A Kurrajong early childhood education specialist has launched a new digital platform designed to help childcare centres and educators manage qualifications, safety checks and mandatory training records.
CredPass was launched at the Lakehouse at Redbank, North Richmond, on July 30 by founder and director Tiffany Shipard Bassett, who has spent decades working and teaching in early childhood education and care.
Ms Shipard Bassett has worked as an early childhood teacher, TAFE educator and counsellor, giving her first-hand experience of the administrative and regulatory pressures facing educators, centre directors and approved childcare providers.
CredPass is a secure, cloud-based credential-management platform developed specifically for the early childhood education and care sector.
It allows educators to store professional records including qualifications, Working with Children Checks, first aid, CPR and child-protection training in one app on their phone.
The credentials remain with the educator throughout their career rather than being stored only in an employer’s filing cabinet, spreadsheet or email account.
For childcare centres and approved providers, the system provides expiry alerts, credential-verification tools, compliance reports and dashboards showing which documents are current, nearing expiry or missing.
Ms Shipard Bassett said the idea grew from her own experience working alongside educators and centre directors.
“Childcare directors are spending hours each week chasing paper certificates and spreadsheets,” she said.
“CredPass was built to fix that giving educators a credential passport they own and carry across their career, and giving centres the compliance confidence they need.”
Compliance pressures growing
The launch comes as the early childhood sector prepares for new national worker-register obligations that, according to the CredPass media release, take effect in August 2026.
The release says credential changes will need to be updated within 14 days and that breaches may attract penalties of up to $34,200.
More than 15,000 early childhood education and care services operate across Australia, employing more than 200,000 people under the National Quality Framework.
Despite the scale of the sector, many services still rely on paper certificates, spreadsheets and email chains to monitor staff qualifications and training records.
Speaking at the North Richmond launch, Ms Shipard Bassett said the present system placed a substantial burden on centre directors.
“Directors spend hours chasing certificates. Educators repeatedly send the same documents when working across multiple centres,” she said.
“Approved providers carry the risk, often without a clear view of whether every service and every team member is compliant.”
She said a missing or expired document could remain unnoticed until a regulatory inspection.
“That is no longer good enough,” she said.
Educators retain control
Ms Shipard Bassett said security and control of personal information had been priorities during the platform’s development.
Educators retain control over their information, while childcare services can access only the records they are authorised to view.
For directors and providers, CredPass can identify current credentials, approaching expiry dates, missing documents and areas requiring action.
Automated reminders are intended to reduce the need for managers to repeatedly contact employees for updated documentation, while reporting functions provide records for audits and regulatory visits.
“CredPass doesn’t simply store documents,” Ms Shipard Bassett said.
“It turns credential information into something visible, organised and actionable.”
Built from inside the sector
Ms Shipard Bassett said her long involvement in early childhood education shaped the platform’s development.
“CredPass has been built from inside the sector,” she said.
“I understand the pressure directors are under because I work alongside them. I understand the challenges educators face because I have been an educator.”
She said approved providers needed reliable evidence, oversight and systems rather than general assurances that workers held the necessary credentials.
The platform has been trialled with pilot partner Caring 4 Kids Kindergarten, with staff and directors providing practical feedback from its use in an operating childcare service.
Ms Shipard Bassett acknowledged Caring 4 Kids Kindergarten’s John and Jackie Sarkis, together with centre staff, for supporting the trial and helping identify areas where the system could be improved.
Software-development company Zimalab worked with Ms Shipard Bassett to turn the concept into a functioning platform.
CredPass is free for individual educators, while childcare centres and approved providers can access it through tiered monthly subscriptions.
Local innovation with national ambitions
Although launched in the Hawkesbury and developed by a Kurrajong resident, CredPass has been designed for use by childcare services throughout Australia.
The company’s longer-term plans include adapting the credential-management system for other highly regulated industries, including aged care, disability services, nursing and construction.
Potential international markets identified by the company include New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Canada and Singapore.
Ms Shipard Bassett said the launch represented more than the release of another piece of technology.
“This is not technology for technology’s sake,” she said. “It reduces administration, strengthens oversight, and helps organisations identify risk before it becomes a breach or, most importantly, a threat to the safety of children.”
“Tonight is not simply the launch of an app. It is the beginning of a better, safer and more reliable way to manage compliance.”
