Strengthening child safety in ECEC:NSW Early Childhood Education available resources 

Across Australia, early childhood education and care (ECEC) services are required to embed Child Safe Standards into their culture, policies, and daily practice.

The exact requirements vary between jurisdictions for example, Victoria has 11 standards, NSW has 10 but the intent is consistent: to create safe, inclusive environments where children’s rights are respected, their voices are heard, and risks of harm are proactively identified and reduced.

• Placing children’s safety and wellbeing at the centre of decision-making
• Valuing children’s voices
• Proactively identifying, managing, and reducing risks of harm
• Ensuring staff are suitable, trained, and supported

While terminology and structure may differ from state to state, the goal is the same to ensure that child safety is not an afterthought, but a fundamental part of every service’s daily operations.

To support services in meeting these obligations, the Office of the Children’s Guardian (OCG) has various free suites of resources. While created in the NSW context, they can be adapted for use by services in other states and territories to strengthen policies, staff training, and daily practice.

What’s available:

E-learning modules – Tailored pathways for different service types, covering child safe culture, risk management, reporting, safe recruitment, and policy creation.

• Modules 1–3 are designed for all educators and staff, covering child safe culture, risk management, and reporting obligations.
• Modules 4–6 are for service leaders, focusing on leadership responsibilities, safe recruitment, and creating child safe policies.
  These self-paced modules are ideal for incorporating into induction programs or ongoing professional development.

Podcast miniseries – The Policy and Practice in Focus miniseries provides sector-specific insights into embedding the Child Safe Standards in ECEC settings. Topics include giving children voice and choice, managing child safe risks, and strengthening reporting processes. Episodes are available on the OCG website and major podcast platforms, making them easy to share with staff.

Short training videos – Two concise, four-minute videos highlight key aspects of child safe practice:

• Recruiting safe and skilled staff (Standard 5)
• Embedding a culture of continuous learning (Standard 7)
  These are useful discussion starters in team meetings and can prompt services to reflect on their current approaches.

These tools provide a strong foundation for reviewing and improving service’s child safe policies and practices. Services are encouraged to:

1. Review current policies against the standards in your jurisdiction.
2. Incorporate the e-learning modules into staff induction and ongoing training.
3. Use podcasts and videos as discussion tools in team meetings.
4. Regularly revisit the self-assessment tool to monitor progress and identify areas for improvement.

By taking a proactive approach and embedding these resources into everyday practice, services can strengthen their culture of safety, meet compliance requirements, and most importantly ensure the wellbeing of every child in their care.

Access the full resource suite here.