This Melbourne MicroCert is for experienced educators and educational leaders within the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) sector who either aspire to lead teams or want to enhance existing leadership skills.

It is recommended that learners commencing this micro-credential have a minimum three years experience in the early childhood education sector.

This Melbourne MicroCert has been developed in consultation with educational and pedagogical leaders in the ECEC sector. You'll gain skills and knowledge that you can apply immediately in your current role.

Learning is aligned with the following Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) teacher standards:

• Engage with colleagues and improve practice
• Engage with professional teaching networks and broader communities.

By the end of this course, you'll have a deeper understanding of the role of collaborative partnerships within early childhood settings. You'll be able to:

• Use research evidence and policy documents to analyse the relationship between educational leadership and collaborative partnerships in ECEC settings
• Explain how collaborative partnerships enable new understandings of effective teaching and learning for children participating in a diverse range of early childhood education programs.

This course runs over eight weeks.

Your total time commitment is approximately 42 hours, which includes:

• 7 hours guided learning
• 5 hours professional reading
• 10 hours self-guided study and peer learning
• 20 hours assessment tasks.

Assessment:

• Audit of current family engagement practices (50%)
• Map of local community children and family services (50%).

Once you've successfully completed this course, you will be awarded your Leading Learning through Partnerships Melbourne MicroCert. This digital certificate will warrant the achievement of knowledge, skills and capabilities outlined in the learning outcomes. It may also include artefacts (such as videos and written material) related to both experiential and work-integrated learning, including translatable assessment that is practical to your professional life. You can also share your Melbourne MicroCert digitally and via social media by adding it to your personal platforms, such as LinkedIn. See example certificate.

Leading Learning through Partnerships can be taken as a stand-alone course or complemented with any other Melbourne MicroCert in the Educational Leadership in Early Childhood series to deepen your knowledge and skills.

It also offers a pathway – otherwise known as advanced standing – into the Graduate Diploma in Early Childhood Teaching. To use it this way, you need to complete all four Melbourne MicroCerts in the Educational Leadership in Early Childhood series, then apply for credit towards the qualification.

The series includes:

• Leading Learning for Quality Improvement
• Leading Learning through Partnerships
• Leading Learning: Contemporary Theories
• Leading Learning through Advocacy

This Melbourne MicroCert has been designed to coincide with teaching terms to ensure you have opportunities and time to apply your newly acquired knowledge and practices. You'll be introduced to learning material at targeted time points during the learning period, building knowledge over time.

In our innovative online environment, you'll learn alongside other industry professionals and undertake guided learning, peer discussion and facilitated activities involving contributions from the industry, including policymakers, researchers and educational and pedagogical leaders. Learning includes videos, online reading tasks, independent study supported by interactive webinars and discussion board activities. Fully online delivery offers a convenient way to develop your skillset, from a location that suits you.

There is no set expiry date.