Senior Kindergarten Improvement Advisor

**This is a 0.75FTE, Fixed Term role until 30 June 2026**

**About the Department**

The role of the Department of Education is to support Victorians to build prosperous, socially engaged, happy and healthy lives. It does this by supporting lifelong learning and healthy development, strengthening families and helping to equip people with the skills and knowledge for a 21st century economy and society.

**About the Group**

Schools and Regional Services (SRS) offers central, regional, and local expertise to enhance learning and development outcomes, supported by a diverse and geographically dispersed workforce. It comprises 17 areas within 4 regions, backed by 5 central office divisions, all collaborating to deliver improved outcomes for early childhood services, schools, communities, and learners, in line with Education State commitments. SRS regions serve as a bridge between the central office, schools, and service providers, ensuring smooth transitions for learners and achieving the department's ambitious targets. Each region includes divisions specialising in school performance, student wellbeing and early childhood support, working with area-based teams to tailor local interventions and practices. The 17 areas provide crucial insights into local trends and issues, facilitating effective policy and program development and driving child and learner outcomes across all services and programs.

This role is located in the Early Childhood Improvement Branch, Hume Merri-bek Area, North-Western Victoria Region, SRS

**About the Branch**

The Early Childhood Improvement Branch implements key government Early Childhood policy, initiatives, reforms, and strategies at a local level. The Early Childhood Improvement Branch ensures a dedicated team supports Early Childhood providers and services in Areas. The Branch has multiple responsibilities, including supporting services with kindergarten programs and the implementation of the suite of Early Childhood reforms including, Pre-Prep, three-year-old kindergarten and the Best Start, Best Life reforms, as well as driving improvement in service delivery and outcomes for children across the Early Childhood sector.

**About the Role**

**This is a 0.75FTE, Fixed Term role until 30 June 2026**

The **Senior Kindergarten Improvement Advisor** will lead and provide high level advice to the Early Childhood Improvement Branch team on complex matters within the Early Childhood sector. This role will maintain a portfolio of Early Childhood service providers with which they will lead improvement work and reform implementation. They will work to build the capacity of funded kindergarten services to continuously improve service quality, particularly through the implementation of the Early Childhood reforms.

The Senior Kindergarten Improvement Advisor will need to draw on experience and knowledge in an early learning context, administration of Early Childhood services and current pedagogical practices

This role will have some line management responsibilities within the team and be responsible for leading key improvement strategies across the Area.

To be successful in this role you should have excellent leadership, management and interpersonal skills, negotiation and change management skills, analytical skills, and possess a strong understanding of the Early Childhood system in Victoria.

Key responsibilities of the role include:

- Working as part of a team that includes the Early Childhood Improvement Manager, Area teams, regional Early Childhood Implementation Division and other key internal stakeholders, such as the Victorian School Building Authority (VSBA) and the Quality Assessment and Regulation Division (QARD)
- Providing advice to the Early Childhood Improvement Branch Manager on complex delivery issues, operational matters and perspectives on policy implications
- Managing staff and/or projects as required within the Early Childhood Improvement Branch
- Understanding current research and developments in the Early Childhood sector, identifying implications and opportunities
- Identifying risks and leading change management and stakeholder engagement matters
- Establishing and maintaining strong working relationships with Early Childhood services and providers Fostering the development of collaborative relationships to deliver on the Early Childhood reforms
- Engaging in meaningful conversations with Local Government Areas and Early Childhood services and providers, using data and evidence to identify and address the needs of the services as it relates to educationally disadvantaged children and reform implementation
- Providing support, tools and advice to Early Childhood service providers to assist them to develop plans in response to their identified challenges

**Attributes**
- Possess a strong understanding of the Early Childhood system
- Effective leadership and strategic planning skills with the ability to adapt to changing work priorities
- Strong analytical skills