The Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework was updated in July 2026. It sets out five learning and development outcomes and seven practice principles for every professional working with children from birth to eight years. Victorian funded kindergartens must align their educational programs with the updated framework by January 2028.
If you have only read the 2016 version, a fair bit has moved. Here is what the VEYLDF is, what changed, and what it means for how your service plans, teaches and documents.
Key facts
| Launched | 2009 |
|---|---|
| Revised | 2016 |
| Updated | July 2026 |
| Applies to | Children birth to 8 years |
| Outcomes | 5 |
| Practice principles | 7 (down from 8) |
| Mandatory alignment for funded kinder | January 2028 |
| Owner | Victorian Department of Education |
What is the VEYLDF?
The VEYLDF is an approved learning framework for Victorian education and care services under the Education and Care Services National Law. It gives everyone working with young children a shared language for what children are learning and a shared set of principles for how to support it.
It covers a wider span than most people expect. The framework runs from birth to eight years, so it also reaches maternal and child health nurses, allied health professionals, family support workers and teachers in the first years of primary school. That breadth is the point. A child moving from an early learning centre to kinder to prep passes through several services, and the VEYLDF exists so they all describe that child in the same terms.
Providers of Victorian funded kindergarten programs are required to use it, under sections 168 and 323 of the National Law.
What changed in the 2026 update
The revision began in 2023 and included extensive consultation with the early years sector, including focus groups and a sector survey. The updated framework was released in July 2026. The bones are the same. The structure around them moved.
| 2016 version | Updated 2026 version | |
|---|---|---|
| Practice principles | 8 | 7 |
| Integrated teaching and learning | One of the eight principles | Its own section, above the principles |
| Principle 5 | Equity and diversity | Equity, diversity and inclusion |
| Principle 8 | Partnerships with professionals | Partnerships between professionals, now principle 7 |
| Outcome 2 short name | Community | Connection |
| Child safety | Referenced | Woven through the whole document |
| Outcome descriptors | Aligned to the 2009 EYLF | Aligned to EYLF 2.0 and Victorian Curriculum 2.0 |
Three changes matter most in practice.
Integrated teaching and learning approaches were promoted. They used to be one principle among eight. They now have their own section near the front, sitting alongside the Early Years Planning Cycle. The Department is making a point: how you teach is not one consideration among several, it is the engine of the whole thing. Intentional teaching is explained far more clearly as part of this.
Child safety runs through everything. Not a separate procedure bolted on, but a shared responsibility built into daily practice, defined as actively protecting every child’s physical, emotional and cultural wellbeing. The cultural wellbeing emphasis is new and worth reading closely.
Every principle now comes with examples. The document was redesigned so each principle shows what professionals will do, see and reflect on when their practice aligns. If your team struggled to turn the 2016 principles into anything concrete, this is the fix.
The five outcomes themselves did not change. Same five, same statements. Only the short label for outcome 2 moved, from community to connection.
The five learning and development outcomes
The outcomes describe what children are learning across birth to eight. They are not a checklist and they are not sequential. A single morning at kinder will touch all five.
- Identity. Children have a strong sense of identity. They learn who they are, that they belong, and that they can act on the world.
- Connection. Children are connected with and contribute to their world. Being part of a group, understanding fairness, caring for their environment and community. This was labelled community in 2016. The statement did not change, only the short name.
- Wellbeing. Children have a strong sense of wellbeing. Physical and emotional. Regulating themselves, taking safe risks, asking for help. Wellbeing sits underneath the other four, because very little learning happens when a child does not feel safe.
- Learning. Children are confident and involved learners. Curiosity, persistence and problem solving, and coping with getting it wrong.
- Communication. Children are effective communicators. Speaking, listening, gesture, home languages, early literacy and numeracy. Broader than talking, and it includes children who communicate in ways other than speech.
In the updated VEYLDF, outcome 2 now uses the short label “connection”. Older VEYLDF resources may still refer to it as “community”.
The updated descriptors line up with EYLF 2.0 and Victorian Curriculum 2.0, so a child’s learning is described in consistent terms from birth through to the first years of school.
Integrated teaching and learning approaches
This is the part your teaching team will feel most.
Play is essential to learning in the early years. That has not changed. What the updated framework says more clearly is that play works best when professionals make deliberate decisions inside it, moving between three approaches:
- Adult-led learning. You introduce the idea and provide structure, questions and direct teaching, including literacy, numeracy, executive function and science. Children still make choices inside it.
- Child-directed learning. Children lead through play and exploration. Your job is close observation, and knowing when to step in and when to step back.
- Guided learning. Children and adults learn together. You follow the child’s interest and extend it through conversation and shared problem solving.
The three are interwoven, not separate. In one experience you might observe a child playing, join in and extend their thinking, then introduce a new idea. What matters is that the choice is intentional and responsive rather than accidental.
The seven practice principles
The practice principles describe how professionals work with children, families and each other. Each one shapes the others.
- Reflective practice. Thinking about your work so you can make intentional decisions.
- Partnerships with families. Families are children’s first and most important teachers. You work alongside them as equal partners.
- High expectations for every child. Every child is capable. Experiences that are challenging and achievable. High expectations are a protective factor.
- Respectful relationships and responsive engagement. Secure attachments built through predictable, caring interactions.
- Equity, diversity and inclusion. Fair does not always mean the same. The inclusion wording is new in 2026 and places a clearer emphasis on ensuring every child can participate, learn and thrive.
- Assessment for learning and development. Building a picture of each child over time, through everyday interactions.
- Partnerships between professionals. No single professional supports every aspect of a child’s development alone.
Two changes to note. Principle 5 grew from equity and diversity to equity, diversity and inclusion. Principle 8 became principle 7 and changed from partnerships with professionals to partnerships between professionals, reframing it as a two way relationship rather than something you go and get.
The Early Years Planning Cycle
The planning cycle is how the framework turns into daily work. In the updated version the language lines up with the EYLF: observe, assess, plan, implement, evaluate.
Gather evidence about what the child knows and is interested in. Analyse what it tells you. Decide what comes next and which teaching approach fits. Do it, staying responsive. Then work out what to change.
The cycle is continuous, not a term by term exercise. Most services do the observing well and the evaluating badly, usually because the documentation lives in five different places and nobody has time to pull it together.
Transitions get their own treatment in the framework too, through Transition Learning and Development Statements and reciprocal visits between services and schools. The Victorian Kindergarten Learning Progressions sit alongside the outcomes and describe how learning typically develops across the kinder years.
Practical steps to prepare for January 2028
The Department has taken a phased approach and has been clear it does not want to add to workloads. January 2028 is still a real date for funded kindergarten programs.
- Read the updated framework as a team. It has been redesigned around practical examples, so it reads better than the 2016 version.
- Register for a Department information session. Funded kinder services go through the Early Childhood Hub. Other providers use the VEYLDF information sessions form.
- Audit your templates. Anything that says eight practice principles, equity and diversity, or outcome 2 community is out of date. Planning templates, learning stories, newsletters, your philosophy statement, the posters on the wall.
- Review your philosophy and program documentation. Consider where references to the previous framework need updating and whether your current documentation reflects the updated principles and terminology.
- Check your professional learning plan. The practice guides and evidence papers for individual principles are still aligned to 2016 and will be updated progressively through 2027.
If your documentation currently lives across paper folders, a shared drive and three different apps, this update is a reasonable moment to fix that. Retagging observations against updated outcomes is a small job in one system and a miserable one across five.
See how much of this your software could be doing. EnrolNow keeps enrolments, child records, observations and family communication in one place, so a framework update means changing your templates once.
Frequently asked questions
What is the VEYLDF?
The Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework is Victoria’s approved learning framework for children from birth to eight years. It sets out five learning and development outcomes and seven practice principles, and it was updated in July 2026.
Is there a new VEYLDF?
Yes. The Department of Education released the updated VEYLDF in July 2026. Victorian funded kindergartens must align their educational programs with it by January 2028.
How many practice principles does the VEYLDF have?
Seven. The 2016 version had eight. Integrated teaching and learning approaches moved out of the practice principles in the 2026 update and now sit in their own section.
What are the five VEYLDF outcomes?
Identity, connection, wellbeing, learning and communication. Outcome 2 was labelled community in the 2016 framework and is now called connection, though the outcome statement itself did not change.
What is the difference between the EYLF and the VEYLDF?
The EYLF is national and covers birth to five. The VEYLDF is Victorian, covers birth to eight, has its own seven practice principles and includes the transition to school. Both share the same five learning outcomes.
Is the VEYLDF mandatory?
For providers of Victorian funded kindergarten programs, yes. It is an approved learning framework under the Education and Care Services National Law, sections 168 and 323.
What is the Early Years Planning Cycle?
The continuous process of observing, assessing, planning, implementing and evaluating children’s learning. It is how the framework’s outcomes and principles turn into daily practice and documentation.
Managing a framework change is easier when enrolments, child records and documentation live in one system. Book an EnrolNow demo and we will show you how Victorian services are handling it.
Sources
- Victorian Department of Education, Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework, updated 14 July 2026
- Victorian Department of Education, Practice principles for teaching birth to 8 years, updated 24 August 2026
- Victorian Department of Education, Updated VEYLDF supports best practice, July 2026
