Contents Acronyms 5 Foreword 7 1 Introduction 8 2 Why use a Child Rights Impact Assessment? 10 3 The Child Rights Impact Assessment tool 14 3.1 Design and development of the tool 15 3.2 Applying the CRIA tool to the closure of ECEC and schools during the COVID-19 pandemic 16 3.3 Using the tool 18 4 Conclusion 26 Appendices 28 Appendix 1: Child Rights Impact Assessment (CRIA) tool template 28 Appendix 2: Background information on ECEC and school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia 42 (a) The COVID-19 pandemic in Australia and its effect on schools (b) The education system in Australia (c) Demographics of children in Australia (d) The impact of disasters on children (before COVID-19) (e) Regulatory basis for decision-making during the pandemic (f) Summary of school closures in Australia 43 44 46 52 52 55 Appendix 3: Applying the CRIA tool to COVID-19 pandemic policy and legislation relating to the closure of schools and early childhood education and care in Australia 60 Appendix 4: Convention on the Rights of the Child (simplified) 88 Endnotes 94