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Janine Kelly

Janine Kelly | Early Childhood Educator | Author | Keynote Speaker | Founder of STEPPING STONES Professional Development

Janine Kelly is an early childhood education expert, author, keynote speaker and founder of STEPPING STONES Professional Development for ECEs. With more than 30 years of experience across Australia and Canada, Janine brings together research, leadership and extensive hands-on experience working directly with children, educators and early childhood teams. Her work is grounded in a simple belief: meaningful professional learning begins with connection and should reflect the real experiences, challenges and strengths of the people within a service. As the author of The Connected Child, Janine explores how connection, regulation and responsive relationships influence children’s behaviour, learning and development. Her STEPPING STONES Framework brings these ideas into everyday practice, supporting educators to consider not simply how to respond to behaviour, but what a child may be communicating and needing from the adults around them.

Posts
Featured Post

Team rates for Connection at the Heart of Practice

A NOTE FROM JANINE Connection at The Heart Of Practice: Group rates for three, five or ten educators, with 30 days of access to the recordings. Hi Reader, Leading a service means holding a lot at once: the children, the families, the rosters, and the wellbeing of the team around you. Finding time to stop and think together about practice can feel like one more thing to fit in, and learning alongside colleagues often makes it easier to carry ideas back into the room. I know a Saturday is a big...

1 day ago • 2 min read

A NOTE FROM JANINE Why I Created This Conference. Hi Reader, Early childhood is challenging right now. Educators are stretched, leaders are carrying more, and children are bringing increasingly complex needs into our services. I created Connection at the Heart of Practice to bring us back to what matters. To think about how we connect with children, support each other and respond when things get hard. Because sometimes the biggest shift starts with connection. If you work with children, lead...

9 days ago • 1 min read

A NOTE FROM JANINE It's time to invest in our leaders. Hi Reader,I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the people who lead alongside us on the floor each day. Our room leaders and educational leaders carry so much of the everyday leadership within a service. It’s vital that managers are active in supporting these leaders as they guide educators, navigate the little moments that arise across the day, and help shape what practice actually looks and feels like. When managers make the time to...

10 days ago • 2 min read

A NOTE FROM JANINE Connection starts with a conversation. Hi Reader, Our conference, Connection at the Heart of Practice, is coming up on 24 October, and I wanted to take a moment to share why this gathering is so meaningful. In early childhood education, so much of our work comes back to connection. The relationships we build, the way we understand and respond to behaviour, the environments we create and the intentional decisions we make each day. This conference brings together five...

17 days ago • 1 min read