Phases of work

Phase 1. Building the evidence (2018-2021, completed)

In the first phase, RSTO worked with communities and services to develop practical indicators that help us understand how early childhood services are working. 

  • These indicators were designed to be timely and actionable, and enable: 
    enhanced service quality more or enough services where they are needed 
    participation in services by children and families.
  • We developed indicators for five key early childhood services, shaped by evidence and practice experience.
  • RSTO partnered with seven communities to test whether the indicators were useful, easy to apply and meaningful for local decision making.

 Explore the indicators in the RSTO Indicator Guide. Coming soon: RSTO's interactive Indicator Library. 

Find out more about RSTO research.

Phase 2. Co designing for impact (2022-2025, completed)

In phase two, RSTO focused on supporting the use of data in early years systems. Together with 13 partner organisations, we co designed and tested a set of simple, practical tools to help communities and services:

  • collect data that matters locally
  • understand the data 
  • use it to strengthen service quality, quantity and participation

The tools – a data dashboard and continuous improvement program – were designed to help early years partnerships and services measure progress, visualise data and improve practice. They were designed to be practical, flexible, scalable and usable across different community contexts.

Find out more in the RSTO 2.0 Impact Report. 

Phase 3. Adapting and testing for Early Years Partnerships (2025–2028)

The third phase focuses on bringing RSTO to more local early years partnerships across Australia, and working in partnership to adapt RSTO tools and resources to meet local needs. This phase will:
•    support early years partnerships to strengthen early childhood services
•    contribute to system level change
•    ensure more children can access and participate in high-quality early years services.

With the support of Minderoo Foundation, more communities across WA, QLD, NSW and SA will be able to access RSTO products and resources, adapt them to their context and drive local decision making and action.