Professional Development and Paid Practicum Subsidy Program: rules and how to apply

On 3 May 2023, the Australian Government announced the Professional Development and Paid Practicum Subsidy Program as part of the 2023-24 Budget. The program is one of a number of urgent actions to help support the skills and training of early childhood education and care (ECEC) educators by expanding access to quality professional development.

In the piece below, The Sector explores the amount of funding available, terms and guidance for access, and other core considerations in relation to the program. 

How much funding is available? 

For the Professional Development stream, funding of $12.8 million is available in 2023-24. The objective of the program is to support up to 22,000 early childhood educators, early childhood teachers and directors (centre managers) to undertake professional development for up to two days. The amount of the subsidy for this stream will be calculated based on a flat daily rate (calculated based on current July 2022 award rates) with rates for early childhood educators, early childhood teachers and directors.

For the Paid Practicum stream, the objective of the program is to support up to 2,500 early childhood educators in target areas to complete their formal training towards an early childhood teacher degree qualification or postgraduate studies. In 2023-24, funding of $11.4 million is available. The amount of the subsidy for this stream will be calculated as a flat weekly rate based on Level 3.4 (Diploma) of the Children’s Services Award (2010).

Across both streams in 2023-24, the program is particularly targeted to services and educators in regional, remote or very remote communities and First Nations educators and services.

The guidelines for the program apply to 2023-24 only. New guidelines for 2024-25 onwards will be released following consultation with stakeholders and agreement by the Federal Minister for Early Childhood Education.

Who is eligible for funding?

There are four elements of eligibility for the program:

1.   Basic eligibility

All services across both streams must be receiving the Child Care Subsidy (CCS) to be considered eligible.

2.   Service types

Any service participating must be receiving CCS (as eligibility will be determined through CCS records). This includes long day care, family day-care, in-home care, centre-based day care and outside school hours care services. Preschool and kindergarten services are not eligible to receive this subsidy.

3.   Location

The subsidy is targeted to services that undertake service delivery in several remote locations. 

Remoteness categories are determined by the ABS. More details can be found at: Remoteness Structure | Australian Bureau of Statistics (abs.gov.au)  

4.   First Nations status

First Nations-owned and controlled services are eligible regardless of location, as defined in Priority Reform Two of the National Agreement Closing the Gap.

Potentially eligible applicants will be sent a letter by the Department and an application form will be provided to complete. For more information, please visit the Grants Australia website.