Overview
Early childhood education and care (ECEC) staff in Australia must complete child safety training and child protection training.
The free training assists staff to understand the child safety framework and requirements for keeping children safe.
See the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority’s Child Safety and Child Protection Training webpage for specific training requirements that apply in each jurisdiction and for additional guidance, including Frequently Asked Questions.
Child safety training – National
Any person who works in an NQF-regulated ECEC service, regardless of whether they work directly with children, must complete national child safety training. This includes students and volunteers as defined below.
The national child safety training consists of:
- Foundations of child safety
- Advanced child safety
The national training was developed by the Australian Centre for Child Protection in partnership with the Queensland Government, on behalf of all Australian states and territories and the Australian Government.
The Australian Government webpage for National child safety training includes more information, including:
- the training requirements for each role in a service, including who must complete the training and by when,
- how to access the training
- supports available for eligible services.
Child protection training Victoria
Certain staff, students and volunteers who work in NQF-regulated ECEC services in Victoria must also complete EC PROTECT as Victoria’s prescribed child protection training every 12 months. This includes:
- Nominated supervisors
- persons in day-to-day charge of a service
- Family Day Care coordinators
- staff members who work directly with children, and
- volunteers who work directly with children, including students, as defined below.
EC PROTECT is available on the Protecting children: Mandatory reporting and other obligations webpage.
Relevant staff or volunteers that start working at a service on or after 14 August 2026 must complete the training before they start working directly with children at the service, or within 14 days of being employed at the service, whichever occurs first.
Recognition of prior completion
On 27 February 2026, it became mandatory for relevant roles to complete EC PROTECT by 27 August 2026. Staff with a valid certificate demonstrating prior completion of EC PROTECT between 1 September 2025 and 27 February 2026 are recognised as satisfying the requirement to meet the 27 August deadline.
Staff must complete EC PROTECT every 12 months to maintain a valid certificate.
Staff and volunteers, including students, who do not work directly with children will meet their child protection training requirement by completing the national child safety foundation training every 2 years. They are not required to complete EC PROTECT.
The training is also available for free for other professionals who work with babies and young children, including Maternal Child and Health nurses and other health professionals.
Definition of Volunteers and Students
For the purposes of completing the national child safety training and child protection training in Victoria:
- a volunteer is a person who has a role in the delivery of the ECEC service, on a regular or semi-regular basis, without payment. This may be frequent or infrequent but is distinct from:
- A one-off occasion
- A visitor to the service
- A parent or family member or carer of a child at the service.
When determining whether a volunteer arrangement is regular or semi‑regular, providers should:
- use their professional judgement
- take a risk management approach, with the paramount consideration being the safety and wellbeing of children
- consider whether Working with Children Check or Working with Vulnerable People requirements apply to that arrangement in their jurisdiction.
- a student is a person who is:
- completing a supervised placement in an ECEC service, and
- enrolled in, and completing an approved ECEC qualification.
What this means in practice
Providers are responsible for determining who must complete national child safety training at their service, based on:
- a person’s role and duties
- the regularity of their engagement
- the level of contact they may have with children
- their professional judgement and child‑safety risk assessment.
If you are unsure whether a particular role or arrangement is captured, you should take a precautionary approach and contact your state or territory regulatory authority for advice. In Victoria, this is the Victorian Early Childhood Regulatory Authority (VECRA).
Contact information
For technical queries and training support for EC PROTECT, contact ec.protect@education.vic.gov.au.
Early childhood education and care
Updated