A warm welcome to our new subscribers and friends. Early oral language development, beginning from conception and growing rapidly through the early years, is a foundational determinant of children's educational, social, emotional and health outcomes across the life course. Children and families bring rich linguistic, cultural and relational strengths to language learning, including strong oral traditions, multilingual repertoires and deep community connections.
You can access the previous editions of the newsletter via the project website.
Symposium wrap up
On 24th June, more than 70 coalition members, critical friends and others came together at the State Library of Queensland for the Queensland Early Oral Language Project Symposium. The day was packed with information about the project, and an outstanding presentation by Professor Cristina McKean, Oxford University (UK), who spoke about her current research as well as the work that has been the basis and inspiration of this project. Cristina was in Australia to speak at the Speech Pathology National Conference, and we were lucky to have her travel to Brisbane to be part of our event.
The day was also a time to workshop aspects of the Roadmap, and possible sites of implementation, should funding for Phase 2 be secured. It was great to have conversations at tables and hear the passion and commitment to early oral languageleading to the best outcomes for children in Queensland.
Above: Photos from the Queensland Early Oral Language Project Symposium
Thank you greatly if you were able to join us. We really appreciated the time, energy and expertise you brought to the day, and your commitment to shaping a coordinated, evidence-informed Roadmap so that all children in Queensland start school with strong oral language skills.
Here are some of your comments:
"Thank you for the work you are doing and the opportunity to participate in this important work."
"Such a valuable opportunity to connect and work through some of the initial planning. Thank you."
"Insightful, motivating, aligned and great length of session."
"It is amazing to see all these people in one place."
Coalition
The Coalition continues to meet regularly, with eight meetings held so far, chaired by Dr Grant Webb. Each session has included learning opportunities and sessions for members to share their experiences and insights for continued development of key project deliverables.
Recent meetings have focused on:
Technology and its impact on oral language development
The process of prospective hindsight
The mindsets that Australians hold about early childhood development.
Critical friends
Our Critical friends have stayed engaged through the symposium, additional drop-in sessions, and in the specially convened meeting to discuss possible sites. We've continued to meet with new contacts and our list keeps growing!
These sessions have fostered rich discussions about how the project can positively impact children and families across diverse communities, while also helping us identify new connections and partnerships.
Meet New Word Order
In order to put our best foot forward for the future of this project, the team employed an EOI process to engage Brisbane-based creative agency New Word Order to develop a concise investment prospectus, in partnership with Queensland Kids Partnership, for future phases of the Queensland Early Oral Language Project (QEOLP). The prospectus will be used to engage philanthropic, government, corporate and cross-sector investors in a staged, scalable and sustainable approach to strengthening early oral language outcomes for Australian children.
The investment prospectus will work in partnership with QKP to translate the QEOLP proposition into a compelling, investor-ready document that clearly communicates the case for investment, the staged growth pathway, the anticipated benefits and outcomes, and the opportunities for investors to contribute.
Asset Map
We continue to build the Asset Map as we hear about more programs, tools or resources that support the development of early oral language. The Asset Map will play a key role in supporting communities to identify needs and create their “stacks”. Please let us know if you would like to know more.
Road Map
The backbone team has been working very hard and with your support, knowledge and experience, the Roadmap is getting close to completion. Thank you! We are very excited to show you very soon.
Recent research highlights the importance of early interactions and environments in shaping children’s language development:
Afrouz Shoghi, Research and Engagement Lead for Frameworks Institute in Australia, provided us with a brief introduction to FrameWorks Theory and Methods. She also shared research findings of a project (funded by Minderoo Foundation) exploring how Australian think about the early years and testing how those working to support children and families can shift Australian mindset to increase demand for policy reform.
Click the links below to read the latest report and visit the project website.
To celebrate the life and work of Dolly Parton, we would also like to share the latest report from the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. What an extraordinary woman: compassionate, generous and championing children’s literacy and language outcomes.
"Screen time is one of those things that is getting in the way of our children's early language development and is one of those intervention points that we need to think about...without the guilt."
— Dr Mary Brushe, The Kids Research Institute Australia
The work of the Queensland Early Oral Language Project is supported by the Bowness Family Foundation.
