With the tragic death of an 8 year old boy in an out of school hours service recently ACECQA is reminding early childhood education and care providers that it is compulsory under the NQF to have educators trained in first aid, asthma management and anaphylaxis.

As of this year national regulations came into effect making it mandatory for educators to have training in all three areas, prior to this there were different requirements in each state and territory.

The requirements apply to long day care, family day care, preschools, kindergartens and outside school hours care services.

All centre-based services must have at least one educator on site who is immediately available in an emergency who holds an approved first aid qualification and has undertaken approved anaphylaxis and emergency asthma management training.

For services on a school site, it is acceptable to have an educator at the school site who holds all three approved training qualifications, as long as they are immediately available in the case of an emergency.

Each family day care educator and assistant must hold all three approved training courses to meet the NQF requirements.

More information, including lists of approved qualifications and training courses, is available here.

Asthma Foundation
To promote asthma safety in child care services various Asthma Foundations across Australia offer the Asthma Friendly Early Childhood Education and Care program which aims to recognise and acknowledge those services that make an extra effort to provide a safer environment for children with asthma by awarding them Asthma Friendly status.

According to the Asthma Foundation there is a range of benefits to be gained by operating an asthma friendly service

• It could save a child's life
• Asthma awareness and management in the service and its community is improved
• Health and development outcomes for children with asthma are improved
• It complements the educators’ responsibility for health and safety of children
• Peace of mind for families of children with asthma
• Service staff are more confident in responding to an asthma emergency

To be classified as asthma friendly an early childhood education and care service needs to meet four criteria:

1. The majority of staff must have current Asthma Australia approved Asthma First Aid Training.
2. Asthma emergency kits must be accessible to staff and include in-date reliever medication, single person use spacers with masks for under five year olds.
3. Asthma First Aid posters must be on display and staff and families must be able to access asthma information.
4. First aid and health safety policies must explicitly include asthma.

To learn more about how to make your service more asthma friendly click on the relevant link below.

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