Standard 1.3 (Assessment and planning): Educators and coordinators take a planned and reflective approach to implementing the program for each child. It has 3 elements:
For each element below: what it means in practice, what an assessor looks for, the common gaps, and a model short answer for “briefly explain” questions in certificate III and diploma assessments.
“Each child’s learning and development is assessed or evaluated as part of an ongoing cycle of observation, analysing learning, documentation, planning, implementation and reflection.”
What it means: Educators gather information about each child, work out what it shows, plan from it, act, and review, continuously. The documentation is a tool for planning, not an archive. The EYLF V2.0 version of the cycle is explained in the planning cycle guide.
What an assessor looks for:
Common gaps: Observations with no analysis; plans with no source; volume of paperwork mistaken for quality.
Element 1.3.1 requires each child’s learning to be assessed through an ongoing cycle: educators observe, analyse what the child is learning, document it, plan next steps, put the plan into action and reflect, then start again.
“Critical reflection on children’s learning and development, both as individuals and in groups, drives program planning and implementation.”
What it means: Educators question what they see and do: whose voice is missing, what assumptions sit behind a practice, what theory explains a child’s behaviour. They do this individually and as a team, and the reflection leads to changes in the program.
What an assessor looks for:
Common gaps: “Reflections” that describe the day (“the children enjoyed…”) without analysis or change.
Element 1.3.2 means educators think critically about children’s learning and development, for individuals and for groups, and use those reflections to decide how to plan and run the program.
“Families are informed about the program and their children’s progress.”
What it means: Families can see what the program is and how their child is going, in a form they can understand, and can contribute to it.
What an assessor looks for:
Common gaps: Updates that are photos only, with no learning described; families not knowing they can ask for their child’s records.
Element 1.3.3 requires the service to keep families informed about the educational program and about their own child’s learning and progress, in ways families can understand and respond to.
See the whole quality area in Quality Area 1: Educational program and practice, or all 40 elements on one page.
Standard 1.3 (Assessment and planning): educators and coordinators take a planned and reflective approach to implementing the program for each child. Its elements are 1.3.1 Assessment and planning cycle, 1.3.2 Critical reflection, and 1.3.3 Information for families.
Each child's learning and development is assessed or evaluated as part of an ongoing cycle of observation, analysing learning, documentation, planning, implementation and reflection.
Educators critically examine children's learning and development, individually and in groups, and their own practice, and those reflections drive how the program is planned and implemented.
Families are informed about the program (regulation 75) and their child's progress, and can request their child's documentation (regulation 76).
WIDEN Law answers National Quality Framework questions with inline citations to the National Law, the Regulations and the NQS, so you can check the source provision yourself.
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