Learning in Australian early childhood education and care settings: changing professional practice

For the first time across Australia, early education and care services are subject to a single, national set of regulations and standards governing the quality of provision. Concurrently, a set of outcomes for all children aged from birth to 5 years and a ranking system to make transparent the performance of programmes have been developed. This article outlines a Victorian project to address this major policy change through the establishment of early childhood integrated professional learning communities. Early findings have implications for effective professional practice and the pre-service preparation of early childhood specialists who implement learning programmes for young children.