From assistant educator to regional leader: what keeps great people in early learning 

As Early Childhood Educators’ Day approaches, there will rightly be plenty of conversation about recognising the people at the heart of early learning. 

But perhaps one of the best ways we can recognise educators is by making sure they can see a future in the profession. 

For Alice Micklewright, that future has unfolded over 11 years. 

In 2015, Alice walked through the doors of Little Scholars’ very first campus at Yatala as an assistant educator. 

She was early in her career. Little Scholars was early in its story too. 

There was one campus, a relatively small team and no way Alice could have known that more than a decade later she would still be there, only now helping lead an organisation spanning 17 campuses across Southeast Queensland. 

Today, Alice is a Regional Manager and Quality Practice Partner, supporting campus leaders and educators and helping drive quality practice across the group. 

It is quite the leap from where she started. 

And yet, Alice says it never felt like one giant leap. 

“I could never have foreseen that I’d be where I am 11 years later. I just knew from my first week at Yatala that this was a place where people were backed to grow. Every time I was ready for more, there was a leader beside me saying, ‘you can do this’, and a genuine pathway to do it.” 

Careers rarely happen in one big jump 

There is a tendency when we talk about career progression to focus on the end result. What we talk about less are all the smaller moments that happen beforehand. Someone noticing potential, or a manager encouraging an educator to take on something new. It could be an opportunity arriving slightly before they feel ready for it, or a training course, mentoring relationship or conference that opens up an entirely different way of thinking about their career.

Alice’s journey was built through those moments. She moved from working directly with children into leadership positions, then into roles supporting campuses and eventually regions. 

“The professional development changed everything for me. It wasn’t a tick-box PD day once a year. It was constant. Mentoring, leadership programs, conferences, being asked what I wanted next. You can’t help but grow in that environment.” 

That is perhaps the part of the workforce conversation worth sitting with. The early learning sector spends a great deal of time talking about how we attract people. 

But once we have talented educators through the door, what are we doing to make them want to stay? 

The talent is often already there 

Not every educator wants to become a manager, but for those who do want to progress, the pathway has to be visible. Career development cannot rely on someone being brave enough to put their hand up at exactly the right moment. 

At Little Scholars, that has meant investing in leadership development, mentoring, study support, professional development, conferences and opportunities for educators to stretch beyond the role they are currently in. 

It also means having conversations about what comes next, because there is a big difference between telling an educator they are valued and showing them what being valued could look like five or ten years from now. 

Why staying matters 

There is another side to long tenure in early learning that goes beyond workforce statistics and that’s continuity. It matters to the child who walks into a campus and sees a familiar educator, and it matters to the parent who knows the people caring for their child. 

It also matters to teams who have colleagues around them who understand the history, culture and community of their service. And it matters when those educators eventually become leaders themselves. 

Alice now supports educators and campus leaders having spent years doing the work herself. She knows what it feels like to stand in a room with children, she knows the pressure and responsibility that comes with stepping into leadership, and she knows what it feels like to be given an opportunity before you are completely convinced you are ready for it.

That lived experience is difficult to replicate. 

Recognition should extend beyond one day 

Early Childhood Educators’ Day on 2 September gives families, services and communities an opportunity to stop and recognise the enormous contribution educators make. 

And they absolutely deserve that recognition. 

But there is also a bigger conversation sitting underneath it. If we want exceptional educators to stay in early learning, we need to give them more than thanks. 

We need to give them careers. 

“My advice to any educator starting out is to find an employer who sees a future in you, and then say yes to the opportunities, even the scary ones. Especially the scary ones. That’s where all my growth came from.” 

There is no single answer to the workforce challenges facing early childhood education. But Alice’s journey offers a pretty compelling reminder of what can happen when someone talented is given room to grow. 

Because the next great leader in early learning may already be standing in a room somewhere today, setting up an experience, comforting a child or talking with a family. 

The question is whether somebody is showing them what could come next.