Government Resources
There are a number of government organisations and departments that create, collate and share resources designed for early childhood professionals to use or implement. Here is a non-exhaustive list of those websites and their resource pages, where you can explore to find exactly what you are looking for.
ACECQA
The ACECQA website contains resources aimed to help overall quality improvement, based on the NQF.
Department of Education
The Department of Education and Training website contains information needed to run ECEC programs.
FUSE Early Childhood
FUSE was created to help teachers and educators deliver learning experiences on a range of topics.
Starting Blocks
Starting Blocks is a website aimed at educating parents and guardians. It has ample resources on child development.
VCAA
The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority website contains resources to help teachers and educators improve their understanding and undertaking of assessment and curriculum planning.
VIT
The Victorian Institute of Teaching website contains professional learning resources to help provisionally registered and graduate teachers.
AGECS Resources
AGECS have created or funded a number of resources that are accessible to everyone, not just our members. Below find our publications, events and online self-paced learning.
AGECS Funded Projects and Programs
Through initiatives such as the Fellowship Program for Leadership and Change and Foundation grants, AGECS have contributed funding to a number of early childhood professionals undertaking projects and programs that have the outcome of improving outcomes for all children. View some of these resources below.
Ahead of the Times
AGECS social media campaign ‘Ahead of the Times’ shares historic documents found in AGECS files and storage from the distant and not so distant past.
inForm
inForm is our monthly newsletter that is emailed to our database.
View current and past editions here.
Free Resource guides:
Professional Development Events
AGECS run free online professional development events throughout the year.
Follow our Eventbrite account to stay up to date with our live events.
Reconciliation Series
AGECS and Girraway Ganyi Consultancy have created three series to help early childhood professionals begin or continue their reconciliation journey.
Charities, Peak Bodies and Non-Government Organisations
There is a huge number of charities and non-government organsations whose mission is to improve the lives and trajectories of young children. These organisations often publish resources and articles that can be beneficial for parents and early childhood professionals.
ABC Kids
The ABC produce multiple early childhood related resources, outside of their television content. This includes resources for families, for children and for teachers in the form of fact sheets, articles, apps and more.
Australian Childhood Foundation
Australian Childhood Foundation provide training and development on trauma, however not all of it is free.
AERO
Australian Education Research Organisation undertake and share research with education professionals. They have created an online early learning practice hub where they share their findings on literacy, numeracy, evidence based practice and more.
Community Child Care
CCC are a membership based organisation who advocate for community-based early childhood services. As well as paid resourcse, they produce a free blog and other useful resources for teachers and educators and their practice. CCC also run the Victorian Inclusion Agency which hosts many resources aimed to improve the inclusion of all children, especially those experiencing vulnerability.
Early Childhood Australia
ECA are a peak body who provide professional development, publish multiple journals and have a membership based learning hub. They have a mixture of free and paid for resources, and a free blog called The Spoke.
Raising Children Network
Raising Children Network is a website aimed at parents for children of all ages, from newborn to adulthood. The resources are useful to share with families, but there is also educational material relevant for ECEC teachers and educators needing refreshers on children’s development, learning and behaviours.
Reconciliation Australia
Reconciliation Australia provides resources and information for educators wanting to undertake a Reconciliation Action Plan in their workplace.
Royal Children's Hospital
The RCH provide fact sheets and other free information to educate parents and early childhood professionals on a range of health related issues faced by young children.
The Lego Foundation
The Lego Foundation run website Learning Through Play, which contains a variety of articles, resources and guides for educators and parents.
Thrive by Five
Thrive by Five is an early childhood project run by the Minderoo Foundation.
Approved Providers
Approved providers often create resources to educate and inform their own staff. Sometimes these resources are available for free on their websites. Below we have provided the resources pages for some of Australia’s largest approved providers.
Goodstart Early Learning
Goodstart Early Learning have a ‘parenting’ section on their website that contains handy resources for educators communicating with families.
Access the parenting page here.
Gowrie Victoria
Gowrie Victoria release a magazine each quarter.
Uniting VicTas
UnitingVicTas offer resources that can help explain early learning to families. They also offer stories of different early childhood professionals in different settings.
Practice Guides
Practice guides cover a range of practical skills, concepts and learning environments. Many organisations have collaborated with experts to develop practice guides on a range of topics. AGECS has collated various guides, all accessible for free, for you to read to engage in evidence informed practice and reflective practice.
VEYLDF Practice Papers & Guides
The Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework has a foundation in 8 practice principles. For each practice principle there is a practice guide and practice paper, all listed below.
Principle 1: Reflective practice
Principle 2: Partnerships with families
Principle 3: High expectations for every child
Principle 4: Respectful relationships and responsive enagement
Principle 5: Equity and diversity
Principle 6: Assessment for learning and development
Principle 7: Integrated teaching and learning approaches
Principle 8: Partnerships with professionals
AERO Practice Guides
The Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO) is a government body specialising in undertaking education research and sharing the findings in practical and accessible ways. They frequently publish guides and case studies for a range of early childhood education practices. We have listed several below, but encourage you to follow AERO for updates.
Practice guides
Encouraging a sense of belonging and connectedness in ECEC
Early childhood learning trajectories: User guide
Engaging with families of children with disability
Engaging with families of children who are in out-of-home care
Engaging with families from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds
Engaging with families for chidren’s early learning and development
Executive function and self-regulation
Case studies
Engaging with families at Wynnum Family Day Care
Using research evidence in early childhood education and care services, Manuka Childcre Centre
Engaging with families at Goodstart Early Learning Tuggerah
Miscellaneous Free Resources
The following resources come from a variety of creators and publishers, most being independent. Some of these are free resources from for-profit organisations and private companies, some are free resources provided by charities, individuals and approved providers.
A Beginner's Guide to...
The three resources listed below come from Tapestry Online Learning.
Harvard Center on the Developing Child
Harvard University’s Center on the Developing Child undertakes research on children’s development, especially around children experiencing vulnerability, and create accessible resources for parents, teachers and other early childhood professionals.
Learning Links
Learning Links are a peak body that aim to assist the identification and inclusion of children with learning disabilities and difficulties. They have paid courses, but they also provide free fact sheets and other information.
Physical Skills and Development
Kiddo is a evidence informed physical skills and education program, developed from research undertaken at the University of Western Australia. The program does have fees included, but the free website has a resource library with activities, posters and general information about children’s physical developement.
Visit the Kiddo resource library here.
Play Move Improve
Play Move Improve is run by exercise physiologist Robyn Papworth. Robyn has a number of free resources available on her website, all of which focus on the holistic nature of children’s physical and motor development and regulation, including instructions and ideas on how to include specific skill learning into programming.
Podcasts
Here is a list of podcasts that have been featured in inForm.
STEM Games
The NT Government, in collaboration with the University of Melbourne, produced the following games and learning experiences to use in early learning settings to increase STEM knowledge of both children and educators.
Visuals and Communication
The Spanish Government’s Aragonese Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication has a free search engine for images intended for children’s visual communication boards and systems.
Access the ARASAAC search engine here.