Exceeding NQS in 2026: What the latest ACECQA data tells us about higher quality practice

What separates a service that is Meeting the National Quality Standard (NQS) from one that is Exceeding?

The latest data from the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) provides an opportunity to look more closely at that question, with its Q2 2026 NQF Snapshot providing detailed insights into services rated Exceeding NQS and the extent to which the three Exceeding themes are being demonstrated across the 15 Standards of the NQS.

Based on data as at 1 July 2026, the results provide an important reference point for approved providers, service leaders and educators seeking to understand what higher-quality practice looks like and, importantly, how it is demonstrated.

Because achieving Exceeding is not simply about doing more.

It is about demonstrating that high-quality practice is embedded, informed by critical reflection and shaped by meaningful engagement with families and communities.

For a Standard to be rated Exceeding NQS, all three Exceeding themes need to be demonstrated.

These are:

Theme 1: Practice is embedded in service operations

Practice needs to be consistently understood and implemented as part of the service’s everyday operations.

Theme 2: Practice is informed by critical reflection

Services need to demonstrate ongoing, thoughtful consideration of their practice, including why things are done in particular ways and how reflection influences improvement.

Theme 3: Practice is shaped by meaningful engagement with families and/or the community

The perspectives, knowledge and experiences of families and communities need to meaningfully influence service practice.

Together, the themes shift the Exceeding conversation away from isolated examples of excellence towards sustained and service-wide quality.

This distinction is particularly important for services preparing for assessment and rating.

An impressive project, beautifully presented Quality Improvement Plan or innovative program may demonstrate positive practice, but it does not automatically demonstrate Exceeding practice.

The question is whether the underlying practice is embedded.

Do educators understand it?

Is it consistently evident?

Can the team explain why they work this way?

Has the practice changed as a result of reflection?

And can the service demonstrate how children, families or its community have influenced what happens?

This is where the three Exceeding themes become particularly useful, not simply as assessment criteria, but as a framework for considering the depth of quality practice.

The NQS contains 15 Standards across seven Quality Areas, and the Exceeding themes are considered at the Standard level.

This means Exceeding practice cannot simply sit within one particularly strong aspect of a service.

For an individual Standard to be rated Exceeding NQS, all three themes must be demonstrated in relation to that Standard.

To receive an overall rating of Exceeding NQS, all Quality Areas must first be rated at least Meeting NQS.

Four or more Quality Areas must then be rated Exceeding, with at least two of those coming from:

• Quality Area 1 – Educational program and practice
• Quality Area 5 – Relationships with children
• Quality Area 6 – Collaborative partnerships with families and communities
• Quality Area 7 – Governance and leadership.

The structure reinforces that an overall Exceeding rating reflects quality extending across multiple dimensions of the service.

Theme 1 can sometimes be misunderstood as simply meaning a practice happens regularly.

There is more to it than frequency.

Embedded practice should be part of the service’s operations and consistently understood and implemented.

For leaders, a useful way of testing this may be to move away from documentation and have conversations with educators.

Could different members of the team explain:

Why is this our approach?

How does it work in practice?

What is my role?

How does this support children?

What happens when circumstances change?

If knowledge about a particular process sits predominantly with the nominated supervisor, educational leader or one experienced educator, there may be an opportunity to strengthen how deeply that practice is embedded across the service.

Theme 2 places critical reflection at the centre of Exceeding practice.

Reflection is already familiar across ECEC, but the Exceeding framework asks services to go deeper.

Recording that a discussion occurred is not necessarily the same as demonstrating critical reflection.

The stronger question is:

What changed as a result?

Critical reflection may involve questioning established ways of working, considering different perspectives, examining evidence, discussing assumptions and determining whether existing practice continues to deliver the best outcomes for children.

It can also mean recognising when something has not worked as intended.

For services aspiring to Exceeding, the quality of the reflective process and its influence on practice, may therefore be more significant than the volume of reflection documented.

The third Exceeding theme focuses on meaningful engagement with families and/or communities.

Again, the distinction is important.

Sending surveys, newsletters or updates demonstrates communication, but meaningful engagement requires services to consider how family and community perspectives actually shape practice.

What did families tell us?

What did we learn?

What did we do differently?

How can we demonstrate that their perspectives influenced a decision?

These questions move family engagement from consultation towards genuine partnership.

Governance and leadership has a particularly important role in supporting higher-quality practice across a service.

Quality Area 7 is not simply about policies, procedures and governance structures.

Leadership influences whether educators have opportunities to reflect, whether professional learning translates into practice, whether responsibilities are understood and whether continuous improvement becomes part of the culture.

For approved providers and service leaders, this creates an important consideration.

Rather than treating Exceeding as something to prepare for immediately before assessment and rating, leaders can create the systems and culture that allow the three themes to develop naturally over time.

Regular critical reflection, meaningful team conversations, engagement with families and communities, professional development and the use of the QIP as a genuine improvement tool can all contribute to that environment.

Perhaps one of the most useful ways to consider Exceeding practice is to ask whether educators can tell the service’s quality story without relying on a prepared evidence folder.

Could they explain:

• why practices have developed in particular ways?
• what has changed over time?
• what evidence or reflection influenced those changes?
• how families and communities contributed?
• how the service knows its approach is benefiting children?
• what the service is still trying to improve?

These conversations can provide a powerful indication of whether continuous improvement is genuinely embedded.

Importantly, Exceeding should not be confused with perfection.

A culture of continuous improvement requires services to recognise that there will always be opportunities to strengthen practice.

Identifying a weakness does not necessarily demonstrate poor quality.

What matters is how the service identifies it, reflects on it and responds.

In fact, being able to demonstrate that something did not work as expected, that the team critically reflected on why, sought the perspectives of others and subsequently changed practice may provide a stronger quality story than attempting to demonstrate that everything has always been perfect.

For the overwhelming majority of Australian services now achieving Meeting NQS or above, the next stage of the quality conversation is increasingly about depth.

Are practices simply occurring, or are they genuinely embedded?

Are teams reflecting, or is reflection changing practice?

Are families being consulted, or are their perspectives influencing decisions?

And can those things be demonstrated consistently across the service?

The latest ACECQA Exceeding NQS data provides services with an opportunity to look beyond the overall rating and consider the practices that sit behind it.

Ultimately, Exceeding is less about preparing evidence for an authorised officer and more about creating a culture in which quality practice can be seen, heard and explained throughout the service every day.

ACECQA’s Q2 2026 Exceeding NQS data, current as at 1 July 2026, can be explored through the NQF Online Snapshot.