Self-paced courses

Introduction to Working with Families Experiencing Poverty

  • APST Aligned
  • NQS Areas
  • 1
    Area 1Educational Program Practice
  • 6
    Area 6Collaborative partnerships with families and communities

Gain insights into the experiences of families living in financial adversity and how early education services can support their needs. 

This is the first of a series of five evidence-based courses developed by leading researchers and early education experts. The course will help you build a deeper understanding of the complexities families face and equip you with the tools to engage effectively with families from all backgrounds. 

Course overview

What you'll learn

No matter where they are based, at some point all educators will work with children and families who are experiencing poverty.

Educators who understand what it means to live in poverty are responsive to the needs of children and their families. They respectfully make sure that children have what they need to participate each day, while supporting families to establish and keep their connection with the service, no matter what challenges they are experiencing at home.  

This course provides information on the reality of poverty in Australia and the challenges faced by children and families living through hard financial times. It includes tools educators can use to research poverty in their own communities, ways to identify signs of poverty, and strategies for working with families in high-poverty contexts. 

By completing this course, you will be able to: 

  • Appreciate what living in poverty is like in Australia 
  • Understand how poverty can impact children and families 
  • Recognise the impact negative attitudes about poverty have on families’ engagement with early childhood services 
  • Locate information about poverty in your local community 
  • Identify strategies for increasing the engagement of families living in poverty with your service 
  • Engage in professional conversations with colleagues about the implications of what you have learned for your service 

Explore other topics in this series

What you'll learn
About this course

Video

Enrolment

Accessing the training platform

You will be enrolled in our dedicated training platform by a CELA representative using the unique email address provided at the time of booking. Once enrolment is complete, each participant will receive a welcome email with instructions to log in and set their password.

Please note that enrolment may take up to 24 hours to process on weekdays. Courses purchased after 12pm on Fridays, or over the weekend, will receive their login invitation on the following Monday.

Participants have 12 months from the date of purchase to complete the course and can begin as soon as their enrolment is confirmed.

Hours of study

How many hours of study are suggested?

This course will take around 3 hours of study.  

You have one year from the date of enrolment to complete this course. 

Digital certificate

You will receive a digital certificate on completion.

Your facilitators

Megan Blaxland

Megan Blaxland

Megan Blaxland is a Senior Research Fellow at the Social Policy Research Centre, UNSW. Her research aims to improve the policies and services that support Australian families experiencing adversity. Her research focuses on the community services sector and how to maintain a robust and responsive system. Megan specialises in early childhood education and care policy and practice, and how to ensure marginalised families can successfully navigate services, systems, and subsidies. 

Leonie Arthur

Leonie Arthur

Leonie has worked as an early childhood educator in long day care, preschool, and the early years of school, including teaching in Aboriginal communities in Sydney and the Northern Territory. She is one of the authors of Programming and Planning in Early Childhood Settings and was part of the team that developed the first edition of the Early Years Learning Framework. She was a lecturer in early childhood education at the University of Western Sydney, where her research focused on effective pedagogies for learning and teaching in low socioeconomic communities, and the role of collaborative action research in educators’ professional learning and curriculum design. 

Acknowledgment

The Engaging Families research team would like to acknowledge:

  • Our research participants, including families, educators and community members
  • Our research institutions - UNSW Sydney, Western Sydney University, the University of Sydney, and Griffith University
  • Our research partners – KU Children’s Services, Family Day Care Australia, Goodstart Early Learning, Childcare & Kindergarten (C&K), Early Childhood Australia
  • Our creative team – the still and moving images used within this course were provided by Jamie James, Nisa East, and Sivani Yaddanapudi
  • Our funders – Australian Research Council and NSW Government

APST ALIGNED

3 hour contribution

This course aligns to Standard 7 (Engage professionally with colleagues, parents/carers and the community) of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers.

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Available Dates

Tue, 2 Jun 26
🕒 11am-12.30pm

Mon, 6 Jul 26
🕒 10am-11.30am

Tue, 4 Aug 26
🕒 1pm-2.30pm

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