Government frameworks for early childhood education can sound dauntingly bureaucratic to parents navigating them for the first time. The Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework — the VEYLDF — is no exception. But behind the formal language lies something genuinely useful: a clear, research-backed map of what healthy early development looks like and what quality kindergarten programmes should be supporting every single day. For families across the City of Monash — in suburbs like Oakleigh East, Mount Waverley, Glen Waverley and Mulgrave — understanding what the VEYLDF actually means in practice can help you see your child’s kindergarten experience in a new light.
The five outcomes, simply explained
The VEYLDF is organised around five learning and development outcomes. Identity is about children developing a confident, secure sense of who they are — their strengths, their feelings and their place in the world. Community refers to children building connections with others and understanding their role within families, classrooms and the broader neighbourhood. Wellbeing encompasses physical health, emotional resilience and the self-regulation skills children need to navigate challenge. Learning — perhaps the most misunderstood outcome — is less about academic content than about developing the disposition to be curious, persistent and genuinely engaged. Communication covers language, literacy and the ability to express ideas and understand others across a range of contexts.
Together these five outcomes describe a whole child, not just a future student.
How Oakleigh Early Learning puts the framework into daily practice
At Oakleigh Early Learning Journey on Dandenong Road, the kindergarten programme is explicitly underpinned by both the national Early Years Learning Framework and the VEYLDF. What that looks like on an ordinary day is a play-based programme led by an experienced early childhood teacher — one where children are genuinely active participants in their own learning rather than passive recipients of instruction.
The centre’s school readiness programme focuses on precisely the areas the VEYLDF identifies as foundational: social skills, emotional maturity, language development, cognitive skills, physical coordination and independence. The holistic approach allows children to explore ideas, think critically, make plans and follow them through — building the kind of confident, capable learner identity that both the VEYLDF and primary school teachers value enormously.
Reinforcing outcomes at home across Monash
The five outcomes don’t stop at the centre gate. Monash’s parks, libraries, multicultural food markets and community spaces offer daily opportunities to extend what children are building in the kindergarten room. Visiting Clayton Library supports communication and a love of stories. Cooking together at home builds identity and independence. Playing at Jells Park with neighbourhood children develops community and wellbeing simultaneously.
For Monash parents, understanding the VEYLDF isn’t about monitoring a checklist — it’s about recognising that your child’s development is happening everywhere, all the time and that quality early learning is simply the environment that helps it flourish most fully.