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Educator to child ratios in early childhood services

Information on minimum educator to child ratios for all early childhood services.

On this page

The information on this page relates to the following services regulated under the National Quality Framework (NQF):

  • Long day care (LDC)
  • Standalone kindergarten
  • Family day care (FDC)
  • Outside School Hours Care (OSHC)
  • Vacation Care.

The information also relates to occasional care and limited hours services regulated under the Children’s Services Act (CS Act).

Minimum educator to child ratios

All approved early childhood services must meet the minimum educator to child ratios. This applies to:

  • Long day care (LDC), standalone kindergarten, family day care (FDC) and Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) under the National Law and National Regulations, or
  • occasional care or limited hours services under the Children’s Services Act (CS Act).

The ratios are different for centre-based services and FDC services. They also vary according to the age of the children being educated and cared for by the service.

To be included in the ratios, the educator must be working directly with children. That is:

  • any educator that is physically present
  • directly involved in the education and care of children.

To be counted, the educator must also hold the relevant qualification.

Ratios in centre-based services

The ratio below applies to LDC, Kindergarten, OSHC, occasional care and limited hours services.

  • 1:4 for children from birth to 24 months
  • 1:4 for children over 24 months and less than 36 months
  • 1:11 for children up to and including preschool age
  • 1:15 for children over preschool age.

Ratios are calculated across the whole service (not by individual rooms).

This gives providers the flexibility to respond to ensure educators are allocated appropriately, based on the age and needs of children at the service.

View the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA)’s Educator to child ratio calculator. Note that this is a guide only, and adequate supervision is always required.

Ratios in family day care (FDC)

  • 1:7 educator to child ratio
  • Maximum of four children preschool age or under
  • Ratio includes the educator’s own children younger than 13 years of age if there is no other adult to care for them.

Mixed age groups in centre-based services

In a mixed age group of children, an educator who is caring for one age range of children can also be counted against another age range. This is allowed as long as the ratio for each age range is maintained and adequate supervision is provided at all times.

Read more:

Short term staffing relief

For information on short term staffing relief read: Qualification and training requirements for educators in early childhood services.

Record keeping

All centre-based services must have a record of educators working directly with children.

A staff roster, timesheet or alternative must be used to capture the required information:

  • the name of each educator who works directly with children
  • the number of hours they work directly with the children at the service
  • the number of hours they are not directly working with children, including rostered breaks (such as lunch breaks)
  • if an educator is completing other duties such as program planning, completing cleaning, or food preparation duties (not working directly with children).

The record does not need to include short breaks such as:

  • going to the toilet
  • answering a phone call
  • briefly talking to a parent
  • checking paperwork.

Early childhood teachers

Learn more about early childhood teacher requirements.

Education

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