A group of award-winning Centre Managers and Support Team Members from G8 Education recently returned from a Study Tour in New Zealand, led by Meg Parnell, G8 Education’s Pedagogy and Practice Manager.

The Study Tour consisted of four days jam-packed with professional development including sessions on values-based leadership, team building, routines vs rituals, risky play supporting emotional regulation as well as practicing mindfulness.

The cohort of G8 Education team members, who are based all over Australia, travelled to Wellington to be hosted by Toni and Robin Christie, internationally recognised founders and directors of Childspace Early Childhood Institute.

While in Wellington, the group experienced centre tours and witnessed educational programs in action.

This is the third year that G8 Education has rewarded conference award winners with a Study Tour in New Zealand, with previous participants claiming the tour was life-changing for them. This year’s participants had high hopes before the trip and said afterwards that their expectations were exceeded.

Some of the Centre Managers from this most recent Study Tour have already started to implement learnings from the trip, including embedding a philosophy within their centre that’s based on shared values.

Other Centre Managers have focused on making work fun for their team, which then flows through to the children in their centres.

G8 Education’s Meg Parnell said rewarding team members with a study tour full of professional development is a very worthwhile investment.

“At G8 Education, we have found that the Study Tour is a great way to invest in the development of our team members and show them how appreciative we are of their hard work throughout the year,” Ms. Parnell said.

“We’ve now taken roughly 30 Centre Managers to New Zealand on this Study Tour since we started it a few years ago, and have always found that they come back so engaged and eager to put into practice all of the learnings from the trip.

“The Study Tour has a flow-on impact as it is beneficial for the teams the Centre Managers work with, as well as the children in their centres too – this one trip can enhance the learning development and wellbeing for hundreds of children.

“Team members return with a greater level of confidence and the tools to step into their leadership and own that space as well as motivating both themselves and inspiring their wider team.

“We are looking forward to taking more Centre Managers on our next Study Tour and hearing about how they’re implementing learnings in their centres across Australia.”

To apply for a role at a G8 Education centre, head to careers.g8education.edu.au.