Child Safe Standards - how to implement
Early childhood education and care (ECEC) services in NSW are required to implement the Child Safe Standards under the Child Safe Scheme.
The Child Safe Standards outline clear expectations for organisations on embedding child safety in their values, policies, practices and environment. They are designed to drive cultural change and capability uplift to make organisations safer for children.
The NSW Department of Education, as the regulatory authority for the ECEC sector (NSW Regulatory Authority) in NSW, has engaged the Office of the Children’s Guardian (OCG) to develop implementation resources to support services to strengthen their child safe practices and culture with practical guidance.
The free resources are designed for approved providers, service leaders and educators within all ECEC service types.
Some of the resources are still in development. This page will be updated as the new learning materials become available. The full suite is expected to be available by mid-2025.
The Implementing the Child Safe Standards suite of resources is funded by the NSW Regulatory Authority under its Safety and Quality Practice Program. Visit the Safety and Quality Practice Program webpage to access other support resources.
E-Learning modules
Access the Child Safe Early Childhood Education and Care e-learning modules on the OCG's eLearning page. First-time users must register to access the training.
The e-learning has 3 different pathways: centre-based (such as long day care and preschools), outside school hours care and family day care.
Each pathway includes 6 modules – one to 3 are aimed at all educators and staff, while modules 4 to 6 are specifically for service leaders.
The first e-learning module, ‘A Child Safe Service’, provides an overview of the Child Safe Standards and child safety in an ECEC context, including:
- how the standards work in action
- how to introduce child safe practices that value children's voices
- how to recognise child safe leadership
- an introduction to child safe risk management
- an introduction to child safe reporting
- how to maintain and enhance child safe practices with robust child safe policies.
Module 2 provides practical guidance to support services identify, manage and mitigate risk of harm to children effectively. It focuses on:
- how to identify risk
- how to identify harm and abuse
- how to manage risk with a Child Safe Risk Management Plan
- a step-by-step process to creating a Child Safe Risk Management Plan.
Module 3 provides practical guidance to support all staff in services understand child safe reporting. You will learn about:
- how to recognise and practise a child-focused complaints process
- what and how you need to report and who you need to report to
- supporting children to make a report
- the importance of record keeping and the review process.
Aimed at ECEC service leaders, Module 4 focuses on how to create and maintain a strong reporting culture and ensure your staff understand their legal and ethical obligations. It provides practical guidance on:
- removing barriers to reporting
- developing a child safe reporting policy
- supporting children to raise concerns
- conducting investigations and record keeping.
Podcast
Listen to Policy and Practice in Focus: An ECEC Child Safe Podcast Miniseries, which is available on the OCG website and other podcast platforms, including PodBean, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. The miniseries is part of the OCG's The Child Safe Podcast, which provides insights and practical guidance from child safe professionals and industry stakeholders on making organisations safer for children.
In this episode, host Simon Luckhurst talks to 2 ECEC professionals and an OCG compliance officer about common questions about applying the Child Safe Scheme in an ECEC context.
Guests include Meg Mendham (previous CEO, Community Connections Solutions Australia), Angela Gillespie (Senior Manager, Connect Children and Families) and Brittany Taylor (Child Safe Officer, OCG). Listen to episode 1.
Episode host Katey Street sits down with Rhonda Livingstone, ACECQA’s National Educational Leader, to chat about updates to the Approved Learning Frameworks relating to child safety. In particular, the episode focuses on the importance of children’s voices and supporting them to be active participants in their learning. Listen to episode 2 part A.
Host Katey Street speaks with educators Lisa Warburton and Angie Camilleri, as well as Child Safe Officer Rachel Norman, about the updated Approved Learning Frameworks and how they support child-centred practice and policy. Listen to episode 2 part B.
Host Simon Luckhurst chats to 2 education professionals and a representative from the OCG’s Reportable Conduct Directorate to discuss setting up a reporting culture within the ECEC sector, how and what to report, and how organisations can ensure their reporting processes are child friendly. Listen to episode 3.
More information
Contact the OCG for further guidance on implementing the Child Safe Standards and technical support accessing the resources.
Related resources
- Child Safe Standards
- Providing a child safe environment
- Keeping children safe: Identifying and responding to risks, September ECE Connect webinar
- Embedding new child safe requirements: changes to the NQF, December 2023 ECE Connect webinar