Leading Learning for Quality Improvement micro-credential

What you will learn

Gain contemporary skills and knowledge for your job now.

Educational leaders play a crucial role when supporting other educators in early childhood settings.

This Melbourne MicroCert equips early childhood leaders and aspiring leaders with the skills and evidence-based strategies to successfully lead others and drive quality improvement within early education.

Explore educational leadership models

Gain a research and policy-informed understanding of how educational leaders can assist quality improvement in early childhood education and care (ECEC). Explore educational leadership models and practices and how these impact both teacher effectiveness and child learning and development outcomes.

Gain strategies to help educators sustain quality practices

Examine key evidence-based teaching practices that support quality improvement and consider leadership strategies to help educators build and sustain quality programs and practices.

Adopt contemporary leadership techniques

Explore a range of leadership practices including reflective practice, coaching, mentoring and professional learning. Examine how to use these in your own professional context, to support educators' planning, intentional teaching and assessment, as well as monitor their impact on child learning and development.

This micro-credential is for experienced educators and educational leaders within the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) sector who either aspire to lead teams or want to enhance existing leadership skills.

To be eligible for this course, you need to have a minimum of three years' experience in the early childhood sector.

This micro-credential has been developed in consultation with educational and pedagogical leaders in the ECEC sector. You'll gain skills and knowledge that you can apply immediately in your current role.

Learning is aligned with the following Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) teacher standards:

• Interpret student data
• Engage with colleagues and improve practice
• Comply with legislative, administrative and organisational requirements.

By the end of this course, you'll have a deeper understanding of how educational leaders can drive quality improvement. You'll be able to:

• Use a range of models and research evidence to explore the relationship between educational leadership and quality improvement in ECEC settings
• Create a response to a Quality Improvement Plan (QIP) that uses a range of leadership practices to reflect on the impact of educational programs and practices on young children's learning and development.

This course runs over eight weeks.

Your total time commitment is 42 hours, which includes:

• 7 hours guided learning
• 5 hours professional reading
• 10 hours self-guided study and peer learning
• 20 hours assessment tasks.

Assessment:

• Venn diagram highlighting the similarities and differences of two leadership strategies along with accompanying reflective synopsis (50%)
• Response to one element of the Quality Improvement Plan (QIP) used in ECEC settings along with a critically reflective statement (50%).

Once you've successfully completed this course, you will be awarded your Leading Learning for Quality Improvement micro-credential. This digital certificate will warrant the achievement of knowledge, skills and capabilities outlined in the learning outcomes. It may also include artefacts (such as videos and written material) related to both experiential and work-integrated learning, including translatable assessment that is practical to your professional life. You can also share your micro-credential digitally and via social media by adding it to your personal platforms, such as LinkedIn. See example certificate.

Leading Learning for Quality Improvement can be taken as a stand-alone course or complemented with any other micro-credential in the Educational Leadership in Early Childhood series to deepen your knowledge and skills.

It also offers a pathway - otherwise known as advanced standing - into the Graduate Diploma in Early Childhood Teaching. To use it this way, you need to complete all four micro-credentials in the Educational Leadership in Early Childhood series, then apply for credit towards the qualification.

The series includes:

• Leading Learning for Quality Improvement
• Leading Learning through Partnerships
• Leading Learning: Contemporary Theories
• Leading Learning through Advocacy.

This micro-credential has been designed to coincide with teaching terms to ensure you have opportunities and time to apply your newly acquired knowledge and practices. You'll be introduced to learning material at targeted time points during the learning period, building knowledge over time.

In our innovative online environment, you'll learn alongside other industry professionals and undertake guided learning, peer discussion and facilitated activities involving contributions from the industry, including policymakers, researchers and educational and pedagogical leaders. Learning includes videos, online reading tasks, independent study supported by interactive webinars and discussion board activities. Fully online delivery offers a convenient way to develop your skillset, from a location that suits you.