Wednesday, 31 August 2022

Ministers statements: early years assessment and learning tool

Ms STITT (Western Metropolitan—Minister for Workplace Safety, Minister for Early Childhood and Pre-Prep) (12:15): I am pleased to update the house on how the Andrews Labor government are supporting teachers and educators with innovative teaching tools as we continue with our nation-leading kinder reforms. On Monday I was pleased to join the Labor candidate for Yan Yean, Lauren Kathage, at Whittlesea Pre-school to officially launch the new early years assessment and learning tool in conjunction with staff who participated in the pilot. Developed in partnership with the University of Melbourne and the Department of Education and Training, the tool has been trialled with 300 early childhood teachers and their co-educators and draws on data from more than 5000 observations of children across over 150 services.

We know that there is a lot of work that goes into planning and delivering a quality kindergarten program, and this online tool will support early childhood teachers and educators to make high-quality observations about children’s learning and development. It offers structure for critical reflection, helping teachers plan and deliver high-quality learning and play programs that are tailored to the needs of individual children. The early years assessment and learning tool will be rolled out in a phased way from 2023 to 2025, with up to 350 services gaining access in the first tranche from term 1, 2023. I invite services to join the rollout of this innovative and practical tool. It is just one of the many ways that the Andrews Labor government are supporting our early years workforce as we roll out our nation-leading Best Start, Best Life reforms.