The QIAS (Quality Improvement and Accreditation System) is an Australian Government initiative linked to the funding of Childcare Benefit to centre based long day care.  The QIAS is administered by the NCAC (National Childcare Accreditation Council).  While there are voluntary accreditation systems for children’s services in other countries, the Australian QIAS is unique on an international scale, as it is the first quality assurance system for child care services in the world to be linked to child care funding through legislation.

The QIAS process:

*  Step 1 – REGISTRATION.  Centre registers with the NCAC and pays an annual registration fee to participate in the QIAS.

*  Step 2 – SELF STUDY AND CONTINUING IMPROVEMENT.  In a regular cycle the centre makes a self assessment of the quality of its practices by consulting with all staff and with the families of the children at the centre.  The centre rates the quality of its practice for each of the 33 principles against standards outlined in the QIAS Quality Practices Guide.  The results of this process form the centre’s continuing improvement plan.  At specified times when the centres Self Study Report is due, the centres ratings and its continuing improvement plan are summarized in the centres Self Study Report which is submitted to the NCAC.

*  Step 3 – VALIDATION.  A peer validator trained by the NCAC visits the centre to validate its quality practices.  Validators complete a Validation Report based on observations of the centre against standards outlined in the QIAS Quality Practices Guide.  During the visit, validators will also collect Validation Surveys completed by the Director, staff and families during the few weeks prior to the visit.

*  Step 4 – MODERATION.  Moderators assess the quality of the centre’s practice, guided by the information in the centre’s Self Study Report, the centres Validation Surveys and the Validation Report.  A composite Quality Profile of centre practice is prepared using information from all these sources.

*  Step 5 – ACCREDITATION DECISION.  NCAC makes the Accreditation decision based on the preceding 4 steps.  The centre is required to continue its self study and improvement cycle until the next Self Study is due.  To be accredited, a centre must achieve a composite rating of Satisfactory or higher on all 7 quality areas.  Accredited centres are required to submit a Self Study Report to the NCAC every 2.5 years.

Ashwood Children’s Centre has formed a committee, including staff, families and CoM liaison person, to work through the QIAS process.  This group is known as the QIG (Quality Improvement Group) and it meets at minimum every month to discuss quality areas, policy development and other ideas for continuing improvement.  This group reports to the Committee of Management at their monthly meeting.

Ashwood Children’s Centre is due to submit its Self Study Report at the end of January 2010. 

The current accreditation certificate can be viewed here