Qualifications Pathways Program

Program overview

Are you an educator looking to further unlock your career in early childhood education and care (ECEC)? The Qualification Pathways Program (QPP) could help you on your way to becoming a qualified educator or early childhood teacher.

The QPP provides scholarships with wrap-around mentoring support to early childhood educators to undertake further studies to upgrade qualifications.

Program focus

Educators can apply for a scholarship to undertake an approved Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) qualification. These include:

• Graduate Diploma or Bachelor specialising in early childhood education (birth to 5 years or birth to 8 years)
• Certificate III or Diploma in early childhood education.

Please note: PhD qualifications in early childhood are out of scope of this program.

Program design

The QPP is an exciting opportunity to support ECEC services in upskilling their staff and strengthening the workforce.

Employers are encouraged to communicate with eligible staff members regarding the opportunities available.

Employers work with their organisation's nominated kindy advisor and the scholarship recipient to develop a scholarship plan.

The plan is signed by the educator and the employer, endorsed by the kindy advisor and approved by the QPP organisation.

Scholarship recipients may receive wrap-around supports for the duration of their study, provided they continue to meet the scholarship study requirements.

A tiered system of wrap-around supports will be provided to scholarship recipients participating in the QPP.

Examples of mandatory wrap-around supports include:

• coaching and mentoring activities to upskill educators delivering kindergarten to improve educational programming and practice
• support with practicum placements, including organising placements that are paid or unpaid
• study leave, or study time during work hours paid or unpaid, as negotiated with the approved provider or early years services (EYS) organisation.

Examples of other wrap-around supports that may be offered include:

• incentive payments upon successful completion of units and/or the educator's course
• allowance to assist with study materials (for example, computer, printer, internet access, text books)
• access to collaborative learning networks or networking opportunities with other educators participating in the QPP.

Program providers

The Queensland Government is working in partnership with organisations to deliver this program.

Please contact your relevant scholarship provider listed below.

• Goodstart Early Learning
• The Creche and Kindergarten Association Limited
• The Gowrie (Qld)
• G8 Education
• Affinity Education Group
• Australian Childcare Alliance Queensland (ACA Qld)
• Early Learning and Care Council of Australia
• Queensland Lutheran Early Childhood Services (QLECS)
• Queensland Child Care Services

Eligibility to register for the program

To be eligible to apply for a scholarship under the QPP, the educator must meet all of the below criteria:

• is employed full-time, part-time or casually, including employees on temporary leave arrangements in a sessional kindergarten or long day care (LDC) service in Queensland, that holds a service approval under the Education and Care Services National Law (National Law) or Education and Care Services Act 2013 (ECS Act) (PDF, 1.3MB). Please note that contractors (external agency staff) are not eligible
• is an Australian or New Zealand citizen or a permanent Australian resident residing in Queensland. An exemption from the Queensland residency requirements may be provided where the educator can demonstrate they are working in Queensland early childhood education and care services. An example of this would be an applicant living in a border region (for example New South Wales) where the applicant is already employed in a Queensland early childhood education and care service or either
  • a humanitarian entrant under the Australian Government’s Refugee and Humanitarian Program
  • a temporary resident who is on the pathway to permanent residency and has an appropriate work permit and visa which is eligible for fee-free TAFE, as listed on TAFE Queensland’s website
• is no longer enrolled at secondary school
• is able to meet the higher education institution (HEI) or registered training organisation (RTO) entrance requirements for the ACECQA approved qualifications
• is enrolled in each unit for course commencement (at a minimum) at their HEI or RTO by the relevant census date, unless otherwise agreed by the QPP organisation
• isn't receiving any other scholarship or grant funding from the Department of Education in relation to the course they intend to study, including through the Practicum Placement Scheme. In the event of having previously withdrawn or been terminated from a scholarship awarded by the department, the educator must have repaid any funds in accordance with the former agreement before applying.

Costs associated with the program

There are no costs for employees to participate in the program.

Further information

Access the QP​P information pack or access the news story about QQP recipients and their journey.