Victoria releases ECEC workforce strategy to complement Best Start, Best Life reforms

The Victorian Government has released the Best Start, Best Life Workforce Strategy, developed in consultation with the early childhood sector. 

 

The strategy sets out how the Victorian Government is growing the kindergarten workforce through partnerships and support for teachers and educators, building on the programs already in place and introducing new and expanded initiatives to continue improving workforce attraction, retention and quality.

 

With six areas of action, this will encourage greater workforce diversity, improve access to quality pre-service training, and help students make a smooth transition to the workforce, while driving long-term career development, effective leadership and practice quality.

 

More than 4,000 scholarships have already been awarded since 2019, removing financial barriers and supporting more Victorians as they become early childhood teachers. Up to 1,700 educators are being supported to upskill as teachers through the Innovative Initial Teacher Education program, and almost 2,000 grants have been awarded to assist early career teachers to progress to full registration.

 

Experienced early childhood teachers are sharing their knowledge and expertise through the Effective Mentoring program, and more than 4,000 early childhood professionals have also accessed the Three-Year-Old Teaching Toolkit to support the delivery of high-quality kindergarten programs across the state.

 

“A quality early childhood education starts with dedicated staff. Consultation with the sector has shown that our workforce initiatives, training and upskilling opportunities and mentoring programmes are supporting early childhood workers to be their best,” said Victoria’s Minister for Children Lizzie Blandthorn. 

 

Since 2019, the Labor Government has invested almost $370 million to grow, support and retain the early childhood workforce, increasing early childhood teacher and educator roles in kindergarten programs by more than 50 per cent.

 

These achievements are a strong base for the Government’s latest workforce strategy. Learn more about the strategy here.