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.

PF9 Telephone

  • Criteria
    • Criteria

      Premises and Facilities criterion 9

      A telephone is available for calls to and from the premises.

      Rationale/Intent:

      To ensure that services have the means to contact parents as necessary, and vice versa, as well as easily deal with any emergency situations that may arise.

  • 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.

      A phone at the home allows:

      • quick contact with emergency services when necessary
      • two-way contact with parents or caregivers (i.e. you can call them, and they can call you).

      A mobile phone is sufficient to meet the criterion so long as parents are happy to call a mobile number and, if pre-paid, it is kept charged with credit so the educator can make calls.

      If the home only has a cordless phone, be aware the educator will be unable to use it when the power goes off for any reason.