2024 Family Learning Partnerships Expression of Interest timeline

Purpose of the guidelines

These Guidelines provide the Expression of Interest process for the Adult, Community, and Further Education (ACFE) Board’s Family Learning Partnerships (FLP) program and an introduction to the program’s purpose, overarching model and expected outcomes.

Background

Many adult learners are faced with multiple complex challenges which hinder their readiness to participate in education. These challenges comprise a mix of emotional, financial, or skills-based barriers including physical and mental health issues, unemployment, substance abuse and family violence. Furthermore, those in vulnerable or disadvantaged family contexts experience disproportionate barriers in accessing education, often influenced by considerations such as children or other relationship factors.

Research shows that family learning approaches, focused on addressing families’ needs by reducing barriers to education, have demonstrated success. High parental engagement in education produces positive outcomes for children, transpiring in a ripple effect. This not only directly improves standards of living and wellbeing for the family, but also exposes children to a positive culture where education is valued.

The FLP program is aligned with the ACFE Board’s strategic plan 2020–2025 in supporting parents as learners experiencing educational barriers and helping break the cycle of intergenerational disadvantage by building and brokering partnerships through strategic collaboration.

Through FLP the ACFE Board assists families to overcome barriers to participation in training and education and provides opportunities for families to engage in positive learning experiences and to gain the confidence and skills they need to take their next steps in education or employment.

Program aims

The Family Learning Partnerships Program aims to assist families that may be experiencing educational barriers by:

• Instilling a culture of learning within families and communities and empowering and building the confidence of learners to make informed decisions regarding their own educational and employment experiences.
• Improving educational pathways for families by addressing barriers hindering participation in education, training and employment.
• Facilitating participants’ progression to further education such as pre-accredited or accredited Programs or employment where appropriate.
• Fostering a collaborative approach to education through building provider capacity to form partnerships with other community organisations and services to support pathways to further education and employment for families.
• Assisting Learn Local Providers in gaining a more comprehensive understanding of the unique learning needs of families that may prevent them from engaging and developing initiatives and tailored strategies to support them.

Key outcomes

• Addressing barriers to learning and engaging parents who may be experiencing educational disadvantage.
• Contributing to improved practice in the delivery of pre-accredited training by engaging learners and addressing barriers to learning.
• Using formal and informal learning activities to help learners to start a pre-accredited pathway to further education and employment.
• Growing collaborative partnerships between participating Learn Local Providers, community-based organisations, and other educational and employment services.
• Developing effective, long-term and sustainable learning models that can be shared with the sector.

Provider eligibility

To be eligible for funding for the ACFE Board’s Family Learning Partnerships Program, providers must meet the following criteria:

Note: ACFE Board Registration does not guarantee funding.

Note: The financial report upon which the BGS assessment is completed must also be submitted with the BGS assessment. 

For information on registration with the ACFE Board, see Become a registered Learn Local provider on the Vic Gov website.

For more information about the BGS assessment process, see Business and governance status assessment on the Vic Gov website.

Participant eligibility

To be eligible for funding for the ACFE Board’s family learning partnerships program, providers must ensure that participants meet the following conditions.

Eligible learner

Learner eligibility is conditional upon Table 1 and Table 2 below.  For a learner to be eligible, they must meet one of the criteria in Table 1, regarding both citizenship or permanent residency, and age requirements.  However, the learner will be ineligible should they fall within any category in Table 2.

Table 1

Note: If documentation confirming citizenship or age is unavailable, an authorised delegate of the training provider can grant eligibility on face value, via interview. See the below factsheet:

Table 2

Ineligible if in one of the following categories:

A model for building Family Learning Partnerships

The Family Learning Partnerships program gives Learn Local Providers (LLPs) an opportunity to build capacity and leverage their understanding about how education contributes to life-long outcomes for parents experiencing barriers to education, which will have flow-on benefits for the whole family.

Through the establishment of the Communities of Practice (CoP), the FLP program supports collaborative partnerships between LLPs and other education and community organisations to identify, understand and respond to the barriers experienced by parents which prevent their participation in education and training.

The partnerships will support and assist LLPs with program and service delivery, identification of participants and marketing and provision of strategic support and advice. As a result, the partnerships draw on shared knowledge and networks to engage and connect parents to learning, and in turn, set them on a pathway towards further education and employment.

Roles and responsibilities 

Below is an overview of the roles and expectations for each of those involved in the FLP program.

Role of Learn Local providers

• Establish appropriate governance structures to ensure project progress and sustainability
• Develop and provide learning opportunities and assist participants to develop learning plans
• Develop a sustainable project including engagement and learning strategies and pathways
• Participate actively in the CoP by attending meetings and sharing knowledge, skills and experience
• Contribute to reports and resource development
• Report risks to project delivery and seek assistance from the DJSIR program manager
• Maintain a focus on program outcomes by participating in or leading evaluation activities to capture outcomes.

Role of DJSIR staff

• Establish the CoPs and ensure strong attendance from members
• Oversee the running of the programs
• Coordinate workshops, meetings, activities, and other communication mechanisms
• Contract manage, monitor, and report on program measures and outcomes liaise between the Department, CoPs and participating LLPs
• Undertake ongoing planning activities throughout the program lifecycle
• Work with new FLP participants and their partners to attend and contribute to CoPs.

Role of Community of Practice groups

• Build effective management and collaborative leadership
• Build trust across Learn Local provider networks
• Develop members’ capabilities and professional skills by building and exchanging knowledge, sharing experience, values, and expert insights
• Help participants address actual or potential problems
• Assist in the transfer of good practice
• Capture the ‘practice’ that underpins the community (e.g., the ideas, stories and documents that community members share)
• Produce long-term benefits for service provision
• Provide opportunities for LLP participants to de-brief and talk about the impact of their work on them, both professionally and personally.

Subject matter experts

CoP participants may also identify subject matter experts who can provide leadership and advice to the CoPs, and can provide information and advice on building skills related to:

• Family violence and trauma
• Drug and alcohol addiction
• Language or cultural barriers
• Engagement and adult learning principles.

Meetings and forums

Provider-led CoPs will meet twice a year in each region.  At least one state-wide forum will be organised by the Department, each year, for the purpose of sharing learnings, ongoing evaluation, and feedback about the program.

Attendees will be representatives from LLPs and, when available, their partnering organisations. A DJSIR representative will also attend meetings to assist with facilitation and to capture information.

Participating LLPs are encouraged to communicate with each other outside of the formal meeting structure to develop engagement and participation strategies or seek advice.

Preparing your Expression of Interest and project plans

The ACFE Board is committed to funding projects that lead to tangible outcomes for learners. Communicating what has been achieved through FLP projects is of vital importance so that innovation and good practice can be shared across the Learn Local sector.

For the ACFE Board to know whether a funded project is on track or has been successful, providers must clearly identify in their Expressions of Interest the aims of the project, as well as intended outcomes and outputs and how they will be measured.

Your project aims

All proposed projects should include a short clear statement defining the aims of the project and how your project will align with the FLP program aims.

Project outcome

Successful FLP projects should contribute to the ACFE Board’s 2020-2025 strategic priorities and should consider the following in developing project outcomes and outputs:

• Ensure that family learning programs have a positive educational impact on the entire family including children and adults.
• Building quality partnerships through active participation in the CoP model to ensure opportunities for participating Learn Locals to seek support from one another, collaborate and promote innovation in family learning.
• Aim to improve family learning by facilitating collaboration to enable efficient management, maximising resource utilisation and sharing of innovative ideas.

All proposed FLP projects should:

• Clearly define the objective, purpose and expected outcomes of the project.
• Demonstrate increased understanding of the ‘value add' offered by Learn Locals in supporting vulnerable learners to pathway to further education, training, or employment.
• Establish a collaborative partnership.
• Develop and implement a model of engagement that leads to improved pathways for learners.
• Clearly define how you will measure progress in achieving your project objectives and desired outcomes.
• Clearly define benefits of the project and their potential to be sustained beyond the end of the project.

Project outputs

What resources will you be developing through this project?  For example: program and pathway documents, seminars or forums, best practice guidelines, project learnings and insights, case studies and anecdotes, assessment tools, resources that can be shared with the sector to support learning delivery.

Project performance outcome measures

Outcome measures refer to the evidence you will use to demonstrate that you have achieved (or are making progress in achieving) your identified project outcomes.

Success of the project will be assessed by:

• An increase in attendance, an increase in learner completion and transition to further education and training.
• Formalised partnerships and pathways between Learn Locals and other organisations within the community to support learners to transition to further education and or training.

Baseline data should be collected at the start of the project to track the key outcomes listed above. This information will ensure it is possible to assess participant engagement retention and progress.

How long can a project run?

In determining the timeframe of your project, you need to to take into account the following contract requirements:

• New project proposals must not exceed a two-year duration.  All project proposals should include a sustainability framework beyond the end of this funding cycle.
• You will be required to complete a project plan as part of the project which will assist you in estimating the length of time it will take to achieve your project objectives.

What funding is available?

• New FLP projects will be funded to a maximum of $35,000 per annum (ex GST) for two years.
• The funding is designed to cover the costs of project delivery and establishing partnerships. Many sites have also sought funds from partners and other organisations to assist with their continued sustainability.
  • Provide an indicative budget for all projects with a final acquittal of funds to be provided with the final report at the end of the project cycle.
  • The project must demonstrate broad application across the sector or make a substantial contribution to supporting vulnerable families.
• Providers can use 10% of the FLP funds provided, to support family learning and educational attainment of parents, by subsidising the cost of childcare services under the following circumstances:
  • To assist learners to access childcare during class time to enable their participation in Government-subsidised training and proposed programs or related education programs.
  • For childcare or playgroup amenities that align with government-subsidised training.
  • To subsidise or purchase registered or approved childcare services, and not to employ additional staff such as babysitters or to buy additional equipment.

What will not be funded?

FLP funding is not available for:

• Equipment or materials not directly linked to the achievement of project outcomes, or which exceed 10% of the ACFE Board grant.  Expressions of interest that request funds for the purchase of equipment and materials must demonstrate that the purchases are directly linked to the strategic objectives of proposed projects, with a rationale for the use of the equipment clearly outlined in the Expression of Interest.
• Business-as-usual operations e.g., salaries, rent, consumables, training delivery.  If your project has a training component, you must clearly indicate where that funding will be sourced from and not include training salaries in the budget.
• Projects where the focus is professional development, capital works or ongoing accommodation.
• Enrolment in ACFE Board funded pre-accredited modules.  This is funded through Training Delivery hours.

What are the funding conditions?

Only projects that are ready to start upon acceptance of the service agreement variation in SAMS2 by both parties, will be considered. Recipients must agree to the following conditions:

• Only use project funds to implement the project named on your FLP project proposal and contracted in SAMS2.
• Deliver the identified project outcomes within agreed timelines.
• Advise the Department immediately if any changes are required to the project including timeframe and changes to the agreed milestones.
• Comply with all data collection and reporting requirements including documenting project outcomes and best practice models for sharing across the Learn Local sector.
• Agree to contribute to the development of case studies and/or promotional material on project achievements.
• Agree to participate in discussions and forums with Learn Local Providers leading ACFE Board-funded projects as required.
• Agree to share any products developed with FLP funding, with other Learn Local Providers and the Department on request.

Reporting requirements

The following are the main reporting requirements for all successful projects: note milestone payments will only be released once key milestones have been satisfactorily met.

• Implementation Plan inclusive of a detailed project plan, proposed itemised expenditure and risk management plan.
• Progress Reports Participating providers will be asked to provide regular progress reports on project delivery. This will allow for tracking of project outputs and management of issues during the project life cycle.
• Final Reports including any outputs and acquittals of project funds including resources developed during the life of the project. Once the Final Report is approved the final payment will be made at the next available payment cycle. As part of the Final Report providers are required to submit a Project Summary Report: a one-page summary of their project’s outcomes and outputs for the ACFE Board. All project summaries may be published on the Vic Gov website for the purpose of sharing projects across the sector.  

Expression of Interest Process

Expressions of Interest for the 2024 round of the Family Learning Partnerships program will open Tuesday, 28 November 2023 and will close 4pm, Thursday, 14 December 2023. All documentation will be made available on the Vic Gov website at Family Learning Partnerships. 

1. Download and read the FLP Guidelines
2. Download and complete the FLP EOI
   1. Please do not make a PDF of the EOI form.
   2. If you are working with other organisations in the development and delivery of your project, you need to identify these organisations on the EOI form and obtain a signed Letter of Commitment to the project signed by all partners.
3. Submit your EOI and any related documentation to: training.participation@djsir.vic.gov.au no later than 4pm, Thursday, 14 December 2023. Late project proposal forms will not be accepted.

Please note: All Expressions of Interest will be acknowledged on receipt by the Department staff. If you have not received a response within 5 working days, please contact your regional office to confirm your project proposal has been received. 

Please check your SPAM filters in case emails from the Department go astray. 

What happens next?

1. The FLP assessment panel will consider your Expression of Interest in line with the FLP Guidelines. Your regional office will liaise with you if any issues are identified, or further clarification is required.
2. Advice on outcomes will be emailed to you by your regional office in January 2024. Successful providers will be required to provide a detailed project implementation plan against the key outcomes over the life of the project. 
3. Notification of a Service Agreement Variation will be sent to your organisation's signatory via SAMS2. Providers should check and ensure that your organisation's signatory is up to date in SAMS2.
4. As a first milestone, complete the FLP Budget, Project Implementation Plan and Risk Mitigation Templates for discussion at an induction meeting with your regional office. This is one document with 3 worksheets.
5. Additional milestone payments, determined as part of the funding agreement, will be made based on the achievement of agreed project milestones outlined in the Service Agreement Schedule.

Please note: Your signatory will have a five-day window to view the Service Agreement Variation after which SAMS2 will automatically accept on behalf of your signatory. 

Expression of Interest assessment criteria

Projects will be assessed by the selection panel against the criteria outlined below:

• All Expressions of Interest will be subject to the Value-for-Money criterion.
• Assessment criteria 1 and 2 have not been weighted as failure to meet these criteria will automatically nullify your project proposal.
• A weighting has been applied to assessment criteria 3 - 9 to reflect their relative importance in the assessment of expressions of interest.

Who do I contact for assistance?

Regional Engagement staff will be available to assist in developing project ideas and providing advice, local priorities and policy contexts. Please email all enquiries to training.participation@djsir.vic.gov.au

The day-to-day management and delivery of each project is the responsibility of the participating provider and their partner organisations. Any problems, issues or risks can be discussed with the relevant DJSIR project manager as required.

South Western Victoria Region (SWV)

South Eastern Victoria Region (SEV)

North Western Victoria Region (NWV)

North Eastern Victoria Region (NEV)

ACFE Sector Engagement and Support