The safety, rights and best interests of children will be the paramount consideration for all decision makers in the early childhood education and care (ECEC) system – this is one of many changes to national and Victorian law that came into effect on 27 February 2026.
These changes follow those in December 2025 and January 2026 and put in place stronger safeguards to protect Victorian children from harm.
Further changes
The new paramount consideration extends the existing Guiding Principles of the National Law, making it a statutory duty for the safety, rights and best interests of children to underpin every level of decision-making in all areas of a service, from recruitment through to the delivery of education and care.
The Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) has published an information sheet with further information.
Child safety and child protection training now mandatory for all ECEC staff
All ECEC staff must now complete child safety training and child protection training.
The training assists staff to understand the child safety framework and requirements for keeping children safe.
See the ACECQA Child Safety and Child Protection Training webpage for specific training requirements that apply to each category of worker and volunteer in each jurisdiction.
Child safety training
All persons with management or control, persons in day-to-day charge, nominated supervisors, Family Day Care coordinators, staff, volunteers and students will need to complete new mandatory child safety training (foundation modules) by Thursday 27 August 2026.
This national training was developed by the Australian Centre for Child Protection and is available online at the Australian Government’s website.
Child protection training
There are also new requirements under the National Law to complete child protection training.
In Victoria, nominated supervisors, persons in day-to-day charge, Family Day Care coordinators, and staff and volunteers who work directly with children must complete the Department of Education’s online module, Protecting Children - Mandatory Reporting and Other Obligations (PROTECT), to meet child protection training requirements.
This must be completed by 27 August 2026 and then completed every year.
Staff and volunteers who don’t work directly with children will meet their child protection training requirement by completing the national child safety training (foundation modules). This is available online at the Australian Government’s website. More information about child protection training requirements, including recognition of prior completion, can be found at the Department of Education’s website.
National Early Childhood Worker Register
Approved providers are now required to record information about service leadership, staff and volunteers in the National Early Childhood Worker Register. Providers must enter required information into the Register by Friday 27 March 2026.
With the establishment of the National Early Childhood Worker Register, Victorian services will no longer be required to update the Victoria Early Childhood Workforce Register on the Arrival system. This means that you won’t need to maintain two registers, once the worker and volunteer information is on National Register.
Victoria has worked closely with ACECQA to ensure that the National Register delivers the level of information that the Victorian Register has provided since it was established as a nation-leading initiative in 2025. In line with recommendations from the Rapid Child Safety Review, Victoria led advocacy for a National Register of workers, given the cross-border nature of many services and workers. This advocacy has led to the National Register being enshrined in law, and now launched.
VECRA will use the National Register to support its work in regulating all Victorian services. VECRA will be able to access information held in the Victorian Register from the department on request, to support investigations that cover the period before the National Register was in place.
For more information about the National Early Childhood Worker Register, see the ACECQA website.
Find out more
- Mandatory national child safety training webpage, which includes frequently asked questions
- Child safety reforms: National and Victoria-specific legislative changes, including details about upcoming information sessions
- Child protection in early childhood: online learning
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