3 Important Ways You Can Support Your Child’s Learning at Home

If you have heard that the rules around mobile phones and electronic devices in early childhood settings have changed, you are right. If your child attends a childcare centre in NSW, these changes are already in effect.

Here is a plain-English breakdown of what changed, why it happened, and what it means for your family.

Why Did the Laws Change?

The changes were introduced as a child safety measure. In 2025, Australia’s Education Ministers agreed to amend the Education and Care Services National Law to address concerns about the potential for personal devices to be used to capture, store, or transmit images of children in care without authorisation.

The intent is straightforward: children in early learning settings deserve an environment where their privacy and safety are actively protected.

What Changed Nationally

From 27 February 2026, amendments to the national Education and Care Services National Law took effect across Australia. Under these changes, educators and staff who work directly with children are restricted from using personal electronic devices in care settings.

Before this, from 1 September 2025, all early childhood education and care services nationwide were required to have written policies in place addressing the use of digital devices.

What Changed in NSW

NSW moved ahead of the national timeline. The Education and Care Services (Supply, Authorisation and Use of Devices) Order 2025 took effect on 6 November 2025, applying across NSW’s 6,000 or more early learning services, including long day care centres, preschools, and family day care.

Under this order, educators and staff must use service-issued or service-authorised devices rather than their own personal devices when working directly with children.

What Counts as a Personal Device?

The definition is broad. A personal device is any device owned by an individual (not the approved provider) that is capable of capturing, storing, or transmitting an image. This includes:

Mobile phones
Smartwatches
Cameras and tablets
iPads and laptops
Hard drives, USB drives, and memory cards
Wearables such as camera glasses

Who Does the Ban Apply To?

The restrictions apply to anyone working directly with children at a service, including permanent and casual educators, students on placement, volunteers, contractors, and allied health professionals delivering programs on-site.

Parents, carers, and other visitors are not covered by the ban. In NSW, parents and carers remain free to use their personal devices during drop-off, pick-up, centre visits, and events involving their own children. There are also authorised exceptions for essential purposes, including emergencies and health or disability support needs.

What About Screen Time for Children?

These new laws specifically address staff device use, not children’s screen time. Screen time limits for young children are not mandated within childcare regulation at a national level.

The relevant guidance comes from the federal Department of Health and Aged Care’s 24-Hour Movement Guidelines, which recommend no screen time for children under 2 years, and no more than 1 hour per day for children aged 2 to 5 years. These are health guidelines, not regulatory requirements.

What This Means for Your Family

If your child attends a childcare centre in NSW, their service is already required to operate under these rules. Any educator or staff member working directly with your child should not be using a personal device to take photos or videos. Only service-authorised devices should be used for that purpose.

If you have questions about how your centre handles digital devices or image capture, you are well within your rights to ask. Most services will have a written policy in place that covers exactly this.

At Clovel, the safety and wellbeing of every child in our care is at the heart of everything we do. If you would like to know more about how we support your child across our centres, we would love to have that conversation with you.

Parents and caregivers often assume that a child’s early education begins when they step into their classroom and ends when they leave for the day…not so! Children are learning sponges, soaking up information throughout their days wherever they are, and parents and caregivers play an integral role in supporting the learning that takes place inside the classroom.

Yet, even when parents acknowledge they should be supporting their child’s learning, many are unsure how to go about it. Some are unsure where to start while others fear they might do something wrong that will “undo” all the progress their child made in the classroom.

That’s why we’ve created a list with our top 3 ways you can support the education your child receives at school. And would you like to hear the best part? None of them are hard! That’s right…these tips are easy to understand, simple to implement, and will ensure your child is receiving positive reinforcement outside of their class lessons.

1. Talk to Your Child’s Teacher

One of the best ways to understand how you can support your child’s education is by talking to your child’s teacher. There’s nothing teachers love more than engaged parents and setting up a conference to discuss how you can help maintain your child’s educational gains is an excellent place to start.

During the conference, your child’s teacher will explain to you exactly how you can support your child, and he or she may offer examples of specific activities you can set up that will make the at-home tasks fun. It could be as simple as reading books together or playing a game that supports hand/eye coordination, but you can rest assured your child’s teacher will have plenty of ideas…and be so grateful to have your support.

2. Make Sure Your Child Gets Plenty of Play Time

If you are a regular reader of our blog (thank you!) you know how important play is in the education of a child. Play is the work of childhood. It is through this medium that children learn to make sense of the world and understand their place in it. Play teaches children to plug into their imaginations, to empathise with others, and helps them understand important mathematical and spatial concepts.

But many parents don’t realise there are specific types of play. By understanding how different types of play support different aspects of learning, parents can better structure their child’s day to incorporate varied play outside of school.

Types of play include:

Story time: Spend time reading to children and also letting them sit quietly on their own with a stack of picture books.
Constructive play: Bring out those building toys! Things like blocks, Lego Duplos, Lincoln Logs, and Playdough can all be used to help children construct the dreams of their imagination.
Outdoor play: Go on a nature scavenger hunt, pick flowers, or collect leaves.
Physical play: We all know how much preschoolers need to move. Allow time for running, jumping, hopping, and climbing. Playing games like hide-and-seek or Simon Says are great for getting the wiggles out.
Music play: Children love to listen to music and dance. Get a set of hand instruments and let your child bang, tap, and clang to the music.
Imaginative play: Your child can use dress-up clothes, costumes, action figures, dolls, and puppets to take on the persona of someone else (book characters, animals, action heroes, etc.).

As you can see, there are so many different types of play. Your child could play for an entire day and not get them all in! The key is to switch things up to support different aspects of your child’s learning while keeping them interested.

3. Support Specific Areas of Learning

Your teacher may indicate your child could use extra support in a specific area of learning, such as:

Literacy: The single most important thing you can do to support your child’s literacy is to read. Read to your child. Allow your child to read to you if they are able. If they are not yet readers, let them tell you a story they know by heart as they flip the pages.
Mathematics: Let your child help you sort laundry into categories…shorts, pants, socks, etc. Ask them to separate their blocks into piles according to color. Add counting books into your reading time and look for shapes while playing I Spy.
Science: At its core, the scientific method is about asking questions…something that preschool-aged children love to do. Engage your child’s natural curiosity by encouraging them to ask questions…Why did my block tower fall over? Why did it fall down instead of up? Don’t feel as though you must have the answer to every question a child asks—assure them that the two of you will discover the answer together.

By working alongside educators to provide the necessary support, you can help your child thrive…within the classroom and beyond!

Thanks for reading,
Clovel Childcare
1300 863 986

Lyn Connolly

Founder and Company Director

Lyn Connolly is the Founder and Company Director of Clovel Childcare & Early Learning Centres, a family‑owned group of eight centres across Western Sydney established from her first service at Merrylands. Active in early childhood education since 1977, she also serves as President of the Australian Childcare Alliance (ACA) NSW, representing providers in state and federal consultations, media, and public hearings.

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