National

The Reading Writing Hotline helps with reading, writing and basic maths. The Hotline was allocated additional funding in the 2021-22 federal budget (p. 94) for a national Foundation Skills Guarantee.

The Destination Australia program funds eligible tertiary education providers to offer scholarships to domestic and international students to study and live in regional Australia. The 2023 round of the program offered scholarship funding of up to $15 000 per student, per year, for approximately 480 domestic and international students commencing their studies in 2023, and the 2024 round approximately 551 domestic and international students commencing their studies in 2024.

The Skills for Education and Employment (SEE) program provides provides training to improve the language, reading, writing and maths skills of eligible job seekers. From 1 July 2024, the Australian Government is providing $436.4 million over four years for a redesigned Skills for Education and Employment (SEE) program that improves access to foundation skills training. The redesigned SEE program will be delivered through a mix of national and local solutions to improve access and delivery, including providing specific place-based First Nations-led support for First Nations people. The redesigned program will also support projects within workplaces for workers who face insecure work challenges as a result of low foundation skills.

The Australian Government Department of Home Affairs has responsibility for the Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP). The AMEP provides free English language classes to migrants and humanitarian entrants, aged 18 years or over, who have low English levels. Flexible learning options are offered, including full time, part-time, evening and weekend classes, and face-to-face and online classes, a volunteer tutor scheme and distance learning. The program also provides for free childcare services.

New South Wales 

The Aboriginal Initiatives Unit manages a number of programs that focus on improving access to employment and creating business opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people:

• Barranggirra: Training Services NSW Aboriginal Skilling for Employment Grant - Barranggirra consolidated the long-standing The Way Ahead for Aboriginal People and New Careers for Aboriginal People programs and provides end to end support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander learners through culturally appropriate mentoring to ensure successful retention and completion of training, and improved post-training employment outcomes.
• OCHRE - Opportunity, Choice, Healing, Responsibility, Empowerment is the NSW Government’s plan for Aboriginal Affairs. Part of this plan are Opportunity Hubs, that aim to provide Aboriginal young people with the confidence and knowledge to follow a supported pathway between secondary school and further education and/or employment. Opportunity Hubs are building partnerships between schools, employers, education and training providers and the local community to coordinate and match employment, training and further education opportunities to individual students’ aspirations.
• Elsa Dixon Aboriginal Employment Grant (EDAEG) - includes a one-off $10,000 payment to support school-based apprenticeships and traineeships to organisations that are a NSW public service agency; or a NSW local government authority operating under the Local Government Act 1993.
• Smart and Skilled - eligible Aboriginal students do not pay a fee for any Smart and Skilled qualification they undertake, regardless of the number of qualifications in which they enrol, or the level of the qualification. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who live in specific defined interstate border areas with NSW may also be eligible for Smart and Skilled.
• (In referring to Aboriginal people, Training Services NSW refers inclusively to all Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islander people.)

The Refugee Employment Support Program (RESP) helped participants to develop career plans, and linked them to employers, education and training as required. Refugees and asylum seekers could also be eligible for training from certificate I to advanced diploma level under Smart and Skilled, with fee-free up to certificate IV level if the qualification was on the NSW Skills List. The program concluded on 30 June 2024. The five-year initiative assisted more than 10 000 refugees across Western Sydney and Illawarra.

The Regional Industry Education Partnerships (RIEP) initiative aims to strengthen connections between local industry and secondary school communities and supports students in planning their future career pathways. There are fourteen locally based RIEP officers appointed throughout the network of Training Services NSW regional centres.

The Get Back in the Game program, which incorporates the former Regional VET Pathways Initiative, funds community organisations to case-manage transitions of disengaged young people into education, training and employment. The program is available for two cohorts:

• Get in the Game supports young people 15-21 years old that are not in study or working more than eight hours per week
• Back in the Game supports young people that are 15-19 years old and enrolled in, and referred by, one of the participating Educational Pathways Program schools.

The NSW Department of Education funds Adult and Community Education (ACE) through grants to providers, and the Training Sector Governance Unit in the Department supports funded ACE providers, promotes and provides information and advice on community education.

Victoria  

The Education Justice Initiative (EJI) is an information, referral and advocacy service that helps vulnerable young people reconnect with education and training.

Learn Local providers are not-for-profit community organisations registered and funded by the Victorian Government, via the Adult, Community and Further Education (ACFE) Board, to deliver pre-accredited training and programs. The pre-accredited training includes short courses in communication, study skills, job skills, getting ready to go back to work, reading and writing, maths, English, and computers.

The Reconnect program assists eligible people to overcome barriers and increase their choices in pathways through education and employment. Support from Reconnect 21 providers may include foundation and employability skills, and careers information, planning and advice.

The Youth Access Initiative supports young people impacted by child protection, youth justice orders and residents of Victorian Education First Youth Foyers by providing them with a tuition fee waiver and a pathway to employment.

Industry engagement for priority cohorts (IEPC) aims to connect students in years 7 to 10 with the world of work by facilitating genuine and meaningful workplace learning opportunities. It supports four priority cohorts: Koorie students; students in out-of-home-care; students with a disability; and students in youth detention.

Queensland 

Adult Community Education provides a diverse array of vocational and learner interest focused education and training, contributing significantly to the engagement of learners who experience disadvantage or who are disengaged from learning by providing access to foundation skills and pathways into further learning, community participation and work.

Skilling Queenslanders for Work funds training and support for unemployed or underemployed people, with a focus on young people (including those in and transitioned from out-of-home care), Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, people with disability, mature-age jobseekers, women re-entering the workforce, veterans and ex-service personnel, and people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

Under the Certificate 3 Guarantee, Skills Assure Suppliers (SAS) can deliver supported training pathways that incorporate foundation skills training and/or lower-level vocational qualifications that align to the targeted certificate III qualification and occupational outcome for disadvantaged learners.

South Australia 

Skill Shortage Solutions grants support projects that tackle skills shortages in key areas at an industry, sector, regional or workforce level through partnerships to develop and pilot industry informed, customised, or localised skills solutions. The projects will support more than 700 people to enter trade shortage areas, including in regional areas.

Adult Community Education supports people to progress their foundation skills and transition to vocational education and training or employment. Training is delivered in easy to access, community-based settings and may comprise of non-accredited training, accredited training, and micro-credentials. The Adult Community Education Program supports applications for the delivery of foundation skills training through:

• Level 1 Projects - non-accredited training in a community setting
• Level 2 Projects - combination of accredited and non-accredited training in a community institutional setting, workplace, or combination of both.

Level 1 and Level 2 projects are developed using the Foundation Skills Training Package units of competence, to ensure the existing quality framework and structure for both levels of training is maintained. During 2022-23, ACE supported 25 projects across South Australia that created vocational education and training pathways for up to 1,800 students.

The Work Ready, Release Ready (WRRR) program provides job readiness training and post-release employment support to ensure more prisoners are prepared to enter the workforce on release. People serving a custodial sentence will be provided with relevant education and training and those requiring additional assistance post-release will be linked to a job network provider. The program is administered by the Department for Correctional Services.

Western Australia 

Department of Training and Workforce Development Jobs and Skills WA learning support and assistance includes:

• Equity courses that support people with disability and people seeking courses that are aligned with their culture.
• Foundation skills courses that focus on language, literacy and numeracy, and employability skills such as teamwork, problem solving, self-management, digital literacy and using technology. Two of the foundation skills courses are also fee-free priority courses.
• The Participation – Equity program that provides support for eligible people who are unemployed or holders of concession cards, with a disability, Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CaLD), and Youth at Risk.

Tasmania 

The Adult Learning Fund is offered in grant rounds to registered training organisations (RTOs) and aims to support effective pathways to employment by providing subsidies to endorsed RTOs who provide training in both full qualifications and skill sets that lead to job outcomes.

The Rapid Response Skills Initiative (RRSI) provides up to $3000 towards the cost of training for eligible people who have lost casual, full-time or part-time work in the last 12 months due to retrenchment, downsizing or business closure.

The Training and Work Pathways Program provides grants for targeted projects that support opportunities for Tasmanians facing disadvantage to engage productively in education, training and employment.

Government-funded Adult and Community Education is delivered by Libraries Tasmania, and includes digital skills, reading, writing and maths.

Northern Territory 

The Aboriginal Employment Program supports employers and industry, including not-for-profits, providing jobs and training opportunities for Aboriginal Territorians. The program includes Aboriginal Responsive Skilling Grants which provide access to training that leads to job outcomes or career advancement.

The Equity Training Program (EQT) provides grants to RTOs, special schools and other representative organisations for training and employment programs for people with a disability, parents returning to the workforce after an absence of five years or more, long-term unemployed migrants, refugees, mature-aged, and/or very long-term unemployed people (VLTU) or those at risk of becoming VLTU.

Indigenous tutorial assistance scheme (ITAS) funding provides supplementary tuition for eligible Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students undertaking VET courses leading to the attainment of a qualification at certificate III level or higher, or completing an Australian apprenticeship.

Learner support assists students enrolled in VET programs up to certificate IV level to gain contextualised knowledge in addition to language, literacy and numeracy through one-on-one support.

Supplementary recurrent assistance (SRA) provides some students enrolled in skill based vocational training with integrated support to develop underpinning knowledge, language, literacy and numeracy skills to achieve outcomes in VET. SRA is allocated to public vocational education providers based on their Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student numbers.

Australian Capital Territory 

Skills Canberra grants programs include:

The Adult Community Education Grants Program (ACT ACE Grants Program) provides funding for the delivery of accredited and non-accredited foundation skills training to support Canberrans experiencing barriers to learning, training and work. The program has been in operation since 1998 and is available to participants over 17 years of age.

The ACT Women's Return to Work Program is targeted at supporting ACT women looking to re-enter the workplace who face additional barriers to employment and training opportunities. Individual grants of up to $1,000 are available for women who meet the eligibility criteria. The program is designed to provide funding for training and education, to develop job search skills and to access related resources to support women to return to work.