Childcare child safety reforms 2026: what providers must do

In 2026, the rules for running a childcare service in Australia changed in a big way. The reforms that get the most attention are the new National Early Childhood Worker Register, but the register is only one piece of a much larger package backed by roughly $226 million in funding. Governments agreed to a coordinated set of changes covering training, devices, surveillance, transparency and conduct reporting, rolled out in stages from late 2025 through February 2026 and beyond.

This guide focuses on the reforms beyond the register. If you want the detail on the register itself, see our separate guide on the National Early Childhood Worker Register. Here we cover mandatory child safety training, the personal device rules, the CCTV trial and reportable conduct, and what each one means for the records you keep.

Mandatory national child safety training

From 27 February 2026, child safety training became mandatory for everyone working or volunteering in an early childhood education and care service regulated under the National Quality Framework. That includes educators, students on placement, volunteers and support staff, not just lead educators.

Western Australia is the exception for now. ACECQA says these child safety changes will not apply in WA until a later commencement date set there, so WA services follow the WA regulatory authority's dates.

The national training rolls out in two stages:

• Foundation training (the Foundations of Child Safety training) is available from 27 February 2026 and is the baseline expectation for all staff and volunteers.
• Advanced modules follow from July 2026, aimed at people with management and control, nominated supervisors, persons in day-to-day charge, supervisors and child safety leads.

The federal training is not the whole picture. Some states require their own child protection training on top of it, for example VIC PROTECT (Early Childhood Sector) in Victoria and Keeping Children and Young People Safe in the ACT. Where a state course applies, staff need both: the federal Foundations of Child Safety training and the state-specific course, not one instead of the other.

The obligation to make sure training is completed sits with the approved provider. In practice that means you need a reliable way to show, for each person, that the right module was completed and when. A child safety training certificate is a document that has an issue date and that you need to be able to produce on request.

Personal device and digital technology rules

Also from 27 February 2026, changes to the National Law restrict the safe use of digital devices in childcare services. The headline rule is a prohibition on personal devices that can take, store or transmit images or video while staff work directly with children, with some limited exceptions.

For providers, the practical work is policy and evidence:

• Write or update a digital technology and personal device policy that sets out where personal devices may and may not be used.
• Record the limited exceptions clearly, such as a phone needed for a documented medical reason.
• Set out how service-issued devices are used, stored and monitored, and who has access to any images captured for legitimate programming or documentation purposes.
• Make sure every staff member, student and volunteer has acknowledged the policy, and keep that acknowledgement on file.

This is a behaviour and culture change as much as a paperwork one. Staff need to understand the rule on day one, which ties back to onboarding and induction.

The CCTV trial

A national CCTV trial in centres is underway as part of the broader reform package. It is important to be precise here: this is a trial, not a national mandate, and individual states and territories are moving at different speeds and with different rules.

If your service is part of a trial or operates in a jurisdiction introducing CCTV requirements:

• Treat footage as sensitive personal information with strict access controls and a defined retention period.
• Document who can view footage, under what circumstances, and how requests are logged.
• Make sure your privacy collection notice and parent communications reflect that recording takes place.

Do not assume a blanket national rule. Follow your own regulator's guidance, because the requirement that applies to a service in one state may not apply across the border.

Reportable conduct

Reportable conduct schemes require organisations that work with children to report certain concerning behaviour to an independent body, even when no formal complaint has been made. These schemes already operate in several states and territories, and Queensland's scheme is set to commence on 1 July 2026.

Under a reportable conduct scheme, a service must investigate concerns about a worker's behaviour towards children and document the outcome in a way that can be shared with other organisations to help prevent harm. For childcare providers this means:

• Knowing which scheme applies in your jurisdiction and what counts as reportable conduct.
• Having a documented process for receiving, recording, investigating and reporting allegations.
• Keeping records that can stand up to scrutiny and, where required, be shared with a regulator or another organisation.

Reportable conduct connects directly to worker screening. A finding can affect a person's Working With Children Check, which is the credential that Koora verifies against the public state lookup in Victoria, Queensland, WA, Tasmania and the NT (NSW and SA checks and the ACT registration are reviewed from the document). See the Working With Children Check by state guide. National consistency across these checks is being progressed through the Working With Children Check reform. A police check is bundled into that Working With Children Check, so you do not track it as a separate item.

How the pieces fit together

Taken together, the 2026 reforms shift childcare compliance from a paper exercise to a living record that has to be current the day a regulator or family asks. You are now expected to show, for each worker:

• A current Working With Children Check, verified against the public state lookup where one exists.
• Completed child safety training, with dates: the federal Foundations of Child Safety training, plus any state child protection course that applies.
• Acknowledged device and digital technology policies.
• A clean reportable conduct position, with any matters documented.
• Registration details on the National Early Childhood Worker Register.

The hard part is not any single requirement. It is keeping all of them current across a workforce that turns over, moves between centres and includes casuals, students and volunteers. Spreadsheets struggle here because they show what someone typed in, not what is true today.

Authoritative sources

• Child safety changes to the National Quality Framework (ACECQA)
• Child safety and child protection training (ACECQA)
• Safe use of devices in education and care services (ACECQA)
• Working With Children Check reform (National Office for Child Safety)

Where Koora fits

Koora is a Career Passport platform for the care sector. For childcare, that means each worker's screening and training records live in one portable, checked profile, so you can see compliance as it stands when you run a report, not a reconstructed history. Working With Children Checks are verified by Koora when they are collected in Victoria, Queensland, WA, Tasmania and the NT (NSW and SA checks are reviewed from the document) and then tracked for expiry, so a suspension part-way through a clearance reaches you through the scheme notifying you as the linked employer, or through your own re-check. The ban registers are monitored, and broader continuous monitoring across other credentials is what Koora is working towards.

Koora's compliance engine checks documents such as child safety training certificates and qualifications against the requirements for the role, and verifies Working With Children Checks against the public state lookup in Victoria, Queensland, WA, Tasmania and the NT. NSW and SA checks and the ACT Working with Vulnerable People registration are reviewed from the uploaded document. A person reviews those documents themselves once a worker shares their passport with your service, or across your own records through the Crew service. Koora gives you a clearer picture to start from, but the legal obligation to sight evidence and decide who can work with children stays with you as the approved provider. If you already run rostering or HR systems, Koora can integrate via API and webhooks, or build a direct integration on request, so screening status flows into the tools you use. See how providers keep this current in our guide to worker compliance tracking for providers.

Frequently asked questions

When does the mandatory child safety training start?

Foundation child safety training applies from 27 February 2026 for everyone working or volunteering in an NQF-regulated early childhood education and care service. Advanced modules follow from July 2026. The training was developed nationally, and the obligation sits with the approved provider to make sure each staff member, student and volunteer completes it.

Are educators banned from carrying their own phones?

From 27 February 2026, personal devices capable of taking, storing or transmitting images or video are prohibited while staff work directly with children, with limited exceptions. Services need a clear digital technology and personal device policy that records the exceptions and how service-issued devices are used and monitored.

Is the CCTV trial mandatory for all centres?

No. CCTV in childcare is a national trial, not a blanket requirement, and rules vary by jurisdiction. Some states are moving faster than others. Providers should follow their own regulator's guidance rather than assuming a national mandate, and treat any footage as sensitive information with strict access and retention controls.