Australian Government - MyChild.gov.auEarly Childhood Education and Child Care Workforce
The Australian Government will invest $126.6 million over the next four years to train and retain a high quality early childhood education workforce. The package includes:
- $60.3 million to support around 8000 child care workers getting a qualification by removing TAFE fees for child care diplomas and advanced diplomas from 2009.
- $53.9 million to create additional university places for early childhood teachers, starting with 500 places in 2009 and rising to 1500 places by 2011.
- $12.4 million to reduce the HECS-HELP debt of early childhood teachers who work in Indigenous communities, regional and remote areas and areas of high disadvantage. This represents a reduction in debt of up to $1600 for those early childhood teachers.
In addition to these funded measures, the Australian Government is spearheading the development of the National Early Years Workforce Strategy which will focus on workforce issues facing the early childhood education and child care industry.
For more information about the National Early Years Workforce Strategy visit the Early Childhood section of the DEEWR website webpage.