New mandatory Working with Children child safety training
Mandatory Working with Children child safety training will be introduced from 19 October 2026.
The training is mandatory for:
- new WWC Check applicants
- people renewing their WWC Clearance.
- people changing from a volunteer WWC Clearance to employee WWC Clearance.
They must complete the training before their WWC Check application can be finalised.
The training is an online, self-paced course that takes approximately 45 minutes to complete. It is suitable for all sectors and settings that need a WWC Clearance. An offline paper-based version of the training is also available.
The training will cover:
- the role we all play in keeping children safe
- respectful and appropriate behaviour with children
- the prevalence of child abuse in society
- recognising concerning behaviour and grooming risk factors
- responding and acting when concerned about a child’s safety.
The training will help build a consistent understanding of child safety responsibilities across Victoria’s child-related workforce.
Frequently asked questions
Please note the following frequently asked questions will continue to be updated. We encourage you to revisit this page regularly for the latest information and guidance.
From 19 October 2026, every person who is applying for a WWC Check (to obtain a WWC Clearance) must complete the training. This includes people who are applying for a WWC Check for the first time, people who are applying to renew their WWC Clearance and people who are applying to change their volunteer WWC Clearance to an employee WWC Clearance.
Yes. Every person applying for a WWC Check must complete the training as part of their application.
Even though the training shares some similarities with child safety training already done by workers in specific fields – such as early childhood education, or as part of professional registration or development – the WWC Check child safety training is not profession or sector specific.
If you have completed national child safety training, you are still required complete the Victorian child safety training as part of your Working with Children Check application.
The training takes approximately 45 minutes. It is designed to establish a shared baseline of child safety literacy. It assumes no prior knowledge and applies consistently across the diverse cohort of WWC Check child-related fields. This ensures those who work with children are equipped to recognise and respond to protect children from abuse and harm.
Registered teachers are exempt from the WWC Check because their registration with the Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT) acts as an exemption under Victorian law. However, if a registered teacher applies for a WWC Check (e.g. for other non-teaching child-related work), they must complete the training.
Yes. From 19 October 2026, every person applying for a WWC Check must complete the training as part of their WWC Check application, whether they are a volunteer or paid worker.
The training is not intended to be burdensome – it will take approximately 45 minutes and aims to teach a baseline of child safety literacy.
A person who holds a WWC Clearance will only be required to complete the training if they apply to renew that WWC Clearance after 19 October 2026 when their current WWC Clearance expires or if they are a volunteer applying for an employee WWC Clearance.
The training aims to teach a baseline of child safety literacy. It will help ensure people wanting to work with children so they can recognise and respond appropriately to protect children from abuse and harm. It is intended that the knowledge is transferrable across child-related roles.
The training assumes no prior knowledge and will apply consistently across the broad range of child-related fields and settings where people work.
The training is an online, self-paced course that takes around 45 minutes to complete. It is suitable for all sectors and settings requiring a WWC Check. The training comprises six content modules that are delivered through video, text and visual formats and includes learning and reinforcement activities.
The Australian Childhood Foundation was appointed by the Victorian Government to develop the training.
The Australian Childhood Foundation developed the content with input from key experts including lived-experience subject matter experts and cultural and First Nations consultants. User testing was done with representatives from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
No, not immediately. A person who holds a WWC Clearance will only be required to complete the training if they apply to renew that WWC Clearance when their current WWC Clearance expires after 19 October 2026.
Keeping children safe is a shared responsibility.
Victoria is reforming the Working with Children (WWC) Check to strengthen safeguards for children.
Mandatory child safety training for all WWC Check applicants was a recommendation of the 2025 Victorian Rapid Child Safety Review(opens in a new window).
The Rapid Review found that this was a missed opportunity, given it is everybody’s responsibility to know the signs, listen, believe, and act in response to child abuse.
The Rapid Review heard that the broader community lacks the required understanding to recognise, identify, and adequately act to protect children from abuse and neglect and that research into community attitudes confirms this.
The Rapid Review concluded that anyone working with children must undertake online child safety training and testing to build their knowledge and affirm their commitment to safety.
Yes. Although the training is designed to be completed as part of the online WWC Check application process through Service Victoria, the Social Services Regulator will provide a hardcopy of the training along with the hardcopy WWC Check application form. Help and support using WWC Connect is available. Contact the Victorian Government via chat or message.
The training will take approximately 45 minutes.
From 19 October 2026, the training can be accessed via Service Victoria’s Apply for a WWC Check page(opens in a new window).
No. The training has not been designed as a pass/fail assessment. Where a question requires a correct answer to proceed, a person will be able to try again until the correct answer is given.
No. There is no examination component to the testing. Where a question requires a correct answer to proceed, a person will be able to try again until the correct answer is given.
The training is intended to build knowledge about child safety risks and how to prevent, identify and respond to child abuse. It seeks to ensure that those who work with children are equipped with a foundational level of knowledge about child safety. It is intended that the knowledge is transferrable across child-related roles and assists WWC Check holders to recognise and appropriately respond to risks when they arise.
No. There is no examination component to the testing. Where a question requires a correct answer to proceed, a person will be able to try again until the correct answer is given.
The training is intended to build knowledge about child safety risks and how to prevent, identify and respond to child abuse. It seeks to ensure that those who work with children are equipped with a foundational level of knowledge about child safety. It is intended that the knowledge is transferrable across child-related roles and assists WWC Check holders to recognise and appropriately respond to risks when they arise.
No. From 19 October 2026, all WWC Check applicants are required by law to complete the training.
The training must be completed as part of the WWC Check application process. It is an online course that takes approximately 45 minutes to complete. A person will be able to pause the training and come back later. However, it has been designed to be completed in one sitting.
The training has been designed to be suitable for all sectors and settings and aims to establish a baseline understanding of child safety. If a person needs help completing the training, they are welcome to seek assistance from their family, friends or colleagues.
No, the training can only be completed online or through a hardcopy application process.
The online training has been designed to be screen-reader accessible and meets Victorian Government accessible communication guidelines and policies, which are designed to make websites universally accessible. Complying with the guidelines improves accessibility for website users with cognitive or learning disabilities and users with low vision by incorporating, for example, captions or audio descriptions, screen reader compatibility, specific visual contrasts and full functionality through a keyboard interface.
The SSR is required by law to enable reasonable modifications to be made to the training if an applicant has a disability that prevents them from completing the training.
There is no additional cost to do the training. The cost of a WWC Check for paid employment is currently $139.20 and to renew a WWC Clearance is currently $105.30. Volunteer WWC Checks remain free.
No. The SSR will be automatically informed that you have completed the training as part of your application process. For hard copy training, you must provide the SSR with evidence that you have completed the training as part of your hard copy application.
Once you complete the child safety training, you have 30 days to submit your WWC Check application. After 30 days, the training will be withdrawn, and you’ll need to complete it again.
The training will be made available online, outside the WWC Clearance application process, in coming weeks.
Yes. The training is written in plain English and developed for a comprehension level of lower than grade 8 as far as practically possible. It has been designed with best-practice adult learning principles in mind.
Initially the training will only be in English and capacity for translation will be looked at in the future. The training is written in plain English and developed for a comprehension level of lower than grade 8 as far as practically possible. It has been designed with best-practice adult learning principles in mind.
Yes. You need the type of WWC Clearance that matches the child-related work you are doing.
If you apply to change from a volunteer WWC Clearance to an employee WWC Clearance, you’ll need to complete the mandatory child safety training as part of that application.
Keeping children safe is a shared responsibility.
Victoria is strengthening the Working with Children (WWC) Check to provide stronger safeguards for children.
The 2025 Victorian Rapid Child Safety Review heard that the broader community lacks the required understanding to recognise, identify, and adequately act to protect children from abuse and neglect and that research into community attitudes confirms this.
Mandatory training for all WWC Check applicants will assist in building knowledge about child abuse and will raise awareness including how to recognise signs of abuse, how to behave appropriately around children and how to respond and act when concerned.
No. From 19 October 2026, every person applying for a WWC Check must complete the training as part of their application.
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