Employee engagement is a hot topic. Everywhere employees are reviewing their careers, and the value of professional development planning remains a key influencer in retaining and attracting employees.
Every year, Petit Early Learning Journey conducts an annual employee engagement survey. Between each survey, we constantly engage, listen and reflect with our people and take positive action to improve our engagement and their careers.
We use our teams’ feedback to connect and create positive changes in their environments enhancing personal and professional development plans. Our people are our inspiration!
In this culture article, we spoke to People and Culture Operations Manager Melissa Hart and our Education and Practice Advisors (EPA), Emma Davis and Julie Ker, about Petit ELJโs professional development planning and engagement. We discuss:
- Employee engagement survey and approach to professional development goals
- Career Pathways
- Our partnership with Kool Kids Training
- Professional development examples
- Supporting early learning professional development within our centres
- Facilitating professional development programs
Employee engagement survey and professional development planning
โWe run our engagement survey annually,โ says People and Culture Operations Manager Melissa Hart. โThis is a chance for us to hear directly from our team about what we can do to improve our centres.โ
โIt is also a chance for every individual at Petit ELJ to have their say, and we always listen. In 2022 we received 1,149 comments, and I have read every single word.โ
โWe took this as an opportunity to really engage our teams, and we have spent time in each centre working on individualised action plans to help our teams feel engaged.โ
โTo ensure the measures taken are effective, we concentrated on two organisational focus areas and one local (centre or Support Office) focus area. The feedback and comments guided our organisational focus areas:
- Learning and Development
- Resourcing Strategies.”
Career Pathways: Always learning
โOur focus on learning and development at an organisational level has been brought to life by our Career Pathways work.โ
โWe have mapped the different careers you can have at an organisation at Petit ELJ and then updated our scholarship program to support our team to pursue their career aspirations.โ
โWe then developed our Professional Development Calendar, partnering with sector-leading training providers to help grow and support our leaders.โ
โAt Petit ELJ, we understand adult learning is just as important as the learning programs we provide for our children and that adult learning takes many forms.โ
โTo support this, our learning and development focus has taken many approaches, including formal training, coaching and mentoring sessions, professional networking and exposing our team to great developmentally appropriate challenges to help them grow.โ
Partnership with Kool Kids Training College
โOur partnership with Kool Kids Training College operates in every state except the ACT. It focuses on delivering high-quality training for anyone wanting to build their careers with Petit ELJ.โ
โWe have chosen to work with Kool Kids because of their passion for building the early learning sector up and helping individuals to learn through experience as well as formal learning which aligns with our philosophy.โ
โWe also appreciate how they support us to grow the sector overall.โ
Petit ELJโs focus on our teamโs learning and development has had exceptional results, especially in reducing turnover across our centres.
Professional development examples
At our Petit ELJ Caloundra service, our teamโs engagement with professional and personal development has been phenomenal with:
- Centre Director Doug, with Educators Sammy and Tammy attending the Caloundra Early Years Educators Coalition
- Educational Leader Shae-Lea participating in the Queensland Department of Educationโs North Coast Regionโs Educational Leader Professional Program
- Regular and consistent team meetings with local guests, including Lauren from Sunshine Coast Councilโs Waste 2 Resource STARS Program
- Educators Joanne and Louise attending an Early Learning Languages Australia workshop in Brisbane
- Educational Leader Shae-Lea supporting Meriden State Collegeโs Mock Interview Day for Year 10 Students
- Educational Leader Shae-Lea and Educator Brittany to attend an Inclusion Support QLDโs Professional Conversations series – with a reflective focus on Supporting Children with Challenging Behaviours
- Educator Jasmin waiting for her final assessment for her Certificate 3 in Early Childhood Education and Care to be marked, with her tutorโs visit to the centre imminent
Finally, Petit ELJ Caloundra is organising and hosting the Term 2 Early Years Coalition Meeting at their centre. It is the first time it has been hosted outside Talara Primary College.
How our education and practice advisors support early learning professional development within our centres.
At Petit ELJ, our Support Office Education and Practice Advisors, Julie Ker and Emma Davis, provide exceptional mentorship and support for our centreโs educational leadership roles and teaching teams.
Supporting early learning professional development
โAt Petit ELJ, we value each educatorโs learning journey,โ says Julie, โto ensure we can guide and mentor each individual and teaching team to grow in their own way through professional development learning experiences.โ
โThe education and practice advisor roles guide and mentor the educational leaders by investing time to review the current areas of the team that need our support and growth. We can nurture this growth in many ways, such as:
- Presenting team training sessions at service team meetings designed to set focus areas for each serviceโs growth areas. This could include internal and external professional learning experiences, both online and face-to-face
- Supporting the design of professional development plans with the educational leader and the people and culture manager for all educators within Petit ELJ
- Facilitating network meetings to inspire and enable meaningful learning.โ
โThe teaching team can also use the Petit ELJ Educator Portal to engage in online learning to ensure all regulation training is in place and areas link to key improvement areas.โ
โThe overall aim is to grow knowledge to embed quality practices through play-based learning and to support each educatorโs learning journey.โ
On professional development for teachers
โThe role of the education and practice advisor is about quality improvement, critical reflection of current practice and exploring new ways of โbeingโ and โdoingโ.โ
โThere is a large component of mentoring and coaching in the role which involves working alongside educators to model best practice and coaching educational leaders in their role including exploring leadership styles.โ
โThe education and practice advisor shares research and ideas, guiding practice and teams to explore the best outcomes for children in their specific service context.โ
โWe work alongside external professional development to further explore concepts and deliver โin-houseโ professional development through our everyday work.โ
Facilitating professional development programs
โLeadership is a learning journey with many corners to weave around,โ says Julie.
โWe have implemented monthly Petit Educational Leader Network meetings to create a learning community where knowledge is shared, and connections are created with open minds to new practices.โ
โOver the last four months, we have embedded these network meetings and implemented professional development learning experiences enabling leadership skills to grow and nurturing a deeper knowledge of pedagogy in practice.โ
โThis has also been a similar learning experience for Petit ELJโs early childhood teachers as we gather each term for a network meeting to inquire into professional learning topics and explore new perspectives to invest growth as professionals.โ
โThese meetings unpack and explore topics such as intentional teaching, school readiness and the role of the educational leader,โ says Emma.
โCoaching and mentoring through team meetings with the educational leader and onsite visits have been used to explore behaviour guidance techniques and continue on from the Circle of SecurityTM training provided at one of our services.โ
โThe education and practice advisor team provides regular updates with resources from relevant topics within the services. We have recently focused on critical reflection.โ
โGrowing through learning,โ says Julie, โis our pathway to embedding quality outcomes for all educators, children and families!โ
Grow your career with Petit Early Learning Journey
Our teaching teams are a group of passionate educators dedicated to researching best practices, working closely with one another on the best teaching methods, and continually reflecting on how to support the individual needs and growth of each child in their care.
Are you seeking to grow your early childhood education and care career with a passionate team of like-minded individuals? At Petit ELJ we value upskilling, professional and personal development, looking after our team’s wellbeing, providing a work-life balance and creating an environment where there is a strong sense of belonging.
