Free to Be Me - 2022 Update

For the last 2.5 years, Access Health and Community (AccessHC) has been providing early childhood education and care centres across the Cities of Boroondara and Manningham the opportunity to be involved in our gender equity program called Free to Be Me.

Evaluation and feedback tells us that this program is valued, however there are also opportunities to improve. Based on this evidence and the Early Years Frameworks, it is currently being redesigned, in partnership with early years and IT experts, as an interactive online program to enable centres to complete the program independently and allow more centres to participate across Victoria.

The online Free to Be Me program is being designed to step centres and educators through a series of modules (including gender equity training) and the completion of assessment tools that review:

• centre policies
• practices
• language use, and
• teaching and learning activities.

Centres will build a quality improvement plan as they go, which can be easily integrated into their existing quality improvement plan. Both centres and educators will receive recognition for completing the program with a professional development certificate and promotional kit.

Free to Be Me as an online program will be available from August 2022.

For further information about the Free to Be Me Program, please visit our website.

We welcome any interest from community health services that would like to offer this program to their local early childhood education and care centres.

To express your interest or for further information please contact us at:

Email: freetobeme@accesshc.org.au

Phone: (03) 9810 3000