You return to Australia to discover that there has been significant investment in, and resultant changes to Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC).

You have been overseas for 10 years. You return to Australia to discover that there has been significant investment in, and resultant changes to Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC). You have decided to undertake study in this area and you are sent on placement to a new high quality ECEC service that has achieved an Exceeding rating from ACECQA. This centre represents to you everything a high-quality centre should be doing for the children, families and educators. Make an analysis of this centre and explain how the centre achieved the ‘exceeding quality status. To this, please respond to the following:

1. Explain what the Exceeding rating means?

2. What are the characteristics of this ECEC service that has achieved an Exceeding rating? Be sure to include at least 4 areas of the 7 Quality Areas of the National Quality Standard (ACECQA, 2018).

3. How does the service reflect the five principles and eight practices of the Early Years Learning Framework?

Use the National Quality Standard (NQS) (ACECQA, 2018) and Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) (DET, 2019) to justify your responses.