The ECLD Immersion Unplugged: An Interactive Professional Learning Experience brought together around 300 passionate professionals from across Western Australia’s early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector to the University Club of WA in Perth with a celebration of learning, leadership, and sector-wide empowerment.
This year’s event introduced a new vision and format. The overarching theme, ‘Connected to’, was woven throughout the entire day, with distinct focus areas highlighting different ways of being connected. These included:
“I really appreciated that the conference had a clear theme this year. It made the experience feel more cohesive and meaningful. I especially liked how we were encouraged to “close our learning circle,” linking ideas and insights from one workshop to another. This helped deepen my understanding and made the overall learning more connected and impactful.”
Delegate Feedback
Keynote speaker Lael Stone opened the experience with her presentation, “One Conversation at a Time.” As a keynote should, it resonated with every delegate on multiple levels. She struck a balance between inspiration and practicality, sharing relatable, everyday examples alongside useful tips. Delegate feedback was overwhelmingly positive:
“Guest speaker Lael was fantastic. The topic was for everyone, not only for educators. Prompt to reflect myself not only as an educator but as a mum and as a wife. It’s also validating my practice at the centre. Thank you.”
“One of my highlights from the ECLD Immersion Experience was listening to Lael Stone, she is such an inspiration and her story is truly powering. As this was the first conference I’ve attended, I found the entire experience incredibly inspiring and can’t nail it down to one specific highlight. I was amazed by the whole day and really valued the opportunity to take on board so many new ideas and perspectives. It reinforced my passion for early childhood education and motivated me to continue growing and learning as an educator.”
Throughout the event, the program explored a broad range of topics aligned with the overarching theme of Connection. Each breakout session focused on a specific aspect of connection, allowing delegates to either dive deeply into a particular area or engage with multiple perspectives. The sessions were designed to be both practical and purposeful, ensuring they were relevant to every educator and the work they do each day.
“I really appreciated that the conference had a clear theme this year. It made the experience feel more cohesive and meaningful. I especially liked how we were encouraged to “close our learning circle,” linking ideas and insights from one workshop to another. This helped deepen my understanding and made the overall learning more connected and impactful.”
“The highlight of the ECLD Immersion experience was learning about different perspectives on early childhood education and how culture, community, and relationships shape children’s learning.“
Child Australia’s Executive Director, Practice & Impact Danielle James, reflected on the success of the event:
“The ECLD Immersion Experience was a huge success. The energy in the room was incredible, and the feedback from delegates has been so encouraging. Events like this really matter for our sector, they spark ideas, challenge thinking, and re‑energise our educators, who then go on to make a real difference for children every day.”
Connection to On Country & Aboriginal Perspectives
A key focus within the theme was “Connection to – On Country & Aboriginal Perspectives.” This is an area many in the early childhood sector are seeking to genuinely engage with, so they can meaningfully incorporate it into their services. Child Australia placed strong emphasis on this, offering multiple opportunities throughout the day for educators to explore Aboriginal pedagogy.
Jessica Staines from Koori Curriculum delivered two highly engaging sessions, presenting both Embracing Reconciliation: Crafting Effective Action Plans and Embedding Aboriginal Perspectives Into Early Childhood Curriculums twice to accommodate attendees. Her sessions sparked in-depth discussions, offering practical insights and strategies that resonated deeply with all delegates. Participants consistently praised her approach, highlighting her ability to make complex topics accessible while fostering thoughtful dialogue, making both sessions some of the most well-received of the event.
“The exposure to new ideas and face-to-face content about First Nations culture was my highlight. This is always a tricky subject for non-indigenous people to learn to transfer to the children and I love extending and challenging my knowledge in this area.”
Connection to Self & Wellbeing
“Loved that some workshops actually focused on caring for ourselves, as educators.”
“I enjoyed the See It. Stop It. Say It. I can’t wait to do the full PD. Definitely informative and helps identify what is not okay.”
Connection to Nature & Play
“Wow this session was fully practical, we all got to play. They key was around learning through play and how will you manage to teach the children to engage, for you to get involved and participate in an activity while having fun.”
Connection to Your Team & Leadership
“I embrace and challenge myself at every conference to come away with information that will enable me with my leadership roles. This conference supported me with that.”
Connection to Children’s Minds & Belonging
“I learned the most from the session about how to include children with challenging behaviours and the ways they are trying to communicate with you.”
A Truly Interactive Experience
Attendees participated in interactive activities such as drumming circles, mindfulness exercises to support grounding, and even had the chance to meet a friendly therapy dog during one session. Many of these experiences were originally planned to take place outdoors, but due to the weather, everything was seamlessly brought inside—without losing any of the energy, connection, or enjoyment.
“The drumming circle was such a therapeutic method, of which I now know that it can be used in the rooms in various means, like to help regulate emotions. Drumming can introduce various topics as well as boost confidence in a child. I look forward to using this in my room.”
“Meeting Taylor the therapy dog, that was my highlight. This session was something I had never seen before and a great experience to learn from. Plus the dog petting was delightful!”
To round out the experience, ECLD introduced a new interactive session where delegates created a practical blueprint they could take back to their service and begin implementing the following Monday. As one delegate shared:
“I particularly enjoyed the last interactive ‘blueprint’ session the most, on how to incorporate Noongar Language into our curriculum. It was an opportunity to meet and interact with a Noongar ‘elder’ which will hopefully blossom into new partnerships.”
What’s Next?
Planning is already underway for the next chapter in the ECLD journey.
Child Australia alternates between the large-scale ECLD Conference at Optus Stadium and a more interactive, intimate Immersion Experience. This means the biennial conference will return in 2027, taking place at Optus Stadium on Saturday, 6 March 2027.
Special thanks to our 2026 Immersion Experience sponsors The Y WA, EduTribe, BB Recruitment, Step4, Goodstart Early Learning and The Sector. We couldn’t have organised this event without your support!
To see more highlights from the event, please visit the ECLD Immersion Experience website.
