If you’re applying for an educator role in Victoria, there’s one document the panel expects you to know before you walk in. It’s the VEYLDF, and in government-funded kinders it isn’t optional. Here’s the part most applicants skip.
Download the new framework here 👇🏻
Ochre Artwork by Annette Sax (Taungurung), developed in collaboration with Dr Sue Atkinson AM (Yorta Yorta). Photography by Hunter Callaghan. © State of Victoria (Department of Education) 2026.
The changes at a glance
| Area | 2016 version | 2026 version |
|---|---|---|
| Practice Principles | 8 principles | 7 principles |
| Integrated teaching and learning | One of the 8 principles | A standalone element with its own section, brought to the front |
| Fifth principle | Equity and diversity | Equity, diversity and inclusion (names neurodiversity) |
| Professionals principle | Partnerships with professionals | Partnerships between professionals |
| Planning cycle | Collect information, Question/Analyse, Plan, Act/Do, Reflect/review (from EYLF 2010) | Observe, Assess, Plan, Implement, Evaluate (from EYLF 2022) |
| In practice tables | None | A Do / See / Reflect table for every principle and for transitions |
| First Nations knowledge | One Ochre Artwork and one story description | Cultural Knowledge Stories woven throughout, with a new artist, Robert Barnett |
| Key terms | Glossary sat at the back | Key terms section up front: child safety, cultural safety, families, child voice, early childhood professionals, play |
| Child Safe Standards | Not named | Named, sitting alongside the National Quality Framework |
| Neurodiversity | Not mentioned | Neuro-affirming practice named as part of inclusion |
| Ecological Model | Prominent, full Bronfenbrenner diagram (Figure 2) | Referenced in text, less visually central; the Cultural Knowledge Stories carry the relational message |
| School links and maps | Illustrative Maps to the Victorian Curriculum F to 10 | Learning and Development Maps, plus a link to the Victorian Teaching and Learning Model 2.0 |
| The five Outcomes | Five outcomes | Same five outcomes, names unchanged, now with “This is evident when children” indicators |
| Sustainability | Covered broadly | Split into three dimensions: environmental, social, economic |
| Overall shape | Long, with five appendices | Streamlined, ending at Transitions and Continuity of learning |
There’s a framework Victorian kinders have to follow, and half the people applying mention it without ever really understanding it. Let me show you the bit that actually matters
1. planning cycle
The single biggest shift for your audience is the planning cycle rename. It moves from Collect, Question and Analyse, Plan, Act, Reflect to Observe, Assess, Plan, Implement, Evaluate, which now matches EYLF 2022. 1. The planning cycle has new words.
The old cycle ran Collect information, Question and Analyse, Plan, Act or Do, Reflect and review, drawn from the 2010 Educator’s Guide. The 2026 cycle runs Observe, Assess, Plan, Implement, Evaluate, drawn from the updated EYLF 2022. Same intent, refreshed language, and it now lines up with the national framework so educators are not juggling two vocabularies.
If your templates, headings or observation labels still say “collect” and “act or do”, they are due for a refresh to Observe, Assess, Plan, Implement, Evaluate.
2. Integrated teaching and learning is now its own thing
In 2016 it lived inside the eight principles. In 2026 it steps out as a standalone element with its own section near the front, which is why the principle count drops to seven. The three approaches carry through, with a small wording tidy: child-directed play and learning becomes child-directed learning, guided play and learning becomes guided learning, and adult-led learning stays as it was. The framing also shifts, with the Woven Strands Cultural Knowledge Story now illustrating how the three approaches interlace from a Victorian First Nations perspective.
For planning, this means a weekly program should make the three approaches visible and show the intentional call about when to follow, when to guide and when to lead.
3. Equity and diversity grows into equity, diversity and inclusion
The fifth principle gains inclusion in its name, and the text names neuro-affirming practice that recognises and values neurodiversity. Nothing in the old version blocked inclusive practice, though the 2026 wording makes it explicit and asks you to plan adjustments as a matter of course.
4. New Do, See, Reflect tables
Every principle now comes with an In practice table split into Do, See and Reflect. That gives you a ready scaffold for reflection, and a neat way to evidence your practice against each principle for a Quality Improvement Plan or an assessment and rating visit.
5. Cultural Knowledge Stories run right through
The 2016 book had a single Ochre Artwork by Annette Sax with a story by Dr Sue Atkinson. The 2026 version deepens this considerably, with a suite of stories tied to framework elements: the Fern for pedagogy, the Woven Strands for integrated teaching and learning, the Yam Daisy or Murnong for planning, Ochre Mountain for assessment, Scar Trees and Message Stick for the outcomes, and River Stepping Stones for transitions. Robert Barnett, of Yorta Yorta descent, joins as a collaborating artist. First Nations perspectives are embedded across the whole document rather than sitting in one place.
6. Key terms and Child Safe Standards move up front
The 2026 version opens with defined key terms: child safety, cultural safety, families, child voice, early childhood professionals and play. It also names the Child Safe Standards explicitly, sitting alongside the National Quality Framework. That reflects the current regulatory setting and connects neatly to the child safety and child protection distinction educators are asked to hold.
7. What did not change
The five Learning and Development Outcomes keep their names: strong sense of identity, connected with and contribute to their world, strong sense of wellbeing, confident and involved learners, effective communicators. The reflective, relationship-centred spirit of the framework is intact. If your resources already speak the Outcomes language, that part carries straight across.
My notes and thoughts
Copyright
The 2026 framework text is released under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0, so you may quote and paraphrase it with credit to the State of Victoria (Department of Education).
Cheers, Kate / Storykate