A record 92 percent of Australian childcare-early learning centres are meeting or exceeding the national quality standards, the latest snapshot shows.
Federal Education Minister Jason Clare said the data was encouraging and came off the back of regulators conducting more inspections.
In the first three months of the year, state and territory regulators conducted 6147 service visits, up 9.5 percent on the previous quarter and 7.15 percent on the prior year.
The National Quality Framework (NQF) Snapshot for Q1 2026, released today, shows 92 percent of services are now rated as Meeting the National Quality Standard or above.
The Snapshot also showed:
- Regulators took 933 compliance actions, an increase of 38.5 per cent compared with the same time last year.
- Commonwealth compliance officers also conducted 900 unannounced inspections in the last seven months.
The Australian Government, in coordinated action with states and territories, has introduced mandatory child safety training for early educators.
This follows a series of high profile cases of poor standards in some centres and pedophiles slipping through safety checks.
“Workers have six months to do the foundations of child safety course, and more than 90 percent of the workforce has already done it three months after it became available,” Mr Clare said.
“Our early educators are the most important asset we have and this shows how seriously they are taking the issue.
“The next tranche of safety training for every early education worker rolls out in August.”
Mr Clare said 99 services had been issued “conditions notices” under new powers introduced last year. Of these, 44 were now meeting national quality standards and six had shut.
Others which failed to meet the standard at their deadlines have been issued with a notice of intent to suspend or cancel their funding.
“A lot has happened in the last 12 months and we’re seeing quality and safety across the sector improving,” Mr Clare said.
“The percentage of childcare centres meeting the national quality and safety standards is now at the highest level ever.
“The truth is this work will never end. We have to keep the pressure on to make sure that the safety and quality in early education is what parents expect and what our children deserve.”
