Thriving Kids: What Early Childhood Educators and Teachers Need to Know

Early childhood educators and kindergarten teachers play an important role in supporting children’s learning, development and wellbeing. As the Victorian Government rolls out Thriving Kids, educators will continue to be key partners in helping children and families access the support they need, while building inclusive learning environments where all children can thrive.

Thriving Kids is a new initiative designed to improve access to developmental support services for children aged eight years and under with developmental delay or autism. While the initiative will introduce additional services and supports for children and families, it is important for educators to understand that early childhood services will not be responsible for delivering Thriving Kids supports.

Existing Inclusion Supports Will Continue

Thriving Kids will work alongside the inclusion supports already available to services, including:

• Kindergarten Inclusion Support (KIS)
• Preschool Field Officers (PSFO)
• School Readiness Funding (SRF)
• Inclusion Support Agency (ISA)

These programs will continue to support early childhood teachers, educators and services to respond to the diverse needs of children and families and ensure access to timely and coordinated support.

The Role of Educators

Although educators will not deliver Thriving Kids services directly, they will continue to play a vital role in supporting children and families by:

• Identifying developmental concerns and monitoring children’s progress.
• Having respectful conversations with families about children’s learning and development.
• Providing information about available supports and services.
• Assisting families to connect with appropriate supports when required.

As additional Thriving Kids services are introduced across Victoria, educators may also work alongside allied health professionals and other support services to ensure children and families experience coordinated support.

New Inclusion Training for Early Childhood Professionals

To support implementation of Thriving Kids, the Department of Education will provide online training on inclusion in early learning settings through the Early Childhood Hub and is available now.

This professional learning will support educators to strengthen their knowledge of inclusion, developmental concerns and pathways to support. Further information about the training will be released in the coming months.

Supporting Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Communities

Many early childhood services work with communities from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds who may be unfamiliar with developmental support systems or available services.

Educators can play an important role in ensuring families receive clear, accessible information and are connected with appropriate supports. As Thriving Kids expands, multilingual resources and translated information will become available.

Looking Ahead

For educators and teachers, the key message is that existing inclusion supports will remain in place, new professional learning opportunities will be available, and services will continue to play an important role in helping children and families access the support they need.

Additional Thriving Kids supports will be introduced progressively across Victoria. The Department has advised that further guidance will be provided to early childhood education and care services as new supports become available.

For more information, visit Thriving Kids Victoria at vic.gov.au/thriving-kids.