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Sesame Lane wins North Coast Regional Large Employer Award, progresses to finals
Freya Lucas
Jul 20, 2022
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Queensland-based early childhood education and care (ECEC) provider Sesame Lane has won the North Coast Regional Large Employer Award at the Queensland Training Awards and will progress to the state finals.
Run by the Department of Employment, Small Business & Training, the awards have been “shining a spotlight on excellence in training” since 1962. As regional winners, Sesame Lane has been selected as a state finalist and will now compete with other businesses for a state title in the Large Employer category.“We won the award as a company who strive[s] for and achieve[s] success, best practice and innovation in vocational education and training (VET),” a Sesame Lane spokesperson said.
Sesame Lane currently has 12 employees completing a sponsored Bachelor of Teaching in Early Childhood, along with 23 apprenticeships, 21 school-ased traineeships and 45 employees completing a non-school based traineeship, many of whom are mature aged or have chosen a change in their chosen career to follow their love of children.
“We work hard to ensure standards and best practice are established, and employee growth and satisfaction is a focus,” the spokesperson continued.
“With that in mind, in January 2021, a dedicated Training and Development function was established with a clear focus on setting up systems and developing training to meet the needs of all our employees, from Teachers to Educators, from our Children's Cooks to our Service Managers.”
Collected in an easy to use and accessible system known as The Learning Lane, the training and development program aims to allow employees to be self-driven in their own learning journeys, allowing access for all employees to a variety of both in-house developed learning programs and curated learning content on topics to enhance both skills and knowledge relevant to their roles.
The platform also has a robust induction program called Launch, to ensure new employees start their career earning best practice and procedure. The platform makes completing mandatory training a streamlined process, and records when the training was last completed ensuring compliance.
As well as mandatory training, the provider offers opportunities for employees to take part in additional training programs (both accredited and non-accredited) including:
- Bachelor of Teaching, Early Childhood
- Advanced Diploma of Community Sector Management
- Diploma of Leadership and Management
- Circle of Security
- Baby massage
- Facebook advertising for small businesses
- Adobe programs
- Sustainability
- Accountability for teams
- Communication coaching.
“100 per cent of our employee cohort participate in some type of training each month,” the spokesperson explained.
“Some of these opportunities are through cluster meetings where educators in the same position from each Sesame Lane Service will meet to learn, share ideas and network. When this isn't possible, Sesame Lane facilitate 'Zoom and Learn' sessions for both learning and networking from the employee's workplace or home.”
The introduction of The Learning Lane has also seen an improvement of reach to employees, and an improvement of meeting mandatory training requirements within timeframes.
“Our training and career progression initiatives seek to achieve an awareness and respect for the unique, rewarding, and varied career paths the early learning sector can provide,” the spokesperson said.
“We are more than educators; we are early learning professionals.”
Follow the progress of Sesame Lane and other finalists here.
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