Regulation 118 requires the approved provider to designate, in writing, a suitably qualified and experienced educator, coordinator or other individual as educational leader. The purpose is specific: to lead development and implementation of the service’s educational programs. Regulation 148 requires the staff record to identify the designated person.

NQS Element 7.2.2 extends the quality expectation: the educational leader is supported and leads both the educational program and the assessment and planning cycle. Effective leadership therefore requires authority, time, information, relationships and practical support, not a title alone.

Clarify locally

• the written designation, position description and reporting relationship
• decision making authority and matters requiring consultation or approval
• allocated time, access to records and opportunities to observe and meet with educators
• how concerns, barriers and resource needs are escalated
• how leadership continues during absence and how capability is distributed

A curriculum direction explains what the service values, what it is seeking for children and how educators make purposeful decisions. It should be grounded in the service philosophy, the updated VEYLDF, children’s strengths and rights, family and community knowledge, the NQS and current evidence.

Build coherence without demanding sameness

• make the connection between philosophy, outcomes, practice principles and daily decisions visible
• develop shared language for play, intentional teaching, agency, inclusion, assessment and evaluation
• agree on essential expectations while allowing professional judgement and responsiveness
• help educators explain why an experience, environment or interaction matters
• ensure planning begins with children, not templates, displays or adult activity lists
• revisit direction when children, families, evidence or community circumstances change

Element 1.3.1 describes an ongoing cycle of observation, analysing learning, documentation, planning, implementation and reflection. Element 1.3.2 requires critical reflection to drive planning and implementation. The leader helps educators understand the thinking within the cycle, rather than treating documentation as production work.

Lead inquiry through the full cycle

1. Notice: identify learning, strengths, interests, participation, wellbeing, questions and patterns.
2. Gather: include children’s communication, family knowledge, observations and relevant service evidence.
3. Analyse: interpret carefully using the VEYLDF, theory, context and more than one perspective.
4. Plan: decide a purposeful response, environment, interaction or teaching strategy.
5. Implement: act responsively and notice intended and unintended effects.
6. Evaluate: determine what changed for children and the next decision.

Review documentation for meaning, not decoration or volume. Ask whether it shows a connection between evidence, analysis, decision and evaluation; whether each child is known; and whether families receive useful information. No single format is required by the NQS.

Educational leadership develops capability through relationships and deliberate support. Coaching helps an educator think, test and evaluate. Mentoring may include sharing knowledge and modelling. Direction is appropriate when an expectation is clear or risk requires immediate action. Strong leaders know which approach the moment requires.

A purposeful coaching conversation

1. establish the question and intended outcome for children
2. invite the educator’s account and listen for reasoning, knowledge and uncertainty
3. examine specific evidence rather than personality or reputation
4. connect practice with the framework, policy, ethics and current expectations
5. offer modelling, observation, resources or practice opportunities suited to need
6. agree on a small, clear action, evidence and review date
7. follow up, recognise growth and address continuing gaps

Adapt support to the person’s experience, qualification, role, culture and learning needs without lowering essential expectations. Psychological safety means people can ask, question and acknowledge mistakes without humiliation. It does not mean avoiding accountability.

Leaders need enough visibility of practice to understand its quality. Useful monitoring includes purposeful observation, discussion with educators and children, review of planning and documentation, family feedback and patterns in incidents, participation or complaints. It is transparent and proportionate, not secret surveillance or constant interference.

When a concern appears

• separate facts, interpretation and information still required
• consider impact on children’s safety, dignity, rights, inclusion and learning
• check the current policy, framework, legal requirement and role authority
• act immediately where safety or prohibited conduct may be involved
• escalate through the Nominated Supervisor, responsible person, Education Manager or other required pathway
• make any direct statutory report that applies to your own role and circumstances
• document factually and protect confidentiality
• after immediate action, examine systems, supervision, capability and prevention

Curriculum is never neutral. Decisions about whose language, knowledge, family, ability, culture and ways of participating are recognised shape belonging and access. Educational leadership helps the team notice patterns that individual observations may miss.

Lead questions that widen the lens

• Whose ideas and communication are influencing the program?
• Who participates easily, who has to adapt and who is repeatedly absent or positioned as a problem?
• How are children supported to express views and influence decisions in ways available to them?
• Do environments and routines anticipate disability, neurodiversity, language and sensory difference?
• Are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives embedded respectfully in everyday practice rather than confined to events or generic resources?
• Which family and community knowledge should inform interpretation and planning?
• What assumptions are embedded in our observations, labels and expectations?

Seek cultural guidance through respectful and authorised relationships. Avoid asking one child, family member or colleague to represent an entire culture. Examine resources for authenticity, stereotypes, tokenism and whose authority is recognised.

Leadership quality is demonstrated through influence on practice and outcomes, not the number of meetings, resources or corrected plans. Begin with a focused question, establish the current evidence, agree on an action and decide how effect will be reviewed.

Evidence may include

• educators’ reasoning becoming clearer and more consistent
• stronger links across observation, analysis, planning, implementation and evaluation
• children’s increased agency, engagement, belonging, learning or wellbeing
• family knowledge becoming more visible in curriculum decisions
• fewer repeated barriers, unsafe patterns or unnecessary documentation tasks
• team confidence to question, seek help and challenge practice respectfully
• self assessment and QIP evidence showing an embedded and sustained change

Report barriers and resource needs clearly to those with authority. Connect curriculum findings to service self assessment, the QIP, professional learning plans, policies, environments and workforce decisions. Record what will happen, who is responsible, the support required and when evidence will be reviewed.

Make leadership sustainable

Share knowledge, develop aspiring leaders, keep records accessible, establish routines for dialogue and ensure the program does not depend on one person’s memory or availability. Distributed leadership does not blur accountability; it builds collective capability within clear roles.