Gowrie CEO Karen Weston Reflects on 2025 • Gowrie Victoria

As 2025 draws to a close, I’d like to take this time to reflect on the many highs, while also acknowledging our deep concerns for the quality of services and children’s safety.

It’s been tough to hear such shocking and alarming incidents occurring within early childhood services, and the toll this has taken on us—as well as parents—can’t be underestimated.

Gowrie Victoria continues to advocate for our sector, standing tall in acknowledging the professionalism of our teams, and demonstrating our commitment to exceeding quality education and care for children. For many of us, this year has given us even more zeal and determination to demand high-quality early learning for young children. We know that our early childhood teachers and educators are the key to building and maintaining engaging, high-quality and safe learning environments. When services have a commitment to children, it means that priority in all our decision-making is centred around children’s best interests. When we focus on things beyond compliance—like listening to children and families—which leads to quality teaching and learning, without a simplistic focus on compliance. Research into early childhood quality indicates highlights the importance of leadership and a skilled workforce, just as it is in school education. Safeguarding children is intrinsically linked to having an experienced, knowledgeable, and supported workforce.

As we move into the new year, our focus will remain on advocating for a robust system which supports our professionals and ultimately, the children in their care. Our teachers and educators must be well remunerated and respected for the work they do every day, and employers should support their ongoing professional development, by creating systems that ensure services comply with regulations and protect our staff from disproportionate penalties and sanctions. We look ahead in 2026 to working alongside governments to build a high-quality universal system that our professionals, children and families truly deserve—and is not too burdensome. We want to ensure that the right policy decisions are proposed to protect children and give them access to services that close the gaps in learning well before they start their formal schooling.

There have also been many positives this year—namely the Department of Education’s continued investment in early education services across the state. We are truly fortunate to be a part of the Best Start, Best Life reforms here in Victoria. The establishment of Kindergartens on School Sites is an initiative which supports families, promotes smooth transitions between early learning and school settings, and connects the early childhood sector to broader supports for children and families–-with a focus on education. At Gowrie, we’re proud to be nominated as the Approved Provider for six of the new sites—seeing us able to expand our impact into regional Victoria, and to new local government areas.

The continued State Government investment in mentoring for provisionally registered teachers and providing School Readiness Funding means that Victorian teachers and educators are able to access a wealth of professional supports. Because of these investments, our Gowrie mentors and coaches have reached over 350 educators and teachers across the year of 2025.

I’d also like to acknowledge the new and emerging work of the Department in relation to supporting educators around understanding children’s learning. The Early Years Assessment and Learning Tool (EYALT) is continuing to be used and tested by educators and teachers, and is now linked to the Transition Learning and Development Statements.

Services should have received the new Victorian Kindergarten Learning Progressions resource. Created in partnership with the University of Melbourne, the Learning Progressions are aligned with the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework (VEYLDF) and the EYALT. They are evidence-based tools, designed to support educators to understand what children, know, can do and understand. We welcome this new resource – it should help us assess, support and extend children’s learning.

The creation of the Early Childhood Hub is another important support for early childhood professionals. Gowrie, alongside many academics and leading professionals have assisted with the development of some of these resources. We know that new teachers need some support to build skills and be part of the profession. Some of us want somewhere to go to refresh our knowledge, and we welcome a tool which can be easily accessed, that is free and can be used at our own pace.

At the federal level, we’re also pleased that educators are now receiving the final 5% of the federal government’s Multi-Employer Agreement wage increases from the 1st of December, following the initial 10% delivered last December. Gowrie has always advocated for better working conditions and higher pay because we know that the early childhood sector has historically been underpaid and undervalued.

Last week, the Fair Work Commission handed down its decision regarding gender-based undervaluation in the Children’s Services Award 2010. Finding that the award has historically been undervalued due to gendered assumptions, the Commission ordered wage increases of up to 27.8%. These changes will be phased in through to 2029, beginning with an initial increase in March of next year.

I welcome this decision as a pivotal moment for our sector. For too long, the critical work of early childhood educators has been undervalued. This is not just a pay rise; it is long-overdue recognition of the professional skill, emotional intelligence, and dedication our teams bring to the development of Australian children every single day. Investing in our people is the only way to ensure a sustainable, high-quality future for early learning. We are committed to implementing these changes and working with our educators through this transition.

We also want to acknowledge the work of Early Learning Association Australia and its new CEO, Dr Karina Davis for its advocacy for the pay and conditions of teachers and educators in Victorian kindergartens under the VECTEA agreement. We all hope these staff will soon have an offer, supported by appropriate kindergarten funding levels, to approve.

Thank you everyone for standing tall through a challenging year. I am immensely proud of our collective resilience and sincerely hope you are all able to enjoy precious time with your families as you celebrate Christmas or mark the closing of the year.

Read more: Gowrie Victoria is Growing