The National Quality Standard has been developed as a means of ensuring quality and consistent care and education is provided to all Australian children attending long day care, family day care, preschool/kindergarten, and outside school hours’ care. Committing to this RAP Action requires consideration of how progressing reconciliation in your service fits within the expectations of the NQS.
The quality areas of the NQS provide a framework to guide professional practice for early learning educators. The Standards within each Quality Area of the NQS concentrate the Quality Areas into several high level outcome statements. The goal of these Standards is to support educators in their work toward achievement in a Quality Area.
As part of their active attention to Quality Area 6 in particular, Educators are encouraged to make connections and engage with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, however the other Quality Areas also contain relevant points of connection to reconciliation, and to engaging with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and perspectives more broadly. Educators should reflect on how their engagement with all Quality Areas the NQS includes Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, cultures and contributions in their daily practice and programming.
