Accreditation

[Alyce]

Hey all!!

i've just finished my cert III and im now doing my diploma....
any who i'm most of the way through my 1st book but im just having trouble explaining the following:

'Explain the link between accreditation and continuous improvement'

any help would b great!!

Ta Alyce

[Lorina]

Hi Alyce,

I just had a read through the NQS Assessment & Rating Instrument (draft) and it says the follwoing:

The assessment and rating process includes consideration of the service history and the Quality Improvement Plan together with a visit to the service. During the visit the assessor(s) will observe and discuss practice and sight supporting documentation. After the visit they will rate the service against the National Quality Standard (NQS) based on this evidence.

The NQS is comprised of 65 elements, 23 standards and 7 quality areas. Each of the standards in the NQS contains a number of elements. Each standard is rated as Advanced, National Quality Standard, Foundation or Unsatisfactory. The assessment of the elements contributes to the rating of each standard and the rating of each standard in a quality area determines the rating of that quality area. The overall service rating is determined by the rating for each of the quality areas. There may be a number of services with an overall rating of Advanced who believe they exceed the Advanced rating and may apply to the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) to be assessed for a rating of Excellent.

In effect, the service must first meet or exceed all the elements in the NQS to receive a rating of National Quality Standard or Advanced. The rating of Advanced is dependent upon the number of standards rated as Advanced and the quality areas in which the rating is achieved. Where a service does not meet all the elements in the NQS the service will receive a rating of Foundation unless it does not meet an element in a way that

For the qualtiy improvement process it reads this:

It is important for professionals in any field to have a way of regularly assessing their practice, recognising their strengths and identifying areas that can be improved. A consistent process of reflection and evaluation enables services to gain an informed picture of current practice, and the quality of education and care experienced by children and families. This ‘picture’ of current practice can be used to recognise and confirm the service’s particular strengths and as a starting point for planning to improve quality.

The most effective improvements to service delivery are initiated from within the service, rather than imposed from outside. Therefore once the quality of current practice in the service is assessed, the next step is to determine where quality improvements can be made, and to plan effectively to implement them.

It is expected that services will have in place a comprehensive process of reflection, self assessment and evaluation. It is recommended that the NQS (included in Part 2) be considered in these processes to ensure that all standards and elements outlined in the NQS are addressed.

As a first step, it is important that educators and management have the opportunity to become familiar with the NQS and the Guide to the Standard. Within the Guide there are introductory statements for each quality area which describe the intent of the standards and explain the way in which the practices described in each standard contribute to quality outcomes for all children. This information will assist services to reflect on the quality of their practices.

Questioning how and why certain practices occur is the most effective way to begin critically examining service practice. The Guide to the National Quality Standard includes a set of reflective questions which serve as prompts to explore actual practice at the service. While the questions are not exhaustive they can assist the service to think about ‘how’ and ‘why’ things are done that way whilst reflecting upon specific practices to determine:
 the effectiveness of practice for all children and families
 the relevance of the practice to the service and its stakeholders
 the equality or fairness of the practice for all children, families or educators.

The Quality Improvement Plan (QIP) must include strategies to address those quality areas noted during the assessment process as not meeting the NQS.A service meeting the NQS in all quality areas should demonstrate its commitment to continuous improvement by documenting how the service will maintain its current quality practices and take them to the next level.

The self assessment documentation must be available at the service to inform discussion in the assessment and rating process. Submission of the self assessment report is not required, however there needs to be evidence that the QIP is informed by the self assessment process.

Hopefully this should help answer your question!

Cheers ,
L.A

[Alyce]

Thanks heaps im sure all that info will b of great help!