•Reading Aloud - The What, The Why, The When, The How Guest speaker Mem Fox www.memfox.com

•Guiding Children's Behaviour Facilitated by Dr Louise Porter www.louiseporter.com.au

•Meeting Children's Social, emotional and behavioural needs Presented by Dr Louise Porter www.louiseporter.com.au

•Meeting Children's Social, emotional and behavioural needs. Presented by Dr Louise Porter www.louiseporter.com.au

Josie Miels commenced her education vocation more than 30 years ago in South Australia and throughout that time assumed a variety of roles: Teacher, Pre-school Director, Regional Co-ordinator, Special Educator, Mentor, and participated on many Curricula Projects including the Pre-school Reference Group.

Josie’s teaching practice was widely respected for its innovation, excitement and inspiration; it took children’s learning deeper and, no matter the setting, acknowledged them as competent learners. Her Project work with children exemplifies this belief. One particular project in the South East, for example, originated from a youngster’s wonderment as the class was out walking one day: “I wonder where that drain goes?”
[open drains which drain wetlands from farming areas to the sea.] This simple question initiated an amazing learning journey. Thereafter the entire kindergarten community traipsed across private and public open terrain to trace the excavation’s path. Another significant project - developed via a grant from Coastal Care in the South East – resulted in four year olds under Josie’s tutelage contributing to the organization’s research, through regular beach excursions to collect rubbish and ‘interesting objects’. They were the only kindergarten to have received such a grant and almost certainly were the youngest researchers involved in a Coastal Care Project.

Josie was passionate about outdoor learning environments, evidenced when Millicent Kindergarten was presented with the Play Space of the Year Award. Such public recognition subsequently followed Josie to Adelaide; under Josie’s directorship, Kensington Gardens Pre-school won the 2007 National Award through the Dare to Lead Project, it being the first time the award had been conferred on a Pre-school ‘…in recognition of their achievements in improving targeted outcomes for Indigenous students through strong leadership and collaboration with their local Indigenous community’.

A feature of Josie’s contribution to EChO were the Outreach Programs. Josie stated: “The outreach programs were a highlight for me, as we went out into the country and presented some great workshops and were able to continue that outreach over several years, e.g. the Mentor Program with the Port Lincoln Child Centre and the Group in the South East. In both of these programmes we brought together many small, isolated centres and always had amazing feedback from the participants. We were invited back to continue working with these staff groups. I think this is such an important role for ECHO to play - to ensure we are reaching out to country regions and sharing our good work with them. We really felt we were making a difference with this on-going support”.

Her selfless mentoring work, thankfully, continues in her retirement; she assists staff in the development of their pedagogy, by strengthening their team and by achieving high learning outcomes for the children. Josie is ideally suited to this role, not necessarily because of her outstanding teaching practice and effective team skills, but for her innate ability to relate to people and bring out their best in a friendly, nurturing manner. Her work along with her colleagues from Kensington Gardens Pre-school has been acknowledged in the DEC’s (2008) document ‘Reflect, Respect and Relate’. Indeed, the moniker ‘Life Member’ is well deserved, Josie Miels.