Sharing Joy campaign shines a light on the everyday impact of Queensland's early childhood workforce

The everyday moments that early childhood educators create for children and families are being celebrated through a Queensland Government initiative designed to recognise the early childhood workforce and highlight the impact of positive interactions.

Sharing Joy, Shaping Futures: Every Interaction Counts encourages Queensland early childhood education and care (ECEC) services to celebrate the people, relationships and interactions that contribute to positive experiences for children, educators, families and communities.

Developed by the Queensland Department of Education, the initiative focuses on three areas, valuing staff, professional growth and positive interactions and is supported by a suite of free resources that services can use within their teams and communities.

At the centre of the campaign is a simple message: every interaction counts.

Across Queensland's early childhood services, thousands of interactions take place between educators and children every day.

Some are significant and easily recognised.

Others are much smaller, welcoming a child in the morning, noticing when they need reassurance, encouraging them to try something new, sharing a moment of discovery or taking the time to listen to what they have to say.

Sharing Joy seeks to bring greater visibility to these moments and the early childhood professionals who create them.

The Department describes the initiative as an opportunity to celebrate meaningful, joy-filled moments with children, educators, families and the broader community, while also recognising the contribution of the early childhood workforce.

For services, it creates an opportunity to stop and acknowledge work that can sometimes become less visible amid the pace and demands of everyday ECEC operations.

One of the three focus areas of Sharing Joy is valuing staff.

The Department encourages services to recognise the expertise of early childhood professionals and celebrate the contribution they make to children's learning, development and wellbeing.

That recognition can take many forms.

It might be feedback from a family, acknowledgement between colleagues, recognition from a service leader or simply taking time as a team to reflect on a moment where an educator made a difference.

The campaign also encourages the broader community to recognise the professional contribution of those working across early childhood.

At a time when workforce attraction and retention remain significant challenges for ECEC, the focus provides a timely reminder of the importance of ensuring educators feel their work is seen and valued.

Professional growth forms the second focus area of the initiative.

Sharing Joy highlights opportunities for early childhood professionals to build their skills and confidence and encourages educators to explore professional development, training and career pathways.

The Department's campaign materials also direct educators towards information about workforce programs, incentives and subsidies available to support their professional journey.

For approved providers and service leaders, the focus provides an opportunity to consider professional development as more than a compliance requirement.

Investing in educator capability can support professional confidence, strengthen practice and provide opportunities for educators to continue developing throughout their careers.

It can also demonstrate that professional learning and career progression are valued within the organisation.

The third focus area, positive interactions, sits at the heart of the campaign's Every Interaction Counts message.

The Department highlights the importance of creating positive and safe environments that support children's learning, development and wellbeing.

It also encourages positive relationships and interactions between educators, children and families.

For ECEC professionals, this message is closely connected with the relational nature of quality early childhood practice.

Children's experiences are shaped not only by programs, environments and planned learning opportunities, but also by the way adults respond to them throughout the day.

How an educator welcomes a child, responds to their emotions, supports their agency, engages in conversation or shares in their discoveries can influence the child's experience of belonging and connection within the service.

Queensland services are being encouraged to bring the campaign to life using a suite of downloadable resources developed by the Department.

The Sharing Joy promotional pack includes materials that services can use with educators, children and families, including bunting, cake toppers, thank-you certificates, a Joy Jar label, an Every Interaction Counts wall banner and heart templates.

Digital badges are also available for use on social media posts and videos, alongside downloadable and customisable social media tiles.

The resources give providers and service leaders a simple way to recognise staff, involve families and share positive stories from their service community.

A Joy Jar, for example, could provide an opportunity for educators, children and families to record moments that have brought them joy or recognise something another member of the service community has done.

Thank-you certificates could similarly be used to recognise educators and other team members for the contribution they make.

Sharing Joy also features the experiences of Queensland early childhood professionals and what brings them joy in their work.

The stories provide an insight into the different pathways people take into the profession and the moments that keep them connected to it.

Among those featured is Sophie, whose experience in early childhood inspired her to continue her professional journey towards completing a bachelor's degree.

Tahlia reflects on the reward of watching children grow and seeing how much they achieve over the course of a year, while Alexia shares how returning to kindergarten teaching after working with different age groups reignited her passion for working in the early years.

Together, the stories reinforce an important part of the campaign's message, that professional purpose can often be found in the everyday experiences and relationships that make up early childhood education and care.

Much of the current national conversation about ECEC is understandably focused on significant challenges.

Child safety reforms, regulatory scrutiny, workforce shortages, affordability, quality and increasing expectations of providers and educators continue to dominate the agenda.

Sharing Joy does not remove the need for those conversations.

It does, however, create space for another one.

Across thousands of early learning services, educators are building relationships, supporting children through challenges, celebrating achievements, partnering with families and creating positive experiences every day.

Recognising those moments can be important too.

For approved providers and service leaders, the campaign provides an opportunity to ask:

How are we recognising the everyday contribution of the people within our service?

And perhaps just as importantly:

Do our educators know that the small interactions they have with children every day are seen, valued and important?

Sharing Joy provides services with a simple opportunity to celebrate those interactions and the professionals behind them.

Because in early childhood education and care, some of the moments that appear smallest can leave the biggest impression.

Queensland services can access Sharing Joy, Shaping Futures: Every Interaction Counts and download the campaign resources through the Queensland Government's early childhood website here.