How to Make Your QIP More Visible and Engage Children, Families and Educators

Don’t expect people to read the whole QIP

For many services, the Quality Improvement Plan sits quietly in an office, shared drive or folder. Educators might know some current priorities, while families may know the service has a QIP and children may have contributed ideas without knowing those ideas became part of a broader improvement.

A QIP can be much more valuable when the improvement process is visible to the people it affects. Making your QIP available and making it accessible are two different things. A 30-page document at reception might technically be available, but very few families will stop during afternoon collection to read it.

Instead, bring the important parts to people. Display what you are working on, why it matters, what you have done so far and how people can contribute. This makes the QIP understandable without requiring someone to read the entire document.

Create a visible “Our QIP” space

Consider creating a small, dedicated QIP display somewhere families, children and educators regularly see it.

• A noticeboard near the entrance
• A digital display
• Part of your family communication platform or newsletter
• A QR code linking to your current QIP
• A children’s planning wall
• A simple “You said, we did” display
• You do not need to display every QIP goal. Choose one or two current priorities and make them visible.

Show progress, not just the goal

A display that says “Our goal: Improve children’s agency” may stay on the wall for six months without meaning much to anyone. Instead, show the journey.

For example: We’re exploring how children can have more influence over the afternoon program. Children told us they wanted more opportunities to continue projects across multiple days. We tried creating a dedicated space where unfinished projects can remain overnight. We’ve noticed children are returning to projects more often and working collaboratively over several sessions. What do you think?

Now people can see that the QIP represents real work happening within the service.

Make children’s voices visible

Children should not only be asked for their opinion after adults have already decided what needs to improve. They can help identify improvement opportunities in the first place.

Instead of asking “What should we put in our QIP?”, ask “If you could change one thing about our afternoon program, what would it be?”, “Where are your favourite places to play here? Is there anything you wish we had?”, or “What do adults decide here that you think children should help decide?”

Most importantly, show children what happened with their ideas. “You told us: There aren’t enough quiet places outside. We changed: A new quiet area is being trialled near the garden. Now we want to know: Is it working? What should we change next?” This closes the feedback loop and demonstrates that children’s contributions matter.

• Group conversations, drawings and photographs
• Voting, suggestion walls and children’s meetings
• Surveys, observations and visual prompts
• Walk-throughs of the environment
• Discussions about what children would change

Make family engagement easy

Low participation does not necessarily mean families are not interested. Often, the method of consultation simply does not suit them. A two-page survey may receive little engagement, while a single question at the sign-in area might receive much more.

Try different methods: a QR code, sticky note, quick digital poll, conversation with an educator, email, service app or family meeting. The goal is not to force every family to participate in the same way. Make participation easy, relevant and worthwhile.

Ask specific questions

Compare “Do you have any feedback for our QIP?” with “We’re looking at how we support new children to settle into the service. What helped your child feel comfortable when they first started?” The second question is much easier to answer.

Connect consultation to a current improvement. Ask which areas children enjoy or avoid, the most useful way to share information, what children say about transitions, or whether families have interests, skills or experiences from home that they would like educators to know more about.

Specific questions tend to produce more useful information.

Use “You said, we did, what next?”

One of the simplest ways to demonstrate engagement is to close the loop. For example: You said children wanted somewhere to continue construction projects without packing them away each afternoon. We did: We created a project space where selected work can remain across the week. What we’ve noticed: Children are returning to previous ideas and collaborating on longer projects. What next? We’re asking children what materials they would like available.

The same approach works with family and educator feedback. It demonstrates that consultation leads to action rather than disappearing into a survey report.

Involve educators in ownership

The QIP should not belong to one coordinator, educational leader or nominated supervisor. Different educators can take ownership of different priorities: an Educational Leader for a Quality Area 1 improvement, an educator working group for a Quality Area 3 environment project, or a Service Coordinator and interested educators for a Quality Area 6 family engagement priority.

An educator responsible for an improvement might gather feedback, update progress, bring the topic to team meetings, collect relevant evidence, communicate progress to families and involve children in reviewing what has changed.

This distributes ownership and makes continuous improvement part of everyday practice rather than an additional management task.

Bring the QIP into team meetings

Your QIP does not need its own lengthy meeting every month. Add one simple agenda item: “QIP — What has changed since our last meeting?” Choose one or two current priorities and ask what has been done, what the team is noticing, what children and families are saying, what evidence exists, whether the approach is working and what should happen next.

Ten minutes regularly is often more useful than a major QIP review once a year.

Make the language understandable

Your QIP may contain terminology linked to the NQS, Standards and Elements. Public-facing communication does not always need to. Instead of “Improvement Priority — Element 1.1.2 Child-centred”, you could say: “We’re working on giving children more opportunities to influence what happens in our program.”

You can still include the relevant Quality Area or Element underneath for families who want more detail. The aim is to help people understand the improvement, not test their knowledge of the NQS.

Don’t make engagement performative

Displaying a QIP and putting out a feedback box does not automatically mean people are meaningfully involved. The important question is: Can we show where children’s, families’ or educators’ perspectives influenced what happened next?

That influence might lead you to change an improvement goal, try a different strategy, prioritise a new issue, redesign an environment, change a routine, update a procedure or decide not to proceed with an idea.

Engagement becomes meaningful when people’s perspectives can affect the outcome.

Make your QIP part of the service

A QIP should not suddenly become visible when assessment and rating is approaching. Think of it as an ongoing conversation: What are we doing well? What could be better? What are children telling us? What are families noticing? What are educators reflecting on? What are we trying? Is it working? What should we do next?

When those conversations happen regularly, the QIP becomes easier to maintain because the improvement work is already happening. The document simply captures the journey.

Make your improvement journey easier to share

QIPify helps ECEC and OSHC services keep their strengths, improvement priorities, actions, progress and evidence together in one place.

Services can use their QIP as an active improvement workspace rather than relying on a document that is updated occasionally. When improvement priorities are clear and current, it becomes easier to bring children, families and educators into the conversation.

A good QIP should not just be available. It should be visible, understood and shaped by the people who are part of your service.

Important information

This article provides general information about Quality Improvement Plans under the National Quality Framework. Services should refer to current ACECQA guidance and applicable legislation when determining their regulatory obligations.