Early childhood education and care

​​​​​Strategic objective: A strong start for all children

We are setting the critical foundations for children's futures through quality early childhood services. We provide strategic leadership in early learning and child development through policy development and implementation, risk-based regulation, and continuous quality improvement. We use evidence-based strategies to increase the access, participation, inclusion and wellbeing of children aged from birth to 8 years in early childhood programs and services.

Kindy

Kindy is a critical stage for children to learn, grow and make friends in a safe and caring environment. Kindy provides Queensland children with a love of learning, fosters confidence and builds social skills, preparing children for a smooth transition to school.

In 2024–25, our free kindy initiative continued with more than 62,000 children experiencing the life-changing benefits of a quality early childhood learning program.

The initiative provides all Queensland children with the opportunity to attend kindy free for 15 hours per week, 40 weeks per year and continues to ensure cost is not a barrier to kindy access, and Queensland families are supported by relieving cost of living pressures.

Two additional state schools commenced offering kindergarten from Term 1 2025—Alpha State School in Central Queensland and the newly constructed Corymbia State School at Park Ridge in South East Queensland region. State Delivered Kindy (SDK) is available to families in Corymbia State School's local catchment area as part of an integrated hub and FamilyLinQ service partnership with the Bryan Foundation and Queensland Health.

More information about free kindergarten is available.

Access to kindergarten for children in rural and remote areas

We continue to support rural and remote children to access a free kindergarten program with ongoing delivery, oversight and governance for SDK and eKindy.

SDK is offered in schools located at least 40 kilometres by road from the nearest approved kindergarten, in selected discrete Aboriginal communities and Torres Strait Islander communities, or other selected communities where there are barriers to accessing kindergarten.

In 2024–25, SDK created lifelong learners across 139 locations, ensuring more than 850 children received a strong start to their learning journey.

eKindy supports children to access a free kindergarten program by distance education in circumstances where they are unable to easily attend an SDK or early childhood service due to distance, a medical condition or itinerant lifestyle. In 2024–25, the program supported more than 100 children to access an 'at-home' kindergarten program for 15 hours per week, 40 weeks per year.

In discrete Aboriginal communities and Torres Strait Islander communities in selected locations, under a staged and consultative implementation process, 4-year-olds can access additional free hours of early childhood education in a SDK or other approved kindergarten service. In 2024–25, 20 SDKs and 1 community kindergarten were supported to commence offering extended kindergarten hours for children in their local community, with more locations to commence extended hours in 2025–26.

Kindy campaign

The kindy campaign continued to promote the free kindergarten program available to all eligible-aged children in Queensland.

Kindy is 15 hours per week, 40 weeks per year and is free. The campaign reinforced the benefits of attending a quality kindergarten program and helped families find a local free kindy program provider.

Further information and campaign resources are available on the Early Childhood Education and Care website.

Putting Queensland Kids First

Every Queensland child deserves the best start and a lifetime of opportunities. The Putting Queensland Kids First plan sets Queensland's youngest learners on positive and healthy pathways and empowers families to build the best foundations for their children at every stage of life. It strengthens preventative and early supports for Queensland children and families at critical milestones and periods of development.

Investments under the plan include:

• $29.86 million to embed Early Childhood Coordinators within existing child, family and community services
• $20 million for family and early years school-based hubs in Aurukun and Kowanyama
• $26.23 million to extend free kindy to up to 30 hours per week for 4-year-olds in discrete communities
• $10.73 million to place health practitioners (general practitioners or nurse practitioners) in 20 selected schools and to support primary school students to access free primary healthcare at school one day per week
• $42.66 million for Family Support Coordinators in primary schools to provide families with a smooth transition into school and establish positive patterns of attendance, behaviour and engagement in learning
• $67.33 million for behaviour specialists in priority primary schools to support engagement in learning.

On 17 February 2025, the Queensland Government expanded the Behaviour Specialists initiative to all state primary, special and secondary schools through the $44.47 million Behaviour Boost. The expanded approach provides all schools with access to support aimed at building the capability of school-based Behaviour Specialists, rather than limiting this support to a select number of schools.

Shape the future campaign

A high-quality and capable workforce ensures that Queensland children get a strong start and thrive to reach their potential.

In 2024–25, the Shape the future campaign was launched to enhance the profile of the early childhood education workforce, encouraging those in the workforce, school leavers and career changers to pursue a career in the industry. The campaign recognises the valuable and rewarding work involved in supporting Queensland's youngest learners. The campaign also emphasised the importance of professional growth, offering our existing educators' opportunities to improve their skills and advance professionally.

At the centre of the campaign is a strong focus on supporting our Aboriginal early childhood professionals, Torres Strait Islander early childhood professionals and culturally diverse early childhood professionals and co-designing local solutions to meet changing community and workforce needs.

Further information and campaign resources can be accessed via the Shape the future page.

Qualifications Pathways Program

The Qualifications Pathways Program (QPP) offers scholarships coupled with comprehensive mentoring to assist early childhood educators in advancing their credentials through additional studies.

Under the program, early childhood educators can apply for a scholarship to pursue a recognised qualification by the Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority.

Available qualifications include:

• graduate diploma or bachelor's degree with a specialisation in early childhood education, catering to the age groups of birth to 5 years or birth to 8 years
• certificate III or diploma in early childhood education.

The program's extensive support includes:

• coaching and mentorship initiatives aimed to upskill educators delivering kindergarten to improve programming and practice
• assistance with arranging practicum placements, which can be either paid or unpaid
• provision for study leave or allocated study time within working hours, which can be either paid or unpaid, as agreed with the approved provider or early years services organisation.

For teachers and teacher aides working in state schools that offer SDK, Professional Learning Grants are also available to assist staff in upgrading their qualifications.

Early Childhood Practicum Placement Grant

Financial support for students helps to attract more people to pursue careers in early childhood education.

The Early Childhood Paid Practicum Grant provides financial support to eligible students on completion of the final work placement of their qualification. Eligible students received a grant of $5,000, with an additional $5,000 for those who chose to complete their placement in outer regional, remote, or very remote areas.

The program will continue to provide opportunities for financial support, with subsequent rounds of grants available in 2026 and 2027.

Early childhood guidance program pilot

Strengthening teacher and educator capability in responding to behaviour and keeping children safe is key to creating a positive and child safe environment in early childhood centres.

In 2024–25, the early childhood guidance program pilot enhanced the skills of educators in guiding children's behaviour positively and ensuring their safety. The initiative provided a variety of supports to professionals across all regulated early childhood settings, including:

• training and communities of practice in safeguarding children provided by the National Association for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect
• workshops and webinars on positive behaviour guidance conducted by Autism Queensland
• access to common tools and resources.

Kindy Inclusion

All children are supported to access and participate in quality kindergarten programs in Queensland.

The Kindergarten Inclusion Service provides $3.6 million in funding for 4 specialist organisations to provide advice and support to build educator capability and enhance the access, inclusion and outcomes of kindergarten children with additional needs. Under this initiative Autism Queensland, SPELD, Hear and Say, and Down Syndrome Queensland support kindy educators across the state to enhance inclusive environments.

In the year ahead, this service will be expanded to provide a tailored pilot support program to 5 discrete Aboriginal communities. This support will be provided by Autism Queensland and SPELD and will ensure that cultural safety remains a key priority and focus in supporting children in discrete communities.

The Kindergarten Inclusion Support Scheme invests $13.8 million per annum to sessional kindergarten services through their central governing bodies. This provides additional resources to inclusive programs that reflect the needs of the diverse communities of children with disability.

The Inclusion Ready subsidy is an annual subsidy which enables kindergarten services to provide adjustments for children with disability or suspected disability or delay.

Kindy Uplift program

In 2024–25, our Kindy Uplift program continued to provide funding to respond to children's learning and development needs through evidence-based initiatives that lift outcomes for kindergarten children. Participating services were also supported to engage in data-informed conversations to provide the best opportunities to lift learning and development outcomes.

Kindy Uplift contributed to the department's commitment to Closing the Gap. The program focused on the inclusion of all Aboriginal children and Torres Strait Islander children and strengthening of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives, supporting kindergartens to create culturally safe, inclusive and responsive kindergarten programs.

Making big moves smaller

The transition from home to an early education and care setting, kindy and Prep is a significant milestone and can be a big step for families. Creating positive experiences during this period lays the foundation for a child's learning, wellbeing and development.

The Making big moves smaller campaign promoted the importance of positive and confident transitions to early childhood education and care settings, to kindy and to school.

The campaign encouraged families to visit the transitions in the early years page for resources and activities to support their child along their early learning journey.

Curriculum, assessment and reporting framework

Contemporary educational resources are important to keep education relevant, engaging, and effective.

In 2024, our K–12 Framework underwent a comprehensive update to refresh the curriculum, assessment, and reporting standards, incorporating the requirements for SDKs, hospital kindy, and eKindy. The revision was released for implementation from 2025. It aligns with our vision to deliver high-quality education programs and practices, and support learners to have the knowledge, skills and dispositions they need for success in a rapidly changing world.

Regulating early childhood education and care

As the Queensland Early Childhood Regulatory Authority, we regulate early childhood education and care services to reduce risk to children's safety, drive voluntary compliance and promote continuous improvement.

Our regulation activities include providing information and advice to approved providers, assessing and rating services against the National Quality Standard, regular service monitoring, and taking enforcement action as necessary to ensure any issues of non-compliance identified are effectively addressed.

The Regulatory Authority's proactive approach to monitoring ensures that every approved service receives a monitoring visit annually, to check on quality and compliance, with additional visits based on risk.

When providers fail to meet their obligations to protect children, the Regulatory Authority does not hesitate to take compliance action, including prohibition and prosecution.

In 2024–25, quality ratings data demonstrated that early childhood education and care services in Queensland continue to deliver safe and high-quality services to Queensland children. Queensland services are some of the highest quality in the nation, with 89% meeting or exceeding the National Quality Standard as at 30 June 2025.

Regulatory data

Publishing regulatory data provides transparency around the Regulatory Authority's work and encourages voluntary compliance and improved service quality in the early childhood sector.

The department regularly publishes regulatory data on applications, monitoring visits, notifications of incident and complaint, and compliance and enforcement actions.

Shared commitment to child-safe culture

In 2025, the Regulatory Authority and the sector came together to release a Statement of Shared Commitment to ensure positive experiences and interactions for all children attending Queensland early childhood education and care services.

The Every interaction counts Statement of Shared Commitment is designed to enhance the culture of child safety within early childhood education and care and develop nurturing, respectful interactions in a child-safe environment.

The statement helps services governed by the National Quality Framework to demonstrate their dedication to creating child-safe organisations, by recognising the vital role of early childhood educators, and providing access to a hub of resources designed to support them with tools and training to foster positive interactions with children. It can serve as a helpful resource during the induction of new staff and may be displayed within the service as a clear commitment to the safeguarding of children.

The Statement of Shared Commitment supports services in maintaining environments that are not only safe but also nurturing, allowing children the opportunity to learn, develop, and flourish in a secure and positive setting.

Safe early childhood settings

We know the first few years of child's life are critical for growth and development and we are committed to ensuring early childhood environments are safe and supportive.

The department continues to lead the national response to the Review of Child Safety Arrangements under the National Quality Framework and is committed to working closely with the sector to implement stronger safeguards for child safety, ensuring better support for early childhood providers, teachers and educators.

In the year ahead, we are partnering with the Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority to deliver the Reforming Early Childhood Safety Program. The program will focus on:

• increasing the sector's knowledge and awareness of the national child safety reforms and related Queensland child safety laws and standards
• supporting the sector to implement the reforms by developing a suite of practical and tailored resources for the early childhood sector.

Targeting Quality Program

In 2024–25, our partnership with the Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority continued to support ongoing quality improvement in Queensland education and care services.

The Targeting Quality Program offered intensive and targeted professional learning for eligible services with a national quality rating of 'Working Towards the National Quality Standard', as well as services regulated under the Education and Care Services Act 2013 (Qld), free of charge.

Look Before You Lock campaign

A fresh new look for the successful Look Before You Lock campaign was launched in February 2025. The campaign continues to share the important message to always check for children in vehicles and has been a key element of Queensland's ongoing communications with the sector aimed at reducing incidents and ensuring safe transportation of children by early childhood services. Resources for services, including a new procedural video to help services ensure children are always transported safely, are available at the Look Before You Lock page.

Digital networking and communication

In 2024, the Early Childhood Education and Care—Queensland LinkedIn and Facebook pages were launched as a resource hub for professionals in the early childhood sector, providing a source of valuable up-to-date information.

The platforms connect educators with important and practical content, including updates on critical priorities, development opportunities, and educational resources for their professional practice. It also celebrates the dedicated, impressive and dynamic early childhood workforce, who help to set the critical foundations for learning and wellbeing for Queensland children.

Service area performance

Objective: Queensland children engaged in quality early years programs that support learning and development and strengthen successful transitions to school.

Description: Providing children with access to quality early childhood education and care, supporting early interventions that drive better outcomes in the early years, and strengthening children's transition to school. Services include the establishment, funding and monitoring of kindergarten and integrated early years services, and regulation (including assessment and rating) of education and care services.

Table 4: Early Childhood Education and Care performance measures

Additional performance information

The following data is also available:

• services, service enrolments and staff information
• proportion of assessed and rated services meeting or above the National Quality Standard
• proportion of children developmentally vulnerable in 1 or more AEDC domains
• proportion of Australian and Queensland children enrolled in an early childhood education program (all children, Aboriginal children and Torres Strait Islander children and children who reside in a disa​dvantaged area).