The Nominated Supervisor Cannot Be the Entire System
A service can appear to be running well because one person is holding everything together.
They remember the deadlines, answer the questions, follow up incidents, support families, check documentation and remind educators what needs to happen. When something is missed, they step in. When staffing becomes difficult, they cover the room and complete their leadership work later.
That person is often the Nominated Supervisor. Their commitment matters. However, when the service depends on that commitment to keep every process working, leaders need to look closely at the structure around the role.
What would continue to work if the Nominated Supervisor was away for a week? The answer can tell us a great deal about the strength of a service’s leadership, systems and team capability. When capability becomes dependence.Overreliance on one leader usually develops gradually.
A capable Nominated Supervisor resolves problems quickly, so more problems are directed to them. They understand the policies, so educators ask them for the answer. They know how the systems work, so they complete the checks. They care about quality, so they finish the actions other people have left incomplete.
Over time, it becomes quicker to do the work themselves than to explain it again.
The immediate task gets completed, but the team misses an opportunity to learn. Room leaders become used to waiting for direction. Other educators become less confident making decisions. The Nominated Supervisor becomes increasingly involved in matters that could be managed elsewhere.
This creates a cycle. The more one person takes over, the fewer opportunities others have to develop. The less confident the team becomes, the more that person feels they need to take over. Eventually, a service can have plenty of activity and very little shared ownership.
Why this matters for children
The consequences extend beyond the leader’s workload.
When important knowledge sits with one person, children may experience different expectations depending on who is working. Routines may become less settled. Educators may be uncertain about how to respond to a concern. Improvements may stop progressing because nobody else knows the next step.
Consider a room where transitions become unsettled whenever the Nominated Supervisor is unavailable. The leader usually enters the room, organises the educators, supports children and restores a calmer routine. That response helps in the moment. However, if the team never examines why the transition is difficult, the same problem returns.
Leadership needs to improve the conditions around the routine: how educators prepare, communicate, position themselves and respond to children. The aim is for children to experience consistent, thoughtful practice across the team.
What the sector’s expectations tell us
The National Quality Standard places clear importance on governance, management systems, defined responsibilities and the development of professionals. Quality Area 7 also expects the Educational Leader to be supported in leading the educational program and assessment and planning cycle. ACECQA’s Quality Area 7 guidance.
These expectations have practical implications for how services are organised.
A position description is a starting point. Leaders also need to know whether people understand their responsibilities, can carry them out and have sufficient time and support.
A useful leadership test is whether the service can explain how a process works without referring every question to the Nominated Supervisor.
Who leads it? Who contributes? Who checks the outcome? What happens when something is missed?
Those answers should be understood across the relevant team.
Keep provider accountability visible
Approved providers need to examine what has gradually been placed onto the Nominated Supervisor.
Delegating operational work does not, by itself, transfer the legal obligations attached to the approved provider or Nominated Supervisor. Responsibilities must be understood according to the relevant requirement. ACECQA’s operational guidance identifies responsibilities across these roles. ACECQA’s governance and leadership guidance.
In practice, providers should make sure service leaders have:
Clear authority to make decisions within their role
Access to advice when a matter exceeds their knowledge or authority
A reliable escalation contact and alternative contact
Workable systems and appropriate resources
Regular opportunities to discuss risk, workload and capability
Timely responses when they raise concerns.
Provider oversight should include understanding whether the service can carry out what is being asked of it.
If actions remain overdue, the conversation needs to establish why. The cause may be unclear expectations, a capability gap, competing priorities, insufficient resources or a performance concern. Each requires a different response.
Repeatedly asking the Nominated Supervisor to “get on top of it” will achieve little if the underlying problem remains.
Give other leaders meaningful responsibility
Shared leadership works when people understand what they are expected to lead and how they will be supported.
The Educational Leader needs opportunities to observe practice, discuss curriculum decisions, support critical reflection and coach educators. ACECQA specifically highlights the importance of resourcing the role and building leadership capability. ACECQA’s educational leadership guidance.
Room leaders need similar clarity within their areas.
For example, asking a room leader to “improve the environment” leaves considerable room for interpretation. A clearer conversation would establish which part of the environment needs attention, what children are currently experiencing and what improvement should look like.
The room leader could then work with the team to review the space, make agreed changes and observe how children use it. The Nominated Supervisor or Educational Leader would provide guidance and review the outcome.
This gives the room leader a complete piece of leadership work: understanding the issue, involving others, making changes and evaluating the result.
Responsibility also needs boundaries. People must know which decisions they can make and which matters require immediate escalation.
Coach people through the work
A common gap in delegation is assuming that an explanation creates competence.
Someone may understand the instruction but still struggle to carry it out, particularly when they need to guide a colleague or address inconsistent practice.
A practical coaching process is to:
Explain the expectation and why it matters.
Demonstrate or work through an example together.
Observe the person applying it.
Give specific feedback.
Agree when progress will be reviewed.
Suppose an assistant leader is learning to review incident records for patterns. Initially, the Nominated Supervisor might work through a small sample with them, looking at the time, location, circumstances and response.
The assistant leader can then review the next sample and explain their findings. Together, they can consider whether a change to the environment, routine or educator practice is needed.
As confidence develops, the assistant leader can lead the review within their agreed authority and bring findings to the leadership discussion.
This takes time initially. It also creates someone else who can think through the work and contribute to prevention.
Look honestly at leadership time
Leadership work needs a realistic place in the service’s operation.
Observation, coaching, incident review, family discussions and improvement planning all require attention. If these tasks are repeatedly postponed, the provider needs to understand what is displacing them.
For one week, consider where the Nominated Supervisor’s time actually goes.
How often are they covering staffing gaps? Which questions repeatedly interrupt them? What administration is duplicated? Which actions remain unfinished? What work is being completed outside their usual hours?
Use that information to make decisions.
Some work may be simplified. Some may be reassigned with coaching. Other work may require additional resources or a change to the staffing approach.
Time working directly with children can be valuable. The concern is whether the overall arrangement leaves enough capacity for the leadership responsibilities the service requires.
Create routines for follow-up
Reliable systems make important work easier to remember, share and review.
A short weekly leadership discussion can provide a consistent place to consider emerging concerns, progress on improvements and support required by the team.
Keep the discussion focused:
What needs attention now?
What has changed since the last review?
Which agreed actions are complete?
What is preventing progress?
Who will do what next, and by when?
Use the action record already in place where possible. Record decisions, responsibility and follow-up dates clearly.
Urgent safety concerns must still be addressed immediately through the appropriate process. A scheduled meeting provides continuity for ongoing work; it does not determine when a concern can be raised.
The Nominated Supervisor should be able to review progress without having to personally restart every action.
Prepare people before a vacancy occurs
Succession planning begins with everyday opportunities to lead.
An educator might facilitate a short practice discussion. A room leader might coordinate one improvement. An assistant leader might lead part of the operational review with support.
These opportunities allow the service to see how people explain expectations, respond to questions, organise work and follow through.
They also help emerging leaders understand what leadership involves before they move into a larger role.
ACECQA’s guidance on educational leadership and team building supports collaboration and shared leadership as ways to strengthen ownership, professional relationships and team stability. ACECQA’s leadership and team-building resource.
Development needs to match the person’s starting point. Giving someone more responsibility without coaching can simply move the pressure to another person.
Where leaders can begin
Start with one process that currently depends heavily on the Nominated Supervisor.
It might be following up environment concerns, coordinating induction or progressing an agreed quality improvement.
First, establish how the process currently works and where it breaks down. Then agree who will lead it, what authority they have, what support they need and how the outcome will be reviewed.
Keep oversight in place while the person develops confidence.
After a few weeks, ask whether the work is progressing consistently, whether the person can explain their decisions and whether children or educators are experiencing an improvement.
Use that learning to strengthen the next process.
The goal is a service where people understand their responsibilities, seek help appropriately and follow through on agreed work.
Questions worth discussing
At the next provider or service leadership meeting, consider:
What stops progressing when the Nominated Supervisor is absent?
Which decisions are repeatedly referred to them unnecessarily?
Where have we allocated responsibility without enough authority or support?
Which leadership tasks are regularly postponed?
Who are we actively coaching to take on greater responsibility?
These questions should lead to changes in how the service operates.
A strong Nominated Supervisor brings direction, judgement and consistency. The leadership structure around them should make that work sustainable.
Children benefit when quality practice is understood across the team. Educators benefit when expectations and support are clear. Providers gain stronger oversight when important processes are visible and reliably followed.
Building that capability is part of the leadership responsibility we all share.
Early Years Practice Co. supports Early Learning Centres, OSHC and Kindergartens to strengthen leadership, clarify responsibilities and develop practical systems that support safety, quality and everyday practice.