The Albanese and Malinauskas Labor Governments are jointly investing $28 million to establish a TAFE Centre of Excellence in Early Childhood Education and Care.
The Centre of Excellence, to be based at TAFE SA's Adelaide metropolitan campus, will be a skills leader in early childhood development.
Through information sharing, industry demonstration and resource development, the Centre will help improve the skills and capability of early childhood education and care workers on a national scale.
The Centre will leverage training partnerships with industry, universities, Jobs and Skills Councils and unions, and facilitate alternative pathways into the sector to strengthen employment pipelines.
Flinders University and the University of South Australia are two key industry partners that will help with the design and delivery of new training products and apprenticeship pathways.
The Centre of Excellence will:
- Innovate training for the Early Childhood Education and Care sector and fast track the development and delivery of higher and degree-equivalent apprenticeship pathways.
- Develop courses through co-design with the sector and First Nation communities, to support specialised community needs.
- Work with sector experts to co-design, develop and pilot professional development programs within childcare centres.
- Collaborate with the HumanAbility Jobs and Skills Council on the establishment and implementation of formal recognition of prior learning frameworks and tools.
Increasing the number of skilled workers across the Early Childhood Education and Care sector is vital to ensuring the best start for the next generation.
The Albanese Government will invest $11.5 million, matched by the Malinauskas Government, as well as a further $5 million to accelerate the creation of the Centre under the Employment White Paper's Turbocharging TAFE Centres of Excellence initiative, to meet the urgent demand for the early childhood education and care workforce.
The Albanese Government and States and Territories are investing $650 million under the five year National Skills Agreement that began on 1 January, to establish a network of up to 20 TAFE Centres of Excellence in areas of high skills needs, to help deliver a skilled workforce for strategically important industries.
Quotes attributable to the Minister for Skills and Training Brendan O'Connor:
"This Early Childhood Education and Care TAFE Centre of Excellence is a great example of the Albanese Labor Government partnering with states to place TAFE at the heart of the vocational education and training sector.
"This Centre of Excellence will help strengthen the VET sector by providing high-quality and responsive skills training for the education and care of our youngest Australians.
"This Centre of Excellence will help boost collaboration between TAFEs, universities and the sector and strengthen our early childhood education and care capabilities, while delivering the skills and knowledge our labour market requires."
Quotes attributable to the SA Minister for Education, Training and Skills Blair Boyer:
"The Malinauskas Labor Government's commitment to education has never been more evident with almost $1.9 billion being invested into early childhood education. This includes the roll-out of three-year-old preschool and funding to build the workforce and infrastructure needed.
"This is the biggest reform to education in this state in decades with the investment key to reducing the rate of South Australian children entering school developmentally vulnerable - from 23.8 per cent to 15 per cent over 20 years.
"We are leading the nation in early childhood to improve the lives of generations of South Australian children - which is why it makes sense that the national TAFE Centre for Excellence in Early Childhood is based right here in South Australia.
"The Malinauskas Labor Government is proud to build on our record investment in the early years with a joint $28 million investment to make the Centre of Excellence a reality - and we're grateful to be partnering with the Albanese Labor Government to improve early childhood education across the country through the new Centre of Excellence.
"We are building the workforce for the early years and TAFE and the Fee-Free TAFE initiative have played a central role in ensuring we have the people needed to support the early years sector. This investment is the next stage in TAFE SA giving more South Australians the skills they need to start a rewarding career in early childhood education or for those already in the sector to upskill."
Quotes attributable to the Minister for Early Childhood Education Dr Anne Aly:
"A sustainable early childhood education and care workforce is vital to the Albanese Government's vision for a universal early learning system that works for all children.
"We're supporting the early learning sector in a range of ways, including through making it easier to access training and professional development opportunities and provisioning funding to contribute towards a wage increase.
"A strong early learning workforce will support all children being able to access the transformational benefits of early childhood education, no matter their background or where they live."
