Is your service compliant on paper, but vulnerable in practice?

Policies can be updated quickly. Giving educators the time, resources and support to embed them takes more work and responsibility for that work needs to be shared.

A policy has been updated. Educators have signed to say they have read it. The action has been marked complete.

But what has changed for the educator and the children?

That is what concerns me about the pace of change in early childhood education and care. There is a gap between updating a document and confidently applying it during a busy day in an early learning environment.

Someone needs to explain what has changed, work through what it means and check whether the team understands it. Educators need time to ask questions and support to put the requirements into practice.

Meanwhile, the service keeps operating. Children need attention, families need communication and educators have responsibilities they cannot put aside while they absorb another update.

Consider the layers, not just the latest change

Each new requirement lands on top of work already happening.

A service manager may be reviewing procedures while managing staffing, supporting educators and responding to families. Providers need to consider that combined workload before treating another signed acknowledgement as evidence that implementation is complete.

What resources have been provided? Who is helping the manager? When will the team have time to discuss the change?

These questions should be considered when a requirement is introduced, rather than left for a service to work out afterwards.

Strip policies back so people can use them

I believe policies need to be stripped back, written clearly and supported by procedures that make sense inside a service.

Educators need to find the information, understand their responsibilities and know what to do. A long document can contain everything required and still be difficult to use.

I would like to see a more consistent national approach, with jurisdiction-specific requirements clearly identified. A common foundation could reduce the work providers repeat, while allowing services to document their own arrangements.

The aim should be to make expectations easier to understand and apply. Adding pages does not necessarily achieve that.

Providers need to look beyond the signature

Consider supervision when an educator leaves a room unexpectedly. Does everyone understand how responsibility will be communicated and positions adjusted?

Or consider an incident record. Once it is completed, who reviews it? Who follows up the actions, and does anyone check whether they addressed the concern?

These are the details that show whether a procedure works.

Educators need managers who can demonstrate, observe, explain and revisit practice. Relief staff and new employees need that support too.

When a gap appears, leaders need to understand it. Further training may be necessary. So might clearer instructions, more time or a change to the process.

Government has a part to play too

I want governments and ministers to give implementation the same attention they give announcements.

What practical support accompanies a change? How is the combined workload being considered? How will anyone know whether the reform has improved practice?

Scrutiny also needs to extend to the systems around services, including educator preparation through training organisations and provider oversight during acquisitions and growth.

Taking on more services means taking responsibility for understanding their teams, practices and support needs. Circulating a common policy library is only a starting point.

Retaining educators and rebuilding families’ trust

If we do not get this right, how do we retain experienced educators and attract others into the profession?

People need clear expectations and support to meet them. They also need recognition of the work involved.

Families need understanding too. A parent can need to work and still feel frightened about choosing a service. Those concerns deserve to be heard, with clear explanations of how children are protected and how concerns will be handled.

Providers should be able to show what happened after a policy changed: the conversations, resources, observations and follow-up.

Governments should be prepared to explain how they supported that work and why. Educators and families deserve to know that an announced improvement has reached the children.

Fiona Alston is Editor of The Sector. This opinion piece draws on her experience in early childhood operations, quality, compliance and leadership.