Australia: Amendments to the national regulations to come into effect.

For those working in the Early Childhood Sector in Australia, the following changes would be applicable.. please take note..
http://www.acecqa.gov.au/amendments-to-the-national-regulations-to-come-into-effect

The following is taken from the link above:

Monday 19 August, 2013

From 1 September 2013 amendments to the National Regulations will come into effect in all states and territories except Western Australia.

The Standing Council on School Education and Early Childhood approved the amendments to the Education and Care Services National Regulations.

The minor amendments will deliver benefits to providers, resolving several issues raised since the introduction of the National Quality Framework.

The main amendments include:

• clarifying the definition of a ‘serious incident’ 
• reducing the amount of paperwork providers need to show when they want to temporarily relocate a centre-based service for less than 12 months, or to locate the service on a school site
• clarifying the regulation requiring the rehearsal of emergency and evacuation procedures every three months 
• making it easier for educators who gained their qualification overseas to have it assessed for equivalence
• changing the way centre-based service providers apply to temporarily waive space, educator-to-child ratio and early childhood teacher requirements for extra children in an emergency situation.

There are a number of jurisdiction specific amendments and you are encouraged to contact your regulatory authority for more details. Regulatory authority contact information is available here.

ACECQA is updating a range of online resources to reflect the amendments including the National Quality Framework Resource Kit, the Operational Policy Manual for Regulatory Authorities, FAQs and information sheets ahead of the 1 September 2013 implementation.

The Education and Care Services National Amendment Regulations 2013 are now available at www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/maintop/epub.

What do these changes mean for me?

When the amendments to the National Regulations come into effect on Sunday 1 September 2013 they will deliver benefits for providers, educators and regulatory authorities by streamlining processes and reducing paperwork. 

Serious incident

The ‘serious incidents’ definition has been revised to address confusion about notification. The modification of the ‘serious incidents’ definition (regulation 12) means providers only need to notify their regulatory authority of incidents involving serious injury, trauma or illness which a reasonable person would consider required urgent medical attention from a medical practitioner or hospital treatment. Examples of serious incidents include whooping cough, broken limb or anaphylaxis.

The definition has not changed for services in Western Australia. 

Emergency and evacuation procedure rehearsals 

This change makes it clear that a family day care educator must rehearse emergency and evacuation procedures every three months with the children who are present on that day. For centre-based services procedures must be rehearsed every three months by staff members, volunteers, children attending the service on that day and the responsible person who is present at the time.  This might be the nominated supervisor, approved provider or a person in day-to-day charge.

Previously, the regulation specified the nominated supervisor must be present every time.

This change affects regulation 97.

Service approval applications

This amendment makes it easier for providers to apply for a service approval if they need to temporarily relocate their centre-based service, or are seeking to establish a service on a school site.  Regulatory authorities will have discretion to accept an application for service approval without certain information about the proposed new premises.  This reduction in the amount of paperwork providers need to show when they want to temporarily relocate their premises for less than 12 months will be extremely helpful in emergencies such as natural disasters. 

This change affects regulation 25.

Assessing qualifications for equivalence

This amendment removes the requirement for applicants to supply details of primary schooling and the certification of the level of qualification for qualifications gained overseas when applying to have their educational qualification assessed for equivalence with approved qualifications.

This change affects regulations 139, 140, 141 and  143.

Educating and caring for extra children in emergency

This changes the way centre-based service providers apply to temporarily waive space, educator-to-child ratio and early childhood teacher requirements for extra children in an emergency situation.

An example of how this provision will apply is where a child is in need of protection under a child protection order, or if their parents need emergency health care.  One extra child can be educated or cared for, or two or more children if they are in the same family for up to two days.  The inclusion of extra children must not affect the health, safety and wellbeing of all children attending the service.

The provider will need to notify the regulatory authority when they educate and care for extra children in an emergency.

This change affects regulations 107, 108, 123, 129, 175 and 176.

- See more at: http://www.acecqa.gov.au/amendments-to-the-national-regulations-to-come-into-effect#sthash.YhPKDDCQ.dpuf