The Department of Education and Training (DET) is providing additional resources to assist services and providers to explain what the Three-Year-Old Kindergarten reform is and how local families can engage with it, as well as to support efforts to recruit new staff.

Resources to encourage families to enrol

A new communication pack is available to help services and providers encourage families to enrol for 2022. The pack includes:

• New communication materials: social media posts, template text for newsletter/website, editable postcards and posters and a range of new fact sheets to support conversations with families.
• Translated materials: brochures and postcards in more than 50 languages and plain English.
• Printed resources: printed resources can be ordered at no cost to services.

New tools are also available for families, including the:

• Kindergarten Starting Age Calculator
• Find a Kinder Program website.

Resources to support recruitment

DET encourages services to plan staffing needs and any recruitment required as early as possible, to ensure that you are ready to deliver a funded program next year. 

The Victorian Government is committed to supporting providers to recruit staff and deliver quality kindergarten programs to children across Victoria.

Providers are encouraged to access:

• New Recruitment Kit for Employers: recruitment tips and strategies to attract candidates to vacancies, including sample written content that you can tailor for your recruitment needs.
• Financial incentives: between $9,000 and $50,000 for qualified early childhood teachers to take up a teaching position in priority services delivering Three-Year-Old Kindergarten. Eligible service providers have been sent a letter to advise them of their available incentives. Interested qualified teachers can now register their interest to receive more information.
• New Early Childhood Jobs Board: a free online recruitment platform where you can post job ads for free and connect with candidates across the state and beyond.

There is a transitional arrangement in place for services with Activity Group Leaders (AGLs) to assist with the changes brought about by the introduction of Three-Year-Old Kindergarten. Service providers have the option to retain an existing educator who is currently employed as an AGL, so they can lead a funded Three-Year-Old Kindergarten program for at least one year.

To be eligible for the transition arrangement, AGLs must have been employed under the Victorian Early Childhood Teachers and Educators Agreement (VECTEA), Early Education Employees Agreement (EEEA) or an equivalent agreement prior to November 2020.

A similar transitional arrangement will also be available for services that currently employ a diploma-qualified educator who is upskilling to become an early childhood teacher and expected to complete their qualification in 2022.

These services will be permitted to use these staff to lead a funded Three-Year-Old Kindergarten program from the start of 2022. Further eligibility requirements to access this arrangement will apply. Importantly, services will need to put in place adequate supports for the upskiller to complete their qualification, and plan and deliver a quality kindergarten program, including access to support from a qualified early childhood teacher.

Services that might be eligible to opt into this or the AGL arrangement should contact their local Early Childhood Implementation Branch.

Further information and support

Services or providers experiencing difficulty in recruiting may be eligible for additional recruitment supports, including assistance from specialised recruitment agencies.

Please contact your local Early Childhood Implementation Branch if you need any additional information or support on communications resources, or workforce planning or recruitment.

• Workforce enquiries: early.childhood.jobs@education.vic.gov.au
• General enquiries: 3YO.Kindergarten@education.vic.gov.au
• Public information: vic.gov.au/kinder