Tips for parents

Dr Norman Swan’s tips for parenting in the middle years​

Helping your child transition to high school with Maggie Dent​

Tips for kindy parents

Supporting families​​​​

Step into Education

Dr Norman Swan​​

In this podcast, Dr Norman Swan provides insight into parenting children in the middle years. Dr Swan focuses on the crucial primary school years, the ones that can make all the difference in a child’s life.

Dr Swan is a physician turned broadcast journalist and hosts the podcast series—General Practice in a Rapidly Changing World. He is the author of 3 books, including So You Think You Know What’s Good for You, So You Want to Live Younger Longer. This year he released So You Want to Know What’s Good For your Kids, which explores parenting children in the first 10 years of their lives and discusses issues with straight talk​​.

Maggie Dent

Maggie Dent provides invaluable advice to ease the transition to high school – for both students and parents. Maggie has a particular interest in the early years, adolescence and resilience, and is an undisputed 'boy champion'.

Maggie​​ is the author of 9 major books, including the bestselling Mothering Our Boys and her 2020 release From Boys to Men. She hosts the award-winning ABC podcast, Parental As Anything and in 2021 released a book of the same name. In May 2022, Maggie released her first book about girls, Girlhood: Raising our little girls to be healthy, happy and heard.​​

Desley Jones, Maree Frederiksen and Iona Tait

This podcast provides tips to parents on how best to prepare for their child’s move from Kindy to school. Queensland Creche and Kindergarten Association Kindy teacher Desley Jones, Prep teacher Maree Fredrickson and parent of 2 Iona Tait chat about what they believe can help make the move to school more successful.​

Desley has over 33 years teaching experience in both state preschools and community kindergartens and has also worked as a preschool advisory teacher and private education consultant. Desley has formal qualifications in both education and psychology. She is currently Nominated Supervisor and fulltime teacher at Ballymore Kindergarten.

Maree has held a variety of roles including Prep Phase-in Teacher, Regional Prep Facilitator and Advisory Visiting Teacher. Most recently she has led the development of professional learning materials for the statewide implementation of age-appropriate pedagogies. She is currently a Prep Teacher and Team Leader at Nundah State School and is passionate about supporting children and their families in successfully transitioning to school.

Iona Tait is a mother of 2 young daughters both of whom attend Queensland state schools and have transitioned from Kindy programs to Prep.

Sue Dockett, Bob Perry and Tess Boyle

Sue Dockett is Emeritus Professor, Charles Sturt University, Australia and Director, Peridot Education Pty Ltd. Sue is a co-chair of the Special Interest Group on Transitions at the European Early Childhood Education Research Association. In collaboration with Bob Perry, Sue has been researching and publishing in the transition to school field for almost 25 years.​

Bob Perry is Emeritus Professor at Charles Sturt University, Australia and Director, Peridot Education Pty Ltd. Recently retired after 45 years of university teaching and research, Bob continues to research, consult and publish in conjunction with Sue Dockett in the field of early childhood, with particular emphasis on transition to primary school, researching with children and evaluation of educational programs.

Tess Boyle is an Adjunct Lecturer in the Centre for Children and Young People at Southern Cross University, Australia and Director, Tess Boyle Consulting. Recently retired after 40 years of school and university teaching and research, Tess continues to research, consult and publish in the field of early childhood, educational transitions, ethical practices involving children, practice theories, praxis, middle leading,​ and assessment, pedagogy and curriculum. Tess also has an impressive list of publications in high ranking peer reviewed journals and she has presented at esteemed national and international conferences.

​Podcast 1 – Listening to children in the transition to school

​This podcast is designed to support professional conversations about evidence-informed approaches to transition to school and early years practices, as identified in current research and literature. This is the first in a series which will focus on supporting Queensland schools to translate research into everyday practice to:

• define and understand the term ‘student voice’
• understand the importance of gathering the perspectives of children during planning and the evaluation of transition programs
• unpack ethical challenges and children’s perspectives.

Podcast 2 – Understanding the perspectives of children in the transition to school​

This podcast is designed to support professional conversations about evidence-informed approaches to transition to school and early years practices, as identified in current research and literature. This is the second in a series which will focus on supporting Queensland schools to translate research into everyday practice to:​

• understand what it means to listen to children in the transition to school
• ​discuss how transition teams can gather and analyse the perspectives of children during planning and the evaluation of transition programs
• understand how to use the interpreted data to inform next steps of the transition to school program.

​Podcast 3 – Belonging and the transition to school​

​This podcast is designed to support professional conversations about evidence-informed approaches to transition to school and early years practices, as identified in current research and literature. This is the third in a series which will focus on supporting Queensland schools to translate research into everyday practice to:

• understand the term 'belong' and what it means in relation to the transition to school​
• unpack the dimensions of belonging (emotional and social) during the transition to school
• understand how belonging can be used as a marker of an effective transition to school program.