Victorian Educational Leadership Program

Through the $14 billion Best Start, Best Life (BSBL) reform, the Victorian Government is providing Educational Leaders with an opportunity to develop their pedagogical leadership and change management skills.

The Victorian Department of Education is working with the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and the Early Learning and Care Council of Australia to deliver the Victorian Educational Leadership Program (VELP).

The VELP offers the following micro-credential courses:

VELP Foundations is for new Educational Leaders with 1-2 years’ experience. Learn about leadership, change management theory, team teaching, observation and assessment.
VELP Advanced is for experienced Educational Leaders with 2+ years’ experience. Learn about advanced leadership models, effective team teaching, and reflective practice in teams.

The courses 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

As both courses within the program follow the same model and are separated based on levels of experience, Educational Leaders will only complete one micro-credential course.

Each course aligns with the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework and the National Quality Standard.

Program summary

Duration

The course requires a time commitment of 50 hours over a 10-week period comprising:

1.5 hours of synchronous contact learning per week (15 hours total)
3.5 hours of independent learning per week (35 hours total)

Cost

This program is free. The Victorian Department of Education also provides 2 days of backfill contribution (valued $840 excluding GST) to Approved Providers. This is to support the release of their Educational Leaders to complete the program.

Eligibility and Prioritisation Criteria

To be eligible for VELP, applicants must:

be employed as an Educational Leader in a Victorian funded kindergarten program
have the support of their Approved Provider noting the course will take 50 hours to complete
complete a 250 to 500 word response to the question in the online Expression of Interest Form “Please outline your reasons for undertaking the course, the expected contributions your involvement will bring to your service, and how this aligns to your career aspirations.”

There are only 100 places available – 50 places in VELP Foundations and 50 places in VELP Advanced. If the program is oversubscribed, priority will be given to Educational Leaders that meet the following prioritisation criteria:

Up to 5% of available places will be prioritised for Educational Leaders who identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.
Priority will then be given for Educational Leaders who work in an early childhood service that is next in line to roll out the Best Start, Best Life reform (see roll-out schedule).
Priority will then be given for Educational Leaders that work in services in areas of high disadvantage and vulnerability.
Priority will then be given for Educational Leaders that work in services with low overall ratings against the National Quality Standard who are not participating in the Kindergarten Quality Improvement Program.
Priority will then be given to support a fair distribution of Educational Leaders that:
- work in a service located in a rural, regional and metro location
- hold a Certificate III or Diploma in Early Childhood Education and Care, or a university-level teaching degree
- work in for profit and not-for-profit service
- identify as being culturally and linguistically diverse.

Course Design and Content

Both courses, VELP Foundations and VELP Advanced follow the same model. There are four learning modules per course. Each module has carefully calibrated content, teaching, and learning approaches. The modules include:

Educational Leadership
Leading learning through play and integrated teaching and learning approaches
Leading teams in observation and assessment
Leading reflective practice

Each course is informed by cutting-edge academic research and includes meaningful practical examples, including vignettes of practice and case studies. Each course caters for Educational Leaders in a range of early childhood service types and locations.

Course Delivery & Dates

The course is delivered completely online via Zoom.

Each course has two core learning approaches:

Lecture style seminars are held for 1.5 hours each fortnight with all 50 Educational Leaders online.
Small tutorial workshops (also 1.5 hours) are held each alternate fortnight in groups of 16-18 participants. These sessions enable exploration of seminar content and support with action research projects.

There is also independent guided learning (readings, online discussion forum, workbook). Participants will undertake 50 hours of learning in total across the course.

VELP includes the following:

Action Research Project – Action research is a core component of each course. Participants identifying an action research question for inquiry. The research project will be meaningful in their role as Educational Leader.
Showcase event – An end of program showcase event will see participants present their action research project to peers. This forms part of your final assessment.
Paired learning – Action research project completed in pairs, with fellow course participant.

Certificate of Completion: Micro credential

At the completion of the course, and on submission of the two assessment tasks, you will receive a Certificate of Completion from QUT. VELP Foundations and VELP Advanced are accredited by QUT as micro-credentials, in accordance with the National Micro Credential Framework.

Alumni and Champions program

VELP course graduates will belong to an Alumni program, sustaining engagement and learning. Course graduates will be invited to join one formal online network gathering meeting 6 months post course completion. In addition, graduates will be invited ‘back’ to be part of future course showcase events.

VELP facilitators

Megan Gibson is a highly experienced early childhood educator who is passionate about providing the highest quality education and care programs for young children, and their families.
Megan is committed to strong connections with the profession through ongoing ‘real world’ work, including applied research. A focus central to her research is preparing, growing and sustaining the early years workforce – so they can, in turn, provide programs that are optimally beneficial for children.
Elizabeth Death has extensive national experience in social policy and service delivery coupled with a solid track record of achievement at senior levels within Government, community services, early learning and care, Ministerial offices and tertiary institutions.
In her current role as CEO and Executive Director of the Early Learning and Care Council of Australia, Elizabeth represents the nation’s largest providers of early learning and care services who delivery over 25 percent of services across metropolitan, regional, rural and remote locations across Australia.
Marie White teaches and researches in early childhood education and has recent experience as the Director of a community kindergarten in Queensland. Leveraging this experience, Marie teaches in the professional experience units within our initial teacher education programs. Her PhD and continuing research focus on effective leadership in ECEC and development of the ECEC workforce.
Marie has just been appointed to the leadership role of Course Coordinator for QUT’s Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood).
Julia Mascadri is a lecturer in the School of Early Childhood and Inclusive Education within the Faculty of Education. Her research interests include pedagogical practice in early childhood education, intercultural education, epistemic beliefs, and inclusive education. Julia’s PhD thesis explored early childhood educators’ intercultural competence through the lens of self-authorship.
In 2017, she received the Faculty of Education Outstanding Thesis Award, Queensland University of Technology.
Jessamine Giese brings extensive leadership experience and recency of practice guiding and mentoring teams of educators in early childhood settings. Jessamine has engaged in substantial academic learning, most recently through her PhD studies, where she is currently researching how teams of educators make curricular and pedagogical decisions in long day care centres. In her current role as Student Support Officer at Early Learning and Care Council of Australia (ELACCA), Jessamine works with educators to support them in their journey to achieve an early childhood teaching degree qualification.
Jessamine performs a dual role in VELP. As VELP Facilitator (ELACCA), you might see Jessamine assisting in seminars and leading workshops. You may also connect with her via email through the enrolment process as Program Manager & Support (QUT).
Kim Crisp is an early childhood teacher, with extensive experience spanning over 30 years in the early childhood sector. Throughout her career, Kim has held various roles including teaching children, leading educators, managing services, and has been involved in a number of research projects on the early childhood workforce.
In her current role as Professional Learning Manager at Early Learning and Care Council of Australia, Kim works with universities and students to codesign professional learning and to support studying early childhood educators.

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Contact us

You can contact us by email at VELP@qut.edu.au

Early childhood

Updated 14 October 2025