Our journey together

Over the past two years at ECMS we’ve been on a meaningful journey discovering what a working place-based commitment looks like across our organisation. Together, we’ve focused on equity, social justice, and inclusion, ensuring that every child and family feels a deep sense of belonging and identity. Our work aligns beautifully with the updated Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF v2), and the anti-bias goals at the heart of our efforts are key to achieving its five learning outcomes. 

So, how are we doing? 

In our recent Employee Engagement Survey: 

• 90% said they feel a sense of cultural identity at work, with managers prioritising anti-bias approaches. 
• 97% would recommend ECMS as a great place to work, and 93% feel they have access to professional development.

These results reflect our ongoing commitment to creating meaningful change through structural and policy improvements, such as giving more time to service leaders, embracing place-based leadership, and enhancing access to resources. We’ve also relaunched our website with a focus on inclusivity, featuring an accessibility tool that translates content into over 100 languages. Our recruitment practices continue to be community-responsive, ensuring children are supported in their first languages.  

These results reflect our ongoing commitment to creating meaningful change through structural and policy improvements, such as giving more time to service leaders, embracing place-based leadership, and enhancing access to resources. We’ve also relaunched our website with a focus on inclusivity, featuring an accessibility tool that translates content into over 100 languages. Our recruitment practices continue to be community-responsive, ensuring children are supported in their first languages. 

Our dedication to anti-bias leadership remains strong, with resources like the Multi Verse Anti-Bias Approach in Early Childhood, and our exploration of Indigenous knowledge, which was beautifully highlighted in presentations at our 2024 ECMS Conference. 

In September, I had the honour of partnering with Dr. Red Ruby Scarlet to share our journey on the international stage at conferences in Finland and the EECERA European Conference in the UK, and at the ECA National Conference in Brisbane. Our work on social justice and anti-bias was warmly received, with educators and policymakers eager to learn how we’re scaling this important work across our expanding organisation - in 2025, we’re growing to 75 ECMS services across Melbourne!

Looking ahead, we’re excited to continue developing our Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP). I want to give a huge shout out to our four teams at this year’s ECMS conference who led a discussion on ways they are leading with and through Indigenous cosmologies to the statement about next steps regarding RAP. The plan will be shaped by your insights and guided by First Nations leaders to honour truth-telling and deepen our commitment to reconciliation.   

Thank you for being part of our incredible journey. It’s an exciting time for ECMS, and I’m so proud to be walking this path with you. Together, we’ll keep advancing place-based leadership, anti-bias, and reconciliation in everything we do.