Dear colleagues
At the end of August, two announcements were made that will change the way we work in the Victorian early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector: the Victorian Government’s response to the Rapid Child Safety Review and key outcomes from the Education Ministers Meeting. The actions arising from these announcements will strengthen the ECEC system, and we are now working to implement these important reforms.
On Friday 22 August 2025, state and territory education ministers and the Commonwealth Government agreed on national actions to ensure child safety in ECEC settings.
These actions include:
- amending the National Law to make the safety, rights and best interests of children the paramount consideration in decision making
- establishing a National Worker register
- increasing penalties for offences
- a trial of CCTV in ECEC settings to begin by November 2025
- implementing national mandated child safety training
- implementing national restrictions on the use of personal devices in ECEC settings
- reviewing worker-to-child ratio practices
- considering the establishment of a National Early Childhood Reform Commission.
This delivered on a number of the recommendations in Victoria’s Rapid Child Safety Review.
The Victorian Government announced on Wednesday 20 August 2025 that it will accept all 22 of the Review’s recommendations, which included:
- amending the Working With Children Check (WWCC) scheme to allow consideration of unsubstantiated allegations and intelligence to inform decisions whether to grant, suspend or cancel a WWCC clearance
- establishing a new and strengthened independent Early Childhood Education and Care regulator that will more than double the frequency of compliance checks, visiting providers unannounced at least once every 12 months
- strengthening the Social Services Regulator by giving it new powers to make it responsible for Working With Children Checks and the Reportable Conduct Scheme
- new requirements for best-practice recruitment and clear guidance about how to report concerns, including advice for parents and promotion of the complaints and enquiry hotline.
The Department of Education will continue to provide more information on the next steps related to both the national and state-level changes as soon as they are available.
In the meantime, we acknowledge services that have acted to register their workforce with the new Victorian Early Childhood Workforce Register. This is a critical part of creating systemic change and will help build the foundations for a comprehensive national worker registration system. Any services experiencing difficulties with this action should contact the Arrival Implementation team by email: arrival.implementation@education.vic.gov.au.
We also thank services that are following the guidance on personal device restrictions and encourage all providers to confirm that they have updated their policies and procedures by Friday 26 September 2025. You can find more information on this at the Child safe practices for digital technologies and personal electronic devices website.
We would also like to remind professionals across the sector that there is phone line assistance to raise issues and seek support.
- Anyone with concerns about the safety of children in early childhood services should call QARD on 1300 307 415. Reports can be made anonymously.
- The Early Childhood Wellbeing Support Program provides free counselling for early childhood education and care staff. The service is delivered by TELUS Health. Counselling is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Support is available via phone, in-person and live chat. For an appointment call 1300 360 364 or to start an SMS conversation with a clinician, text 0480 032 310. More information is available on the department’s website.
Thank you, as always, for your professionalism, skill and commitment to children’s outcomes, and for your diligence in creating lasting and meaningful safety changes for the sector and Victorian children and families.
Bronwen FitzGerald
Deputy Secretary
Early Childhood Education
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