The department recognises that services are facing challenges at present in maintaining normal staffing arrangements and covering absences, and that these issues affect services’ capacity to meet kindergarten funding requirements from time to time.
In these situations, we want to work with you to explore options for continuing to meet kindergarten funding conditions and deliver a high quality of service.
Funding conditions
Under funding agreements with the department, services must provide a program delivered by a Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT) registered, qualified early childhood teacher (ECT) for:
- 15 hours per week (or 600 hours per year) for 4-year-old children, and
- between 5 and 15 hours per week for 3-year-old children (corresponding to the number of hours of Three-Year-Old Kindergarten your service is delivering).
If your arrangements change, meaning that you may not be able to comply with these requirements for a period of time – for example, if the VIT-qualified ECT is absent for a length of time or leaves the service and is not immediately replaced – please contact your Early Childhood Improvement Branch.
There are a range of provisions that may be called on, depending on the particular situation, including interim funding for short-term periods where a teacher is not available. If services are found to have breached their funding conditions and have not notified their Early Childhood Improvement Branch within 2 weeks, this may result in implications for funding.
More information about these options is provided in the Kindergarten Funding Guide (refer to page 69).
Services regulated under the National Quality Framework are required to meet the National Regulations and may need to check with Quality Assessment and Regulation Division if a waiver is also required.
Depending on the situation, a relevant waiver approval may be required before kindergarten funding in exceptional circumstances can be considered.
Find out more
For further information, refer to the Kindergarten Funding Guide or contact Early Childhood Improvement Branch.
Updated