Everyone's Invited

Jayneen Sanders (aka Jay Dale) is an experienced Australian early years educator, children’s book author, and publisher.

She began her teaching career in the 1980s as a primary school teacher in rural Queensland, Australia, and later taught at several inner-city schools in Melbourne, Victoria. In 1985, Jayneen transitioned to a career as an educational editor and publisher.

In the early 1990s, Jayneen and her partner lived in Japan for over three and a half years, where she worked as an English teacher. Her first daughter was born in Japan.

Upon returning to Australia, Jayneen worked as an educational author/packager, creating numerous award-winning titles for the educational publishing industry. She is also an accomplished children’s book author, contributing to literacy series like ZigZags, Totally Kidz, Deadly and Incredible, and a children’s picture book series for Penguin.

Jayneen is the lead author of the literacy series ‘Engage Literacy,’ published by Capstone, for which she has written over 150 titles.

A mother of three daughters and a former school councillor, Jayneen’s experience as both an educator and a parent inspired her to address child protection in schools. Realizing the limited action being taken, she used her skills to write ‘Some Secrets Should Never Be Kept’ to help children, parents, carers, and teachers discuss inappropriate touch and encourage children to speak out.

Following the positive reception of ‘Some Secrets Should Never Be Kept,’ Jayneen recognized a need for continued prevention education. She underwent Protective Behaviours professional development and attended conferences to deepen her knowledge of child safety and age-appropriate body safety and consent education.

She subsequently developed and published a comprehensive Body Safety and Respectful Relationship Teacher’s Resource Kit and authored additional children’s books on body safety, consent, respect, gender equality, social and emotional intelligence, and diversity and inclusion.

Jayneen currently co-manages Educate2Empower Publishing with her partner, Mark Sanders. Her dedication to child safety and empowerment remains strong, with new manuscripts and free resources continually being developed.