The ACT government is to spend $2.125 million on a new program to ease workforce pressures under its early childhood education and care workforce strategy. 

It says the Early Learning Connection Program will support up to 260 women to study a Certificate III, Diploma or Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood Education by supporting participants to study, work and receive career coaching.

Participants will receive study financial assistance, help with facilitating employment opportunities in early childhood centres while studying, and their own educator coach, to help them balance work, study, life commitments and wellbeing.

For participants with children under five years, their educator coach can help participants to enrol them at a centre while they work and study.

The Early Learning Connection program will be particularly important as the government continues to roll out universal free three-year-old preschool, providing eligible families with 300 hours of free preschool delivered by a degree-qualified Early Childhood Teacher.

The program will be facilitated by Baringa, in partnership with the University of Canberra, Canberra Institute of Technology, Australian Institute of Management and early learning centres across the ACT.

Baringa board chair Jillian Flinders said the program was evidence-based following an initial pilot through the Australian Government’s National Careers Institute.

“An independent evaluation of the pilot highlighted a range of barriers for Canberra women, including lack of family, financial and network support, as well as ongoing workforce pressures,” Ms Flinders said.

“It is through understanding these barriers that Early Learning Connection has been designed to collaborate across the ACT profession, providing innovative, holistic and real supports for employees and employers in the early childhood education sector.”

Applications are now open to commence from February.