Educator shortages, qualification pipelines, retention in competitive labour markets are conversations the industry has at every conference, in every boardroom, across every staff room. But a new and arguably more consequential challenge is beginning to emerge, one that reaches beyond the floor and into the heart of how our services function, a shortage of experienced, capable leaders.

Recent analysis from The Sector  identifies leadership shortages as the next major challenge facing ECEC providers across Australia. For those of us who have spent years in this sector, the finding is less a revelation than a confirmation of something already felt in the difficulty of filling leadership roles, in the pressure placed on existing leaders and in the pipeline of emerging talent that, too often, has never been deliberately built.

Why leadership matters more than ever

The role of an Early Childhood leader has never been more complex. Regulatory requirements, quality frameworks, workforce expectations, family needs and the ongoing professionalisation of the sector have transformed centre leadership into a genuinely strategic function, one that demands pedagogical depth, operational capability and people leadership in equal measure.

When leadership is weak or absent, the effects are systemic. Educator confidence erodes. Turnover rises. Quality outcomes suffer. Families sense instability. The compounding effect of leadership gaps is rarely contained to a single role, it moves through the entire service.

A shortage decades in the making

Part of the challenge is structural. For too long, the pathway into Early Childhood leadership was informal, talented educators were promoted without the preparation, development investment or support the role genuinely demands. Combined with years of sector-wide underinvestment in leadership capability, the result is predictable: a generation of leaders burning out, moving on, or never entering the pipeline in the first place.

"The sector is at an inflection point. Leadership shortages don't happen overnight, they're the result of years of underinvestment in people. At The Atlantis Group, we made a deliberate choice long ago to grow our leaders from within. That choice is now our greatest competitive advantage,” says, Todd Dawson, Chief Executive Officer, The Atlantis Group.

Thirty years of building, not buying

As a thirty-year, family-owned, WA-based provider operating across Atlantis Early Learning, Atlantis OSHC, Tall Tree Early Learning and Tall Tree OSHC, The Atlantis Group has long taken a different approach. Without the pressure of a distant board or private shareholders, we have been able to make genuinely long-term decisions about our people.

"Being family-owned means we can make long-term decisions about people without answering to short-term return expectations. We invest in our leaders because we intend to be here in another thirty years and we want them here with us. That's not a business case. It's a conviction," says Rory Hindle, Managing Director, The Atlantis Group.

Across our network of eleven early learning services and nine school-aged care programs throughout Perth, we have educators who began as trainees and are now Centre Managers. Leadership teams who have worked alongside one another for over a decade. An organisational culture where internal mobility is not the exception, it is the expectation.

Building the pipeline deliberately

The answer to leadership shortages is not complicated. But it does require intention, consistency and investment over time.

"The pipeline doesn't build itself. We have Educators who joined us as trainees and are now on the pathway to leadership roles. That is not an accident, it's the result of deliberate succession planning, structured development and a culture where talent is noticed and nurtured. We start those conversations early. We don't wait for a vacancy to think about who might be ready," says Elaine Whelan, Head of People & Culture, The Atlantis Group.

The Group's investment spans sponsored qualifications and ECT pathways, leadership development programs, structured mentoring, a dedicated Pedagogy and Practice Lead providing group-wide educational support, an Emerging Leaders program equipping future managers with the practical skills to lead and a talent and succession planning framework that identifies and supports emerging leaders across every level of the network.

Leadership in practice

For Nicola Wilkie, Centre Manager at Tall Tree Early Learning Mullaloo, none of this is theoretical. It is the story of her own career and the careers of the people she has helped develop around her.

With more than twenty years of experience in the sector and over fifteen as a Centre Manager, Nicola joined The Atlantis Group in 2019 to open Tall Tree Early Learning Subiaco, driving the service to full occupancy while building a culture that families and educators immediately trusted. In 2022, she was entrusted with a second opening of Tall Tree Early Learning Mullaloo.

The recognition that followed reflects what deliberate investment in leadership looks like over time, being awarded Service Manager of the Year in 2022 and 2024, Service of the Year in 2023 and externally recognised with the recent ECLD Award in 2026 for Service Excellence in Partnerships with Families, Communities and Schools.  

"The awards have been incredible. But what I'm most proud of is the team and the team is what it is because this organisation decided that developing people was worth doing properly. I've watched my Assistant Manager grow through the Emerging Leaders program into someone who can lead this service with full confidence and capability. I've watched my Educational Leader receive consistent, structured support through our Pedagogy and Practice Lead. That doesn't happen by accident. It happens because someone built the systems and decided it mattered," says Nicola Wilkie, Centre Manager, Tall Tree Early Learning Mullaloo.

Nicola's story is not an outlier in our network. It is a pattern, repeated in service after service, and in the career trajectories of the Educators and leaders who choose to build their futures with The Atlantis Group and Tall Tree Early Learning.

What the sector needs now

The leadership shortage is not a future problem. For many providers, it is already present. The question is whether the sector responds reactively, filling gaps with whoever is available, or proactively, by building the deep, stable leadership capability that sustainable services require.

At The Atlantis Group and Tall Tree Early Learning, our answer has always been the same. Grow futures. Invest early. Treat leadership development as a culture, not a crisis response.

Our reputation across Western Australia is a thirty-year compounding asset, built by the Educators and leaders who have chosen to build their careers with us. That is why families trust us. That is why people stay.

We are proud to be Growing Futures, for the children and families we serve and for the Educators and leaders who choose to build their future here.

If you are an Early Childhood professional ready to take the next step in your career, we would love to hear from you. Build Your Future. Build The Future.

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