Documentation plays a crucial role in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC), enabling educators to track and reflect on children's learning. However, misconceptions about documentation requirements under the National Quality Framework (NQF) can result in unnecessary administrative burdens and educator burnout. Understanding regulatory obligations and adopting efficient documentation practices can help streamline processes and reduce duplication while still meeting compliance requirements.
Understanding Documentation Requirements
There is no prescribed way to document children's learning under the NQF.
Instead, documentation approaches should be tailored to suit the needs of children, families, and communities while ensuring compliance with the Education and Care Services National Regulations:
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Regulation 73: Services must have an educational program that aligns with the five learning outcomes of the approved learning framework, such as the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) and My Time Our Place Framework (MTOP).
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Regulation 74(1)(a): For children preschool age and under, documentation must include assessments and evaluations of:
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The child's developmental needs, interests, and experiences.
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Their participation in the program and progress against learning outcomes.
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Regulation 74(2): Documentation must be clear and understandable for both educators and parents. Services should consider:
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The amount of time children spend in care.
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How documentation will be used by educators to inform practice.
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Regulation 75: Services must:
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Display information about the educational program in a location accessible to parents.
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Ensure a copy of the program is available for inspection upon request.
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Regulation 76: Upon request, parents must be provided with:
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Information about the program’s content and operation as it relates to their child.
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Details about their child's participation in the program.
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A copy of documents kept under Regulation 74 pertaining to their child.
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Quality Area 1 Educational Program and Practice outlines documentation expectations, particularly in 1.3 Assessment and Planning:
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QA1.3 Assessment and Planning: Educators and coorindators take a planning and reflective approach to implementing the program for each child.
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QA1.3.1 Assessment and Planning Cycle: 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. - QA1.3.2 Critical Reflection: Critical reflection on children’s learning and development, both as individuals and in groups, drives program planning and implementation.
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- QA1.3.3 Information for Families: Families are informed about the program and their child’s progress.
You can download Compliance eBooks from the Diary product pages to see how they link to NQS regulations and requirements.
How Authorised Officers Gather Evidence
To support services in understanding how documentation may be evidenced during Assessment and Rating, it is useful to know how authorised officers gather and assess evidence against the NQS, National Law, and National Regulations. The Guide to the National Quality Framework provides insights into the methods used, including:
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Observe: Officers observe service practices and interactions, such as:
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Educators documenting children’s learning in a way that does not disrupt their participation.
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Discuss: Officers engage in discussions with educators about the effectiveness of their documentation approaches, including how they track children’s knowledge, strengths, interests, and progress over time.
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Sight: Officers review documentation that provides evidence of children’s progress toward learning outcomes and the planning of future learning experiences.
Authorised officers aim to empower service leaders, teachers, and educators by encouraging effective and efficient evidence collection. Services should consider what authorised officers will observe, discuss, and sight during their visit and ensure that documentation is accessible and meaningful.
Importantly, authorised officers:
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Will use a combination of observation, discussion, and sighting documentation to assess compliance.
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Will refer to the Guide to the National Quality Framework and V2 Frameworks (2022) when determining ratings and compliance.
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Will not require extensive photographs, videos, or specific templates, apps, or documentation tools.
Articulating Evidence About Documentation
Being able to clearly explain the how, why, and what of documentation is essential for demonstrating compliance with the NQF. Educators, teachers, and educational leaders should consider strategies to support their teams in articulating their documentation processes, including:
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Theories or philosophical approaches that inform documentation decisions.
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How professional judgment is used to determine the most appropriate strategies for capturing the planning cycle stages.
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How documentation aligns with the requirements of the Law, Regulations, and NQS.
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How Frameworks are embedded in practice and shared in an accessible way with educators, teachers, and families.
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How documentation supports meaningful participation, engagement, and learning progress for each child, considering their knowledge, strengths, ideas, culture, and abilities.
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How decisions regarding photographs and videos in documentation align with the National Model Code for taking images in ECEC settings.
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How children’s and families’ voices are integrated into the documentation process.
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How documentation helps address and remove barriers to inclusion for all children.
Documentation Can Take Many Shapes and Forms
Documentation methods vary across services to reflect children's learning, thinking, voices, and ideas. Educators, teachers, and service leaders have the flexibility to choose strategies that meet legislative requirements while also aligning with their unique contexts, preferences, and community needs. Since children have diverse learning styles and experiences, documentation should employ a range of approaches to capture the richness of their interactions and ensure the planning cycle is effectively demonstrated.
As mentioned above, how you used your professional judgment to make your documentation decisions is key. You can check out our article on Paper vs Digital Documentation to help you with your reflections and professional decision-making.
Strategies to Streamline Documentation and Reduce Duplication
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Review Current Documentation Practices
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Regularly assess your documentation methods to identify redundancy and inefficiencies.
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Collaborate with educators to determine what documentation is truly valuable for tracking learning and informing practice.
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Focus on Quality, Not Quantity
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Avoid excessive documentation; instead, focus on capturing meaningful moments that provide genuine insights into a child's development.
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Ensure that recorded observations align with learning outcomes rather than attempting to document every activity.
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Involve Families
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Encourage families to contribute to the documentation process by sharing their observations from home.
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Maintain open communication with parents, ensuring that documentation meets their needs without overburdening educators.
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Standardise and Simplify Processes
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Develop standard templates for learning observations, assessments, and evaluations to ensure clarity and efficiency.
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Align documentation with the learning outcomes to streamline assessment procedures.
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Regular Professional Development
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Invest in training opportunities that focus on effective documentation strategies.
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Encourage ongoing reflection among educators to refine and enhance documentation processes.
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Butler Diaries have been designed to support you in these areas and are great tools to streamline and reduce duplicate documentation and educator burnout.
Reflecting on your Documentation
ACECQA's Factsheet "Quality Area 1: Educational Program Documentation for Educators and Teachers" recommends using the following to reflect on your documentation and improve processes:
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Amount of Documentation
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Is setting a benchmark or quota of observations per child meaningful?
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Is the focus on quantity rather than quality?
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Are documentation processes duplicative in any areas?
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Can documentation be reduced without compromising quality?
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Is the process for documentation impacting on the quality and time of interactions with children?
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How do you use your professional judgement to make informed decisions about how much documentation your service requires?
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If using templates, are they flexible, adaptable and capture relevant information that is used to further plan for learning and/or share with families?
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Purpose of Documentation
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Who are you documenting for and why?
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Are there opportunities to streamline or reduce documentation while continuing to meet the requirements of the regulations and the NQS?
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Could documentation be more concise or used for a dual purpose?
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Does documentation align with the planning cycle?
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How does your documentation ensure that children’s learning is visible?
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How do your documentation processes improve outcomes for children and their families?
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How does your documentation support the planning and development of programs?
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How do you ensure that the way your service documents and plans for children’s learning aligns with current research, theories and/or approaches?
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How does your approach to documentation relate to your specific context, including children, families and the community?
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How does your approach to documentation reflect the individual literacy levels and styles for educators, teachers and service leaders at your service?
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Rights and Privacy of Children
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Do your approaches to capturing evidence for documentation align with the National Model Code – Taking images in early childhood education and care?
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If using digital technologies or platforms, is the information stored securely and is it inaccessible by others?
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How do you ensure children’s rights and preferences about being photographed or videoed are maintained?
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If sharing children’s photos or learning online or on digital platforms, how are you seeking permission from the family and maintaining the privacy of the child?
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Sustainability of Process
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Are documentation processes ensuring the most effective use of available time? For example, is taking multiple pictures per day a practice that your service can sustain and maintain in the long term?
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Can your processes for documentation be reduced, removed or combined to be more sustainable in the long term?
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What processes are embedded to ensure critical reflection informs quality improvement in documentation processes?
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Are there other strategies that could be explored to build in or use time in the work day to effectively and concisely document, that don’t impact on children’s learning, supervision or wellbeing?
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You can reflect on these points in your Butler Diaries to show evidence for Assessment and Rating of your professional decision making.
Conclusion
By adopting a more efficient and strategic approach to documentation, ECEC services can reduce administrative burdens while ensuring compliance with the NQF. As ACECQA highlights, documentation should support children’s learning and provide valuable insights for educators without becoming an overwhelming task. In 2025, reflect on how your service can streamline its documentation practices, reduce duplication, and focus on what truly matters—enhancing children's learning experiences.