About Life Learning: Early Childhood Education Grounded in Practice
Life Learning is an early childhood education and professional development organisation founded by Maria Johnson. Our training, resources and courses draw on more than 40 years of hands-on experience working with young children and the adults who support them.
We work with early childhood educators, teachers, centre directors, school leaders, parents and other professionals around the world. Our aim is simple: to give people practical, well-explained knowledge they can use with children the next day.
Who We Are
Life Learning is a national and international early childhood consulting and training company. It grew out of Maria Johnson’s work as founder of Little School, an award winning international group of preschools for children aged 0-6, and from growing demand for her expertise from educators and organisations.
Our purpose is to improve the quality of early childhood education throughout the world. We do that through ECE training, professional development, consultancy, coaching and online courses, for people working in centres, schools and homes in New Zealand, Australia and all over the world.
We provide practical guidance and support in the key areas of:
Team Development and Leadership
Professional Development
Management Consultancy
Coaching and Mentoring
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
– Nelson Mandela
Take a Peek
Meet Our Founder, Maria Johnson
Maria Johnson (BEd, DipTchg, DipTchg (ECE)) is a qualified primary and early childhood teacher and founder of Life Learning and Little School, an award-winning group of preschools she established in 2002. She has held leadership roles on national education boards and regularly speaks at conference in New Zealand and overseas.
Life Learning – Improving the quality of early childhood education throughout the world.
What We Teach
Child Development, Movement and Learning
Children learn through their bodies as much as through their minds. We explore how motor development, movement and sensory experience relate to attention, play and learning, including how primitive reflexes and reflex integration are understood in early childhood practice.
Sensory Processing and Sensory Integration
Understanding how children take in and respond to sensory information can change how educators read behaviour and set up their spaces. Our training explains sensory processing in clear, practical terms.
Play-based Learning, Outdoor Play, STEM, Creativity
We help educators plan environments and experiences that spark curiosity and imagination, from outdoor play and loose parts to STEM and creative expression.
Children's Wellbeing and Behaviour
Our approach to behaviour starts with understanding what a child may be communicating , and with supporting social and emotional development through relationships and environment.
Leadership and Team Development
Strong centres depend on strong teams. We offer professional development for directors, managers and school leaders on leadership, team culture and management.
Developmental approaches such as reflex integration and sensory integration are areas where research is still developing. We present them as professional perspectives that inform observation and practice, not as guaranteed solutions to learning or behavioural challenges.
Consultancy, Coaching and Mentoring for Early Childhood Organisations
Curriculum Development
A quality curriculum is central to children’s learning and development. We help centres and organisations create planned, purposeful and systematic curriculum that encourages a love of learning, imagination and creativity, and builds social and emotional capability in each child.
Management consultancy
We help organisations build ethical reflection and evaluation systems, ongoing self-review, collaborative consultation, and consistent observation and documentation of children’s learning, so programmes make a real difference to the learning of each child.
Coaching and mentoring
Our one-on-one programmes include regular observation of teaching. An independent mentor makes it easier for teachers to discuss practice openly and without confrontation. Our induction programmes focus on
Research shows that teachers who are coached and mentored are more motivated, enthusiastic, experience higher job satisfaction, and stay in teaching longer.
Our Approach to ECE Professional Development
Good professional development should change what happens with children on Monday morning. That shapes everything we design.
- Practical first. Ideas connect to what educators can observe, try and adapt in their own setting.
- Clear language. We explain technical concepts plainly without watering down the substance.
- Honest about evidence. We separate what is well established from what is still developing.
- Built on experience. Our content comes from decades of working in the field, not theory alone.
- Child at the centre. We believe in holistic learning, where children build confidence, creativity and a love of learning, and are prepared socially, emotionally and educationally for the move to school.
This philosophy also guides Little School, which aims to lay sound foundations for lifelong learning and make the transition to school as smooth as possible.
Early Childhood Courses Through Life Learning Academy
The Life Learning Academy is home to our online early childhood courses. Study at your own pace, apply what you learn in your own setting, and build your knowledge in these areas:
- Primitive reflexes: for example, the Moro reflex and Palmar Reflex courses
- Leadership and team development: for example, What Makes A Great Team
- Foundations for children’s development: Sensory-Motor Development, Movement, Midline and Laterality, and the Vestibular System
- Early childhood theorists and concepts: for example, Reggio Emilia Documentation and Multiple Intelligences
- STEM and creativity: for example, What is STEM and Loose Parts
- Children’s wellbeing and behaviour: including Positive Behaviour
- The importance of play: including Outdoor Play
Laying Sound Foundations for Lifelong Learning
Little School’s philosophy is to lay sound foundations for lifelong learning – to develop a ‘love of learning’ in each child.
We aim to make children’s transition to school as smooth as possible – preparing children both socially, emotionally and educationally for the next steps in their journey.
We also aim to provide skills for life that will develop children’s knowledge, independence and creativity.
Get in touch
If you are a centre director or school leader looking for professional development for your whole team, or you would like help choosing a course, we would be glad to hear from you!