Free resources

There are ample resources that support early childhood professionals of all qualifications and experience available online. The hard part can be knowing where to start looking. We have compiled a list of websites, fact sheets, videos and other resources that will start you on a professional learning journey.

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.

Access the website.

DET

The Department of Education and Training website contains information needed to run

Access the website here.

FUSE Early Childhood

FUSE was created to help teachers and educators deliver learning experiences on a range of topics.

Access the website here.

Starting Blocks

Starting Blocks is a website aimed at educating parents and guardians. It has ample resources on child development.

Access the wesbite here. 

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.

Access the website here.

VIT

The Victorian Institute of Teaching website contains professional learning resources to help provisionally registered and graduate teachers.

Access the wesbite here. 

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.

EC Defence Programs

Embedding Cultural Diversity for Under Threes

Possum Skin Pedagogy

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.

View the historic resources here. 

inForm

inForm is our monthly newsletter that is emailed to our database.

Sign up for inForm here.

View the current edition here.

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.

Access the AGECS Reconciliation Series here.

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.

View ABC Kids Education here.

Australian Childhood Foundation

Australian Childhood Foundation provide training and development on trauma, however not all of it is free.

Explore their resources here. 

 

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.

Explore the early learning practice hub here.

 

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.

View the CCC resources page here.

View the VIA website here.

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. 

View their resoures here.

 

Reconciliation Australia

Reconciliation Australia provides resources and information for educators wanting to undertake a Reconciliation Action Plan in their workplace.

Visit Narragunnawali here.

 

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. 

Visit Kids Health Info here.

 

The Lego Foundation

The Lego Foundation run website Learning Through Play, which contains a variety of articles, resources and guides for educators and parents.

Access their website here.

Thrive by Five

Thrive by Five is an early childhood project run by the Minderoo Foundation.

Access their resource page here. 

 

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.

Access the current and past editions here. 

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. 

Access the Uniting VicTas resources page here.

Recent Publications

Below is a list of recent, relevant and free access research articles and news articles. Research articles can be beneficial for reflective practice and learning new ideas, especially when looking into an area of personal interest. Finding free research papers can be done with Google Scholar. News articles can be helpful for communicating early childhood issues and context with families, or even with colleagues, and can be found on sites like ABC News, The Conversation and The Sector.

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...

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.

Access the Centre on the Developing Child here.

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. 

Visit the Learning Links website here.

Podcasts

Here is a list of podcasts that have been featured in inForm.

Brain Architects Podcast

Curious Neuron Podcast

Kids Health Podcast

Provoking Minds Podcast

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.

View Engineering games here.

View Maths games here.

View Science games here.

View Technology games here.

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.