Former ‘city girl’ and current centre director Eleni Svarnia is passionate about remote placements. She says they're amazing for personal and professional growth as a leader.
Eleni Svarnia, pictured above at work, is originally from Athens, Greece. She studied tourism and then lived in France for two years before moving to Melbourne. But her richest experience is working at an early learning centre in a little WA town with a population of 2,000.
“I love speaking languages – I speak five – and I moved to France to practice,” she said.
“I stayed there for two years then I came to Australia for a holiday, and I just loved it. My Italian girlfriend was from Melbourne so that’s why I went there. It was like a second Greece - it was amazing.”
At the time, the only way for Eleni to stay in the country was to study. She channelled her passion for and background in teaching into studying early childhood education and care.
“I did it for the little ones,” said Eleni, “After I studied for my Certificate III, I started work, and then I finished my Diploma. I was with a not-for-profit service for four years. Similar to Goodstart, they were wonderful. They offered me a sponsorship in WA in the middle of nowhere: Derby, WA. During my time there I became a permanent resident and citizen."
Eleni with a charter plane taking her from Debry to Broome. She said: "Every time the roads were flooded during wet season. It was only a two-hour drive to get to the shops but sometimes the road was closed for weeks, and we had no other way to go to town and get food."
Eleni also volunteered as a dance instructor and taught children ages 5-18, plus adults. She added: “It was a small community, and they didn’t have many activities... At the end of the year, we performed in the local school theatre."
From senior educator, Eleni became assistant director and director within a year. She said: “Career progression was fast, and I also went to work in different states. Like Goodstart, they offered opportunities in small towns. They flew me from QLD to WA and the NT to some communities where they didn't even have a shop.
“It was amazing and that's why I’m so passionate about working in remote areas. We often get staff saying ‘We don't have resources. We don't have this and that.’ And I’m like, ‘Guys, in some places, they don't have paper. Children draw in the sand, and they’re happy.’”
From city life to teaching in remote communities
Having fun painting a cardboard box. Eleni realised what the children want - 'it’s not expensive toys'
Eleni’s advice to future leaders is to go and work in a remote community, even just for a few weeks, because it will change your leadership style.
She said: “I recommend this because I am a city girl, so I get it. Before I moved to WA, all my life I lived in cities like Melbourne. I am from Athens, I’ve lived in Paris, and I’d never left the house without a very high heel.
“When I went to work in Derby in WA, I rocked up in the airport with my high heels. The area manager came to pick me up and said, ‘I don't think that it's going to work.’ They were really concerned about me because they thought I’d be in shock – and I was. But it was a positive shock.
“Soon, I was like, ‘You know what? Bring me my thongs.’ And that's something that everyone needs to experience. You might think that Australia is all the fancy stuff and nice restaurants, and that is true. But the real Australia is made up of remote, Indigenous communities. And it is amazing.”
Eleni continued to work in various remote communities around the country. She said: “Derby’s remote, but at least they had one shop – a Woolworths, nothing else. In the other remote communities where I worked, they had nothing – no shops, no takeaways. If you didn't bring food to work, you’d go hungry.
“For me, working with Indigenous communities was a good learning opportunity. It changed me. It's not what you see every day, but it’s the truth. It made me humble. Working remotely pulled me down and made me realise what the children want – it’s not expensive toys. They want someone to play with them with whatever they have. It's not about resources, it's all about the engagement of the educators. The children don't want anything in particular – just for people to sit down with them.”
Eleni worked at her prior company for four years. After meeting her partner, who was from Queensland, they moved to the city of Toowoomba. The couple drove across states during Covid in 2020. Within a week, Eleni had found work.
Before joining Goodstart, Eleni did a two-week stint at a for-profit early learning provider. She said: “I tried working there. It was a private, and to be honest, they didn’t match my beliefs. I knew it wasn’t the right place for me. All my life I’d worked for the government or not-for-profit organisations; that’s me.”
Eleni had three interviews with Goodstart to secure her role. There were just two questions she needed to ask before making up her mind: ‘Do you have cleaners? Do you have cooks?’
She said: “I don't want to take educators off the floor to clean. So, when they told me, ‘Yes’, I decided to work here. That's the place for me. It's been four years this weekend. Honestly? I’m having the best time and I just love coming to work every day. I'm very happy because I have everything I need and I'm all about the children – they are the same. My team and I are all on the same page.”
The benefits of making simple, open-ended toys or resources
Eleni in Derby, WA, with nuts from a boab tree. She collected many to paint with the children and hang as Christmas baubles
Eleni is passionate about perspective and sustainability; using what’s around you to create games, activities, and resources.
Working with small communities in remote Australia was a ‘wake-up call’. Eleni believes such experiences teach educators resourcefulness. They help them to inspire children's creativity, problem-solving, imagination and appreciation.
In her role now, Eleni and her team love to create resources. She said: “Instead of buying plastic phones, we will get a block and stick a photo of a phone on it and the children will be like, ‘Oh hi! How are you?’
“We use sustainable and recyclable materials. To create displays, we cut sticks from outside and hang pictures. We don't really have to buy that many resources; we can make them.”
Often, when Eleni’s team come to her to ask for extra resources, she’ll ask, ‘How can we make that? What materials will we need?’
“When the children make something themselves, they respect it more and they are proud to show it,” she said.
Eleni has her two children enrolled at her centre – aged one and two – and she’s seen this firsthand. Every room has a family wall. She said: “We use containers, egg cartons, everything you can imagine. Every child chooses what they want, they paint it the colour they want, then we stick the picture of their family, and we hang them.
“What they make, they understand that it's theirs and they don't damage it or pull it off the wall. My daughter is only two, but you can see this throughout the centre. It’s interesting because as a teacher before, I never thought this would work. But I’m seeing it in action now and it works.”
For the educators, Eleni says it benefits their way of working and managing behaviours because everything they plan comes from the children.
“Recently, one of my rooms has been interested in exploring police,” she said, “So, we made police badges using cardboard and colour. The children have made phones, ATM machines, whatever they’re interested in. It's all a learning experience. They sit and create together, and when they’re truly engaged, they don’t run around and hit each other.”
Building a good team, workplace culture and staff retention
In six months, Eleni built her team up from 10 to 30 staff - and her capacity went from 50 to 95%
Eleni is proud to have about 25 nationalities among her staff and families. She has good staff retention and a happy team that feels understood.
After some initial movements during her first year at the centre, the team are solid. Eleni’s centre leadership team is longstanding, too, including educational leaders and teachers. She has the same assistant director from before, who’s been with Goodstart for 10 years.
Eleni's reading to the kindergarten children at Goodstart Toowoomba - Glenvale Road
Eleni said: “When I started, my centre was at 50% capacity with 10 staff members, all Australians. I don't know why we did not have any diversity. It was bizarre for me because I'm not used to it. Within three to six months, our capacity was up to 95% and we had 30 staff.
“How it started is, I am very social. I love community, so I reached out to schools, and all the early childhood education institutions like TAFE. I asked them, ‘Do you have any students for placement?’ because I love having students.
“Some centres see students as another responsibility, but I see them as an opportunity. You can train people who have never worked before to be amazing educators. When they're fresh and they haven't seen other centres, they can be mentored very well. That's what happened to me; I had the best experience. The first placement is the most important.
“And this is how my team started, with two TAFE students and others from referrals. We love volunteers too. If one of the 10 volunteers is good, that's a success, because they can be an amazing educator.”
Eleni understands people from diverse backgrounds because of her own journey. As she says, half her staff are on visas, and she knows what they’re going through; the stress of the IELTS (International English Language Testing System), etc.
She really gets it: “That's why I keep my team and I've got good staff retention. I won't go against them and say, ‘No, you can’t have this day off.’ I will be like, ‘Yes, you can have it because I went through that. I know it's not easy.’
“It's stressful and it costs you a lot of money, everything that they must do to stay in the country. People like my staff, they don't do childcare because they don't have any other option. They do it because they love it. Even to study childcare can be expensive.”
The power of social media, word of mouth and community reputation
Eleni promoted her staff and workplace culture on social media. “Everyone wanted to come and work for us. It was amazing."
Eleni believes directors should promote the children and activities, the staff, and themselves. She knows that social media is not everyone's cup of tea, but says it makes a big difference to word of mouth and showing your face in the community.
She said: “Just imagine, how would you feel as an educator if you knew what your boss was doing? Or as a parent, seeing the director on camera? Wouldn't that be cool?
“My staff invite their family from overseas and everyone from the community to see what we’re doing. Now, our social media has almost 2,000 followers.”
Eleni finds that promoting her centre on socials enhances staff wellbeing. She said: “For a few weeks every Monday, we made a funny video. For example, we did the lolly jar, and ‘What's your favourite Australian song?’
“And because we started Monday fun, the whole week was amazing. Everyone was in a great mood. But one week we didn't do it, and the week wasn't as good. The week after that, we did it again and the whole week was so much fun. I think it’s important to start the week positively. Of course, you can do it every week, but if you can, it makes a big difference. That was an experiment, and it worked.”
Through social media, the reputation of Goodstart Toowoomba - Glenvale Road grew. Eleni promoted her staff and their diversity. “Everyone wanted to come and work for us. It was amazing,” she said, “Word of mouth has been great for us. And the relationships with the community and all the universities.”
Upskilling, learning and development through Goodstart
Eleni's children are one and two. She's put her degree studies on hold and our THRIVE program is there to support when she's ready to resume them
Eleni has created learning opportunities through Goodstart’s Performance Excellence Program (PEP). It’s part of our dedication to career progression for centre staff: a series of purposeful conversations. The focus is on understanding Goodstart's priorities, our people’s roles, personal development needs and future aspirations.
She said: “PEP is a process where every few months we ask the staff, what else do you want to learn? Often, they are interested in programming and planning. They have asked to learn Auslan for the last two years. We took advantage of that for our uplift training because we have some non-verbal children. The staff wanted to support the children so we brought Auslan to our centre.
“Now, the children are learning some Auslan, too. In a few weeks, the lady who does the training is coming back in to teach a specific song that the children wanted to learn.”
In terms of Eleni’s personal goals, her degree is on hold. Since the launch of Goodstart’s THRIVE program, Eleni has enquired about it. The initiative supports Goodstarters to study for teaching degrees. Eleni knows that she can tap into those benefits when she is ready.
She said: “I had two babies, one after the other, so I haven't finished my bachelor. I'm a little bit more than halfway through but haven't done any placements yet. Goodstart was happy to process my application for THRIVE; they told me to send the enrolments. But it’s still on pause for now. My son is only one so it's a bit hard to work and study. It's still there waiting and THRIVE such a good opportunity.”