ACECQA has published the first ratings available under the NQF on the ACECQA website and the MyChild website.

Despite a big media blow up, with many outlets reporting that 'nearly half of child care providers assessed thus far are failing to meet standards' the general consensus from industry experts is that the NQF is doing its job and that the assessment 'Working Towards National Quality Standard' should not be interpreted as a fail.

An ACECQA snapshot of the results shows that at the end of March 2013, some 1,620 or 13 per cent of child care providers had been assessed and of those more than 55 per cent were rated as Meeting or Exceeding the NQS.

ACECQA Board Chair Rachel Hunter said the NQS sets a deliberately high standard and that the challenging benchmarks are designed to encourage child care service providers to be constantly improving their standards of care.

"The NQS raises the bar on quality for Australian children's education and care services," Ms Hunter said.

"The initial spread of ratings indicates the NQS has struck the right balance between being enough of a stretch for most providers – so that we will see the quality improvement we are all hoping for – while not being so much of a stretch that no one can reach the top rung of the ladder."

Ms Hunter was quick to point out that an assessment of Working Towards does not mean a centre has failed their assessment.

"It is not easy to meet the new standards – if a service does not meet one of the elements in the National Quality Standard, the highest overall rating they can receive is 'Working Towards.'"

"The rating of 'Working Towards' is an important part of the successful transition to new and higher standards, and does not mean children's safety or health is at risk," said Ms Hunter.

Speaking to the ABC Australian Childcare Alliance President Gwynn Bridge said the results were reasonable and that parents shouldn't panic.

"'Working Towards', we are being told, is a reasonable result for where we are at the moment. So we don't want parents to panic about thinking that the centre is 'Working Towards' therefore it has failed. It definitely hasn't failed," she said.