EDUCATION AND CARE SERVICES NATIONAL REGULATIONS 2012 - REG 4
EDUCATION AND CARE SERVICES NATIONAL REGULATIONS 2012 - REG 4
4 . Definitions
(1) In these
Regulations —
actively working towards a
qualification — see regulation 10;
approved certificate III level education and care
qualification means —
(a) a
qualification for the education and care of children generally or children of
a specified age that is approved by the National Authority and included in the
list of approved certificate III level education and care qualifications
published under regulation 137; or
(b) a
qualification included in the list of approved diploma level education and
care qualifications or approved early childhood teaching qualifications
published under regulation 137;
approved diploma level education and care
qualification means —
(a) a
qualification for the education and care of children generally or children of
a specified age that is approved by the National Authority and included in the
list of approved diploma level education and care qualifications published
under regulation 137; or
(b) a
qualification included in the list of approved early childhood teaching
qualifications published under regulation 137;
approved early childhood teaching qualification
means a qualification for the education and care of children generally or
children of a specified age that is approved by the National Authority and
included in the list of approved early childhood teaching qualifications
published under regulation 137;
approved number of places , in relation to a
centre‑based service, means the maximum number of children who can be
educated and cared for by the service at any one time, stated on the service
approval under section 52(g) of the Law;
authorised emergency contact , in relation to a
child, means a person named in the child’s enrolment record as a person
who is to be notified of an emergency involving the child if any parent of the
child cannot be immediately contacted;
bankruptcy declaration means a declaration made by
an individual about any proceeding in bankruptcy brought against the
individual including —
(a)
whether any actions have been taken against the individual under Part IV of
the Bankruptcy Act 1966 of the Commonwealth; and
(b)
whether the individual has made any debt agreement under Part IX of the
Bankruptcy Act 1966 of the Commonwealth; and
(c)
whether the individual has made any personal insolvency agreement under
Part X of the Bankruptcy Act 1966 of the Commonwealth;
building law means a law generally regulating
building construction and demolition;
building permit means a permit or consent to carry
out building work issued under a building law or planning and development law
of a participating jurisdiction;
building practitioner means —
(a) a
person who is registered as a building surveyor, building inspector or
draftsperson under a law of a participating jurisdiction; or
(b) a
person who is registered as an architect under a law of a participating
jurisdiction; or
(c) a
person who is licensed as a surveyor under a law of a participating
jurisdiction; or
(d) a
person who is licensed or registered as a building certifier under a law of a
participating jurisdiction; or
(e) a
person who is accredited under a law of a participating jurisdiction to design
buildings that will be used to provide education and care services;
centre‑based service means an education and
care service other than a family day care service;
certificate of final inspection means a
certificate issued on completion of building work by a building practitioner
under a building law or planning and development law of a participating
jurisdiction;
child over preschool age means a child
who —
(a) is
enrolled or registered at a school; and
(b)
attends, or in the current calendar year will attend, school in the year
before grade 1 or in grade 1 or a higher grade;
child preschool age or under means a child under
the age of 7 years who is not a child over preschool age;
criminal history record check means a full
disclosure Australia‑wide criminal history record check, issued by a
police force or other authority of a State or Territory or the Commonwealth;
criminal history statement means a statement made
by an individual that —
(a)
states whether the individual has been convicted in Australia of any offences
relevant to a person seeking to work with children; and
(b)
includes details of those convictions;
diagnosed as at risk of anaphylaxis , in relation
to a child, means a child who has been diagnosed by a registered medical
practitioner as at risk of anaphylaxis;
disciplinary proceedings statement means a
statement made by an individual that states —
(a)
whether the individual is or has been subject to a formal disciplinary
proceeding or action under an education law of a participating jurisdiction
(other than a proceeding or action that was unsuccessful or was withdrawn);
and
(b) the
outcome of the proceeding or action (if known);
early childhood teacher means a person with an
approved early childhood teaching qualification;
educational program means a program referred to in
section 168 of the Law;
emergency , in relation to an education and care
service, means an incident, situation or event where there is an imminent or
severe risk to the health, safety or wellbeing of a person at the education
and care service;
Examples for this definition:
1. Flood.
2. Fire.
3. A situation that
requires the education and care service premises to be locked down.
excursion means an outing organised by an
education and care service or family day care educator, but does not include
an outing organised by an education and care service provided on a school site
if —
(a) the
child or children leave the education and care service premises in the company
of an educator; and
(b) the
child or children do not leave the school site;
family assistance law has the same meaning as it
has in the A New Tax System (Family Assistance) (Administration) Act 1999
of the Commonwealth;
family day care educator assistant means a person
engaged by or registered with a family day care service to assist family day
care educators;
financial declaration means a declaration made by
a person who is not an individual indicating whether the person is or has been
declared insolvent or is or has been placed under external administration;
in attendance , at a centre‑based service,
in relation to an early childhood teacher or a suitably qualified
person — see regulation 11;
infectious disease , in relation to a
participating jurisdiction, means an infectious disease that is designated
under a law of that jurisdiction or by a health authority (however described)
as a disease that would require a person with the disease to be excluded from
an education and care service;
medication means medicine within the meaning of
the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 of the Commonwealth;
multi‑storey building means a building with
more than 2 storeys;
occupancy permit means a certificate or permit
issued under a building law or planning and development law of a participating
jurisdiction that permits a building to be occupied;
overseas criminal history statement means a
statement made by an individual that —
(a)
states whether the individual has been convicted outside Australia of any
offences relevant to a person seeking to work with children; and
(b)
includes details of those convictions;
planning and development law means a law generally
regulating the planning of the use and development of land;
planning permit means a permit, approval or
consent in respect of the use or development of any land granted under a
building law or a planning and development law of a participating
jurisdiction;
preschool program means an early childhood
educational program delivered by a qualified early childhood teacher to
children in the year that is 2 years before grade 1 of school;
previous service statement means a statement made
by an individual that states —
(a)
whether or not the individual has held any role with an education and care
service or a children’s service in the previous 3 years; and
(b)
includes the following details for each role —
(i)
the name of the service; and
(ii)
the State or Territory in which the service was located;
and
(iii)
the nature of the role;
registered medical practitioner means a person
registered under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law to practise
in the medical profession (other than as a student);
regular outing , in relation to an education and
care service, means a walk, drive or trip to and from a
destination —
(a) that
the service visits regularly as part of its educational program; and
(b)
where the circumstances relevant to the risk assessment are substantially the
same on each outing;
regular transportation , in relation to an
education and care service, means the transportation by the service or
arranged by the service (other than as part of an excursion) of a child being
educated and cared for by the service, where the circumstances relevant to a
risk assessment are substantially the same for each occasion on which the
child is transported;
renovate , in relation to premises,
means —
(a)
construction, demolition, removal or relocation of a building or other fixed
structure (or part of a building or other fixed structure); or
(b)
carrying out structural alterations on a building or other fixed structure;
responsible person , in relation to an education
and care service, means a person referred to in section 162(1)(a) to (c)
of the Law;
scheme commencement day means —
(a) for
all participating jurisdictions other than Western Australia —
1 January 2012; and
(b) for
Western Australia — 1 August 2012;
serious incident — see
regulation 12;
soil assessment means an analysis of soil
conducted by an environmental consultant, environmental consulting firm, or
environmental auditor for the purposes of determining —
(a) the
nature, extent and levels of contamination; and
(b) the
actual or potential risk to human health resulting from that contamination;
storey , of a building, includes the
following —
(a) the
ground level;
(b) a
level of a split level;
suitably qualified person means a person who
has —
(a) a
qualification for the education and care of children generally or children of
a specified age that is approved by the National Authority and included in the
list of approved qualifications for suitably qualified persons published under
regulation 137; or
(b) a
qualification approved by the National Authority as a higher qualification for
suitably qualified persons and included in the list of approved qualifications
for suitably qualified persons published under regulation 137;
the Law means the Education and Care Services
National Law ;
working directly with children — see
regulation 13;
working with children check number has the same
meaning as it has in the
Child Protection (Working With Children) Act 2012 of New South Wales;
working with vulnerable people check means a check
of a person under a working with vulnerable people law of a participating
jurisdiction;
working with vulnerable people registration means
a registration issued to a person under the Registration to Work With
Vulnerable People Act 2013 of Tasmania allowing the person to be engaged
in childcare services.
(1A) A requirement
under these Regulations applying in relation to a stated number of children
applies each time there is the stated number of children or a part of the
stated number.
Example for this subregulation:
There are
33 children aged 36 months or over (not including children over
preschool age) at a centre‑based service. Regulation 123(1)(c)(ii)
requires 1 educator for each 10 children. In this case
4 educators would be required.
(2) Unless the context
otherwise requires, a reference in these Regulations to a Part by a number is
a reference to the Part, designated by that number, of these Regulations.
(3) Guides to Chapters
do not form part of these Regulations.
Note for this regulation:
This regulation
differs from regulation 4 of the national regulations made by the
Ministerial Council.
[Regulation 4 amended: Gazette 13 Dec 2013 p.
6151‑2; 28 Nov 2014 p. 4402; 26 Jun 2018
p. 2358; 28 Sep 2018 p. 3605‑6;
24 Dec 2019 p. 4422; SL 2020/143 r. 4;
SL 2023/186 r. 4.]