Provider frequently asked questions
The frequently asked questions on this page provide information to early childhood education and care services about how to take part in the reforms to the sector.
The early childhood education and care workforce is critical to the delivery of the state’s vision for the early childhood system, but we are experiencing a national shortage of early childhood educators and teachers.
On 21 June 2024, the government released the Early Childhood Workforce Strategy. The strategy contains a suite of initiatives that are designed to address the barriers and challenges contributing to early childhood workforce shortages in South Australia.
By investing in the early childhood workforce, we can ensure we attract and retain the teachers and educators needed to deliver better support to families and universal preschool for 3-year-olds, so that more children are developmentally on track at school entry.
Many children will access 3-year-old preschool in long day care services where they are enrolled, using existing infrastructure. We also know from the work of the Royal Commission that there is additional capacity already available in services. This existing infrastructure will be leveraged early in the roll-out.
We will also need more capacity to achieve universal 3-year-old preschool by 2032. Statewide supply and demand modelling has been undertaken to give an indication of where more infrastructure is likely to be needed. We will be working with services in the second half of 2024 to get a detailed understanding of available capacity at the local level and place based additional infrastructure needs. This will include consultation with the sector on the development of an infrastructure strategy.
No, the Education Standards Board (ESB) regulates education and care services. The OECD is the system steward of South Australia’s early childhood development system. We are accountable for driving quality preschool and are providing a range of quality and workforce supports to support the sector. However, the OECD will use publicly available information from the ESB to support decisions regarding:
- eligibility of a service to provide a preschool program
- requirement to participate in quality improvement program.
Expressing interest to deliver 3-year-old preschool
If you submitted an expression of interest by 28 February 2025 using the iApply portal, you will be notified of the outcome in writing from late May 2025.
If the Office for Early Childhood Development (OECD) receives more eligible expressions of interest than the funding allocation allows, we reserve the right to prioritise approvals based on quality and location of services.
Expressions of interest to deliver a 3-year-old preschool program from January 2026 have now closed.
If you did not submit an EOI using the iApply portal by 28 February 2025, future opportunities to submit an EOI will be announced later in 2025, as the roll-out progresses.
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The OECD may consider the eligibility of providers who meet the preschool objectives that are not currently approved providers under the National Law and National Regulations, in particular Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCO) operated services. The approval of providers remains at the absolute discretion of the OECD.
Yes, services that are rated as Working Towards the NQS can partner with the OECD if they complete a quality improvement program within timeframes determined by the OECD. This decision will be taken on factors including the nature and timing of the Working Towards rating, and the practicalities of accessing the program prior to commencement.
3-year-old and 4-year-old preschool will be contracted under a new agreement with different funding requirements (see the draft Policy and Funding Guide). Services currently delivering 4-year-old preschool that wish to become a 3-year-old preschool provider will need to submit an expression of interest in the next round.
The 2024 data requested is for the calendar year.
This question requests actual headcount data (not averages) for those children who, in 2024, were enrolled in the service in the 24-months before they start school.
Therefore, if in 2024 you had children in the 2 years before school that transitioned to 4year-old preschool at the mid-year intake, please only count them once, in the 4-year-old preschool numbers.
Please also refer to the step-by-step guide for the EOI, which provides some more context on the intent of the questions and examples of how they can be answered.
3-year-old and 4-year-old preschool will be contracted under a new agreement with different funding requirements (see the policy and funding guide). Services currently delivering 4year-old preschool that wish to become a 3-year-old preschool provider from 2026 will need to submit an expression of interest before 28 February 2025.
If audited financial statements for the 2023-24 financial year are not available, submit financial statements for the 2023-24 financial year (balance sheet and profit/loss) signed by a senior finance officer, or a member of management if there is no internal finance staff member.
A printed statement from your accounting software with the officer’s signature and position will suffice.
Audited or endorsed financial statements are required in order to understand the capacity of applicants to deliver on the funding and operational requirements, should the OECD make an offer to partner. If your service is unable to meet this requirement, please contact the OECD to discuss alternatives.
You will need a Certificate of Currency (not a renewal notice) showing Public Liability Insurance to the value of $20 million, including coverage for allegations of historic or current child abuse. If this coverage is not specified in the certificate, you must provide extra documentation.
You can express interest, but if successful in receiving an offer, you will need to provide proof of this insurance before a funding agreement is made.
Delivering 3-year-old preschool
When you partner with the OECD under the new model, you can elect to deliver a 3- and 4-year-old program, or just a 3-year-old program. For services seeking to deliver both, any existing 4-year-old preschool program funding will move to the new model and funding arrangement.
Funding for an enrolled child will be provided to the partner service for the full 6-month period (the whole semester) that the child is enrolled to start, including where a child begins preschool later than the start of the semester, due to their age. This is subject to the OECD receiving appropriate and timely enrolment information from the partner service. Services will be required to hold a place for that child in the preschool program, to ensure they can start in the program as soon as practicable from when they turn 3. Services can also move them into a preschool room before they turn 3, if they can manage this within ratios and agreed with the family.
The Department for Education continues to manage the 4-year-old preschool program funding in 2025. Please contact Preschool Funding Unit at education.preschoolfunding@sa.gov.au
Services must provide ECTs delivering 3-year-old preschool programs with 2 hours of non-contact time per week above the relevant industrial award. If your service already provides this time, we will seek information during the expression of interest process about how your service will apply preschool partnership funding to support workforce development.
Yes, there can be mixed-aged programs in services as long as the program is delivered by an early childhood teacher, and services meet staffing ratios under the National Law and Regulations.
Flying Start Infrastructure Grants
This information is provided to assist with the reading of the Flying Start Infrastructure Grant program guidelines.
The Market Information Summary displays the small regions (Statistical Area 2, SA2s) identified by the Office for Early Childhood Development (OECD) as requiring additional infrastructure capacity to ensure that all children can access 2 years of preschool by 2032. These are the OECD’s priority areas for infrastructure investment and proposed projects are ideally located within these areas.
For proposed projects located adjacent to, but not within, an SA2 on the Market Information Summary, evidence can be provided that the proposed expansion or new build would service the area of unmet demand. For example, evidence could include historic data of the place of residence of enrolments.
The OECD understands there may be additional areas of local (sub-SA2 level) unmet demand for preschool and will consider grant applications to address these shortfalls.
These applications will need to be supported by compelling evidence. Please contact your OECD Local Team or OECD.Infrastructure@sa.gov.au if you have questions.
Yes, we encourage you to apply. There is no obligation for your project to meet all the unmet demand in your SA2.
When the National Law was introduced, some early childhood services in South Australia were provided an exemption from needing to meet the new indoor space requirements. If they had been required to meet the new space requirements, the number of approved places at the services would have decreased.
These services are known as ‘declared services’ and may be required to meet current legislative requirements if the facility is renovated or expanded. This means that a larger than anticipated expansion might be required to result in a net increase to approved places.
Applicants that wish to expand declared services are eligible for the grants program. Applicants should be aware that costs will be higher than for an equivalent expansion of a service that already meets the current space requirements.
Further information about declared services is available on the Education Standards Board (ESB) website.
In legal terms, an undertaking is a promise. The Flying Start Infrastructure Grant deed will require providers to undertake to deliver a preschool program for 10 years following the completion of the project.
Yes, applicants who don’t currently, but intend to deliver a funded preschool program are eligible to apply.
See more information on the requirements and application process to deliver 3-year-old preschool.
Yes. If you have a current lease agreement or plan to have a lease agreement to occupy the premises for the delivery of the early childhood service, you are eligible to apply.
A copy of your current (or proposed) tenancy agreement and signed consent from your landlord supporting the project is required as part of your application at Stage 1.
A minimum commitment (term) of 10 years is required (for both tenancies and the landowner’s use of the property) to align with the condition to deliver an approved preschool program for a minimum of 10 years following completion of the project.
For tenancies with the Minister for Education, Training and Skills, queries and requests for letters of support can be directed to Education.PropertyServices@sa.gov.au
Further details about the detailed requirements can be found on page 14 of the guidelines.
The OECD recognises that services may have different mixed rooms for preschool-aged children and different configurations throughout the week.
The Government of South Australia will co-contribute up to 50% of project costs related to preschool spaces, which means funding for spaces that are required for the delivery of the funded preschool program.
The Flying Start Infrastructure Grants program will also contribute towards the cost of shared areas, such as kitchens or lobby areas (see page 5 of the guidelines). Applicants are required to fully cover the cost of any proposed spaces that are not used for preschool-aged children, such as baby or toddler rooms.
A 50% co-contribution for preschool spaces is standard; however, the OECD may contribute up to 80% of costs related to preschool spaces for community managed not-for-profit providers, where the project is assessed as representing good value for the government’s investment.
The guidelines provide further detail regarding co-contribution requirements.
Yes, for some types of items and activities. Page 7 of the guidelines outlines the types of costs for which successful applicants can receive funding.
The Flying Start Infrastructure Grants contribute to project costs only. The applicant must demonstrate that the project can be delivered and maintained as no additional grant funding will be provided.
The OECD is committed to helping applicants through the grant application and project delivery process. We have developed a comprehensive Guidance Pack stepping out what is required to deliver an infrastructure project.
If your organisation has limited experience and no internal infrastructure team or resourcing, you may be eligible for guidance services. Fill out the questionnaire to check your availability.
Applicants with limited infrastructure experience and resourcing may be eligible for Guidance Services.
These services, provided free of charge by the OECD’s Sector Supports Partner, offer coaching and advice to help applicants navigate each stage of the grant process.
Applicants are encouraged to contact the OECD Infrastructure Team via OECD.Infrastructure@sa.gov.au for further information about this service and eligibility for support.
Applications for Round 1, Stage 1 close 11.59pm on 2 May 2025. If you are concerned that you will not be able to submit your application on time, please contact OECD.Infrastructure@sa.gov.auto discuss.