Supporting the Leaders Who Lead Practice Every Day

When we talk about leadership in early childhood, our attention can naturally go to Centre Directors, Area Managers, State Managers and Approved Providers.

But so much of the leadership that shapes a service happens somewhere else.

It happens on the floor.

It happens when a Room Leader notices an educator is struggling and takes the time to support them. When an Educational Leader asks a thoughtful question that encourages an educator to reflect differently. When someone helps a team move beyond “this is how we’ve always done it” and begin considering what their practice is actually communicating about children, learning and their shared values.

These everyday leadership moments matter.

And the people carrying them need support too.

Leadership development needs to reach the floor

Area and State Managers have an important role in creating the conditions for strong leadership across their services.

It can be easy, particularly across larger organisations, for professional development to focus heavily on operational priorities, compliance requirements or the needs of Centre Directors. These things are important, but we also need to consider the leaders working directly alongside educators.

Room Leaders and Educational Leaders are often the people translating a service’s vision into everyday practice.

They are mentoring educators, supporting reflection, navigating conversations, noticing inconsistencies in practice and helping teams make decisions about curriculum and pedagogy.

We cannot simply give someone a leadership title and expect them to know how to do all of this confidently.

Leadership needs to be developed.

That means giving people access to meaningful professional learning, opportunities to reflect and collaborate, and ongoing support to take what they have learned back into their service.

Professional development is an investment in the whole centre

When an organisation invests in an Educational Leader, it is not only investing in one person.

There is the potential for that learning to ripple through an entire service.

A leader who becomes clearer about their role can support educators with greater clarity. A leader who develops stronger skills in critical reflection can create better reflective conversations within their team. A leader who understands how to guide rather than simply monitor practice can begin building capability in the educators around them.

This is where professional development becomes much more than attending a training day.

The real value is in what happens afterwards.

What conversations does the leader take back to their team?

What questions do they begin asking?

What practices are reconsidered, simplified or strengthened?

And how is the manager continuing to support that leader as they put their learning into practice?

Supporting practice growth across multiple services

For Area and State Managers, developing Educational Leaders can also create opportunities for greater shared direction across an organisation.

This does not mean every centre should look exactly the same. Each service has its own children, families, educators, community and context.

Consistency should not mean sameness.

Instead, we can build shared understanding around why we do what we do.

When leaders have opportunities to learn together, examine practice together and develop a common language around pedagogy, reflection and curriculum decision-making, they are better placed to take those conversations back to their individual services.

Over time, that can help professional learning move beyond an isolated workshop and become part of an organisation’s approach to continuous improvement.

And then there is retention

We also need to think about what investing in leadership communicates to the people within our organisations.

Retention in early childhood is complex. There is no single professional development program that can address all the reasons an educator or leader may choose to leave.

But feeling supported, having opportunities to grow and being given the tools to carry out a leadership role well all matter.

If we ask Educational Leaders to mentor teams, improve practice, support curriculum decision-making and lead change, while giving them little opportunity to develop their own capability, we risk creating leadership roles that feel like another layer of responsibility.

Professional development sends a different message:

We see the importance of your role, and we are prepared to invest in helping you grow within it.

For organisations thinking about retention, perhaps one of the questions to ask is not only, “How do we keep our educators?”

It is also:

“How are we developing the leaders who support those educators every day?”

The Educational Leader Intensive: From Vision to Sustainable Practice

This thinking sits behind the STEPPING STONES Educational Leader Intensive: From Vision to Sustainable Practice.

The Intensive is a private, full-day professional learning experience designed for organisations wanting to strengthen the capability of their Educational Leaders.

Rather than asking leaders to sit and listen to information that may or may not reflect their reality, participants bring a real, de-identified curriculum journey from their service and work with me to examine what is actually happening in practice.

Together, we explore the Educational Leader role, shared vision and goals, stakeholder ownership, curriculum workload and expectations, critical reflection, summative assessment and leadership action planning.

Importantly, we look at the complete curriculum planning journey and ask what needs to be:

KEEP — SIMPLIFY — COMBINE — REMOVE

The intention is not to add another layer of work.

It is to help Educational Leaders become clearer about their role, strengthen their ability to influence practice and develop practical ways of guiding educators without becoming responsible for doing everything themselves.

Each participating leader also leaves with an individual leadership action plan and a private follow-up consultation, creating an opportunity to continue the conversation once they return to their service.

What happens after the training matters

For me, this is where the role of the Area or State Manager becomes particularly important.

Sending someone to professional development is only the beginning.

Imagine what can happen when a manager follows that learning with genuine curiosity:

What stood out for you?

What are you noticing differently in your service?

What would you like to change?

What support do you need from me to make that possible?

That conversation tells a leader that their professional growth matters.

It also creates a bridge between professional development and everyday practice.

Because ultimately, investing in leadership is not about creating more leadership tasks.

It is about building people’s capacity to lead meaningful practice, support the educators around them and contribute to a centre culture where people can continue to learn and grow.

When we strengthen the leaders on the floor, we are not only supporting an individual Educational Leader.

We are investing in the practice, culture and people of the whole service.

Janine Kelly

Janine Kelly is an early childhood teacher, experienced Educational Leader, author and founder of STEPPING STONES Professional Development.

She holds a four-year Bachelor of Early Childhood Teaching degree and brings more than 30 years of experience across the Australian and Canadian early childhood sectors. Her roles have included educator, teacher, Educational Leader, Assistant Director and Responsible Person.

Janine has supported services through multiple Assessment and Rating processes, including achieving Exceeding across all seven National Quality Standard areas. She is the author of

The Connected Child and creator of the Connect–Regulate–Guide–Reflect Framework.

Her practical, relationship-focused approach helps leaders translate professional learning into meaningful and sustainable changes in practice.