Educational Leader | Three days a week, community-managed not-for-profit

East Melbourne · Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday · 21 paid hours per week · $42-43 per hour plus Educational Leader allowance

If you come away from an early childhood conference thinking, I'd love to try that with our nursery team, this role gives you the time to do it. You will have three days each week to work alongside educators, introduce them to contemporary practice and come back to see what changed for the children.

Benefits

• Three fixed days, entirely outside ratio. Work Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, with all 21 paid hours dedicated to educational leadership, with the possibility of a fourth day if desired.
• Pay and conditions under the Professional Community Standard 2025 approx $42-$44 per hour
• Five weeks of annual leave and three weeks of paid personal leave each year — an extra week of each, pro rata for part-time.
• Above-ratio staffing in every room, professional development and networking opportunities, and the support of a long-standing leadership team and community management committee.

About the service

What will you play with us when you come? is one of the questions children have contributed to educator interviews. It gives you a fair idea of whose opinions count here.

A short walk from Jolimont Station, this community-managed, not-for-profit service offers long day care and integrated kindergarten for children from birth to five. The service achieved an Exceeding rating in all seven quality areas of the National Quality Standard.

Children have a say in decisions that affect them. Since 2019, the co-operative's Children's Advisory Council has given four-year-old kindergarten children a way to put their ideas to the adults who can act on them. Their views have helped shape the co-operative's philosophy and Quality Improvement Plan. That respect for children's choices carries through in every aspect of the operation.

Families contribute what they know about their children, and educators work with an Aboriginal cultural consultant to bring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives into the program. Children also have opportunities to care for their environment through gardening and looking after a worm farm.

About the role

You will have 21 paid hours each week, entirely outside ratio, to work alongside educators from the nursery through to kindergarten. You will join room leaders during planning time, observe practice, model approaches and give each team feedback on its program every term.

In the nursery, that might mean sitting with an educator who has noticed a baby turning away during a care routine. What might the baby be communicating? What happens if the educator pauses and gives them time to respond? In kindergarten, you will support the teaching team to continue the work of the Children's Advisory Council, help with programming or support with the school transition.

There is room here for someone who seeks out new thinking. If a conference session or a piece of research makes you rethink an aspect of practice, you will have time to explore it with the educators who know those children, try it together and return to see what difference it made.

About you

To be considered for this Educational Leader position, you will need:

• A Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care or an approved equivalent qualification. Applicants with a recognised early childhood teaching degree are welcome.
• At least three years' experience working directly with children, together with demonstrated experience leading education and care for children from birth to six.
• Experience mentoring educators, modelling teaching practices and providing constructive feedback on curriculum planning, documentation and assessment of children's learning.
• A sound knowledge of child development, the Early Years Learning Framework, the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework, the National Quality Standard and the Victorian Child Safe Standards.
• A current Victorian Working with Children Check or Victorian Institute of Teaching registration, plus a current Police Check.
• Current Level 2 First Aid, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation, asthma and anaphylaxis management training, and child protection and mandatory reporting training.
• Previous experience in a community-managed early childhood service is highly regarded.

How to apply

Apply with your résumé or call Josh Freeman at Early Years Talent on 0435 173 533 for a confidential conversation. Shortlisted candidates will have the opportunity for a five-to-ten-minute phone call with the service before a formal interview. A start within the next two weeks may be possible.