Victoria’s Educational Leaders invited to apply for powerful learning opportunity

Educational leaders in Victoria who work in a Government-funded kindergarten program are being invited to engage in a powerful learning opportunity in 2025 through the Victorian Educational Leadership Program (VELP).

Through the Best Start, Best Life (BSBL) reforms, the Victorian Department of Education has engaged Queensland University of Technology (QUT), in partnership with the Early Learning and Care Council of Australia (ELACCA) to deliver the VELP. After a successful inaugural delivery to a cohort of 200 Educational Leaders in 2024, expressions of interest for the second cohort in Term 2 2025 are now open.

There are 2 micro-credentials on offer: 

1. VELP Foundations – designed for new Educational Leaders with 1-2 years’ experience.

This credential focuses on the fundamentals of how to be an Educational Leader, including leadership skills, change management theory, facilitating team teaching, and observation and assessment.

2. VELP Advanced – designed for experienced Educational Leaders with 2+ years’ experience.

This credential focuses on advanced leadership models, fostering effective team teaching and driving reflective practice in teams.

Each of the micro-credentials aligns with the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework and the National Quality Standard and will support Educational Leaders to:

• Understand, identify, drive and implement quality practice
• Utilise data and evidence to support practice change
• Understand and implement strategies to support children’s continuity of early learning

The ten-week program will run again in Term 3 2025 and registrations for that intake will open in March 2025.

“VELP is an immense opportunity for Educational Leaders in Victoria,” VELP Project Lead Associate Professor Megan Gibson said. 

“Through VELP we bring together theory and practice and are committed to enabling the Educational Leaders in VELP to apply their thinking and learning in their own unique context.”

“For those who have completed the program, the inclusion of an Action Research project has helped them to translate their learning into practice and embed this in their service’s pedagogical approaches,” she added. 

Each of the VELP teaching team are experienced early childhood educators with contemporary sector experience as an Educational Leader (with most also holding PhDs), which adds a unique dimension to the program Associate Professor Gibson continued.

Readings, group online discussions and individual workbooks used throughout the course enable students to deeply engage and connect with key ideas to challenge and shape their approaches as an Educational Leader. 

The course leaves participants with a strong opportunity for authentic networking with fellow Educational Leaders and building a sense of belonging, in the role and more broadly in the profession. 

VELP Participants are supported to participate through a Victorian Government backfill contribution to the Approved Provider(valued $766 excluding GST).

Would you like to learn more about this government-funded and free learning opportunity? 

Visit the website to learn more about eligibility, key dates, and to complete the Expression of Interest form.

Please direct any enquiries to [email protected]