The Victorian Government is making kindergarten free for three- and four-year-old children from 2023 at participating services. Funded Three-Year-Old Kindergarten is available across Victoria in 2022 and we need more teachers and educators to give children the best start.
Expression of interest
Find an early childhood job
The Early Childhood Jobs website connects early childhood education professionals with employers seeking to fill vacancies across Victoria.
The jobs board is free to use and lists employment opportunities for teachers, educators, directors and support staff across the sector, no matter where they’re located around Victoria.
Financial incentives to take up a teaching role
There are two types of financial incentives available to qualified early childhood teachers from July 2022 to June 2023:
- Individual incentives of $9,000 are available for eligible qualified early childhood teachers working outside the Victorian early childhood sector to take up a teaching role at any service delivering, or planning to deliver, free Three-Year-Old Kindergarten in 2023. This includes Victorian based teachers who are currently working in a different field or industry.
- Location incentives of between $9,000 to $50,000 are available for qualified early childhood teachers who secure a teaching role at selected services. Services will be notified if they are pre-approved for a location incentive.
A relocation supplement of between $2,000 and $8,000 will be available to any eligible incentive recipient who relocates more than 200km from their current place of residence.
Eligible applicants who meet the criteria for both types of incentives will be able to receive both payments as well as the relocation supplement.
Register your details to learn more about financial incentives available to teachers.
All incentives are paid in instalments, at the start of employment, and at the end of your first, second and third years.
Financial incentives to take up an educator role
Financial incentives valued at $9,000 are available to attract qualified early childhood educators to work in services delivering free Three-Year-Old Kindergarten in 2023 .
There are two types of educator incentives available from July 2022 to June 2023:
- Individual incentives of $9,000 for eligible educators working outside funded kindergarten in the Victorian early childhood education sector, to take up a role in a kindergarten program at any service delivering free Three-Year-Old Kindergarten in 2023.
- Location incentives of $9,000 for eligible educators to take up a role in a kindergarten program at selected services.
A relocation supplement of between $2,000 and $8,000 will be available to any eligible incentive recipient who relocates more than 200km from their current place of residence.
Eligible applicants who meet the criteria for both types of incentives will be able to receive both payments as well as the relocation supplement.
Register your details to learn more about financial incentives available to educators.
All incentives are paid in instalments, at the start of employment, and at the end of your first, second and third years.
Hear about Megan's experience
What financial incentive is right for me?
-
Location Incentives are available for qualified early childhood teachers and educators who take up jobs at high-priority services across metropolitan and regional Victoria delivering Three-Year-Old Kindergarten.
Search for jobs with a Location Incentive on the new Early Childhood , by clicking ‘Opportunity type’ and selecting ‘Position with a location incentive’.
-
Individual Incentives worth $9,000 are available for qualified early childhood teacher and educators working in a different sector or industry to take up a role in any service in Victoria delivering free Three-Year-Old Kindergarten.
This includes:
- qualified early childhood teachers and educators who have not yet worked in the sector or who have been working in another sector in the past 12 months, or
- dual-qualified teachers currently working in primary schools
You may also be eligible for a Location Incentive if you take up a role at a selected service delivering free Three-Year-Old Kindergarten.
To register or re-register as a teacher, visit the Returning to webpage. You can also check if your qualification allows you to teach in Victoria on the website.
-
Individual Incentives worth $9,000, plus relocation support, are available for qualified early childhood teachers or educators moving from another state, territory or from New Zealand
You may also be eligible for an additional Location Incentive if you take up a role at a selected service delivering free Three-Year-Old Kindergarten.
To teach in Victoria you must be registered with the Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT). Check your qualification first on the website. If you’re registered in another Australian state or territory, or in New Zealand, you can then apply to VIT for registration using the ‘Mutual ’ pathway.
For current information on relocating to Victoria, visit Victorian Travel Permit .
Relocation support
Relocation supplements are available to incentive recipients who relocate more than 200km from their current place of residence as a contribution towards total cost of relocation, paid in the first milestone payment.
Relocation supplements are tiered based on distance of relocation and whether an educator or teacher is relocating with dependants.
Relocating alone (teacher or educator):
- $2,000 for those moving between 200 to 500 kilometres from their current home
- $4,000 for those moving more than 500 kilometres
- $6,000 for those moving from New Zealand
Relocating with family or dependents (teacher or educator):
- $3,000 for those moving between 200 to 500 kilometres from their current home
- $6,000 for those moving more than 500 kilometres
- $8,000 for those moving from New Zealand
Find out about eligibility for incentives and how to apply.
Professional development, mentoring and support
We want to ensure that every child can access quality kindergarten. This means supporting you, your practice and your career.
-
If you’re a new or provisionally registered early childhood teacher in your first five years of teaching, you will have access :
- funding to support you to work with a mentor to become fully registered with VIT
- beginning teacher conferences to support your induction into the sector
- at least five hours of coaching in your first year of teaching, and ‘communities of practice’ to work through specific areas of skill development in your second and third year of teaching
- an alumni network to help you and other teachers who have completed these programs stay connected and share professional growth and expertise.
-
If you’re seeking to network and expand your leadership skills, you could take part in:
- the Effective Mentoring , to help you become a mentor, giving you skills to guide provisionally registered teachers to develop their teaching practice and become fully registered
- your local Early Years Learning Network, which brings together local early childhood teachers for collaborative learning and peer support. These facilitated networks are available to all teachers in funded kindergarten programs each term and enable you to develop new knowledge and deepen your understanding of emerging evidence based contemporary practice.
-
These new resources are designed to support your practice as you help to plan and deliver quality programs:
- The Three-Year-Old Kindergarten Teaching helps services in their first year providing Three-Year-Old Kindergarten. The toolkit includes a range of educational resources and supports teams to deliver high-quality educational programs aligned to the VEYLDF and appropriate to the learning and development needs of three-year-olds.
- The platform, which gives teachers and educators access to thousands of digital educational resources. (These can also be used by young children and their families to learn at home).
Reviewed 10 November 2022