Getting into a grove with continuous improvement

What does the evidence say about effective continuous improvement?

In 2019 the Australian Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) commissioned a Quality improvement research project looking at the key drivers of quality improvement. The study examined services across 3 phases that had improved their overall rating and identified common practices supporting quality improvement. Some key findings include:

• approved provider and organisational support is pivotal
• service philosophy is key to driving quality improvement
• educational leadership and overall understanding of pedagogical practice is essential to implement quality practice
• stakeholder involvement is essential
• meaningful engagement with assessment and rating and quality improvement planning showcases authenticity.

What are we the requirements?

The National Quality Framework includes legislative and quality standards for continuous improvement. There is a regulatory requirement for all education and care services to have a Quality Improvement Plan in place, that it is updated at least annually and that it is informed by self-assessment against the regulations and the National Quality Standard (NQS).

Element 7.2.1 within Quality area 7 (Governance and Leadership) of the NQS covers the concept of continuous improvement and states ‘There is an effective self-assessment and quality improvement process in place.’ This element aims to ensure services are monitoring their performance against legislative and quality standards and critically reflecting on how their practice aligns with research, theory and contemporary understandings. The Guide to the National Quality Framework recommends:

‘Incorporating regular self-assessment and quality improvement discussions in staff meetings encourages educators to participate in reflection on key practices, such as pedagogy and inclusion, and enables all staff members to provide input into planning for continuous quality improvement.’

Self-assessment

Self-assessment is a strength-based approach to continuous improvement and an opportunity to showcase the efforts that the team puts in to deliver quality programs. It is a genuine opportunity to acknowledge your hard work and to demonstrate how what you do is considered, aligned and focused on always improving. To show how your service individualises and tailors’ requirements to meet the needs of your families and communities and finally to describe the things you have in place to make sure this practice happens to the standard and for everyone, every day.

Strengths statements also provide an ideal opportunity to embed the exceeding themes. High quality practice is interwoven throughout program and practice. It is visible and evident in many ways, not always overt but always multi-layered and demonstrated consistently. Giving multiple examples throughout the strengths statements helps authorised officers evidence gathering processes through assessment and rating.

The self-assessment process involves:

• knowing legislative and quality standards and that the service is compliant, meeting and exceeding them
• identifying strong practices that could be scaled up
• critically reflecting on professional standards, current research and evidence and the service philosophy
• meaningfully engaging with families and communities
• identifying opportunities to embed practice

The self-assessment process culminates in identifying and analysing areas for improvement:

• based on the self-assessment of what needs improving or tweaking or to move it to the next level
• what are the priority areas
• is there an opportunity for combining improvements on one single goal (including across all areas)

Quality improvement planning

Quality improvement planning is the next step and involves setting goals and making plans that include steps, strategies and timelines as to when, how and who is responsible for achieving these goals. A Quality Improvement Plan (QIP) should also include measures as to how services know the goal has been achieved and progress notes that record where the service is up to in the implementation of the goal.

Quality improvement planning isn’t about having a goal for the sake of it but instead looking for opportunities to do things better. That could mean:

• a better alignment of what you do to professional standards
• wanting to move practice to the next level (working towards to meeting or meeting to exceeding)
• trying out some aspect of contemporary practice that your service hasn’t tried yet
• a practice or a process is hard to implement
• practice is happening inconsistently
• families find the process or practice unfriendly, onerous, unnecessary or simply not meeting the needs of their child
• your service isn’t reflective of the broader community.

The service’s current QIP gives the authorised officer all the information they need in terms of what will be observed, what they will want to ask and the evidence they will sight to confirm what has been documented in the QIP. Think of your QIP as your services resume, well written strengths and goals ensures a positive outcome. It is a great opportunity to showcase exceeding themes within practice examples.

Setting up systems and automating the process

Setting up a system for continuous improvement can help reduce the feeling of overwhelm and the idea that every year the service has to think about what needs to be done when. This includes:

• developing a schedule for reviewing each quality area across the year
• identifying data and research to critically reflect on
• drawing on the guidance in the Guide to the NQF
• planning for engaging with relevant stakeholders
• running dual systems for conducting self-assessment and implementing quality improvement
• effectively ‘closing off’ the QIP when the year ends.

Drawing on this approach sets your service up to be prepared and ready for assessment and rating at any time!

Critical reflection provocations

Below a few critical reflection provocations for working collaboratively as a team to consider how you can make continuous improvement a collaborative, effective and efficient processes at your service.

1. Do your service’s current continuous improvement approaches meet the legal, quality and professional requirements?
2. How would rate the level of collaboration and stakeholder engagement in your current continuous improvement processes?
3. How does your service approach self-assessment? Are the exceeding themes embedded within the process?
4. Is your services approach to quality improvement an authentic practice that contributes to improved outcomes for children?
5. Is there a better, more efficient or streamlined way to do them?

Support to improve

If you are inspired and like to know more about continuous improvement, exceeding themes or quality improvement then we have you covered! We have 6 courses all together that you can purchase individual or as bundles:

Meeting and exceeding quality standards – Bundle including the following courses:

• An overview of the National Quality Framework
• Continuous improvement
• Exceeding themes

Self-assessment, quality improvement planning and assessment and rating – Bundle including the following courses:

• Self-assessment
• Quality improvement planning
• Being assessment and rating ready