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.

HS29 Inappropriate material

  • Criteria
    • Criteria

      Health and Safety practices criterion 29

      All practicable steps are taken to protect children from exposure to inappropriate material (for example, of an explicitly sexual or violent nature).

      Rationale/Intent:

      The criterion aims to uphold the safety and wellbeing of children by ensuring that pornographic or violent material (electronic games, DVDs, websites, magazines, etc) is not available to children.

       

  • 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.

      Censor classifications can be used as a guide, however any material should be checked for suitability before sharing it with children.

      What may be regarded as not objectionable under the Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act may, nevertheless, be inappropriate and harmful to young children given the impact of the medium in which the publication is presented and the age of the children to whom the publication is available.

      Educators need to ensure that there is no access to any inappropriate material when completing their daily hazard check (HS11)

      Supervising children using computers or other electronic devices (tablets, iPads etc) in the home is essential. If the home has access to the internet (either for use with the children or in another room) password protection and the use of parental locks should be considered.

      Exposure to objectionable material may occur inadvertently through normal and legitimate searching activities or by unsolicited email delivery.

      Educators should be aware of safe searching techniques and provide information to children on how to react and deal with unsolicited, inappropriate material.

  • Things to consider
    • Things to consider

      • What are children able to see or hear when they are in the home setting?
      • What kinds of images are children able to see in magazines and other print materials? What about posters, DVDs, electronic games, and television?
      • Do children have access to the internet or other people’s files on the computer? How can educators support their learning while keeping them safe?
      • If older children are present (either after school or during holidays) the educator needs to consider internet management and monitoring