National child safety training for early childhood education and care

Training requirements depend on each person’s functions

Whether someone must complete child safety training depends on the functions they perform, rather than their role title alone.

This means you must assess each person’s training requirements based on what they actually do. This includes:

whether they work directly with children
whether they contribute to children’s education, care, supervision, safety or wellbeing
whether their role is performed while children are present at the service.

Roles with the same title may have different training requirements depending on site context and duties.

The intent of the training requirement is to ensure that all staff and more‑than‑once volunteers who contribute to children’s safety, wellbeing, education or care have a shared baseline understanding of child safety.

Determining which staff and volunteers require training

Training is required for all staff and volunteers who meet either of the following.

Training is required if the person:

is employed, engaged or appointed by the approved provider or service, either directly or indirectly (which includes volunteers); and
performs an education and care function during operating hours while children are present; and
is not a visitor

is a person with management and control of the service, or a nominated supervisor, or a person in day-to-day charge of the service.

A person is considered to be providing education and care when they are physically present with children and directly engaged in activities that support children’s learning, development, supervision, safety and wellbeing as part of an approved ECEC service.

Who is required to do training

Required

Staff working directly with children
Students on placement (working towards an approved ECEC qualification)
Support staff (for example, administration staff, cooks, grounds staff) if they perform duties while children are present
Volunteers (not one‑off)
People named as having management or control of the service or a nominated supervisor

Not required

Visitors
One‑off volunteers
Work experience students (not working towards an approved ECEC qualification)
External organisations delivering programs that:
- do not operate from the approved ECEC space, or
- operate when the ECEC service is not in operation
  (for example CaFHS, Inklings, My Time, community‑run playgroups, community development coordinators or crèches under a community use agreement)
Professionals engaged directly by parents or guardians (for example NDIS providers, occupational therapists, speech pathologists)
Registered Training Organisation staff attending for assessment or observation
Emergency tradespeople (eg plumbers, electricians) and third-party contractors not providing an education or care function

Which training courses do your staff and volunteers need to complete?

There are two training courses – “foundation” and “advanced”.

Which training courses a person must complete depends on what they do at the service.

Staff who work directly with children

Foundation child safety training
Advanced child safety training

Staff who do not work directly with children

Foundation child safety training only

Volunteers

Foundation child safety training only

Leaders, governance and oversight roles

Foundation child safety training
Advanced child safety training

This includes:

people with management and control of the service
nominated supervisors
people in day-to-day charge of the service.

Access the training

The foundation training is available now.

The advanced training will become available in July 2026.

Corporate and support staff who support the provision of ECEC services

Whether a corporate or support staff member must complete child safety training depends on their role and responsibilities.

Staff who perform an education and care function at a service

Corporate and local education team (LET) staff who support the provision of ECEC services and perform an education and care function at a service are required to complete child safety training.

Corporate staff who work directly with children in an ECEC service must complete both foundation and advanced training. Some examples of such staff are speech pathologists, behaviour support educators and inclusive educators. This may also apply to certain family day care and Learning Together corporate or support roles, depending on their duties.

Check the role‑specific table on this page and consult with the staff member's business unit to confirm training requirements based on their role and responsibilities.

Staff who do not perform an education and care function at a service

Staff who support the provision of ECEC services, but who do not perform an education and care function at a service do not need to complete child safety training. However, we recommend these staff complete foundation training.

Training requirements by role type

The tables below provide general advice about which training particular roles are likely to require.

Important: whether someone requires training depends on what functions they actually perform at your service, not their role title alone. Use your judgement and the principles explained earlier on this page to determine what training people at your service require.

Education and care roles working directly with children

Role	RRHAN required	Child safety training required	Foundation required	Advanced required
Early childhood worker	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (if working directly with children, including if providing NIT/lunch relief)
Playcentre educator	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Playgroup coordinator (community-run) (where there is a community use agreement and operates from the community space or from the preschool space when preschool is not in operation)	No	No	No	No
Playgroup coordinator (departmental) (where the playgroup is arranged or provided by the department)	Yes	No (unless operates from the preschool space and the preschool is in operation then required)	No (Recommended)	No (Recommended)
Creche worker (community-run) (where there is a community use agreement and operates from the community space or from the preschool space when preschool is not in operation)	No	No	No	No
Creche worker (departmental) (where the creche is arranged or provided by the department)	Yes	No (unless operates from the preschool space and the preschool is in operation then required)	No (Recommended)	No (Recommended)
Preschool director	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Rural care workers	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Teacher (including school teacher if performing ECEC function)	Yes	Yes (if works in the ECEC service including NIT/lunch relief or yard duty when ECEC staff not present)	Yes	Yes
OSHC director or educator	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Family day care educator or assistant	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Learning Together Communities	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Bilingual early childhood workers in preschools	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
School services officer (performing ECEC duties)	Yes	Yes (if works in the ECEC service including NIT/lunch relief or yard duty when ECEC staff not present)	Yes	Yes

Leadership, governance and oversight roles

Role	RRHAN required	Child safety training required	Foundation required	Advanced required
Nominated Supervisor	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Person with Management or Control (PMC)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Person in Day‑to‑Day Charge (Responsible Person)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Principal (who is a Nominated Supervisor e.g. with a Governing Council OSHC or school-based preschool)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Governing Council member (not a Person with Management or Control - PMC)	Yes	No (unless the person is a PMC for the purposes of the National Law and/or Family Assistance Law then must complete both Foundation and Advanced)	No (unless a PMC)	No (unless a PMC)
Governing Council member who is a Person with Management or Control – PMC (such as an office holder on a school governing council operated OSHC)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

Support staff and ancillary roles

Role	RRHAN required	Child safety training required	Foundation required	Advanced required
Bus Driver – School Bus	Yes	No (school buses which primarily transport school students for the purposes of attending school on which preschool children travel are not performing an ECEC service)	No	No
Bus Driver – ECEC service	Yes	Yes (if the bus driver is employed, engaged or appointed by the ECEC service)	Yes	Yes
Site admin staff (if performing ECEC function noting this does not include front of office staff in schools with a school-based preschool)	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Groundskeeper	Yes	Yes (if work in the ECEC service when children are present)	Yes	No
Cleaners	No	No (unless employed, engaged or appointed by the service to work during operating hours while children are present in which case Foundation Training is required)	No (unless employed, engaged or appointed by the service to work during operating hours while children are present)	No
ICT staff (Corporate staff or school-based ICT staff who visit a ECEC regulated site)	Yes	No (unless engaged by or based at an ECEC regulated site)	No	No

Corporate and departmental staff supporting ECEC

Role	RRHAN required	Child safety training required	Foundation required	Advanced required
Corporate Preschool and Early Childhood Services (PECS) staff	Yes	No (recommended to complete foundation training)	No (recommended)	No
Education Director	Yes	No (recommended to complete foundation training)	No (recommended)	No
Education Leader, Early Childhood	Yes	No (unless working directly with children performing an ECEC role – e.g. included in ratios then must complete Foundation and Advanced training)	No (recommended)	No
Family Day Care Coordinator	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Student Support Services (SSS) staff working directly with children in ECEC sites (e.g. behaviour, speech, or other support)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Other corporate staff supporting the provision of ECEC services	Yes	No (recommended to complete foundation training)	No (recommended)	No

Volunteers, visitors and external providers

Role	RRHAN required	Child safety training required	Foundation required	Advanced required
Allied Health Professional (employed, engaged or appointed by the ECEC service or department)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Allied Health Professional arranged by a parent/carer (e.g. NDIS provider)	Yes	No	No	No
Allied Health Professional (not operated from the approved ECEC space or run when the ECEC service is in operation – e.g. CaFHS or Inklings)	Yes (check RRHAN website for exceptions for SA Health and DHS programs)	No	No	No
Volunteer (more than once-off)	Yes	Yes (if not a one-off)	Yes (unless a once-off volunteer)	No
Performers	Yes	No (not required for visitors or one-off volunteers, however if the performer is paid and particularly if attending more than once at the service or across numerous regulated services then Foundation and Advanced training recommended)	No (not required for visitors or one-off volunteers)	No (not required for visitors or one-off volunteers)
Visitors	No	No	No	No
Tradespersons / Ventia	No	No (unless employed, engaged or appointed by the service and working while children present)	No	No
Student on placement (working towards an approved ECEC qualification)	Yes	Yes (if working towards an approved education and care qualification)	Yes	No
Work experience students (including high school work experience)	Yes	No (if not working towards an approved education and care qualification)	No (unless working towards an approved ECEC qualification)	No

Further guidance and updates

This guidance may be refined over time as ACECQA issues updated national advice and as the ESB undertakes regulatory assessments and practice improvements. Services should continue to monitor updates and apply professional judgement when determining training requirements.

Guidance for non-government services

This requirement is regulated by the Education Standards Board (ESB), informed by national guidance from the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA).

As such, non‑government services seeking clarification or advice should contact the ESB, as this requirement is not regulated by the South Australian Department for Education.