A Place for Culture?

Executive Summary

A Place for Culture? investigates whether the current expectations of cultural competence in the early childhood education and care regulatory framework and in particular the National Quality Standard (NQS), are appropriately articulated and whether they can be met by the current assessment and rating processes. It draws on the Coalition of Australian Government’s national Indigenous reform agenda, which provides a strong imperative for cultural competency in the early childhood education and care sector and introduces a cultural competency framework to aid analysis.

The paper finds that the National Quality Framework does provide the foundation for a culturally competent approach through its guiding principle that ‘Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures are valued.’ However, its application is currently limited with no guide or framework for how this principle might be operationalised or achieved in the NQF, including the NQS. This means first that there is currently no process or guide for assessing and ensuring the cultural competency of mainstream organisations supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families (including service providers as well as ACECQA and its delegates). Secondly, there is no process or guide to ensure that the NQS is applied in a culturally appropriate manner to Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander services. The paper poses a series of measures, detailed in the box below, to support the national regulatory body to operationalise this core principle to enhance operational practice and ensure a culturally competent early childhood education and care regulatory system.