Educators – Learning Connections

Professional development that offers real benefits in the classroom

Learning Connections has been providing hands-on professional development workshops for teachers and early childhood educators since 1976.

Teachers and educators are regularly asked to respond to the needs of young children with developmental immaturities that present in a variety of ways, including:

Poor concentration – difficulty following instructions, easily distracted
Poor physical ability – difficulty sitting still on a chair, clumsy
Speech and language immaturities – poor hand writing, socialisation issues, doesn’t function well in groups
Poor sensory motor development – has to touch eveything, can’t stop moving

Our professional development workshops provide teachers and educators with practical tools that address these issues, stimulate the brain, and help children to settle and focus on learning.

See our range of classroom or centre programs below.

All workshops are anchored in our core sensory-motor and reflex integration program. We are flexible and adjust activities and examples to reflect the educational environments of participants who attend our training workshops. Our programs respond to the different needs and capabilities of children at different ages.

“We own 14 child care centres across Queensland and we have made a commitment to train our educators in Learning Connections after seeing the enormous benefits to the children in our care… We have seen huge improvements in the children’s ability to concentrate, their balance and spatial skills, their drawing and painting as well as their social skills.”

Julie Watts Operations Manager, Feng Holdings

Practical and fun classroom programs which help children concentrate and learn

Core content areas

The Importance of Movement

The connections between primitive reflexes and child development. Strategies to stimulate optimal movement from birth to preschool.

Neurological Development

Brain integration and the role of sensory integration in development. Activities to optimise brain integration and sensory motor skills.

The Vestibular System

The role of the vestibular system in development and learning.
Particular emphasis on balance and coordination.

The Sensory System

The role of the senses in development. How to enrich daily activities to positively impact behaviour and self-regulation skills.

The Tactile System

The importance of body awareness in development.
Practical strategies for enhancing body awareness and improving concentration, learning and behaviour.

Nutrition and the Environment

The impact of nutrition and environment on behaviour and learning.

Implementing the Program

How to implement the Learning Connections Program of daily activities with your class or group to improve behaviour management and promote child development. (The set of activities varies according to your program’s age focus)

Learning Connections’ professional development workshops contribute to Teachers and Early Childhood Educators CDC (Continuing Professional Development), aligning with the following AITSL Australian Professional Standards For Teachers and ACECQA National Standards For Early Childhood Educators

“This is the best teacher professional development I have attended!”

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of a Learning Connections professional development
workshop you will have acquired:

An understanding of factors contributing to children’s attention
concentration and learning difficulties, and what is behind behaviours
such as wriggling, inability to sit still or stop talking, poor
concentration, and problems playing in groups
The ability to deliver the Learning Connections program: a set of
simple activities that help the children in your class focus,
concentrate and learn
An awareness of environmental factors and the role of technology in
children’s lives
An understanding of the critical role of nutrition in development, and
some tips for diet

Contribution to CPD and Professional Standards

Learning Connections’ professional development workshops contribute
to Teachers and Early Childhood Educators CDC (Continuing
Professional Development), aligning with the following Quality
Frameworks:

Australian Professional Standards For Teachers

Standard 1 – Know students and how they learn
Standard 4 – Create and maintain supportive and safe learning
environments
Standard 7 – Engage professionally with colleagues, parents/carers and the community.

ACECQA National Standards

Quality Area 1 – Educational program and practice
Quality Area 2 – Children’s health and safety
Quality Area 5 – Relationships with children.

You will receive a certificate of completion for the workshop you attend

It takes a village

We deliver public workshops tailored to meet the needs of your school, centre and community.

We are increasingly working with whole communities, engaging parents and community supporters to reinforce and maximise the impact of the classroom program.

Parental buy-in builds a child’s sense of security, confidence and motivation, and makes connections between the key people in a child’s life.

“At the start of each school day you will see students involved in the Learning Connections Program. You will also see a smile of the faces of parents walking past as they know their children are getting ready to learn. Parents have shared what they have heard and seen in action and noticed the difference it has made to their child’s focus. Having Learning Connections in our school is now a drawcard.”

Rita Cranitch St Francis Primary School, Ayr

Public workshops

Date	Location	Course	Price
1st and 2nd of October 2020	Play and Learn, 10 Payne Road, The Gap, Brisbane	Early years	$520
9th and 10th of October 2020	Highlands Kindy, 505-513 Hume Street, Toowoomba	Early years	$520
23rd and 24th of October 2020	Bowen State School, 29 Kennedy Street, Bowen	School Program	$520
13th and 14th January 2021	Play and Learn, 10 Payne Road, The Gap, Brisbane	Early years	$520
15th of January 2021	Play and Learn, 10 Payne Road, The Gap, Brisbane	Activate	$260
TBA	Ayr
TBA	Darwin

Register now for one of our upcoming public workshops, or call Dianne Boyd on 0414 264 758 for a no-obligation discussion about the benefits of community engagement.