About Early Years Practice Co.

Early Years Practice Co. supports the people responsible for leading quality across Early Learning Centres, Kindergartens and OSHC.

We help Approved Providers, Nominated Supervisors, operations leaders, Educational Leaders and educators interpret complex expectations and turn them into practical systems, clearer responsibilities and stronger everyday practice.

Our work brings together compliance, operations, leadership and pedagogy because lasting improvement rarely occurs when these areas are treated separately.

Explore Our Services

Practical support for safer, stronger and more consistent services

The requirement is only the beginning

Education and care services operate within a detailed and important regulatory framework. Services must manage child safety, supervision, staffing, policies, incidents, educational programs, leadership responsibilities, family communication and continuous improvement, often at the same time.

The written requirement may explain what must be achieved, but it does not always show a busy service how to make it happen consistently.

A policy can describe the correct process while educators remain unsure about their individual responsibilities. A compliance calendar can list every task while leaders struggle to find time for meaningful oversight. An improvement plan can record a concern without creating a change in practice.

This is the gap Early Years Practice Co. helps to close: the space between knowing the requirement and making it work every day.

We clarify what needs to happen, connect it with the roles responsible for delivering it and develop practical ways to implement, evidence and review the work.

Experience across regulation, operations, training and practice

Early Years Practice Co. was founded by Dan McErlean, an early childhood professional with experience across regulatory oversight, multi-service operations, leadership development, vocational education and training, quality improvement and service level support.

Dan has worked with Approved Providers, operational leaders, Nominated Supervisors, Educational Leaders and educators to interpret requirements, identify risk, improve systems and strengthen everyday practice.

This combination of regulatory, operational and educational experience shapes every service and resources developed by Early Years Practice Co. The focus is always on what services can realistically implement - not simply what appears correct on paper

A wooden conference table with various papers, notebooks, pens, a mug, glass of water, and a bottle, in a room with large windows, indoor plants, and wooden shelves.

Principles that guide our approach

Cozy reading nook with two blue chairs, a round wooden table with a basket of yarn, and shelves with books and decorative items, illuminated by natural light from large windows.

Systems, policies, leadership decisions and educator practices must ultimately contribute to environments where children and young people are safe, supported and respected.
A current document is important, but it is not the final outcome. People should understand what the requirement means for their role and demonstrate it through everyday decisions and actions.
People are better able to take responsibility when expectations, ownership, timeframes and follow-up arrangements are clear.
Services should not need to manufacture evidence around work that is genuinely embedded. Strong practice, clear decisions and consistent follow-up naturally create meaningful evidence.
Quality improvement should be part of ordinary service operations. A smaller number of active, well-led priorities is often more effective than a large plan that the team cannot maintain.
Templates and guidance should make work clearer. Every resource should have an identifiable purpose and be realistic for leaders and educators to use.
A service should not depend entirely on one person’s memory or knowledge. Clear systems support continuity when educators, leaders or organisational structures change.

Support for the people responsible for service quality

Early Years Practice Co. works with individuals, service teams and organisations at different stages of their improvement journey.

Approved Providers and multi-service organisations

Independent reviews, policy and compliance systems, operational consistency, leadership accountability and organisation-wide improvement priorities.

Nominated Supervisors and service leaders

Practical support to strengthen oversight, establish clearer operating rhythms, manage competing priorities and follow up identified concerns.

Educational Leaders

Support to translate approved learning frameworks into educator practice, build reflective processes and strengthen the assessment and planning cycle.

Educators and room teams

Professional learning and practical tools that clarify expectations and strengthen routines, environments, interactions, programming and reflective practice.

New and emerging leaders

Guidance that helps leaders understand their responsibilities, establish effective habits and approach safety, compliance and quality with greater confidence.

Support shaped around the work your service needs

Review policies, procedures and compliance systems to identify gaps, duplication or areas that no longer reflect current service operations.
Support may include policy health checks, implementation planning, staff knowledge checks, breach response and clearer compliance follow-up systems.
Strengthen self-assessment, service strengths, key improvement priorities and the connection between the Quality Improvement Plan and everyday operations.
Support can also help leaders prepare for Assessment and Rating without creating a last-minute compliance exercise.
Establish clearer leadership responsibilities, service rhythms, escalation pathways, meeting structures and accountability processes.
The focus is on building systems that help leaders see what is happening, identify what requires attention and ensure agreed actions are followed through.
Help educators and Educational Leaders translate frameworks, theory and service expectations into visible everyday practice.
Areas may include intentional teaching, learning environments, routines and transitions, relationships, observation, critical reflection and the assessment and planning cycle.
Establish an ongoing consulting relationship where your organisation needs continuity across policies, quality improvement, leadership support and emerging service priorities.
Ongoing support is scoped around the organisation rather than sold as a standard subscription package.