Licensing criteria for home-based ECE services

Section 10 of the Education and Training Act 2020(external link) defines home-based ECE services as the provision of education or care, for gain or reward, to children who are under the age of 5 years, or who are aged 5 years but not enrolled at school, in:

  • the children’s own home; or
  • the home of the person providing the education or care; or
  • any other home nominated by a parent of the children.

These services are licensed in accordance with the Education and Training Act 2020 under the Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008(external link), which prescribe minimum standards that each licensed service must meet. Licensing criteria are used to assess how the services meet the minimum standards required by the regulations.

For each criterion there is guidance to help services meet the required standards.

The publication of the criteria on its own can be downloaded as a PDF [PDF, 1.3 MB] and printed.

The licensing criteria were last updated in September 2022.

GMA11 Availability of documentation

  • Criteria
    • Criteria

      Governance Management and Administration criterion 11

      Required documentation is made available as appropriate to parents and Government officials having right of entry to the service under Section 626 of the Education and Training Act 2020(external link).

      Rationale/Intent:

      The criterion makes the development and maintenance of all the 'required documentation' related to the criteria a licensing requirement.

  • Guidance
    • Guidance

      Any examples in the guidance are provided as a starting point to show how services can meet (or exceed) the requirement. Services may choose to use other approaches better suited to their needs as long as they comply with the criteria.

      Services need to ensure the required documentation as outlined in the Governance, Management and Administration criteria is made available when required.

      Any historic documentation stored at a head office needs to be easily retrievable when required.

  • Things to consider
    • Things to consider

      Having a process whereby the attendance records are collected or delivered to the service provider every three months (or after each funding period) could minimise the likelihood of loss or damage.