Vic Government implements new financial incentives to boost early childhood jobs

Early childhood teachers in Victoria are being wooed into working in the sector with financial incentives of between $9,000 to $50,000 to work in locations across Victoria delivering Three-Year-Old Kindergarten, the State’s Early Childhood Minister Ingrid Stitt announced yesterday. 

The announcement forms part of an updated Victorian Early Childhood Teacher Financial Incentives program as part of the broader $32.4 million investment in the Victorian Budget 2021/22 to support and expand the sector’s workforce in line with the statewide roll-out of Three-Year-Old Kindergarten in 2022. 

For the first time, qualified early childhood teachers joining or returning to the sector, as well as those coming from interstate and New Zealand will be eligible for these incentives. Returning teachers re-joining the sector will also be able to access additional professional learning to help with their career move. 

Incentives will be available in selected services delivering Three-Year-Old Kindergarten in areas that include hard-to-staff programs in metropolitan Melbourne and regional and rural Victoria, and available to the current workforce or those joining the profession. 

Relocation grants will also be available for teachers who move more than 200 km to take up a position in a hard-to staff location. 

The incentives were announced on the new online Early Childhood Jobs Board, which also launched yesterday. With the workforce expanding as part of the Three-Year-Old Kindergarten roll-out, the Jobs Board has been created as an employment support tool and offers a one stop shop to support the early childhood sector to connect in one place and look for, apply, and advertise jobs and incentives. 

To find out more about the Victorian Early Childhood Teacher Financial Incentives program, visit www.vic.gov.au/kinder