Early Childhood Provisionally Registered Teacher (PRT) Grants Program

• provision of paid time release, travel, accommodation expenses and/or employment of a casual relief teacher to backfill the PRT and/or their mentor while they work together to meet the requirements for full teacher registration
• costs associated with engaging in professional learning that will to support the PRT to move to full teacher registration.

No funding can be used on activities that involve delivering services to children.

Grant management

As stated in the program terms and conditions (DOCX, 87KB), the grant recipient must promptly notify the department of all service/employment changes that will affect the use of the funding.

Should a grant recipient wish to reallocate funding to support a different PRT in their employ, the department will review the request, confirm the eligibility of the PRT and, if the funding reallocation is approved, update the program records accordingly.

When a PRT grant is issued to an approved provider, the department will notify the supported PRT about the funding issued to their employer. The department will also notify a representative of the early childhood service at which the PRT is employed.

The department will conduct a check-in with grant recipients and supported PRTs within 6 months of the funding being issued. This will assist with the identification of barriers faced by PRTs and their employers, allow for the distribution of useful resources and improve the department’s ability to monitor the effectiveness of the PRT Grants Program.

Grant acquittal and reporting requirements

Funding issued to approved providers through the PRT Grants Program must be spent in accordance with the program terms and conditions (DOCX, 87KB) in the 12 months following the issuing of the grant.

As a condition of accepting a grant, grant recipients must complete an acquittal form 12 months after receiving a PRT grant. The acquittal form must be completed within 30 days of distribution to grant recipients. Failure to complete the acquittal form within this time period may, at the discretion of the department, make an approved provider ineligible to receive funding in future PRT grant rounds.

To acquit PRT Grants Program funding, grant recipients must confirm that funding was expended in accordance with the 2024-25 PRT Grants Program Terms and Conditions. If the funding has not been fully spent, further information will be sought from the grant recipient. Any further request for information, record, or report must be received by the department within thirty (30) days of the grant recipient receiving the request

Where permitted by the department, grant recipients that are approved to continue to support PRTs using funding remaining after the initial 12-month period will be required to complete the acquittal form every 3-6 months until the funding is acquitted (i.e., the grant recipient confirms the funding has been expended in accordance with the program terms and conditions (DOCX, 87KB).

Recoup policy

Grant recipients are expected to make every effort to spend the funding within the 12-month funding period to support PRTs to move to full registration, however, the department acknowledges that there may be extenuating circumstances where this is not possible.

The department will recoup all or part of the funding within sixty (60) days if:

• $501 or more of each grant issued to the approved provider remains unspent following the 12-month funding period, or
• the funding is not being used per the PRT Grants Program Guidelines.

Grant recipients may be promoted and featured in relevant Victorian Government communications. As a condition of accepting a grant, the grant recipient must agree to provide a reasonable amount of additional information to support ongoing promotions and communications if requested by the department. Grant recipients may also be required to facilitate visits from government representatives and media.

Information privacy

The department is collecting information for the primary purpose of processing and assessing applications for the PRT Grants Program. Information collected will be dealt with in accordance with the Public Records Act 1973 (Vic) and the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 (Vic). Information will be securely stored and only accessible by those department staff involved in the grants process. Applicants can access and amend the information provided upon request. For more information about privacy obligations, please see the department’s privacy policy.