Find workforce initiatives and resources for early childhood education and care educators and teachers.
On this page:
Professional development opportunities
There are new measures to support the early childhood education and care (ECEC) workforce.
The professional development subsidy, paid practicum subsidy and practicum exchange are designed to strengthen skills and professional experience and encourage long-term staff engagement.
Learn about the new early childhood workforce measures
Child care discount for early childhood workforce
Providers can choose to offer a discounted fee to educators they employ whose children are enrolled at one of their services. The discount will not affect the employee’s Child Care Subsidy (CCS) entitlement. This measure will support providers to attract and retain their early childhood workforce.
Learn more about discounts for the early childhood workforce
Financial help for very remote teachers
Early childhood teachers at very remote Centre Based Day Care services with Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) debts may be eligible for financial assistance.
The Australian Government provides two types of assistance. We can:
- waive indexation on accumulated HELP debt
- reduce accumulated HELP debt.
Applications for indexation waivers and reduction of accumulated HELP debts are now available.
Check if your service is in a very remote area
Learn more about financial assistance for very remote teachers
Mental health resources
Be You is the national mental health and wellbeing initiative for ECEC services and schools. It equips educators with knowledge and resources to support the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people from birth to 18 years.
The Be You initiative is delivered by Beyond Blue in collaboration with:
- Early Childhood Australia
- headspace National Youth Mental Health Foundation.
It is free.
Be You offers:
- accredited professional learning
- online sessions and events
- fact sheets
- evidence-informed resources.
These resources can support educators to meet national, state and territory requirements relating to mental health and wellbeing.
How to register
Individual registration is open to educators who:
- work in early learning services
- are in pre-service or training.
Your service or school can register as a Be You learning community and access resources, online events and a network of consultants. This is also free.