Dr Barbara Watson
Co-founder & Director — Lead Professional Learning Facilitator
Barbara is the co-founder and director of inspirED ECE, an Auckland-based consultancy dedicated to evidence-informed professional learning, leadership development, and quality improvement across the early childhood sector.
With a career spanning more than three decades, Barbara has worked as a primary and early childhood teacher, centre leader, service owner, mentor, researcher, and consultant ‐ giving her a rich, first-hand understanding of what it takes to build strong teaching teams and thriving learning environments.
She is passionate about helping educators and organisations build inclusive, equitable cultures where every child and whānau feel a sense of belonging. Grounded in Te Whāriki and current research, her approach is relational, culturally responsive, and always focused on genuine, lasting improvement.
As a contracted facilitator for the Ministry of Education and the Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand, Barbara has led professional learning programmes for teachers and leaders across New Zealand and Australia. She holds a PhD examining the mentoring of provisionally certificated teachers, and continues to share her research at national and international conferences.
Barbara loves nothing more than partnering with services to reflect on their practice, celebrate their strengths, and chart a meaningful path forward.
Bridgit Williams
Co-founder, Director & Lead Professional Learning Facilitator
Bridgit is the co-founder, director, and lead professional learning facilitator at inspirED ECE, an Auckland-based consultancy providing high-quality, evidence-informed professional learning and organisational development for the early childhood sector.
Over the past two decades, Bridgit has partnered with teachers, leaders, and organisations right across Aotearoa New Zealand ‐ from the country’s largest private providers to Kindergarten Associations and community-based services ‐ helping teams strengthen their practice, build leadership capability, and improve outcomes for children.
She is a warm and skilled facilitator, known for building genuine, collaborative relationships and helping teams turn research and policy into real, meaningful change. Her consultancy work spans internal evaluation, leadership development, professional learning design, curriculum implementation, and organisational change.
Bridgit has been contracted by the Ministry of Education to support the development of sector resources, including trialing Kōwhiti Whakapae, and has worked with the Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand on its nationwide appraisal project.
A qualified and registered early childhood teacher, Bridgit brings a particular depth of expertise in inclusive education, having worked as both a Hospital Play Specialist and an Early Intervention Teacher. This experience shapes her deep commitment to equity and social justice ‐ and her belief that every child has the right to participate, belong, and thrive.
Bridgit is passionate about strengthening leadership, lifting the quality of early childhood education, and ensuring equitable outcomes for every learner.