special circumstances. Such as, not meeting space requirements due outdoor renovations.

Services may not be able to meet some requirements under the National Law due to unexpected circumstances.
In these situations, they can apply to the Victorian Early Childhood Regulatory Authority (VECRA) for a waiver.
There are 2 types of waivers:
- temporary waivers
- service waivers.
Applying for a waiver should be a last resort. Providers must explore all other options before making an application.
Not all regulations can be waived.
Your legal requirements
Read the information below to understand your legal responsibilities and how to comply.
- Waivers in early childhood services – information about waivers and how to apply
- Evidence for waiver applications – information sheet

Working with children requirements

Working with Children Check (WWCC) and Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT) registration requirements.

It is a criminal offence to work in an early childhood service without a current:
- Working with Children Check (WWCC), or
- Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT) registration.
Approved providers must:
- check the status of staff and volunteer WWCC or VIT before they start work
- make sure their staff and volunteer WWCCs or VIT registrations stay valid
- keep a record of the WWCC or VIT number and expiry date for each person
- notify us within 14 days if a WWCC or VIT registration is cancelled or suspended.
This applies to:
- staff, including casual staff from agencies and family day care assistants
- nominated supervisors
- persons with management or control
- persons in day-to-day charge
- volunteers and students.
It also applies for people over 18 years of age living at family day care residences.
People aged under 18 years are exempt from holding a WWCC. They must be under the immediate supervision of an educator aged 18 or over.
Approved providers must also check the Prohibited Persons Register in the NQA ITS system to ensure the person is not a prohibited person. It is an offence to engage a prohibited person.
Your legal requirements
Read the information below to understand your legal responsibilities and how to comply.
- Working with children requirements for early childhood services – information about who needs a WWCC or VIT registration and ongoing service requirements
- Working with Children Check – information for workers about the WWCC check, the digital version, how to update your details and renew your check
- Organisations and the Working with Children Check – resources and information for organisations to help manage WWCC and their legal obligations. Includes what organisations must do if a worker fails their WWCC
- Working with Children Check status checker – single and bulk checks
- Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT) – information about the registration process for teachers
- Search the VIT register – to confirm if the teacher holds current VIT registration

Early childhood

Updated 1 June 2026