Goodstart shares ideas with UK based Childbase Partnership

UK visitors on a research tour of Australia have been welcomed by Goodstart Early Learning, as they toured centres in NSW and Queensland this week, spending time with CEO Julia Davison, social impact general manager Myra Geddes, and practice general manager Sue Robb.

 

 

Rebecca Gallaway, Hannah Cutler, Angela Brown and Aprille Goubert – all employees of Childbase Partnership UK–  are in the country as part of a research tour which aims to see first hand how Goodstart Early Learning operates on a large scale.

 

The four Childbase Partnership attendees were selected to attend Australia for the study tour based on their interviews and statements about what they hoped to achieve by visiting Australia. The Childbase Partnership, founded in 1989, is an early learning group based in the UK. A key point of difference for the group is that they are employee owned, meaning the educators are shareholders of the company.  

 

Angela Brown, employee partnership council chair, said the aim of the trip was to see how practitioners in the Australian centres were extending children’s learning.

 

“We were really interested in getting some insight into the practices and programs on offer, and how Goodstart has played such a big role in affecting government policy,” Ms Brown said.

 

The team was also interested in the looking at how outdoor environments were utilised in extreme weather conditions.

 

“We have extreme weather conditions in the UK but we’re at the other end of the spectrum so it was interesting to see how centres here deal with the heat,” Ms Brown said. “Outdoor environments are so important for children’s development.”

 

While the weather conditions may have been a major point of difference, the approach to providing early learning was similar, as were the natural, child-focused environments.

 

“It was a lovely experience and we all really enjoyed spending time with the teams at Goodstart.” Ms Brown said.

 

The four are set to leave Australia on Saturday.