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Mentoring to support the professional growth of the Early Childhood workforce
The challenge
In Australia, and across many OECD countries, the professionalisation of the early childhood education and care workforce is the focus of intense debate. Ensuring high-quality programs for young children requires robust professional learning initiatives. However, implementing such programs can be challenging due to the diversity of the workforce, with educators holding differing qualifications, experience and roles within organisational structures. Coupled with this are the significant pressures staff shortages place on the sector due to difficulty recruiting and retaining staff.
Mentoring has been shown to build professional knowledge and confidence, develop competence, improve practice and encourage collegial interaction. Mentoring supports professional growth across different career stages, with a link between job satisfaction and organisational commitment. Attention is now focused on the benefits of mentoring in relation to attraction, retention and professional growth.
Origins of the research
Since 2007, Professor Andrea Nolan has produced a significant body of research on the capabilities of the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) workforce with a specific interest in the professional learning of educators and their practice. Mentoring has been a key focus of this research, which has extended across local, state, national and international contexts beginning with the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development in Victoria, Australia. In 2011, Professor Nolan was commissioned by the Department to create, implement and evaluate a mentoring program across the State for new to the profession and professionally isolated early childhood teachers.
More recently Professor Nolan and her team have undertaken work identifying effective mentoring, induction and professional networks nationally as part of the Federal Government’s National Children’s Education and Care Workforce Strategy (2022). This work was commissioned by the Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO).
Professor Nolan’s work has highlighted supportive models of professional learning implemented both nationally and internationally and the important role mentoring plays within successful models. Her work has provided information about program design, delivery and content. International recognition of this work has led to invitations to share findings and engage in further research from New Zealand and Malaysia.
Current collaborations
NSW Department of Education Mental Health and Wellbeing Program project
In March 2025, the NSW Department of Education invited Professor Nolan to deliver a seminar to over 500 early childhood teachers in NSW, followed by consultation with the goal of embedding mentoring in the design and roll-out of a Mental Health and Wellbeing Program for the early childhood education and care workforce across NSW.
TAFE SA Centre of Excellence in Early Childhood Education and Care
The TAFE SA Centre of Excellence in Early Childhood Education and Care has been established as a national skills leader in early childhood development, education and care. In its quest to drive innovative initiatives to improve workforce readiness, skill enhancement and workforce retention, the Centre has sought Professor Nolan’s expertise as an advisor regarding effective mentoring and its associated benefits.
Resources
Book chapters
Nolan, A. & Morrissey, A. (2016). Mentoring Australian early childhood teachers: belonging, being and becoming. In C. Murphy & K. Thornton (Eds.), Mentoring in early childhood: A compilation of thinking, pedagogy and practice, (pp.237-249). New Zealand: NZCER.
Journal articles
Nolan, A. & Molla, T. (2020). Building teacher professional capabilities through transformative learning. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education. 49(4): 450-465.
Molla, T. & Nolan, A. (2020). Teacher agency and professional practice. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice. 26(1), pp. 67-87.
Nolan, A. & Molla, T. (2019). Supporting teacher professionalism through tailored professional learning. Special Feature: Teacher education – The road to teacher professionalism, London Review of Education. 17(2), 126-140.
Nolan, A. & Molla, T. (2018). Teacher professional learning through pedagogy of discomfort. Reflective Practice, 19(6), 721-735.
Nolan, A. & Molla, T. (2018). Teacher professional learning in Early Childhood education: insights from a mentoring program. Early Years: An International Research Journal. 38(3), 258-270.
Nolan, A. & Molla, T. (2018). Teacher professional learning as a social practice: an Australian case. International Studies in Sociology of Education. 27(4), 352-374.
Nolan, A. (2017). Effective mentoring for the next generation of early childhood teachers in Victoria, Australia. Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 25(3), 272-290.
Morrissey, A. & Nolan, A. (2015). ‘Just another meeting?’: Investigating mentoring for early childhood teachers in Victoria. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 40(2), 40-48.
Nolan, A., Morrissey, A. & Dumenden, I. (2013). Expectations of mentoring in a time of change: views of new and professionally isolated early childhood teachers in Victoria, Australia. Early Years: An International Research Journal, 33(2), 161-171.
Reports
Jackson, J., Healey, B., Nolan, A., Moore, D., Kinnear, K., Ciuciu, J., Lanting, C. & Beahan, J. (2024). National early career teacher mentoring and induction support. Australian Education Research Organisation.
Jackson, J., Healey, B., Nolan, A., Moore, D., Kinnear, K., Ciuciu, J., Lanting, C. & Beahan, J. (2024). National professional practice network for educators and teachers: National Children’s Education and Care Workforce Strategy, Focus Area 3-3.
Nolan, A., Beahan, J., Moore, D., Lanting, C., Browne, K., & Ciuciu, J. (2023). Research into mentoring, induction and professional networks in Early Childhood Education and Care. Australian Education Research Organisation.
Nolan, A. & Beahan, J. (2014). Final Report: Professional mentoring program for early childhood teachers – support program for early childhood teacher mentors. Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, Melbourne, Australia.
Nolan, A. & Beahan, J. (2013). Statewide mentoring program for early childhood teachers. Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, Melbourne, Australia.