About the Department
The role of the Department of Education is to support Victorians to build prosperous, socially engaged, happy and healthy lives. It does this by supporting lifelong learning and healthy development, strengthening families and helping to equip people with the skills and knowledge for a 21st century economy and society.
About the Branch
The Early Childhood Improvement Branch implements key government Early Childhood policy, initiatives, reforms, and strategies at a local level. The Branch supports Early Childhood providers and services in Areas. The Branch has multiple responsibilities, including supporting services with kindergarten programs and the implementation of the suite of Early Childhood reforms including, Pre‐Prep, three‐year‐old kindergarten and the Best Start, Best Life reforms, as well as driving improvement in service delivery and outcomes for children across the Early Childhood sector.
About the Role
This is a full time, ongoing role. The Kindergarten Improvement Advisor role is to advise, support and build the capacity of funded kindergarten services to continuously improve service quality, particularly through the implementation of early childhood reforms, Best Start, Best Life reforms and the delivery of School Readiness Funding. The Kindergarten Improvement Advisor will need to draw on experience and knowledge in an early learning context, administration of early childhood services and curriculum delivery. To be successful in this role you should have excellent interpersonal, influencing, and analytical skills. You will possess a strong understanding of quality pedagogical practices and a strong knowledge of the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework (VEYLDF). Group facilitation skills and experience would be an advantage. You will play a lead role in strengthening early childhood service collaboration, which will ultimately support services through a time of significant reform activity, help create a culture of trust and reflection, and improve transitions for children and families between services and into school. Flexibility will be required during periods of surge activity.
Key Responsibilities
* establishing and maintaining strong working relationships with funded kindergarten services.
* applying problem‐solving skills to manage problems and decisions.
* utilise department systems, including the Kindergarten Information and Service Agreement Management systems.
* engaging in meaningful conversations with services, using data and evidence, to identify and address the needs of the services as it relates to educationally disadvantaged children.
* fostering the development of collaborative relationships widely in the community.
* understanding current research and developments in the early childhood sector, identifying implications and opportunities.
* provide advice to the Early Childhood Improvement Manager on delivery issues, operational perspectives and policy implications.
* enabling collaboration between early childhood services and schools to build local communities of practice.
* implementing quality assurance measures to ensure that early childhood reforms are delivered in line with Departmental requirements.
* providing support, tools and advice to early childhood service providers to assist them to develop plans in response to their identified challenges in delivering early childhood reforms.
* advising and supporting funded kindergartens to plan the best use of allocated Early Childhood reform funding. This may include, but is not limited to, receipting, reviewing, signing off and approving Early Childhood reform funding plans.
* working collaboratively as part of a team and strengthening Area and state‐wide connections including the Victorian Early Childhood Regulatory Division (VECRA).
Attributes
* Strong project management skills and ability to use critical thinking and problem‐solving skills to provide innovative solutions to complex issues.
* Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills, including the ability to build and develop strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
* Ability to work collaboratively within a multidisciplinary team.
* Capacity to effectively analyse data and utilise this to inform decision making and be able to work proactively and independently.
Desirable Qualifications and Experience
* A Bachelor's degree in Education – Early Childhood.
* Recent relevant experience in an early childhood setting, or other clearly relevant and transferrable knowledge and skills.
* Good working knowledge of the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework (VEYLDF).
* Current Working with Children Check/VIT.
Equal Opportunity & Diversity
The department values diversity and inclusion in all forms – gender, religion, ethnicity, LGBTIQ+, disability and neurodiversity. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
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