VEYLDF - Early Years Teachers and Educators in services (26/08/26)
[On-screen text: The Education State
Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework
For all children from birth to 8 years]
Catharine Hydon: Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework 2026 Information Session, designed specifically for educators and teachers working in early childhood education and care and outside school hours.
[On-screen text: Catharine, Hydon, Director, Hydon Consulting]
Catharine Hydon: My name is Catharine Hydon. It's fantastic to be here today to explore the updates of the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework. Before we get started, I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge the traditional owners on whose country we are all joining from across the Kulin nation in the land we now call Victoria. It's important that we pause for a moment and acknowledge Elders past and present, and we thank them for the work they have done with us over many, many years as we've understood what it is to learn and grow and thrive and play on country.
I encourage you all to take a moment to have a look at the updated Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework, particularly the Acknowledgement of Country which is in the front of the document. And in that, it reminds us that we acknowledge the First Peoples of this land, and that we recognise them as educators and artists and scientists and creative thinkers, and that we join with them as we think about what our future might look like. It also is a reminder to all of us educators and teachers to consider the Acknowledgements of Country and use some of the language that's in the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework, and reinforce our commitment to self‑determination, truth and treaty. So educators and teachers who are joining us today, this is an opportunity for us to explore the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework 2026. You might have already downloaded it.
You might have it in front of you. If you do, it would be great for you to read along as we are talking today. For those of you who are very familiar with the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework, you are absolutely going to enjoy opportunities to find things that are familiar, and also look for components and aspects of the framework that are new and might stretch your thinking. So congratulations on the work you have done so far. For those of you who are new to this framework, I encourage you all to take a moment to get to know it, to find out where the possibilities lie, to think about your own practice, and think about where you might use these to launch off into new possibilities.
Again, congratulations for those of you who have joined and are absolutely familiar with this space and welcome to everybody who is new. One of the important things that we want to do today is also hear from you. So you will notice that there's a button down the bottom of the screen. If you click on that you will be able to share thoughts and ideas, you might even actually share with us a little bit of what you've done already with the Victorian framework. We'd love to hear from you, questions, comments, thoughts and ideas.
All of these will be brought together by the team here and they will use those to develop further resources, and also there will be a frequently asked questions guide that will help you with some of the big questions that people have. There's also an email address, which we'll point out later on. If you have any further questions after today, we really encourage you to share those perspectives. So importantly, I'm also joined by a panel who are going to talk through some of these ideas with us today. And let me take a moment to introduce you to them.
Jed Gilbert is joining us from the team here. And Jed has a range of roles ‑ had a range of roles in education policy, evaluation and professional learning. And Jed, you've worked at executive level for almost 10 years, including at the Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership. Some of the people online will have been a part of that. And also the child information sharing.
Again some familiar territory there. You're currently the Director of Early Learning Professional Practice for the Victorian Government. So welcome, Jed. And of course there's the lovely Jane. Thank you very much, Jane, for joining us.
Join will be very familiar to many of you, and Jane is a Professor at the REEaCh Centre. Let me just make sure I say this right. The Research in Effective Education in Early Childhood at the Faculty of Education at the University of Melbourne. Jane has been a teacher and a lecturer for a long time now, over 38 years, and her research focuses on generating new ideas and exploring the factors that help us understand high quality early childhood education, and has been part of the conversations around the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework over now many years. Welcome, Jane.
Jane Page: Thank you, Catharine.
Catharine Hydon: Before we dive into the framework and have a look at some of the aspects, both new and also very familiar, one of the things you will have noticed that throughout the whole of the framework you will see rich references to cultural knowledge stories. And we want to share with you a little bit from two very important people who have contributed to the VEYLDF over a long period of time and also been part of this conversation. So Dr Aunty Sue Atkinson and Annette Sax have brought both the artistic components to the framework, but also those cultural knowledge stories. Let's hear from them.
[intriguing bright orchestral music]
[On-screen Text: Cultural Knowledge Story: Ochre Artwork
Cultural Knowledge Stories read by Annette Sax
Image Credit: Ochre Artworks by Annette Sax (Taungurung), developed in collaboration with Dr Sue Atkinson AM (Yorta Yorta)]
[On-screen Text: Dr. Sue Atkinson AM Author]
Dr. Sue Atkinson: I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land and waters that we are speaking from today, the Wurundjeri Woiwurrung people, and their Elders, past, present, and emerging. The Wurundjeri calendar is made up of seven seasons. I would like to thank the Wurundjeri Woiwurrung people for sharing their knowledge of these seasons with us and acknowledge their wisdom in looking after the land and waters in harmony with these seasons by being observant of the types of birds calling, plants flowering, the lifecycle of animals, and the appearance of the sky including the stars and the phases of the moon. My name is Sue Atkinson, I’m a Yorta Yorta woman with ancestral ties to the Wemba-Wemba people. I have been involved in the Early Childhood field for 50 years, I taught across the preschool, TAFE, and higher education sector before retiring. More recently, I spent 10 years as a volunteer on a variety of committees, including Action on Aboriginal Perspectives in Early Childhood, AAPEC. Currently, I occasionally work as a freelance writer, and at the moment, I’m working on the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework, VEYLDF.
[On-screen Text: Annette Sax Aboriginal Early Childhood Professional Yarn Strong Sista]
Annette Sax: Wawa, my name is Annette Sax, a proud Taungurung woman, artist, educator and cultural storyteller with more than 35 years experience in the early childhood profession. As one of the two VEYLDF artists whose work complements that of Aunty Dr. Sue Atkinson, Cultural Knowledge Stories, and the VEYLDF Ochre Artist and Designer, I am honoured to contribute artwork that reflects Aboriginal perspectives, identity, culture, and connection to Country. My work is guided by the cultural knowledge and stories generously shared by my Taungurung Elders, with their permission to pass this knowledge on respectfully.
[intriguing bright orchestral music]
[On-screen Text: Cultural Knowledge Story: Ochre Mountain
Practice Principles - how educators work with children and families]
Annette Sax: Bunjil the Eagle and Waa the Crow represent Aboriginal culture and partnerships with families. The water hole symbolises reflective practice; the gum leaves with their different patterns and colours represent diversity. The stones underneath the leaves represent equity and inclusion. They reflect the additional support put in place to help all children achieve. The child and adults standing on Ochre Mountain symbolise the high and equitable expectations we hold for children and adults. The family standing on and looking out from Ochre Mountain reflects assessment for learning and development. Such assessments draw on children’s and families’ perspectives, knowledge, experiences, and expectations. The child and adult figures also represent partnerships between professionals. The land symbol as mother Earth represents the basis for respectful and reciprocal relationships. The symbols for land, water, and people signify holistic pedagogical practices based on connections to Clan and Country.
[intriguing bright orchestral music]
[On-screen Text: Cultural Knowledge Story: Scar Trees and Message Stick
Learning and Development Outcomes - what children learn over time]
Annette Sax: Gum leaves as bush medicine symbolise connection to wellbeing. The yam daisy represents the survival of a strong Aboriginal identity. The yam daisy was central to the diet of Aboriginal Victorians. It was almost wiped out by colonisation, but has survived. The family sitting under the scar trees with a message stick and coolamon symbolises communication. The family seated on the land symbolises the child learning through their connection to and involvement with community. A scar tree is also known as a canoe tree and is a significant artifact. Aboriginal people used the bark of the tree to make a canoe or boat.
[intriguing bright orchestral music]
[On-screen Text: Cultural Knowledge Story: River Stepping Stones
Transitions - how learning continues across settings and stages]
Anette Sax: The river stepping stones represent children and families in transition. The footprints and wheelchair tracks symbolise all abilities. Animal footprints show children and families walking proudly with culture in transition. Educators must engage with such pride in culture, with respect and authentic understanding, thereby promoting positive transitions.
Sue Atkinson: Thank you for listening to my Cultural Knowledge Stories and connecting to Annette Sax’s, Taungurung, artworks throughout the VEYLDF.
[intriguing bright orchestral music]
[On-screen text:
The Education State
Victoria State Government Logo
Department of Education
vic.gov.au/education]
Catharine Hydon: They are such powerful stories, and I really encourage you all to take the time to look at the aspects of the framework which capture those cultural knowledge stories. We are absolutely indebted to Aunty Sue and for Annette who have shared those amazing stories with us. For those of you who are already using some of those really rich Kulin nation aspects in your everyday practice, continue to do that, and look for the opportunities in the framework to extend and enrich that work. One of the things we want to do right upfront is thank you all for your participation and your engagement with the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework over now many years. As we said before, we want to encourage those of you who are new to this to find what aspects will enhance your practice, but also recognise the important work that's been done.
To help us explore this process, we want to have a conversation now about what is a framework, and why does it matter, and then we might go into a few more practical details about how you can use it in your everyday practice, and then talk a bit about what the expectations are between now and 2028. So Jane, I'm going to start with you. I think we need to probably, in the first instance, clarify the way that we might use a framework. What is a framework for? How does it work to enhance our practice and, of course, deliver outcomes for children?
[On-screen text: Professor Jane Page OAM, REEaCH Centre, Faculty of Education, University of Melbourne]
Jane Page: Thank you, Catharine. I have had the enormous privilege of working with teachers for over 17 years now around the VEYLDF when it was first introduced in 2009, and I've heard many rich stories that really capture how it supports practice. And what teachers and educators consistently tell me is that it guides them. Some of the stories I've heard is that it supports their planning and their practice in the everyday with children and families. And it supports reflection, both as individuals, but also in teams, encouraging rich, deep conversations about how children learn, what is the role of the teacher and the child and the family in the learning process, and how can we optimise children's learning outcomes over time.
And through reflection, teachers and educators have shared with me that this really helps them to develop a common vocabulary and language which the VEYLDF itself speaks to, but not just building that language, actually developing shared meanings together. How do we understand children's learning? What does that look like in practice? How are we intentional in the everyday? So the VEYLDF really guides those conversations.
And I think it does it in three ways because it speaks to the why, the what and the how of early childhood practice. And many teachers and educators will say to me by engaging with the VEYLDF in these ways that it actually supports their confidence and professional judgments. And I guess the confidence comes down to the fact that the VEYLDF distils key learnings from the research. So in the VEYLDF it speaks to the "why". Why early learning matters and why the early years of learning are important in terms of laying those strong foundations for learning now and in the future.
But it also speaks to brain development and the importance of brain development. And Jed, I know this is a real interest of yours, and you might pick up on this later, but the opportunities that exist in those early years when children's brains are so malleable, but the flip side of that, what happens when we don't actually optimise those opportunities. The VEYLDF also speaks to why teachers are important and how teachers mediate children's learning and the importance of those rich, everyday back and forth interactions with children, the intentionality around those conversations, but also what we say the content of those interactions in the everyday. In addition, the VEYLDF speaks to learning as relational, and the importance of teachers' relationships with families and other professionals to build those more nuanced and multifaceted understandings of children's learning. I think importantly, also, the VEYLDF draws on an image of children as competent, social actors in their lives, capable of engaging in learning.
And when we engage with that image of children, we begin to see the opportunities in how we can engage with and alongside children in the everyday in their learning. So that's the "why". And I think it really confirms the value and importance of teachers in children's lives in the first eight years of life. But it also speaks to, through the learning and development outcomes, what children learn. So you've got that rich information around what does learning look like around being confident and involved learners; being connected; having strong learning identities.
And the VEYLDF really supports those rich discussions around learning and development. But it also speaks to the "how", and the practice principles I think really support the how do we engage with children and through our partnerships to really optimise the opportunities to advance children's learning, but also create the optimal conditions for children's learning and safety and belonging and wellbeing. And I think, finally, I'd just like to reflect on the fact that this is the third version of the VEYLDF. So 2009 it was launched, 2016 it was updated, and now 2026. And I think that's really interesting to reflect on, because it means that in Victoria we've had the opportunity to reengage with contemporary research and to test the principles and our understandings that are in the VEYLDF, to confirm what we know, but also to lift other opportunities for thinking about ‑ and concepts for thinking about children's learning.
So there's been that engagement with the research, but I think in Victoria we've also seen teachers and leaders' own experiences of using the VEYLDF as part of that research evidence as well. So we've been able to draw on the lived experiences of teachers to update the VEYLDF.
Catharine Hydon: This is a way to reengage or recommit and reconnect with big ideas. So you find your "why". And we're living in complex times, so there's lots on our agenda, so it's great to be able to come back to a document that is grounding and anchoring in something that is really powerful for children and families. And then also to know lots about what we're going to focus on, because there's lots of things to focus on. So this helps you decide what you're going to do.
And also there's really clear direction about choices that you might make and how you do things and what you do. So lots of really helpful ways to use this in your everyday practice. And I think the word "guide" or "anchor" is a really important way to think about this. For some of you, it will be reconnecting with ideas and refreshing them again, and actually coming back to them and getting to know them again. And also to help you answer questions that you have about your everyday practice.
Speaking of questions, we have a big question around quality, Jed, and I think the framework has a significant role in Victoria in terms of quality. So can you help us understand the way that the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework helps us in the Victorian context uplift quality?
[On-screen text: Director Professional Practice]
Jed Gilbert: Yeah, thank you. And what a privilege to sit with you both and talk about the VEYLDF and to be able to talk with all of these amazing educators and teachers who are joining us. The VEYLDF is a through line to quality because we know how important teachers and educators are. In preparing to talk with you about this, I was reflecting on the fact that I'm not a neuroscientist. I'm going to talk through some of the evidence that has informed the VEYLDF, but I'm also thinking that no one else on this call is a neuroscientist.
If there is, please reach out. I would love to meet you, actually. But I think that's the task we're all trying to do, is understand the brain science and what is happening in children's brains through this critical development window. And then what we can do, you know, for me in the central office of Department of Education, but also for everyone on the call, as teachers and educators, what you can do with this opportunity. As we looked at the research over the last 10 years and the latest developments, it's encouraging that it's reconfirmed a lot that is in the VEYLDF.
That's why there have been a lot that hasn't changed in the update, but there have been some important changes that reflect some of that latest research that we'll talk about a bit more. But basically, the period of 0 to 8 is critical for cognitive, social, emotional and physical development. And what we've learnt from the research over the last 10 years, particularly from the brain science, it's really reinforced how critical and unique this stage of learning is. So I'll dive into a bit of the detail. It's where the brain is highly plastic and responsive to change, billions of integrated neural circuits are established through the interaction of genetics, environment and experience.
And the brain's prefrontal cortex is not yet rigidly fixed. So children under 8 absorb information organically from their environment without needing the structured intellectual effort that we're all trying to do here this evening. They don't need that. It enters their brain in a completely different way. So in more technical terms, it's a period when a child's procedural memory system, the learning through immersion, through play, through doing, it develops much faster than their declarative system, so the conscious facts‑based learning that we all rely on as adults.
During this period, the brain grows to roughly 90% of its adult size. So optimal brain development, as you were saying, Jane, it needs that stimulating environment with the safe, nurturing adults and the social interaction with their peers, and being able to both notice what the children are interested in, but then having intentionality on how you extend upon that. So pick out some of the specific skill development examples from the research in literacy, according to linguistics and neurological research, children between the ages of 2 and 7 possess a unique window to effortlessly decode language patterns and achieve native level fluency. I am trying to learn French at the moment. I wish I still had that.
This natural proficiency noticeably drops around the age of 8. Also with executive function, we know that's so critical to set us up for lifelong learning. The neurological groundwork for memory, for focus, for self‑regulation and emotional control is anchored by the age of 8. And it provides the cognitive tools necessary to handle formal schooling. So since 2016 we've learnt a lot more through research about what and how children learn in this critical period, and it expands and deepens the learning and development goals for children and the best ways to support this.
So children's learning and development is impacted by the quality of their everyday interactions. This is not going to be a major surprise to anyone on this call. But what it calls out is that the key to making these experiences intentional is to make them intentional and responsive to children and families for those rich serve‑and‑return interactions that we know make such a difference for brain development. Thank you, Harvard, for all of the work they've been doing in this space and that we're leveraging off in Victoria. So whether you've been working with the VEYLDF for a short or a long time, the updated VEYLDF helps all of us, all professionals working with children, to reflect on this critical period of growth, to think about the research base and how that has fed through into the update, to think about this window of birth to 8 and the difference we can make.
And then giving us the tools to support collaboration, continuity of learning and strengthening that transition to school to keep the focus on children's holistic development and long‑term success. And really, it's about supporting professionals to translate this into everyday practice. As you were saying, Catharine, around those decisions around what matters most. Really, it's to help children experience more consistent quality learning and support across settings, and hopefully is useful to teachers and educators. I know how much teachers and educators care about this, and we'll talk a bit more about some of the practical supports that sit along the framework.
Catharine Hydon: I think the opportunity there for educators and teachers to have a really strong sense of the evidence that has informed this document ‑ and I think you've also reminded us that the practice evidence that all of the teachers and educators out there have been engaged with for a long period of time, and our colleagues in the context of the research happening in Australia, but then combined with what we know globally, means that we end up producing a document that anchors us in what we know is quality, and then we can come back to that really strongly when we are making decisions about the rights and best interests of children, which is something that you, of course, do every single day. I think there's an important opportunity there for us to join those big ideas to our everyday practice decisions. It's very powerful. So I think one of the things that will be really helpful now is for us to go into the framework itself and identify some of the things that we want you to pay attention to in terms of what's changed and what's stayed the same. And Jane is going to kick us off here to talk a bit about the things that have changed and the things that have stayed the same.
If you want to play along, everybody, we've got a copy in front of us, and the good news is that you will get a hardcopy delivered to services. So look out for that, that's coming. And at that stage you will also be able to think about how you might use it, but we'll get to that as we go. So Jane, tell us a little bit more about what's changed and what's stayed the same.
Jane Page: Thank you, Catharine. As Jed said, it's by reengaging with the research and hearing your own stories, it's really helped to confirm what was important to keep in the VEYLDF. So the VEYLDF has really maintained that birth to 8 focus. It has the same practice principles as the previous version and also the five learning and development outcomes. And the transition component has been maintained, but it's also been strengthened by a further focus of continuity of learning.
We heard the wonderful stories from Aunty Sue and Annette, so there has been a deepening and extending of First Nations' perspectives through the cultural knowledge stories and artwork. In addition, through feedback from teachers and educators and leaders, the language and layout is clearer and I think more accessible. And then in addition to that, it's provided the opportunity to also think about what could be elevated in the VEYLDF. So the integrated teaching and learning approaches that sit alongside the early years planning cycle have been elevated. And you will see that I have my tabs in my copy of the VEYLDF, but that's right upfront in pages 16 and 17.
So really thinking about how we engage with children. And as Jed said, the interactions that we have with children have such a major impact on children's learning and development. And with that image of a child as a capable learner, it takes us through the adult‑led learning approach, the child‑directed learning approach and the joint guided learning approach. Of course, that is embedded within a broader understanding of intentional teaching. So in addition to that there's been a strengthened commitment to child safety.
So elements that remain the same, elements that have been strengthened and elevated within the VEYLDF alongside that.
Catharine Hydon: I think that's going to be really helpful for teachers and educators to go into and start to identify that in a really purposeful way, I think, is to hold the ideas that you already have and then connect really strongly to the things that you will identify which have been elevated or enhanced, and the places that are deeply familiar. I know that educators are looking forward to the opportunity to articulate how the outcomes are spoken about in the updated framework, because every single day you are making decisions that promote, enhance, enrich children's learnings across those outcomes. Something else people are going to enjoy, I think, is the maps at the back of the document. We'll talk a little bit about those because I know many of you have been looking forward to them. You will be familiar with the fact that in the previous edition they were separate but now they are coming together in the same document.
We got a lot of feedback from you about that. Thank you for that. They are slightly different. I think they're really enhanced. Jane, that's going to be a strong feature looking at that flow through from early years into the early years of school, which is birth to 8.
Jane Page: Birth to 8 focus. And that continuity of learning, you know, the children that we work with don't fit within a sort of stage of learning, that they have many capabilities. So you will be able to follow and track what that learning looks like over time, and that's supported by other Victorian Government documents we'll speak to as well. Another element, Catharine, I love in the VEYLDF is the in practice tables. Here is my other tab.
Catharine Hydon: I think there will be quite a number of people's copies that are very much like yours, Jane, with little tabs on them.
Jane Page: Yes, yes.
Catharine Hydon: We'd love to see that in the future. Make sure your document looks well worn and well read.
Jane Page: Indeed. So as you're thinking about the practice principles and also transitions and continuity of learning, there are some do statements, some see statements and some reflect questions. And I think, as I reflect on what teachers and educators have shared with me, these are the opportunities for coming together and really discussing what are our understandings of partnerships with parents or transitions, or high expectations of children? What do we do to enact that in the everyday? What can we observe?
What does that look like when we're observing children? And then what questions can we ask ourselves about that to really embed it in our practices over time. So I think these are really valuable.
Catharine Hydon: And they feature in every one of the principles that are part of the practice principles suite, so that you can go into those and take your time. Look at each of those over a period of time. Of course, each of those elements are important ways for you to determine what you might work on through, say, quality improvement planning as you are starting to think about where you will put your efforts and where you will put your resources. Your time and energy will be guided by some of those questions. So encourage you to have a look at those.
Jane Page: We can look at them at the beginning of the year but we can look at them throughout the year and they will still resonate and provide us with rich opportunities to reflect over time.
Catharine Hydon: And we did want to dive into some of the practice principles here. Jed, you're going to share one with us in a moment. But just before we get there, I feel like those practice principles remain something that will help guide our decision‑making. So in everyday practice ‑ and I do mean every day, very ordinary practice, Tuesday afternoon when it's raining, and wherever you are across Victoria ‑ there are opportunities to draw on those practice principles. It's interesting, I was having a conversation recently with a group of educators and teachers who were just about to start, through their engagement with the reform agenda, four‑year‑old funded kindergarten programs, with a mixed age approach.
They are heading into that process in 2027. And the questions arose about what they would do, what were they looking for, how they were planning that. Of course, there's a number of operational things that are taking place with their approved provider and their educational leadership team. But coming back to everyday practice, it was thinking about, well, if we've got a mixed age group of children, 3 and 4‑year‑old children, and the commentary for them what they've noticed over their community for a long period of time is they've got quite diverse learning capabilities, needs and interests, exactly what you said before, we've got to be continuum in lots of cohorts of children. And it absolutely for me was an opportunity for us to go straight into some of the practice principles.
I feel like I could meander all the way through the practice principles. But I felt like I started at a space where it was about high expectations for children. And what a great place to start, is to think about what does it mean to have high expectations of children from diverse age groups or mixed age groups in those contexts. If you're not familiar with working with three‑year‑olds, perhaps there's an opportunity to reset your expectations about contemporary three‑year‑olds. For those of you working in mixed age groups, you might be thinking where could I bring high expectations into my everyday work and use some of the reflection questions to help guide your thinking.
Then for me that takes us immediately into assessment for learning, and there's an opportunity for us to think about using the planning cycle that is articulated, as well as our expectations around assessment to understand who the children are, and then make very important decisions as we move forward into everyday practice. I could go on, because I think there is so many practice principles there for this suite of principles that make up that practice principle collection that can help us to make decisions. And for me it means that we are anchoring again, we're going back to that guidance and helping us to be able to make those everyday decisions. I think it also will help when we're communicating with families and perhaps communicating with new colleagues who might be new to a mixed age group, for example. I think we could think of a thousand ideas of everyday practice that people could use the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework as a guide to their practice.
Have you got another suggestion about how people might use it in everyday practice?
Jane Page: Yes. Well, we spoke about the questions, but I've been thinking about continuity of learning a lot, because I think particularly with the birth to 8 focus, this is such a helpful concept. And in the VEYLDF it refers to continuity of learning as that opportunity to create those consistent learning opportunities that Jed was speaking about, high quality opportunities for children over two years, where we recognise and we build on children's learnings. And that's a great opportunity with the rollout of universal 3 and 4‑year‑old kindergarten. So we can work together across rooms and within rooms to sort of think deeply about those issues.
And then, of course, that also means we're providing really rich feedback to teachers through our transition learning and development statements. But as I was thinking about continuity of learning, and as you were speaking, Catharine, the VEYLDF practice principles create this wonderful opportunity to engage with that concept. Because assessment for learning is so critical to continuity of learning because that's the capturing what children know and understand and can do but what they're ready to learn over time, and that supports us to tailor those learning experiences for individual children. So continuity of learning is deeply connected with principle 6, assessment for learning, but then the early years planning cycle, as you were saying, is what we use in a systematic ongoing way to really capture that learning, to use our observational evidence to then engage with it and make professional decisions as we think about the so what of what we've observed. And then how do we plan to support that child over time?
And then how do we interact with children to support their learning? And how do we evaluate that? So assessment for learning and the early years planning cycle is really connected. In that way we're sort of thinking about vertical; a continuum over time vertically. But continuity of learning also captures the sort of horizontal transitions that children make in the everyday.
That brought me to partnerships with parents and partnerships with professionals. So principles 2 and 7. Where it really supports us to think about continuity and building shared understandings of children through people and places. The children with whom we work grow and thrive and learn in multiple contexts, and to be able to draw on that knowledge and on parents and professionals' expertise to really build those more nuanced and multifaceted understandings of children, really enriches the possibilities that we have as teachers to support children's learning over time. I had the opportunity as part of a broader research project to speak with families during the early years of the rollout of three‑year‑old kindergarten about their experiences of three‑year‑old kindergarten, and I remember so strongly a conversation I had with a parent who lived in a rural community.
Her son started three‑year‑old kindergarten. She said to me in the first month the teacher recognised that her son couldn't see things so well. And so brought in the specialists, engaged, and got glasses for her child. And then she also noticed that her son was struggling with some words and could really have some value from engaging with a speech pathologist. So she was speaking about not only her child literally seeing the world differently through engaging in three‑year‑old kindergarten, but also how she valued having those opportunities to sit around a table with the teacher, the speech pathologist, and to talk about those strategies that they would embed in the early childhood setting as well as at home.
And then she said to me, "But this is going to happen next year as well. We will be in the same kindergarten. We have four‑year‑old kindergarten, and I know this kindergarten has wonderful relationships with the school." So she could see that continuum of practice and she felt so grateful, there was such gratitude in how she was speaking about that because she could see that she and her child would be supported through the system, through kindergarten into school, and that was something she valued so strongly. But I think as you were speaking, Catharine, you were also sort of highlighting how the concept of continuity of learning aligns with practice principles, and then the practice principles inform that. So I was thinking about how continuity of learning as a concept supports us to think more deeply about having those high expectations for children.
How do we promote children's learning? How do we act on their potential? How do we provide those experiences that challenge children over time? And how do we capture that progress? But then also for all children, which brings us to practice principle 5, equity, diversity and inclusion, how do we consistently support every child to access, participate in learning through their educational journey?
So I think the VEYLDF in that way, as you say, really anchors us, but provides multiple lenses to think about issues. So as a team we can come together, we can share our practices, we can have these rich conversations, and we can target professional learning to support us to even think more deeply about that over time.
Catharine Hydon: And it seems like a very good segue to one I would like to ask you about, Jed, because there's a practice principle in the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework 2026 which is actually quite unique in the context of the broader Australian early childhood community, and that's this commitment to the partnerships with professionals. And because of the birth to 8 lens, we get this opportunity to think about the way that educators and teachers, and the leaders that they will work alongside, join with other professionals. Can you tell us a little bit about that really important principle?
Jed Gilbert: Yeah, absolutely. And it's such a wonderful aspect of the VEYLDF because it is specifically designed for the whole early years system. You know, as a father of an 18‑month‑old, it's been an interesting experience navigating a system that I thought I knew quite well as a parent. And trying to navigate that has been ‑ it's provided prompts for me to reflect on how important it is for a joined‑up early years system and to be able to help parents to navigate to access the supports that are available. And as previously working on the child information sharing reforms, giving powers to early childhood educators and teachers to be able to share information for the safety and wellbeing of children with other esteemed professionals who are working with that child and family, how important it is to have something like the VEYLDF that means that you have a shared language.
An anchor point, I think you were talking about, Catharine. It's an anchor point to be able to talk about the things that we know make a difference, to be able to lean into children's learning, wellbeing, identity, relationships and communication in this critical period of brain development. And I think that is one of the strengths of the VEYLDF, that it's not designed just for one profession alone. So I'm talking about, of course, the people on this information session today, the early childhood professionals, the teachers and educators, but it's also the primary school teachers, it's also the maternal and child health nurses, it's the other allied health professions, it's the play group facilitators, it's the preschool field officers, and it's the organisations that might be involved in incursions and excursions as well, the zoo and museum who provide learning to kids. So we see that teachers and educators are one important part of a broader system around the child because we also know that no single professional can support all aspects of a child's learning, development and wellbeing alone.
And what we know is that children do best when the adults and services and systems around them work together and not in isolation. So the VEYLDF provides an anchor for this work. In terms of the outcomes, it gives services a shared language for the learning and development outcomes that they're working towards for children across all of these different points of interaction. And the practice principles, as you were talking about, it sets out the how. It sets out how these different professionals can work with children and families to experience quality across the early years system.
So working in partnership with other professionals can create more sustainable ways of working for teachers and educators that distribute effort, that strengthen team work and, importantly, improve access for children and families. I hope I'm quite an informed parent as I navigate my local service system and, of course, the power that teachers and educators can have to link in families, to improve access to their local service system. Our early learning centre has a dentist coming along next week and, you know, it's an important reminder for me too about how much I've learnt from my educators who have been involved in my child's education. You know, even the other night seeing the videos of what he'd been learning that day and being surprised by how much he was able to do. So the power of educators and teachers to be able to work in partnership with other professionals, to work in partnership with the family, for that stronger continuity of learning, as you talked about so wonderfully, Jane, and building it across the different settings, building across the different stages that the child is going through.
And aiming for those more coherent transitions when professionals are working across the shared ideas, the shared goals, those more connected ways of working that can support children and families rather than services operating in isolation. And the partnerships, really, that can be built up through local transition networks, et cetera, and all of those ways in which educators, teachers and services join up in their local areas with maternal and child health nurses, other allied health professionals and their primary school colleagues. The update hopefully can be a bit of a jumping‑off point, a new reflection point. I suspect educators and teachers in early childhood will be able to help the other professionals navigate some of that. You know, I think there's a lot of ‑ as you were saying, Catharine, a lot of built‑up professional knowledge, professional identity that you might be able to impart in your local network with other professionals working with children.
Catharine Hydon: Well, I think our teachers and educators become champions for what is possible in the early years for young children. And we want to encourage you to use this in a really proactive way. So you can use it in a responsive way when things go well, or you're trying to analyse why something is not quite how you imagined it would be, and you wanted to have a better partnership with a professional, you wanted to have stronger relationships with families, for example, you could use it as a reflective tool for why that is not as strong as you imagined. But the other side is also true. It's an opportunity to recognise when things are going well.
So when you do get positive feedback from your colleagues in primary education ‑ and saying these children are amazing, coming from the early years, into the early years of school, really strong in their communication ‑ it is worth going back and saying, "I wonder why that is the case?" The feedback you get from families about some of the work that you do, I would suggest you go back in here, and what you will see is the articulation of your everyday practice. So I want to encourage you all, if you haven't already, ask a question, make a comment. You could share what you've already done, some of the things you're anticipating and some of the discussion. You can also see here in the way we've woven together the practice principles and the outcomes, and the big ideas that have been elevated in the planning cycle, and the integrated teaching and learning approaches, as well as the work of Aunty Sue and Annette into the work, it's the weaving together of multiple ideas. I want to encourage you all to meander through the document.
Find places where you have new ideas or, indeed, as we've said multiple times now, we want to really encourage a return to the things that you know and feel strengthened and more empowered to enact those, because quality outcome is something we're really looking for for every single child irrespective of where they are across Victoria and in what service they are in. We do want to turn our attention to some practicalities before we end today. Jane, can you just share with us a couple of things that we know are part of initiatives that are going to support the implementation? And then we'll hear from Jed about some of the expectations.
[On-screen text: Professor Jane Page OAM, REEaCH Centre, Faculty of Education, University of Melbourne]
Jane Page: Well, there's been great investment in a number of Victorian teaching resources. So as teachers and educators, you can access the Victorian Kindergarten Learning Progressions. There's a document around them, but also a professional learning that can be engaged in on the hub. We've got the learning and development maps that I understand will be embedded in the VEYLDF very shortly. But we also have the Early Years Assessment and Learning Tool.
I was part of the development of that tool, alongside teachers and teaching teams across Victoria. And what is wonderful about that tool is it supports the assessment for learning piece. It provides eight modules around children's learning and development, and you use your observational evidence to answer questions about every child. And then it shows you where every child sits on a developmental continuum, progression, and you're able to explore over time how that changes, what your impact has been through your planning and rich interactions. And that is a tool that captures learning and development from 2 to 6 years of age.
So it really supports you as 3 and 4‑year‑old kindergartens to capture children's learning progress over time. The Early Childhood Hub also has some wonderful opportunities through learning modules. They are short learning modules, around one hour in length. And they align with the VEYLDF. So there's a learning module on intentional teaching, and there will soon be some further modules that will be released around discipline‑based areas, like executive function which Jed spoke to so powerfully earlier, literacy, numeracy, physical and sensory development and science.
So they will also provide rich opportunities, as individuals and in teams, to engage with the content knowledge that we are supporting children to learn and build over time. So in this way, I think we've got a range of evidence‑informed professional learning, and tools and documents that support us to embed the evidence‑informed practices and principles in the VEYLDF and to really consistently offer those high quality learning experiences for every child that you work with in your learning community.
Catharine Hydon: So many people, of course, will have engaged with some of the things you've already talked about. If you haven't yet, they're all very readily available, and some of them, of course, will be delivered alongside the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework as you get the hardcopy, so watch out for when that arrives. But Jed, we should also clarify exactly what the expectations are. So I've mentioned 2028. So can you tell us a little bit about teachers and educators, what are they expected to be doing between now and 2028?
Jed Gilbert: Yeah. Thank you. So the VEYLDF, of course, is the approved learning framework for Victorian kindergarten services to use under the national law and to receive Victorian kindergarten funding. But what we have done is built in a phased approach to this, because we know it is important to be able to give time, to think this through, to consider the update, and to be able to integrate it into the way that the service is operating. So it's designed to give the sector time to build familiarity and confidence.
But it does mean that from the 1st of January 2028 ‑ so not next year, the year after ‑ all kindergartens in Victoria will be required to use the updated VEYLDF. Now, of course, if you want to use the updated VEYLDF earlier, of course you can dive into it. But it does mean, for instance, that the NQF assessment and rating will include how services are using this. But for teachers and educators, I think it's a really great opportunity to have a talk with your team, to read through the document, have a talk with your ed leader to deepen and extend your professional identity. Whether you've been in the profession for a short time or a long time, I find every time I look at the document it causes me to reflect on something a little bit differently.
So it's an opportunity to use this time to have good team conversations and embed the framework in ways that genuinely strengthen quality practice. And I'm so proud that it sits alongside of an increased level of support from the department, which is the Kindergarten Teaching Excellence approach. It was launched last year and it's really centred in those rich serve‑and‑return interactions with supportive, nurturing relationships and underpinned by deep subject matter expertise. So look out for those modules as they come on to the Early Childhood Hub. You would have registered through the Early Childhood Hub to access this session.
Jump through. There's different courses that are free and evidence‑based for you to use. They're designed in a way where you can access them as an individual or as a team. You can kind of dip in and dip out and use it in a way where you take a chunk of time or you do it in small chunks of time to integrate it into your practice. And as Jane was saying, the elevation of the integrated teaching and learning approaches and the call‑out of intentional teaching in the updated VEYLDF sits alongside these practical resources that you can dip into that are free and evidence‑based.
The other thing I would call out if you are interested in the tool Jane was talking about, the Early Years Assessment and Learning Tool, the EYALT, if your service is not already using that, have a talk to your Director, because the department does offer an on‑boarding grant to be able to cover some of the time it would take to engage in using that new tool. If your service is not already using that, have a look and look if you are interested in on‑boarding on to that. Because it does really link to that do, see, reflect and assessment for learning practice principles. So while we've talked about expectations, I hope I've also talked about the supports, the practical supports that are available that sit along I think what's a really practical document. And being able to align your own personal goals with your service goals, because I know how deeply everyone who is dialling in cares about the quality of education that they're providing in kinder.
And hopefully the VEYLDF and the supports that are rolling out can be a great partner for you as you deepen and extend your professional identity.
Catharine Hydon: I think there's so many opportunities for people as they're thinking about quality improvement, so in quality improvement planning to explore the updated framework, find where the elements that might need a stretch or growth or extension, areas where there might be gaps in your work, and to align them with quality improvement planning. Of course, many of you are going to be in the middle of thinking about School Readiness Funding as well. So think about the use of these really significant concepts in School Readiness Funding planning and implementation. Your insights into the way the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework looks like in practice will be essential. So make sure you speak up and share that with your leaders, because then the opportunities, as Jed has said, for further thinking and development will be targeted to the things that you need as you plan your everyday practice and the ways you enhance your work with children and their families.
So importantly now we want to invite you once again to explore the updated Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework, to take time to identify aspects that are going to be particularly meaningful for you, celebrate the fantastic work that you've already done, and identify areas for stretch and growth. Share it with your colleagues, share it with some of the people who you might work with outside of your organisation, other professionals. Make sure that you're connected to the early years update. The updates that come from the Victorian Department of Education are really important. They will give you insights into additional resources and opportunities that will take place between now and the full implementation in 2028.
Reach out to your local teams in the Victorian Department of Education as well, because they will also be people who can share ideas and strategies with you, and also explore the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework with you. If you have a question or you want to know more about the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework, go to the Victorian Department of Education's website and there is a page dedicated to the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework. And there's an email address there. Take the time to remember that email address and send through your questions and comments, and the team here will use all of that insight to prepare more materials and opportunities in the Early Childhood Hub, and any of the other resources that you can expect to see in the coming years. Thank you so much for joining us at the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework 2026 Information Session.
If you want to know more, check out the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework web page. There's an email address there and I encourage you to use it to ask questions or find out more. Over to you as you explore the updated framework, and I wish you all the best.
[On-screen text: Implementation and support
Printed copies will be distributed to services from Term 3 2026
Implementation period: 2026 to 2028
Professional learning and further resources evolving
Updated VEYLDF will be included in assessment and rating processes from January 2028
Scan the QR code for more information and send questions to: veyldf@education.vic.gov.au]
[End of transcript]
Updated