ECEC Compliance and Risk Forum puts child safety, regulation and prevention firmly in focus

The Sector’s Compliance and Risk Forum brought early childhood education and care (ECEC) leaders, providers, safeguarding specialists and risk professionals together in Sydney on 4 September to examine child safety, regulation and the changing risk environment facing the sector.

Sponsored by Storypark and ChildAware, the forum explored some of the most pressing issues confronting ECEC, from regulatory reform and adequate supervision to incident management, safeguarding, workforce pressures and the systems needed to prevent harm.

Throughout the day, speakers and participants returned to a central question: how can the sector respond to heightened scrutiny while ensuring compliance activity translates into safer practice and better outcomes for children?

The changing regulatory environment was a key focus, with discussion considering the increase in regulatory visits, checks and compliance activity across parts of the sector.

Participants explored the importance of a risk-weighted approach to compliance, recognising the need to distinguish between administrative non-compliance and matters presenting a genuine risk to children.

Attention also turned to the next stage of national child safety reforms and proposals concerning adequate supervision.

Supervision is fundamental to safe ECEC practice, but translating it into regulation is complex. Educators make continuous professional judgements as children move between spaces, routines change and individual needs emerge.

How adequate supervision is ultimately defined could therefore have implications for staffing, workforce availability, service operations and viability.

The challenge will be providing sufficient regulatory clarity to protect children while recognising that effective supervision relies on professional judgement as well as ratios and numbers.

The relationship between compliance and quality emerged as another important theme.

Safe, high-quality ECEC depends on capable leadership, cohesive teams, professional learning, reflective practice and organisational cultures in which educators understand not only what they are required to do, but why it matters.

Forum facilitator Jason Roberts highlighted the challenge for providers as finite resources are distributed across competing priorities.

“We’ve all got a limited amount of energy and resources, and we allocate those across our services and organisations,” he said.

Mr Roberts also described high-quality ECEC as having “something special, something human about it”, a reminder that increasing compliance demands must not come at the expense of coaching, pedagogical leadership, reflective practice or meaningful engagement with children.

The practical realities of responding when something goes wrong also featured prominently.

Providers may need to respond to families, employees, regulators, police and other stakeholders following a serious incident, often while information is still emerging.

Discussion highlighted the value of clear escalation pathways, effective incident reporting and access to specialist expertise, particularly given the different resources available to large and small providers.

But recording an incident is only one part of an effective response.

Understanding what happened, why it happened and what needs to change can help organisations identify weaknesses in training, rostering, supervision, communication, leadership or the physical environment.

Psychological safety is also critical. Educators need to feel able to raise concerns, report near misses and disclose mistakes without creating a culture in which accountability is lost.

Distinguishing deliberate misconduct from human error, while examining the systems surrounding an incident, can provide valuable opportunities to identify risk before more serious harm occurs.

The forum also examined how child safety requirements translate from policies and procedures into everyday practice.

Extensive documentation does not automatically make a service safer if educators cannot readily understand and apply the requirements that matter most.

Practical, scenario-based training, regular conversations and checks for understanding were among the approaches discussed to help embed child safety expectations across teams.

Technology also has a role to play.

Digital systems and real-time incident reporting can improve visibility, identify patterns and reduce unnecessary duplication, but the goal should be to make safe practice easier rather than simply produce more evidence of compliance.

The forum concluded with a fireside conversation between Mr Roberts and Goodstart Early Learning Head of Advocacy John Cherry, broadening the discussion from immediate regulatory pressures to the longer-term future of ECEC.

The conversation covered workforce wages, affordability, service viability, inclusion, changing participation patterns, universal access and technology.

Drawing on decades of experience in politics and advocacy, Mr Cherry described effective advocacy as “multiple voices, one message”, emphasising the value of sustained collaboration across the sector.

Universal ECEC was discussed as being about more than affordability alone, with access, inclusion and quality all critical to ensuring children and families who stand to benefit most from early learning are not left behind.

Mr Cherry also reflected on the potential for artificial intelligence to reduce administrative and compliance workloads.

Rather than replacing educators, technology could take on appropriate administrative tasks and create more capacity for educators to focus on children, professional practice and quality improvement.

The fireside conversation provided a fitting conclusion to a day that began with the immediate challenges of regulation and compliance but ultimately asked a broader question: what does the sector need to become safer, stronger and better equipped for the future?

The Compliance and Risk Forum highlighted the complexity of the environment ECEC providers, leaders and educators are navigating and the importance of bringing regulatory, safeguarding, operational and sector perspectives together.

Clear requirements and effective oversight remain essential, but so too are capable leaders, confident educators and practical systems that help identify and address risk before children are harmed.

For those who could not attend in Sydney, or who would like to revisit the discussions, The Sector’s Compliance and Risk Forum will be available to watch on demand shortly, providing access to the conversations, insights and practical perspectives shared throughout the day. 

Further information about how and when to access the forum will be shared with The Sector community shortly.