Risk assessment in practice: supporting safety and meaningful learning

ACECQA’s guidance explores how everyday decisions, professional judgement and children’s participation can help services manage risk while supporting learning and development.

A change in the weather, a new learning experience or updated information about a child’s health can require educators to reconsider how an activity or routine will work safely.

In its Risk assessment in practice guidance, the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) examines how these everyday decisions connect with a service’s broader approach to safety and wellbeing.

The guidance encourages educators to consider potential harm alongside opportunities for learning, leisure and development, and to regularly evaluate whether risk management arrangements remain effective.

Although the terms are often used interchangeably, risk assessment and risk management serve different purposes.

Risk management is the broader, ongoing process through which a service identifies, assesses and manages risks. It encompasses policies, procedures, practices and decisions that help protect children, families, educators and staff.

Risk assessment forms part of that process. It focuses on a particular activity, routine, environment or situation, identifying potential hazards and determining the actions needed to reduce or manage associated risks.

For service leaders, this distinction connects individual assessments with the systems needed to put them into practice. Identifying a hazard needs to lead to clear action, communication and review.

ACECQA links this work with Quality Area 2: Children’s Health and Safety and Quality Area 7: Governance and Leadership.

A quality risk assessment considers what an experience offers children alongside what could cause harm.

ACECQA describes this as risk-benefit analysis: weighing potential risks against the learning and developmental value of an activity.

For educators, this means considering how children can participate safely while retaining meaningful opportunities for exploration and challenge. Decisions should reflect the children involved, their individual abilities and support needs, the environment and supervision arrangements.

For example, when planning an outdoor climbing experience, educators might consider the learning opportunities alongside equipment stability, landing surfaces, children’s capabilities and educator positioning. The assessment can then guide adjustments that support safe participation.

The Education and Care Services National Law requires every reasonable precaution to be taken to protect children from harm and hazards likely to cause injury.

ACECQA highlights that some risk assessments are specifically required under the National Regulations, including documented assessments for excursions and transportation.

Assessments also inform certain policies and procedures, including those relating to sleep and rest and the safe arrival of children. These assessments require review at least annually and when relevant circumstances change.

For children with specific health care needs, allergies or relevant medical conditions, risk minimisation and communication plans support safe care and medical management.

The practical task for services is to ensure relevant educators understand the identified risks, the measures in place and their responsibilities for implementing them.

Children and young people can contribute valuable perspectives about the environments, routines and experiences they use.

ACECQA encourages services to involve them in age-appropriate discussions about risk, supporting their understanding of responsibility and decision-making.

Its risk assessment tool for children under five provides simple prompts to discuss an activity, consider how someone might be hurt, identify ways to make it safer and decide whether help is needed.

The tool also encourages reflection afterwards, giving children an opportunity to consider what happened and what could change next time.

The tool for children over five offers a structured approach to identifying, assessing, managing and reviewing risks. In OSHC, this can support children’s involvement in planning and evaluating excursions, events and other experiences.

Children’s contributions can inform educators’ decisions while adults retain responsibility for appropriate safeguards and supervision.

Effective risk management requires ongoing attention to how arrangements operate throughout the day.

Changes in children’s needs, staffing, environments or routines may affect whether existing measures remain suitable. Team discussions can help identify what needs to be updated and communicated.

Useful questions include:

• What has changed since the assessment was completed?
• Are the identified safety measures working?
• Do educators understand their responsibilities?
• Does supervision support children’s safe participation?
• What have children’s experiences and feedback revealed?

These conversations help keep assessments connected to practice and give educators opportunities to use professional judgement as circumstances change.

ACECQA’s sample forms and templates provide further resources to support services in assessing and managing risk.