My Early Warning Signs

Jayneen Sanders (aka Jay Dale)

Jayneen Sanders, also known as Jay Dale, is an experienced Australian early years educator, children’s book author, and publisher.

Her career began in the 1980s as a primary school teacher in rural Queensland, Australia, before moving to Melbourne, Victoria, where she taught at several inner-city schools. In 1985, Jayneen transitioned into educational editing and publishing.

In the early 1990s, Jayneen and her partner relocated to Japan to work as English teachers for over three and a half years, during which time her first daughter was born.

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

Currently, Jayneen is the lead author for the literacy series ‘Engage Literacy,’ published by Capstone, having written over 150 titles for this series.

A mother of three daughters, Jayneen served as a school councillor at her local school for over seven years. Her experiences as both an educator and a parent prompted her to question the measures in place to protect children from inappropriate touch. Realizing the limited efforts in this area, she channeled her authoring and publishing skills into writing ‘Some Secrets Should Never Be Kept,’ aiming to equip parents, carers, and teachers with resources to discuss this subject and empower children to speak out.

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

This led to the development and publication of a comprehensive Body Safety and Respectful Relationship Teacher’s Resource Kit, along with several more children’s books focusing 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 ongoing work on new manuscripts and the provision of free downloadable resources.