Minister for Early Childhood and Pre-Prep Ingrid Stitt today announced $1 million for Gowrie Victoria to provide mentors to provisionally registered early childhood teachers over the next year.
Up to 150 provisionally registered teachers will be able to access an experienced mentor from Gowrie Victoria to support them as they gain full registration from the Victorian Institute of Teaching. This new funding builds on a successful program that has matched more than 140 teachers with Gowrie Victoria mentors since 2019.
A nation leading free kinder program requires a nation leading workforce, which is why we have awarded more than 3,000 scholarships in early childhood education since 2018.
The Early Childhood Scholarship Aboriginal Pathway program is also available to those who are looking to join the sector or wanting to upskill.
More than 100 incentives have also been awarded over the past two years to attract early childhood teachers to regional or high-priority areas, with incentives of $9,000 to $50,000 available for eligible, qualified early childhood teachers who secure roles at services in hard-to-staff locations that deliver funded kindergarten programs.
An individual incentive of $9,000 is also available for eligible, qualified early childhood teachers who are joining or re-joining the sector to deliver Three-Year-Old Kinder.
More than 20 future educators are also taking part in a Labor Government funded Gowrie Victoria traineeship program, where trainees study a Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care, while working in a local early childhood service.
These initiatives support $5 billion reform to provide 15 hours of Three-Year-Old Kindergarten by 2029.
The Government is also investing $9 billion over the next decade to make kindergarten free, transition Four-Year-Old Kindergarten to Pre-Prep with 30 hours of play-based learning by 2032 and build 50 government-owned childcare centres to ensure children thrive, save families money and support women to return to work.
As stated by Minister for Early Childhood and Pre-Prep Ingrid Stitt
“Early childhood educators do the most incredible work teaching our littlest Victorians, and we want to support the next wave of educators and teachers to join this extremely rewarding sector.”
As stated by the Member for Northern Metropolitan Sheena Watt
“We’re proud to be supporting more early childhood teachers and educators in kindergartens in Carlton North – because we know how important the early years are in setting our kids up for the future.”
As stated by Gowrie Victoria CEO Susan Anderson
“Each day Gowrie Victoria sees how effective mentoring builds teacher capability. We are proud to deliver this vital support from the Victorian Government to teachers at the start of their career.”
