Victorian Educational Leadership Program

Expressions of interest for Term 2 2025 have closed.

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 in partnership with the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and the Early Learning and Care Council of Australia to deliver the Victorian Educational Leadership Program (VELP).

This program comprises 2 micro-credentials available to Educational Leaders in Victorian funded kindergarten services:

1. VELP Foundations is designed for new Educational Leaders with 1-2 years’ experience. It 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 is designed for experienced Educational Leaders with 2+ years’ experience. It focuses on advanced leadership models, fostering effective team teaching, and driving reflective practice in teams.

The micro-credentials 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 cohort experience, Educational Leaders will only complete one micro-credential.

Each micro-credential aligns with the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework and the National Quality Standard.

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

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

FREE and the Victorian Department of Education also provides 2-days of backfill contribution (valued $766 excluding GST) to Approved Providers to support the release of their Educational Leaders to complete the program.

Term 2 Application Dates

• Expressions of interest – Closed
• Offers to successful EOI applicants sent out – 11 March 2025
• Orientation session – 31 March/2 April 2025
• Course commences – 22 April 2025
• Course concludes – 23 June 2025

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:

1. Up to 5% of available places will be prioritised for Educational Leaders who identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.
2. 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).
3. Priority will then be given for Educational Leaders that work in services in areas of high disadvantage and vulnerability.
4. 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.
5. 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 with 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, made meaningful through the use of practical examples, including vignettes of practice case studies. The courses are inclusive of Educational Leaders working across a diverse 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.
• Workshops are held for 1.5 hours each alternate fortnight in small tutorial style groups of 16-18 Educational Leaders. These sessions enable rich and deep 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, with participants identifying a project and research question for inquiry that has relevance and meaning for 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.

Class dates

*Please note, Foundations, Seminar 1, is scheduled for a Tuesday due to several Public Holidays throughout the term.

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.

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Contact us

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