Innovative Solutions Support

What is Innovative Solutions Support?

Innovative Solutions Support is one of four Inclusion Development Fund (IDF) subsidy options available to eligible early childhood education and care services (ECEC), through the Inclusion Support Program (ISP).

When ECEC services have identified Barriers to inclusion that cannot be addressed through support from the Inclusion Agency, another Inclusion Development funding stream, or other state/territory funding options or programs, Innovative Solutions Support provides a flexible and responsive solution to increase their capacity and capability to include children with additional needs.

Who can apply?

Individual ECEC services, including specific care environments within a service, individual Family Day Care educators, Family Day Care Services or groups of services can apply to access Innovative Solutions Support.

When seeking to access Innovative Solutions Support services develop an Innovative Solutions Support Project tailored to meet their individual needs and designed to address their specific Inclusion Barrier/s. Projects usually involve engaging an external Support Provider who has the necessary skills, experience, and qualifications to support the service to address their inclusion needs and enhance their inclusion capacity.

Inclusion Professionals (IP) play an important role in supporting services to access and implement Innovative Solutions Support Projects. Before beginning the Innovative Solutions Support Project Application Process, services should consult with their IP to determine if Innovative Solutions Support is the best fit for their specific needs.

IPs are required to endorse the services application before it can be submitted to the Inclusion Development Fund Manager (IDFM) for Approval.

Developing an Innovative Solutions Support Project requires the service to:

• Consult with their Inclusion Professional (IP)
• Have a current Strategic Inclusion Plan (SIP) (in most cases)
• Complete an Application Form and if required develop a Project Plan
• Select a Support Provider and obtain a financial quote
• Create and submit an IS Case on the IS Portal

Access the Learn more about each Project Type sections below for information about the specific application requirements for each Project Type.

Innovative Solutions Support may be used for:

• Cultural advice and mentoring from cultural experts, including specialist advice on how to include a particular child or children, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mentoring, cultural advice in respect to children and families from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse communities.

• Bilingual support, such as facilitating a non-English speaking child’s enrolment and inclusion into the service or the provision of translating and interpreting services
• Collaboration with specialists to obtain specialist advice on how to include a child or children with a disability or additional needs, such as speech therapists.
• Networking and community engagement for example, service visits to view quality inclusive practices and engage in professional dialogue/conversations or engagement with other agencies to collaboratively manage the successful transition of a child or children with additional needs, for example, In Home Care to mainstream ECEC services.
• Specialised inclusion training essential to a child’s inclusion. That is, the child could not attend the service without educators having this specific knowledge and skill. For example, training required to include a child with a medical condition.

Innovative Solutions Support cannot be used for Projects that:

• Do not have an explicit and primary focus on inclusion for a cohort of children with additional needs.
• Do not demonstrate how they will result in the genuine inclusion of child/ren with additional needs or improve the inclusion capacity of the service and educators.
• Provide one-to-one support for a child/ren from an external provider. Innovative Solutions Support Projects should focus on a team approach to supporting inclusion.
• Provide medical and therapeutic interventions for a specific child or group of children by a therapist or consultant.
• Provide assistance to access other services, such as one-to-one early intervention or therapy sessions.
• Include the purchase of specialist equipment or resources. Any resources included in a Project budget should be essential to the implementation of the Project and form a minor part of the overall cost of the Project (i.e.: less than 10% of the total amount of funding requested).
• Assist the service to meet licensing requirements as outlined in the National Regulations, meet the National Quality Framework and relevant state/territory regulations including educator to child ratios and adequate supervision.
• Are more appropriately funded by state/territory governments or other agencies or through other Australian Government programs. For example: settlement services for migrants where alternative funding is available or support that would be more appropriately funded through another IDF funding stream

For further information about non-approved purposes for funding refer to Section 4.1.4. of the Inclusion Support Program Guidelines.

There is no limit on the number of Innovative Solutions Support Project applications a service can make, or the number of times funding can be approved. However, as the annual IDF funding allocation is capped, if demand for funding exceeds what is available, funding will be prioritised to support educators to include children with a diagnosed disability and children awaiting a disability diagnosis. In this situation the IDFM will also prioritise funding to services that have not accessed Innovative Solutions Support before.

Please refer to the Innovative Solutions Support - Guide for Services for more information regarding Funding Limits.

Innovative Solutions Support applications are assessed by the IDFM, taking into consideration value for money, level of risk involved, the quality of the deliverables and the extent to which the proposed Project:

• leads to the genuine inclusion of a child or children with additional needs:
• leads to enhanced inclusion capacity and capability of the service and educators;
• can be realistically implemented;
• can be delivered within the current capacity of service; and
• cannot be provided by alternative or more appropriate funding sources.

Further information about Assessment Criteria can be found in Section 9 of the Inclusion Support Program Guidelines.

Routine applications are assessed within 15 business days of being submitted.

Urgent applications are processed within 5 days when the urgency of the application is supported by the services Inclusion Professionals endorsement and the reason for the urgency is in line with current department advice.

NB: An application is only considered to be urgent where a child’s enrolment or continued attendance is dependent on the ability of the service to access Innovative Solutions Support. This generally relates to Bilingual Support or Specialised Training and Advice Projects.

Support Providers play an essential role in most Innovative Solutions Support Projects. In the context of Innovative Solutions Support, a Support Provider is an individual or organisation with relevant experience, skills and qualifications who is engaged by an Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) Service to provide support to educators, to help address the services identified Barriers to inclusion, through an Innovative Solutions Support Project.

Support Providers do not work directly with children, they work with educators to support them in their work with children. Their role is to build a service’s capacity to be inclusive. This typically involves upskilling educators to implement new ideas and approaches, in a way that can be independently sustained after a Project is completed.

Each Innovative Solutions Support Project will be different and tailored to the specific circumstances of the relevant service; however, Support Providers typically engage in a number of broadly defined activities.

Most Projects involve the delivery of specific content by the Support Provider to improve educators’ knowledge and understanding to address the Barriers that they have identified. These Projects guide educators practice that includes coaching, mentoring and occasionally the provision/development of essential resources.

• Innovative Solutions Support Guide for Services - This document provides detailed information about Innovative Solutions Support and includes individual Project Guides for each Project Type

• Innovative Solutions Support Guide for Support Providers - This document outlines the role and responsibilities of a Support Provider
• Innovative Solutions Support Price Guide - This document outlines the process for and requirements for developing a financial quote
• All Innovative Solutions Support Project resources