It quickly evolved to deliver early intervention to children accessing the NDIS and now incorporates holistic allied health therapies. Early childhood education has been a lifelong passion, from her mother’s own Montessori school in Sri Lanka, to going on to complete a Graduate Diploma in Educational Studies (Early Years) at the Australian Catholic University after establishing Leor in 2018. In October 2021, Leor was acquired by G8 Education and Andrea was appointed to the Executive Leadership Team of G8 where she brings a child-centred voice to the future direction of the organisation. Andrea advocates to Government and other leaders to create systems change for children in vulnerable and complex circumstances who often fall between the gaps. Andrea is also a lawyer and has a passion for social justice and human rights.

“The future success of our sector and Australia’s children is dependent on our commitment to collaborating and advocating for systemic and societal change. However, structural change alone, including policy reform, will not be enough to create a brighter future for our children. Addressing power imbalances, removing societal biases, and adopting innovative thinking has the potential for exciting results, which will hopefully achieve greater access to education for all children. To be a success, this new approach needs to be tackled from numerous angles, with input invited from a multitude of people, organisations and perspectives.”

This includes those with a developmental delay, disability or challenging behaviour and their families, in urban, remote, aboriginal and multicultural communities, managing early intervention multi-disciplinary teams for children under school age. As the manager of a regional funding body, she supported children with additional needs in close to 100 preschools and oversaw the development of early literacy resources for mainstream, Aboriginal and multicultural families. The founding Executive Director, Barbie has grown Paint the Town REaD into a national movement that builds the early literacy capacities of children under school age, now operational in 6 States and over 80 communities.

“My vision for the future of early childhood education in Australia is for it to evolve into a strength-based, collaborative system, built to best-support children, their families and community. I believe we can build a system that not only gives every child the best possible start in life, but also sets them up to thrive once they enter the formal school setting, and beyond throughout life.”

She joined the AEU Branch Council, then Branch Executive, then completed the AEU’s ‘Women in Leadership’ program. From there, Cara accepted an invitation to stand for deputy vice president of early childhood. After three years in that position, she was elected vice president. Activism, advocacy, and leadership play a strong part in Cara’s vision for early childhood educators. She sees these elements as an essential part of the educator role, but believes more members need to recognise how they can exercise them broadly, as part of everyday practice.

“In the coming years I would like to see an early childhood education system that is well-funded, operates within the best conditions, and is run by professionals who feel valued, respected and fairly-paid. For this to happen, we need to foster deeper community engagement to ensure a widespread understanding of the benefits of play-based learning. We also need to develop stronger relationships with other professionals, to enable the development of a multidisciplinary approach. Ultimately, we need to ensure the voices of children are heard, and that we keep striving towards universal access to preschool education for every child.”

She has a long history of working for the not-for-profit sector. Her previous roles have given her a deep understanding of the community education and care sector, and current policy contexts. Julie set up and managed the Professional Support Coordinator Program Qld for the Health and Community Services Workforce Council. She worked as part of the leadership team for that organisation for nearly 10 years, managing workforce planning and development programs. Her other roles include four years as Director of Gowrie Qld’s Training and Consultancy unit. Prior to 1990, she worked as an educator and director in child care centres and family day care. Julie’s vision is to build on the strong history of CCC as a leader and advocate for not-for-profit and community owned education and care services.

“In five years, I hope the sector and all the professionals who dedicate their lives to it will be recognised for their extremely important work, and the vital role they play in shaping the lives of young children and their families. I would like to see this recognition extend across the broader community, with fair acknowledgement of the role we play in the development of Australia’s future. The result would be a society that is willing to invest in the resources required to provide the high-quality education and care all young children need.”

In her role at Goodstart Early Learning, she advocates systems, policy and funding change to improve access and affordability to quality early childhood education and care. Kelly has almost 15 years’ experience in the Queensland Government, primarily in legislative reforms and strategic funding negotiations. She has worked right across the social services spectrum, including homelessness, mental health, child safety and early childhood, with a particular focus on improving the experience of children and young people at risk of abuse or neglect.

“My vision is for an inclusive early childhood education sector that supports access to quality learning and genuine participation for all children, regardless of their background, location or family situation. For genuinely inclusive participation to occur, we need to recognise that often some children need more support than others, or support delivered in a different way. Furthermore, to ensure this can happen, our educators, teachers and service providers need access to the appropriate support and resources that will allow them to welcome any child, at any time.”

Starting out as a Group Leader in Occasional Care in the Northern Territory, to now leading the education arm ECMS, she has worked with and alongside children, families, communities and colleagues in the day-to-day delivery of high-quality early childhood programs. Kim has undertaken the role of lecturer within a dual institution, offering TAFE and higher education degrees. She has previously worked within the Inclusion Support Program, leading a regional agency and for large non-profit ECEC organisations across three states in leadership roles, facilitating high quality outcomes for children and the workforce.

“Fundamentally, the future success of the sector will be built upon strengthened government and community support. This support will be based on an understanding of the value, role and importance of education during a child’s first 1,000 days. Regulations and policy positions should be about more than simply meeting minimum standards. Instead they should be driven by what is best for our children. Evidenced-based pedagogical practice should be the standard, with contemporary professional development opportunities readily accessible. And based on all of the above, I hope to see our committed and passionate workforce appropriately recompensed for their skills and qualifications, and the impact they make.”

Lennie’s advocacy work focuses on social justice and universal access to quality early childhood programs that benefit children, families and their communities. She works with organisations (govt and non-govt), advocacy groups and with many people across a wide context of early childhood settings e.g., schools, early childhood settings, playgroups, family and community centres, government committees and projects, research centres and teaching early childhood pre-service and post graduate early childhood students.

“The early childhood education sector needs a knowledgeable, skilled, well-remunerated, and healthy workforce. This will ensure we can create and deliver dynamic programs for children, families and their communities. These programs should be universally accessible from the prenatal stage and throughout childhood. My vision for the sector is one that invites and welcomes participation and comment from a variety of audiences, to further support the journey towards transformational change.”

She has worked for Goodstart Early Learning for the past 14 years. In her role as Operations Manager, she provides leadership, coaching and mentoring to a group of 10 Area Managers across NSW. As part of the State Leadership Team Lisa plays an integral role in the development of the State Plan to deliver on state and national priorities and initiatives in line with Goodstart’s vision, purpose and strategic plan. Lisa values the provision of quality early learning and focuses her efforts to ensuring that centres can deliver on commercial and quality goals, hand in hand and not either in isolation.

“My vision is for an Australia where all children have access to high quality early education, regardless of their geographical address, family situation, or social status. All children should have access to active participation and involvement in early education opportunities and have the confidence to start school successfully. A particular priority is making sure this is the case for children with additional needs and for children experiencing vulnerable or at-risk circumstances. We should take this opportunity to come together with the common goal of advocating and influencing government policy. We should push for investment in new research and commit to sharing strategies that will continually build the capability of the sector. The ongoing improvement of child safety and protection measures within our learning environments should also remain a top priority.”

For the past 4 years Lisa has been a Senior Educator with Goodstart and has now taken up a role as Cultural Design Lead. Locally, she is on the Board of Directors at Jumbunna Early Intervention and Community Preschool, she is a trained facilitator in various parenting programs and a Cultural Consultant within the Bundjalung Nation. Nationally she has joined the Big Steps – United Workers Union Special Learning Reference Group and Globally she is currently working on a Nationwide Advocacy Project as a Global Leader for the World Forum Foundation in America as well as representing her people in the World Forum Foundation Indigenous Peoples Action Group. Lisa believes we have the most important role as Early Childhood educators in changing this country and moving forward. We have the next generation in our hands who are open minded and willing to learn, so let’s teach them, it’s time.

“Most Australians are increasingly wanting to learn more about our true history and diverse culture and, like all learning, the best place to start is in the early years. They must work alongside us to better understand the true richness across our nation so we can move forward together on our cultural journey.”

As Centre Director of an employer sponsored long day care centre, she focused on the critical importance and value of relationships with families, always acknowledged that parents were their child’s first teachers. Formerly General Manager for Playgroup NSW, Mel believes passionately in working with children and families for impact within the broader early childhood sector. She led Playgroup NSW through a complete transformation of their early childhood strategy and vision for young children, their families, their communities to drive outcomes for the 40,000 families, and 20,000 children that attend playgroups across NSW.

“Influencing sustainable change is the basis of my vision for the sector over the next five years. I want to see a deeper analysis of the challenges we face, and give the right people a seat at the table, who can work collectively in leading authentic improvement. At the core of my vision is that children’s voices are heard, listened to, and actively engaged with as we make crucial decisions around the evolution of our practice. For parents and families, my hope is that they only ever have to tell their story once. Beyond this, they should expect we will remain committed to working with them in an ongoing and holistic manner, connecting them to appropriate services, and establishing strong relationships that are centred around meeting the needs of their children.”

She has previously been a Board member of the Early Learning Association of Australia (now a life member). Nicole has worked as an educator, a teacher and a manager of early learning services. Her recent experience has included working in local government as both a Pedagogical Leader and Manager of kindergartens and an engagement at the University of Melbourne in a research role, co-authoring the final research report for the Victorian Advancing Early Learning Study (2017). Nicole has also co-designed and facilitated a range of training programs for early years professionals focused on the Abecedarian Approach Australia (3a) across several jurisdictions. In her role at Gowrie Victoria Nicole leads five early learning services focused on operations as well as developing strategy focused on building capability of the early childhood workforce with the ultimate goal of supporting learning and development for all children. She has a specific interest in building capacity in the early childhood workforce, with a particular focus on emerging leaders.

“If I had to sum up my vision for the early childhood education sector with one word it would be ‘impact’. I believe the sector can continue to build and raise its profile, not only amongst potential new teachers and educators considering a career in the sector, but more generally within the community as a means of positively influencing the trajectory of our children’s learning and development outcomes. We must continue to strive to raise the quality of the programs and services we offer, particularly in areas where children and families experience the most vulnerability.”