The following article is brought to you by ACA Partner Child Care Centre Desktop:

Once upon a time your early learning service's Self-Assessment and Quality Improvement Plan (QIP) could be put together on a weekend over a glass of red. Not ideal and for the most part - not useful.

Turn the clock forward a few years and it is now an integral component of the assessment and rating process. Self-assessment provides your service with a clear picture of current practice of where you are now and provides opportunities for where you need to go for continuous improvement.

What was once deemed a simple and logical process has now become complex and at times overwhelming. This tendency of complexity manifests in many forms such as anxiety, panic, and comparison to other services without providing opportunity for critical reflection, evaluation and celebration.

This pressure and resulting anxiety has pushed some providers into creating and submitting Self-Assessment and Quality Improvement Plans, which are so long and so heavy in detail they potentially compromise this critical first step in the quality assessment and rating process.

Two questions arise when you submit a long and 'wordy' report:

1- Will it effectively demonstrate that you have a clear and precise understanding of their current practice and any potential improvements?
2- Will it be read at all by Authorised Officers?

Irrespective of length, complex sentence structure and terminology embedding exceeding themes, the relationship between Self-Assessment and your Quality Improvement Plan must meet a basic equation: A + B = C (SA + QIP = Continuous Improvement).

To achieve this basic objective, you need to strip back the layers of complexity and make it simple again.

Don't say in 1000 words what you can say in 100.
Don't say in 100 words what you can say in a single image.

An effective 'continuous improvement' program comes from an intimate knowledge of operations, knowing what influences performance and identifying opportunities for improvement.

What makes it powerful is 'team buy-in’, meaning all educators and staff at your service have been given the opportunity to contribute and engage in critical reflection, provide evidence of strengths and document areas for further improvement. This collaborative effort also includes consulting with your families and the broader community.

What makes it actionable is a clear and precise working document that provides direction and strategies to improve quality outcomes for your children and families.
Without a collaborative approach, a sustained and systematic plan for continuous improvement at your service will not be achieved.

There are 4 primary questions that can help to guide the process, prioritise your unique situation and keep it simple:

1. Where are you at?
You should use this question when comparing your current position against the National Law and National Regulations and each NQS Element. You need to consider those key practices that meet the benchmark of quality under the NQS, submitting notes, dot-points and images into your Self-Assessment. You then need to identify the set of evidence that supports these practices and makes quality visible within your service.

2. Where do you want to be?
This question helps you decide if you are happy with where you are at, or whether you can do better.
What are your strengths? What can you celebrate?
Have you recognised a gap in compliance that you need to remedy?

3. How are you going to get there?
These are the goals and actionable steps you submit into your QIP along with evidence and support documents or links to help illustrate the journey to completion. How will you know you have achieved these goals? How can you review and reflect upon your practices and achievements?

4. Who is going to help you?
Successful completion of a quality improvement strategy or issue needs people. It may include staff members, families, community, external organisations, professionals, or trades people.

Once a simple approach to documentation has been applied you can now make it organic (and efficient) by embedding a 'continuous improvement' routine.

The simplest mechanism is a fixed agenda item in your regular team meetings. Regular communication with all stakeholders is key.

Take advantage of useful tools
To help you develop and maintain your QIP, we recommend using System7 - a powerful online tool that takes the headache out of completing and monitoring your Self-Assessment and QIP tasks. System7 provides its members with weekly blogs which link back to each NQS element to improve knowledge, support or enhance routines and practices, provide strategies for improvement and critical reflection.

Beyond this, a consistent high-quality effort over a long period of time is the objective. The following three key points should assist you in this process:

1. Your Self-Assessment or QIP does not have to be provided to any state regulatory authority in any specific format or template. What is important is that your Self-Assessment and QIP works for your service, your staff and your community.

2. There is no requirement that all 15 standards and 40 elements are addressed in your QIP.

3. Keep it simple!

We hope you find this information useful in preparing your QIP.  For more information about System7, visit the website here. 

For more information about Child Care Centre Desktop and your ACA membership discount, click here.