What is the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF)? A guide for Victorian families

If you have a child in kindergarten or early learning, you have probably seen the letters EYLF somewhere: in a newsletter, a learning story, or a conversation with your child's educator. It stands for the Early Years Learning Framework, and it shapes almost everything that happens during your child's day. This guide explains what it is, what it covers, and what it means for your family, in plain English.

What is the EYLF?

The Early Years Learning Framework is Australia's national framework for early childhood education and care. It was introduced in 2012 and updated in 2022 as Version 2.0, known as Belonging, Being and Becoming (Australian Government Department of Education AGDE, 2022).

The EYLF is not a curriculum in the way a primary school has a curriculum. It does not set out lesson plans or a fixed timetable. Instead, it describes the outcomes we want for children, the principles that guide good early childhood practice, and the practices educators use to support learning through play. Every approved kindergarten, long day care service and family day care educator in Australia uses it, including here at Y Whittlesea Early Learning, where it is the foundation for how we plan, deliver and reflect on every program.

Belonging, Being and Becoming

The framework is built around three connected ideas about childhood.

Belonging is about children's connections with family, community and culture. It recognises that a child's sense of who they are grows from these relationships.

Being is about children living in the present. Childhood is not only preparation for later life. It has value, and children need time to simply be, to play and to explore who they are right now.

Becoming is about the learning, growth and change that happen throughout childhood, as children build the knowledge, skills and dispositions they will keep drawing on as they grow.

The five learning outcomes

The EYLF sets out five learning outcomes for children. Educators use these outcomes to plan experiences, observe learning and talk with families about a child's progress.

1. Children have a strong sense of identity. This is about children feeling safe, secure and supported, and building the confidence to explore, try new things and interact with others.

2. Children relate to and contribute to their world. This covers children's understanding of family, community and the wider world, including caring for the environment and recognising fairness.

3. Children have a strong sense of wellbeing. This includes children's social, emotional and physical health, and the strategies they develop to manage their own feelings and stay safe.

4. Children are confident and involved learners. This is about curiosity, problem-solving, imagination and the ability to apply what they learn in one situation to another.

5. Children are effective communicators. This covers talking, listening and body language, as well as early literacy and numeracy, mark-making, storytelling and the use of technology.

These outcomes are broad by design. A single activity, like building a tower of blocks with a friend, can support several outcomes at once: communication, problem-solving, and a growing sense of identity as a capable learner.

How educators use the framework day to day

Educators do not simply hope learning happens. The EYLF describes a cycle of observing children, reflecting on what they see, planning experiences that respond to each child's interests and stage of development, putting those plans into action, and then reflecting again. This cycle repeats continuously through the year.

The framework also describes intentional teaching alongside play-based learning. This means educators are deliberate in how they set up a room, choose resources and join children's play, so that everyday moments, like a mud kitchen, a group story or a construction area, are supported and extended rather than left to chance.

Partnerships with families are part of this too. Educators share what they observe through learning stories and conversations, and welcome what families share in return, including each child's interests, culture and experiences at home. This exchange helps build a fuller picture of each child's learning.

What this means for Victorian families

In Victoria, early childhood services also work within the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework (VEYLDF), which is aligned with the national EYLF and supports children's learning and development from birth to eight years, across kindergarten, childcare, maternal and child health services and the early years of school. This shared framework means the language and outcomes families see in kindergarten often carry through as children move into their first years of primary school in Victoria.

In practical terms, this means the EYLF is not something that happens only in the classroom. It connects your child's early learning setting with the wider services and settings they will move through, giving families a consistent picture of how learning and wellbeing are supported over time.

What this looks like at Y Whittlesea Early Learning

At Y Whittlesea, the EYLF underpins programs across our nursery, toddler, and three and four-year-old kindergarten programmes. You might see it in a group discussion about caring for the garden, connected to children being connected with and contributing to their world, or in open-ended play with loose parts, connected to children being confident and involved learners.

Programs such as Bush Kinder reference to be confirmed before publishing, where children spend extended time learning outdoors, are a good example of how several outcomes come together in one experience: physical confidence and wellbeing, communication with peers, and a growing connection to the natural world.

Your child's educators can always talk you through how a particular activity or routine connects to the framework, and how it is supporting your child's individual learning and development.

Learn more

The EYLF can sound technical when you first come across it, but at its heart it is a shared set of values about what matters in childhood: feeling secure, being valued in the present, and growing into a confident, connected learner. Understanding it can help you make sense of what your child is learning and why and give you a shared language to use with your child's educators.

Learn more about our approach to early learning or speak with your child's educator or get in touch with the Y Whittlesea Early Learning team.