The Approved Provider must ensure a QIP is in place for each service. It helps the service assess current practice and plan improvements, and it helps the regulatory authority understand the service during assessment and rating.

A QIP must include

• the Approved Provider’s assessment of service practices against the NQS and National Regulations
• areas the Approved Provider considers may require improvement
• the service statement of philosophy

The plan must be prepared for a new service within three months of service approval, reviewed and revised at least annually and whenever directed by the regulatory authority, kept current at the service and made available on request to the regulatory authority and to parents of enrolled or prospective children.

Self assessment is a disciplined look at current practice across all seven Quality Areas and related regulatory requirements. It asks what occurs, how consistently it occurs, why it occurs and what effect it has on children.

Keep three questions separate

1. Are we compliant? Are all applicable legal and policy requirements being met now?
2. What is the quality of children’s experience? Is practice effective, inclusive, consistent and responsive?
3. What should be sustained or improved? What does evidence show needs attention next?

Self assessment should be open, honest and critically reflective. It is not an exercise in proving that everything is already excellent. Equally, it should recognise genuine strengths rather than recording only problems.

Strong self assessment draws on more than one source. A single document, anecdote or confident opinion may be incomplete. Evidence should be current, relevant and considered together.

Useful sources include

• direct observation of ordinary practice at different times and with different staff
• children’s words, behaviour, participation, choices, drawings and other forms of communication
• family feedback, questions, complaints, compliments and participation
• educator reflection, professional discussion and curriculum documentation
• incident, injury, illness, medication, supervision and attendance records
• risk assessments, audits, maintenance records, staffing information and policy reviews
• complaint themes, inclusion barriers, transition information and community knowledge
• previous QIP reviews, assessment and rating findings and evidence of completed actions

Children’s voices must be gathered in developmentally appropriate, culturally safe and accessible ways. Participation is not asking one question and using a convenient quote. Notice nonverbal responses, provide real choices and show how input influenced a decision.

Record themes and evidence without placing children’s names, disclosures, medical details or unnecessary personal information in a QIP that families may inspect. Sensitive records belong in authorised confidential systems.

A strength is not a vague claim such as “our relationships are excellent.” It describes what is consistently embedded, how this is known and what difference it makes for children and families.

Prioritise improvement by considering

• risk to children’s safety, rights, dignity and wellbeing
• legal, regulatory, Child Safe Standards and NERPSA policy requirements
• the scale, frequency and persistence of the issue
• inequity or barriers affecting particular children or families
• children’s and families’ views
• the likely effect of improvement
• available resources, dependencies and responsibility

A useful improvement entry explains the evidence, the intended change, who will act, when action will occur and how the service will know whether children’s experience improved.

Build the entry in this order

1. Evidence and issue: What is happening now, and how do we know?
2. Priority outcome: What should children, families or staff experience instead?
3. Actions: What specific steps will produce the change?
4. Responsibility: Who leads, who contributes and who approves?
5. Timing and resources: What milestones, support, time or materials are needed?
6. Success measures: What observable evidence will show progress and effect?
7. Review: When will evidence be examined and the next decision made?

A checklist showing an action was completed does not by itself show improvement. Evaluation asks whether practice changed, whether it became consistent and whether the intended outcome was experienced.

The Approved Provider carries the legal responsibility to ensure the QIP is prepared, reviewed and revised. Effective self assessment is nevertheless collaborative. Nominated supervisors, educational leaders, educators, other staff, children, families and relevant community partners bring different evidence and perspectives.

Every staff member can contribute by

• raising patterns, risks and barriers early
• bringing factual observations and reflective questions
• identifying where written expectations and practice do not match
• seeking and recording children’s views appropriately
• testing agreed changes consistently
• reporting what improved, what did not and what was unintended
• challenging tokenistic or unsupported claims respectfully

Leaders should create psychologically safe ways to speak honestly, allocate responsibility and resources, communicate decisions and close the feedback loop. Consultation is weakened when people provide input but never learn what happened to it.

The QIP should show a cycle: assess, prioritise, plan, act, review evidence and decide what happens next. Update progress while work is occurring, not only when a goal is finished.

At review, ask

• Were the planned actions completed, and were they implemented as intended?
• What changed in everyday practice?
• What changed for children and families, including those who may experience barriers?
• Is the change consistent across rooms, sessions, staff and time?
• Did any unintended consequence emerge?
• Should the action continue, change, expand, be embedded or close?
• What evidence should be retained to explain the decision?

Assessment and rating should observe ordinary practice. Current national guidance places greater focus on ongoing self assessment and the QIP rather than point in time preparation. A service should be able to explain its strengths, priorities and learning without staging practice, coaching children or creating last minute evidence.