Lisa Burman - Consulting in Pedagogical Growth

When we truly listen to children, we create opportunities for their thinking to grow. 💬

But what does that look like in practice?

Swipe through for a few key features of learning environments that make space for children’s ideas, conversations and thinking.

Fresh off a fabulous day with a group of SA preschool directors. I feel blessed to collaborate with such reflective, committed and passionate early childhood leaders - in my home state! Looking forward to hearing how our thinking from today is lived out in each of their sites.

Thanks Orbis for the invitation.

You know when you’re having ‘one of those days’ and your confidence in yourself is shaky or you just need a bit of a pep-talk? Well, one of my beautiful friends just created this and sent it to me. It made me laugh out loud! A bit of AI fun.

So blessed to have people who believe in me in my life.

We're excited that we can finally announce that we're on the Preschool Boost menu for 2027. That means, if you are part of the Flying Start initiative in South Australia, you can use your Preschool Boost funding to engage with our professional learning offerings.

We have three offerings on the Preschool Boost menu:

1. Playful Literacy - the foundations of literacy
2. Phonological Awareness - Sing, Move and Play
3. Building Reading Identities - right from the start

There is more information on the Preschool Boost website.

I'd love to hear from you if you'd like a conversation about any of these and how we might partner with you in 2027. Contact Lisa via [email protected]

How lucky am I to spend time with this group of incredible women!! We talked all night, listening to stories of joy and frustration, supporting each other in the midst of challenging times. We laughed so much too! It is a true gift to be surrounded by such warmth, respect and generosity. Each of these women live their values, professionally and personally.

Together we lift each other up. I hope you all can find your ‘people’ too.

What a JOY to host this incredible group of stellar educators in my home last night. So much wisdom, experience, generosity and thoughtfulness as we gathered for a long-awaited opportunity to be in deep and wide dialogue about teaching, learning and the work we all feel privileged to do in supporting other educators and children. We are SOOOO lucky in Australia to have these world-leading experts in Early Childhood Education – I could listen to these women speak for days.

Thank you to Association of Independent Schools of Western Australia - AISWA for the invitation to facilitate a Literacy Bites webinar yesterday. I shared some thinking about what is important to consider when curating literacy rich learning environments. And we were inspired by the many photographs I've been able to take across the years from a variety of educational settings! Thank you to all participants for your humbling feedback and engaging questions. And a huge thank you to all the sites and teachers who I've had the honour of collaborating with over the years and who 'lent' me their inspiration through my photographs.

Just to name and acknowledge a few of those sites...Ngutu College; St Paul Lutheran, Blair Athol; Prospect North Primary; Beijing City International School Early Childhood School; St Martin's, Greenacres; PS 347, Manhattan; Star of the Sea, Henley Beach; Flinders Park Primary; Nexus International School Preschool, Singapore; Kensington Park Kindergarten.

This is ESSENTIAL reading for those of us teaching children to be readers. Which is all of us! I urge you to take 5 mins to read this.

Sunday Read: A Not-So-New Science of Reading How Modern Neuroscience Validates Marie Clay’s Predictive Reading Brain

If you've been meaning to register to our Intro to Bookmaking mini course, this is a friendly reminder that registrations close on Tuesday 4 August at 6:00 pm (ACDT).

📍 Adelaide (St Paul Lutheran School, Blair Athol)
📅 8th & 29th of August
👩‍🏫 For educators working with children aged 3–8
🔗 https://learn.lisaburman.com.au/book-making-course

This 2-day course explores bookmaking as a practical literacy approach that values children’s existing knowledge, cultural competence, and learning dispositions. It supports children to see themselves as capable writers and invites educators to notice, think, and respond more intentionally. Hope to see you there!

Some great advice from Sally Haughey - words and actions that will support your play advocacy.


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A quote from the article:

"'I became a teacher because I love reading from a Powerpoint,' said no teacher ever."

This short article connects to my 'enough' rant last week and warns of the very-near danger of a compliant culture in teacher education and accreditation. I also urge Australian teachers to read this article and complete the review. It just took me only 10 mins. I'll put the link to the review in the comments.

What should an Australian teacher look like now? This is your chance to help decide A review of Australia’s Professional Standards for Teachers is closing on August 7. Decisions made now could shape teaching for the next generation. Following recent reforms, there is a genuine fear that we will see a further shift from professional judgment and expertise, towards co...