20 Oct3y.o Vic kinder rollout – transitional funding supporting up-skillers to come online earlier

Posted on 20 Oct 2021

To support the roll-out of funded Three-Year-Old Kindergarten in Victoria, a transitional funding arrangement has been put in place. This gives funded service providers (approved providers) the option of allowing an up-skiller who will complete their qualification by the end of 2022 to deliver a funded kindergarten program from the start of 2022.

Eligibility criteria  

Individual requirements

To be eligible for transitional funding, the up-skiller must:

  • be a primary teacher or early childhood diploma qualified educator who is studying an approved early childhood teaching qualification and will complete the qualification by the end of 2022
  • have been employed by the service provider prior to June 2021
  • deliver the Three-Year-Old Kindergarten program at the service.

 Service requirements

To be eligible for transitional funding the service must:

  • be delivering a funded Three-Year-Old Kindergarten program in 2022
  • meet or exceed all the National Quality Framework (NQF) requirements and have no existing regulatory compliance issues
  • have a degree-qualified early childhood teacher employed at the service who supports the planning and delivery of the kindergarten program being delivered under transitional funding, and agrees to be part of the arrangement
  • provide evidence of the upskiller’s enrolment in an approved early childhood initial teacher education course and evidence of the individual’s expected graduation date
  • ensure any Early Start Kindergarten (ESK) funded children are placed in a kindergarten program delivered by a degree-qualified early childhood teacher for 15 hours a week. This may mean placing them in the Four-Year-Old Kindergarten program
  • have adequate supports in place to support the up-skiller and the mentor teacher.

How to apply

To apply for transitional funding, funded service providers must first discuss the eligibility of their up-skiller, complete the application form, and submit it to their Early Childhood Improvement Branch.

Note that all other funding requirements set out in the Kindergarten Funding Guide will continue to apply.

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