Element 7.2.3 (development of professionals) expects a system of regular performance review alongside individual learning and development plans, so educators' knowledge, skills and practice stay current and gaps are addressed. It is about ongoing growth, not a one-off training day.
The educational leader is both a planner and a participant. They help identify what the team needs to learn, connect that learning to real practice, and keep building their own knowledge, because Element 7.2.2 expects the leader to be supported in the role too.
The professional learning that changes practice is usually the learning that connects to something an educator is doing right now. A workshop that never reaches the room is a certificate, not development.
Instead of booking a generic training day, a leader ties learning to what she is seeing: the team is unsure about intentional teaching, so she plans a short focus on it, then follows up in the rooms a fortnight later. The learning lands because it answered a real question.
Element 7.2.3 (development of professionals) expects regular performance review and individual learning and development plans, so educators' knowledge and practice stay current.
They help identify the team's learning needs and connect learning to practice, and they keep their own practice growing as well.
Keep a simple record of the learning done, why, and what changed in practice as a result, tied to individual development plans.
Written by the Ask ECE editorial team and checked against ACECQA guidance and the Education and Care Services National Regulations. Last reviewed September 2026. Ask ECE links to the source and does not reproduce it.