30/10/2026
Recent legislative amendments to the Disability Standards for Education 2005 (Cth) (the Standards) have seen application of the Standards broadened, to include educational early childhood services.
The Standards set out requirements for the making of adjustments, enrolments, participation, curriculum development and support services in the provision of education, along with standards for eliminating harassment and victimisation on the basis of disability. The Standards clarify existing responsibilities of education providers under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth) (the Act) and are aimed at helping providers understand how to put their obligations into practice.
The Standards’ application to educational early childhood service providers commenced on 1 August 2026. Under the Standards, an educational early childhood service provider is any of the following:
- an approved child care service that receives the Child Care Subsidy; or
- a service that provides a child care or preschool program under the law of a State or Territory and is legally required to provide an educational program based on an approved learning framework – including the Early Years Learning Framework for Australia.
This means that the Standards now apply to most centre-based early childhood education and care, family daycare and out of school hours and vacation care.
Educational early childhood service providers need to ensure they are acting in accordance with the Standards, including:
- treating students and prospective students with disability on the same basis as those without a disability;
- making decisions about enrolment of students with disability on the basis that reasonable adjustments will be provided;
- consulting the student, or an associate of the student, before making a proposed adjustment, and making adjustments within a reasonable time;
- considering alternative reasonable adjustments and assessing whether the adjustment/s may need to be changed over time;
- ensuring that program activities enable participation by students with disability
- facilitating the provision of support services, whether offered by the service provider or a third party provider; and
- developing and implementing strategies to prevent harassment and victimisation, ensuring staff and students are informed about obligations with respect to harassment and victimisation, and taking appropriate action if harassment or victimisation occurs.
There are limited exceptions to the obligations under the Standards, including where compliance would impose unjustifiable hardship on the provider.
Where there is no applicable exception, breaching the Standards is unlawful constitutes a direct breach of the Act and opens the door for affected individuals to lodge a complaint with the Australian Human Rights Commission and, potentially, legal action in the Federal Court.
GL’s Corporate Governance team has extensive experience partnering with early childhood education providers on their governance, policies and procedures, and can assist with ensuring compliance under the Standards.
