SPEAKING UP for children, SPEAKING UP for educators, SPEAKING UP for education.

Educators and teachers are in a great position to stand up for children’s rights, including their right to access high-quality education and care and to stand up for our own rights as educators and teachers, but often miss the opportunity, do not know how to do it or do not feel comfortable in taking on the role of being the expert around children’s needs and rights.

This 3 hour interactive professional development session will help you explore how you can stand up and speak out (advocate) for children and yourselves as early education professionals on a daily basis. It will examine:

• why you may sometimes be reluctant to advocate for children and how you can overcome this;
• where advocacy is needed – in the service, with families, in the community, politically,
• different methods you can use as an educator to advocate, the key role of storytelling in advocacy
• the skills and knowledge you already have to advocate.

Essentially this session is about exploring practical strategies to build participants’ confidence to speak up for children and themselves as professionals on a daily basis.

Lisa is an advocate, consultant and journalist in the education and care sector. She is a regular opinion writer for Fairfax/Nine newspapers and ABC News online on early education and childcare issues, and co-author of publications such as A Director’s Manual, Managing an early education and care service in Australia and Fair’s Fair: How to tackle bias in education and care services.

She has also undertaken a broad range of research about social planning and the relationship with education and care provision.

Lisa is a sought after keynote speaker on education and care issues. She has an encyclopedic knowledge of government policy (historical and current) in the early education and care areas.

Her special interest is the impact that the gendered nature of the sector has on those working in the sector. Lisa is proud to work in a sector dominated by strong, lively women who stand up for children’s rights on a daily basis.

She is also co-host of The Early Education Show.