Professional Development to empower Victorian early childhood Educational Leaders
Find out more and apply for the Victorian Educational Leadership Program.
VELP facilitators
VELP Project Lead – Associate Professor Megan Gibson
Megan Gibson is a highly experienced early childhood educator who is passionate about providing the highest quality education and care programs for young children, and their families.
Megan is committed to strong connections with the profession through ongoing ‘real world’ work, including applied research. A focus central to her research is preparing, growing and sustaining the early years workforce – so they can, in turn, provide programs that are optimally beneficial for children.
VELP Program Partner, Elizabeth Death, CEO, Early Learning & Care Council of Australia (ELACCA)
Elizabeth has extensive national experience in social policy and service delivery coupled with a solid track record of achievement at senior levels within Government, community services, early learning and care, Ministerial offices and tertiary institutions.
In her current role as CEO and Executive Director of the Early Learning and Care Council of Australia, Elizabeth represents the nation’s largest providers of early learning and care services who delivery over 25 percent of services across metropolitan, regional, rural and remote locations across Australia.
VELP Facilitator, Dr Marie White
Marie White teaches and researches in early childhood education and has recent experience as the Director of a community kindergarten in Queensland. Leveraging this experience, Marie teaches in the professional experience units within our initial teacher education programs. Her PhD and continuing research focus on effective leadership in ECEC and development of the ECEC workforce.
Marie has just been appointed to the leadership role of Course Coordinator for QUT’s Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood).
VELP Facilitator, Associate Professor Maryanne Theobald
Maryanne Theobald is Associate Professor and leader of the Centre for Child and Family Studies at QUT. With over thirty years’ experience in early childhood education, Maryanne teaches and researches in professional experience and learning, participatory action research, children’s rights and friendships, and children’s experiences with digital technologies.
VELP Facilitator, Dr Francis Bobongie-Harris
Francis Bobongie-Harris teaches and researches on Indigenous Education in Australia and the Pacific and Australian South Sea Islander Policy, History and Cultural studies. She specialises in qualitative, ethnographic, narrative, community – led and participatory research methodologies.
As an Indigenous scholar Francis has over 20 years’ experience teaching in Australia and New Zealand.
VELP Facilitator, Dr Julia Mascadri
Julia Mascadri is a lecturer in the School of Early Childhood and Inclusive Education within the Faculty of Education. Her research interests include pedagogical practice in early childhood education, intercultural education, epistemic beliefs, and inclusive education. Julia’s PhD thesis explored early childhood educators’ intercultural competence through the lens of self-authorship.
In 2017, she received the Faculty of Education Outstanding Thesis Award, Queensland University of Technology.
VELP Facilitator (ELACCA) & Program Manager and Support (QUT), Jessamine Giese
Jessamine Giese brings extensive leadership experience and recency of practice guiding and mentoring teams of educators in early childhood settings. Jessamine has engaged in substantial academic learning, most recently through her PhD studies, where she is currently researching how teams of educators make curricular and pedagogical decisions in long day care centres. In her current role as Student Support Officer at Early Learning and Care Council of Australia (ELACCA), Jessamine works with educators to support them in their journey to achieve an early childhood teaching degree qualification.
Jessamine performs a dual role in VELP. As VELP Facilitator (ELACCA), you might see Jessamine assisting in seminars and leading workshops. You may also connect with her via email through the enrolment process as Program Manager & Support (QUT).
VELP Facilitator, Kim Crisp
Kim Crisp is an early childhood teacher, with extensive experience spanning over 30 years in the early childhood sector. Throughout her career, Kim has held various roles including teaching children, leading educators, managing services, and has been involved in a number of research projects on the early childhood workforce.
In her current role as Professional Learning Manager at Early Learning and Care Council of Australia, Kim works with universities and students to codesign professional learning and to support studying early childhood educators.
Stakeholder Promotional Toolkit
Contact us
You can contact us by email at VELP@qut.edu.au
Program supported by:
