The Women & Leadership Australia has embarked on a noble initiative to improve academic standard within the region and beyond.
Many early childhood education and care (ECEC) professionals have ambitions of elevating their careers by moving into positions of leadership, and with workforce constraints increasingly prevalent in the sector, savvy approved providers are increasingly committed to solid leadership development pipelines.
The National Quality Standard, in Element 7.2.3, outlines the importance of supporting and developing educators and other staff, including leaders, in their roles as part of the overall leadership and governance of the service.
As such, approved providers are responsible for ensuring that each team member’s role and responsibilities are clearly defined, that their performance is regularly reviewed, and that individualised learning and development plans are in place.
Many ECEC services like to use the new financial year as an opportunity for a ‘mid year reset,’ evaluating the progress of the service against its calendar year goals and the Quality Improvement Plan, using any newly refreshed Budget lines to identify and address needs in the team.
Leadership support:
For those teams who have identified a need to respond to their emerging or established leaders, the team at Women & Leadership Australia (WLA) have developed a number of opportunities and options.
Recognising the need to support not only future ECEC leaders, but also the needs of approved providers to have highly trained and competent leaders at the helm, WLA has tailored their offering to the unique needs of the ECEC sector in order to offer women a solid leadership foundation by supporting them to improve their leadership skills, build networks and connections with women from other fields and professions, and participate in flexible professional development.
Recognising the financial constraints of women working in the ECEC sector as wage negotiations continue to progress WLA has also developed a scholarship program, which provides between $1,000 and $5,000 to women in ECEC and other selected sectors, fields and industries to undertake this learning opportunity.
The scholarships are available for flexible online leadership courses, centred around four tiers which cater for women at all levels of leadership.
Skills for workplace impact:
In this 10 week program, designed for women at any level, including those outside formal leadership,participants will develop and refine ‘game changing’ interpersonal and communication skills to improve both their impact and their confidence at work.
This course has a $1,000 partial scholarship available, and involves a time commitment of one to two hours per week in an online learning environment.
Modules include:
Self-understanding
Impactful Communications
Productive Conflict
Conscious Decision Making
Maximising Effort and Energy
Early career managers:
The ideal course for those who are in the early stages of developing their management skills, the Leading Edge course is delivered over a four month time frame, and is designed to enable the transition of aspiring and early career women managers into confident, capable and motivated leaders.
Also eligible for a $1,000 partial scholarship, this course has an average two hour per week time spend and is delivered online, with modules including:
Supporting Leadership Performance
Effective Interpersonal Communication and Feedback
Emotional Intelligence and Conflict
Career and Professional Growth
Elements of a Successful Team
Executive Ready:
For those who are mid-level managers, the Executive Ready course is designed to propel leaders forward toward top tier performance, behaviours and mindsets, and attracts a $3,000 partial scholarship.
Running over seven months, this online course requires a two hour a week time commitment and sees leaders exploring topics such as:
Leadership and Authenticity
Communication, Presence and Influence
Team Dynamics
Driving Performance
Leading Innovation and Change
Senior and executive leadership:
Senior and executive leaders who are ready to embrace a spirit of continuous learning and further refine their leadership skills are invited to explore the Advanced Leadership Program, a high impact and challenging leadership development course which is delivered part time over a nine month period.
Attracting the top tier $5,000 partial scholarship, this course requires 1.5 hours a week of online learning commitment, and explores topics such as:
Leadership and Authenticity
Empowering Teams
Reinforcing Resilience and Wellbeing
Redefining Your Role
Progressing Diversity and Inclusion
At all levels, the programs combine evidence based theory and applied learning to drive high impact practice which is tailored specifically to women leaders with flexible, part-time and online delivery which aligns with the many competing demands they face.
Content in the courses is designed not only to reflect expectations and experiences of leaders at each different tier, but also to be implemented quickly and easily into the existing leadership workflow.
Peer coaching sessions, which consist of women from many different sectors and industries, expose participants to the experience of coaching, and being coached by others, as well as giving unique insights into the challenges and complexities faced by women in divergent leadership spaces.
Previous participants in the program have reflected on the experience, saying the experience of gender based, leadership specific professional development has not only facilitated their personal and professional growth, but also about various functional aspects of leadership such as guiding change management or the dysfunction and engagement of teams.
“In terms of my own coping mechanisms,” one participant explained, “I’m much more relaxed, in spite of the busy role that I have, and the challenges that I face.”
“Courses like these help,” she continued. “The bottom line is the glass ceiling still exists. Daily there are challenges which demonstrate unconscious bias. Being in these courses places you in an environment where women can learn skills and realise that they’re not in isolation.”
Scholarship applications for all four tiers are open now, and close Wednesday 31 July 2024. Enrolments are strictly limited.
To find out more or to apply, please visit the dedicated ECEC scholarship page, or phone 1300 938 571.
You can leverage on this opportunity to advance your career and network with other professionals.