Empowering Educators: Insights from the LEVNT Conference July 21st – Term 3.
Educators from all our Early Childhood (EC) sites recently had the enriching opportunity to attend the LEVNT Conference, a dynamic professional development event sponsored by Lutheran Education VIC/NSW/TAS. The conference brought together leading voices in early childhood education, offering fresh perspectives and practical strategies to elevate teaching and learning across our services, with the focus being on Play in Nature and the Outdoors.
One of the highlights was a keynote by Marc Armitage, an internationally renowned playwork expert. His session, “Myths, Misunderstandings & The Magic of Play,” challenged conventional views on play and emphasized its critical role in children's development. Marc inspired educators to bridge theory and practice, advocating for risk-based play to be taken seriously as a foundation for learning.
Dr. Helen Little, Senior Lecturer in Early Childhood at Macquarie University, shared her expertise in “Creating Confident Learners Through Purposeful Play.” Drawing on over two decades of research, Dr. Little explored how outdoor environments and educator practices influence children’s risk-taking, resilience, and agency. Her session offered actionable strategies for designing outdoor experiences that nurture confident learners.
The educators then split off into 3 separate sessions that spoke to their interests:
In a hands-on workshop, Nicki Farrell, outdoor educator and nature pedagogue, guided participants through “Campfire Safety and Bush Cooking.” Educators learned essential skills for safely facilitating campfire experiences with children, including engaging bush cooking activities like damper on a stick and ‘toffee’ apples.
Bridie Premaji from Woodline Primary School led a creative session titled “Art in the Elements: Outdoor Inquiry Through a Reggio Lens.” This workshop showcased how natural materials can spark artistic expression and collaborative inquiry, aligning beautifully with the Reggio Emilia approach to early learning.
In addition to the inspiring professional learning, we also took a moment to celebrate our long-serving educators. These dedicated team members were honoured with a Certificate of Service, recognising their commitment and contribution to our organisation and the children and families they support.
The LEVNT Conference was not only informative but also deeply inspiring. It provided our educators with valuable tools and renewed motivation to create rich, engaging, and meaningful learning environments for children. We are excited to see how these insights will shape our practices and enhance the experiences we offer across all EC sites. Each Service was also gifted a fire pit, safety mat and will be trained in fire safety prior to use at the services.
Quotes from educators:
“I really enjoyed how hands on this years conference was. We were given practical learning opportunities that we can take back to our service”.
“I loved Marc Armitage! The article he shared about a family in US and how risk adverse society has become was really eye opening. I love the “5 really risky dodgy points” that we should be allowing children to explore in the undisrupted play and I have already been reflecting on this in our own play areas. Do we allow the children opportunity to explore their environment from height, do we allow them to explore with water play, use real tools, move equipment.. Insightful!”
