Dr Debra early education leader

Becoming a highly accomplished or lead teacher – a HALT – is an achievement for any teacher, but it’s a special celebration when you’re the first early childhood teacher to join these prestigious ranks.

“I’ve always been passionate about early childhood,” said Debra Williams, who has been teaching children in Sydney for around 4 decades.

Starting out with a degree in early childhood teaching, her work and interests eventually led her to undertake a PhD on the implementation of critical reflection in early childhood education and care.

“When the National Quality Standard came about in 2014, I was very challenged to see how critical reflection was informing our practice,” said Debra, who has published research into pedagogy, learning and leadership in recent years.

Her work has led her to facilitate training in programming, documentation and assessment of children’s learning, child development, literacy and child protection for early childhood teachers, participate in accreditation, as well as mentor and support the upskilling of colleagues.

Debra’s next exciting project will be the release of a children’s title during Book Week next year: “It builds children’s literacy outcomes and has dances included – I will be excited to share this with the children!” Debra said.

The state’s first early childhood education Lead Teacher speaks highly about the value of the HALT accreditation process: “The moment I finished my PhD, I jumped on it so it’s been a long journey for me, but it’s been worth every moment.

“All of us in our practice want to know that you’ve had an impact on the next generation, on your colleagues. I’m very excited about doing different things to advocate for our sector.”

“And the blessing is you realise that your efforts do result in outcomes which do make a difference.”

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