NSW guidance strengthens child safe recruitment and employment practices in ECEC

Updated guidance is reminding NSW early childhood services that a Working with Children Check is only one part of determining whether someone is suitable to work with children.

The NSW Department of Education has updated its child safe recruitment and employment guidance for approved providers, service leaders, staff and volunteers working across early childhood education and care (ECEC).

The guidance outlines what providers and services must do to embed child safety throughout recruitment, screening, induction and ongoing employment—not simply at the point someone is first engaged.

Under regulation 168 of the Education and Care Services National Regulations in NSW, services must outline clear child safe recruitment and employment practices within their staffing policies and procedures.

These requirements commenced on 24 April 2026 and include undertaking reasonable enquiries to confirm that employees and volunteers are suitable to work with children and are not subject to any restrictions or prohibitions.

Eight steps to child safe recruitment

The guidance identifies eight steps services should follow when recruiting staff and volunteers:

1. Role descriptions – include child safety responsibilities and suitability criteria in every position description.
2. Job advertisements – clearly communicate the organisation’s commitment to being child safe.
3. Shortlisting – review applications for evidence that candidates understand and are committed to child safety.
4. Interviews – use scenario-based questions to explore candidates’ integrity, attitudes towards children and understanding of safe practice.
5. Referee checks – obtain at least two verbal references from previous employers, including the most recent employer.
6. Background checks – verify identity, qualifications, Working with Children Check clearance and relevant regulatory history.
7. Child safe induction – provide structured training and orientation covering the service’s policies, procedures, expectations and operating environment.
8. Ongoing employment practices – maintain appropriate training, supervision and checks throughout the person’s employment.

Together, these steps reinforce that child safe recruitment is a considered safeguarding process, not an administrative checklist completed after a hiring decision has already been made.

The Department has placed particular emphasis on the quality of referee checking.

Services should speak directly with at least two previous employers and ask specific questions about the applicant’s conduct, integrity and suitability to work with children.

This includes asking whether there have been any reportable allegations, previous child safety concerns, misconduct or concerning and inappropriate behaviour.

References from friends, family members or colleagues who did not directly supervise the applicant should not be accepted as substitutes for references from previous managers.

The guidance also encourages employers to examine unexplained gaps in employment and patterns involving multiple employers. These circumstances do not necessarily indicate that a person is unsuitable, but they may warrant further questions or additional referee checks.

Anyone aged 18 years or older who undertakes child-related work in NSW ECEC must hold a current Working with Children Check (WWCC) clearance before commencing, unless an exemption applies under the Child Protection (Working with Children) Act 2012.

Approved providers and services must verify applicable clearances through the NSW Office of the Children’s Guardian’s online portal before a person starts work and whenever their clearance is renewed. Simply sighting or recording a WWCC number is not sufficient.

Verification links the worker to the employer through the Office of the Children’s Guardian’s continuous monitoring system. This enables the provider to be notified if the person’s clearance is subsequently suspended or they become barred from working with children.

The requirement also applies to agency staff, students, volunteers and other people engaged in child-related work.

For family day care, approved providers must ensure family day care assistants and all people aged 18 years or older who reside at a family day care residence hold current, verified WWCC clearances.

However, the guidance reinforces that a WWCC is only one component of robust screening.

Providers should also verify a candidate’s identity and qualifications, confirm that early childhood qualifications are ACECQA approved and check that the relevant registered training organisation was authorised to issue them.

Services should use the National Quality Agenda IT System to determine whether a person is prohibited or suspended. Applicants should also be asked to declare whether they are subject to any current restrictions or regulatory action, including prohibition, suspension or supervision notices, enforceable undertakings or training orders.

A National Police Check may be used as an additional screening measure. It does not replace a WWCC but can provide broader information about criminal history that may be relevant to recruitment decisions and workplace safety.

People under 18 years of age are generally exempt from holding a WWCC. This does not remove the provider’s responsibility to assess their suitability and manage any associated risks.

Under the National Regulations, educators under 18 must not work alone at a service and must always be adequately supervised by an educator who is over 18.

Services should establish clear expectations about interactions with children and provide younger staff, students and volunteers with appropriate induction, training, guidance and supervision.

A negative notice may arise when a person becomes disqualified, receives an interim bar, has a WWCC application refused or clearance cancelled, or receives a recognised negative notice from another jurisdiction.

Staff must notify their approved provider in writing if they receive a negative WWCC notice or if their teacher accreditation or registration changes.

This must occur within 72 hours of the event, or within 24 hours of the person becoming aware of the change.

Approved providers must notify the NSW Early Learning Commission within 24 hours of becoming aware that a staff member has received a negative notice or experienced a change to their accreditation or registration.

Providers must also follow their child safety procedures and retain records of the decisions and actions taken in response.

The guidance makes clear that determining suitability is not a one-off activity completed during recruitment.

Staffing policies and procedures must explain how the service will maintain ongoing child safe employment practices and continue monitoring whether staff remain suitable to work with children.

This includes keeping screening information current, providing mandatory training, maintaining effective supervision and ensuring staff understand their responsibilities under child protection legislation.

Services must also retain clear, current records demonstrating compliance throughout recruitment, onboarding and employment.

To support implementation, the NSW Early Learning Commission has released a child safe recruitment toolkit containing:

• a sample child safe recruitment, induction and training policy
• a recruitment checklist
• an interview checklist
• a referee check template.

The guidance provides an important prompt for providers to examine whether their recruitment systems genuinely test suitability or primarily collect documents.

Strong child safe recruitment depends on both: reliable records that demonstrate compliance and careful professional enquiry that identifies concerns before an adult is given access to children.