$28 million TAFE Centre of Excellence to be built to advance ECEC training

A TAFE Centre of Excellence in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) will be built at TAFE SA’s Adelaide metropolitan campus. 

Through information sharing, industry (sic.) demonstration and resource development, the Centre will help improve the skills and capability of early childhood education and care workers on a national scale. 

Both the Federal and South Australian Governments will contribute to the $28 million centre which aims to be a skills leader in early childhood development.

“This Centre of Excellence will help strengthen the vocational education and training (VET) sector by providing high-quality and responsive skills training for the education and care of our youngest Australians,” Federal Minister for Skills and Training Brendan O’Connor said.

“This Centre of Excellence will help boost collaboration between TAFEs, universities and the sector and strengthen our early childhood education and care capabilities, while delivering the skills and knowledge our labour market requires.”

The Centre will leverage training partnerships with industry (sic.), universities, Jobs and Skills Councils and unions, and facilitate alternative pathways into the sector to strengthen employment pipelines.

Flinders University and the University of South Australia are two key industry partners that will help with the design and delivery of new training products and apprenticeship pathways.

The Centre of Excellence will:

• Innovate training for the ECEC sector and fast track the development and delivery of higher and degree-equivalent apprenticeship pathways.
• Develop courses through co-design with the sector and First Nation communities, to support specialised community needs.
• Work with sector experts to co-design, develop and pilot professional development programs within early learning services.
• Collaborate with the HumanAbility Jobs and Skills Council on the establishment and implementation of formal recognition of prior learning frameworks and tools.

“We are building the workforce for the early years and TAFE and the Fee-Free TAFE initiative have played a central role in ensuring we have the people needed to support the early years sector,” SA Education Minister Blair Boyer said. 

“This investment is the next stage in TAFE SA giving more South Australians the skills they need to start a rewarding career in early childhood education or for those already in the sector to upskill.”

The Federal Government will invest $11.5 million, an amount which will be matched by the SA Government, along with a further $5 million to accelerate the creation of the Centre under the Employment White Paper’s Turbocharging TAFE Centres of Excellence initiative, to meet the urgent demand for the ECEC workforce.