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Important Notice

The IDFM Office will close for phone and email queries at 1pm on Monday 23 December 2024 and reopen at 9am on Thursday 2 January 2025. The IDFM team will continue to assess applications during this period. All enquiries received during this period will be responded to as soon as possible when the IDFM Office reopens.


Great news – Improvements to the IS Portal & New Resource for Services!

A quick guide and full guide are available to support you to navigate the exciting changes to the Strategic Inclusion Plan on the IS Portal.

There is a Checklist to help services to ensure your IDF Subsidy for an Additional Educator application is complete and accurate, prior to submission to your IP for endorsement.


Current application processing timeframes for IDF Subsidy for an Additional Educator:

The demand for support through the Inclusion Support Program has resulted in a high volume of applications being submitted for IDF Subsidy for an Additional Educator. Applications are being assessed as efficiently as possible, but unfortunately this is currently not within the usual timeframes. Thank you for your patience at this time.

Please go to the Important Information page for further information and updates.


In the context of Innovative Solutions Support, a support provider is an individual or organisation with relevant skills and qualifications who is engaged to provide support to a service through an Innovative Solutions Support project.

The Support Provider’s Role

Support Providers play an essential role in most Innovative Solutions Support projects. They use their knowledge, skills and expertise to help services to address the barriers to inclusion that they have identified as the focus of their project.

The Support Provider's role is to build a service’s capacity to be inclusive. This typically involves upskilling staff in a way that can be sustained after a project is completed.

Support Providers generally are not engaged to work directly with children but rather to work with educators to support their work with children. In some cases providers may work alongside educator’s and demonstrate or role model specific techniques as they coach them in the use of new approaches, however this should be limited with the end goal of a project being the ability of educators to use such approaches independently.

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

These include:

  • Delivery of professional development for educators

Most projects involve the delivery of specific content by the Support Provider to improve educators’ knowledge and understanding of the barriers that they have identified.

  • Coaching of educators

Coaching involves direct support of educators as they implement new practices. It is typically delivered “on-the-floor” as educators are working with children and can include a range of actions from the provider -ranging from observing educator practice and providing feedback to direct modelling of specific techniques.

(See the Guided Practice Project Guide for more information about coaching in the context of Innovative Solutions Support).

  • Mentoring of educators

Mentoring describes advice, support and guidance that is delivered in an off-the-floor capacity. It can include opportunities for educators to “debrief” about specific experiences with the Support Provider, reflective discussions (including staff meetings) facilitated by the Support Provider, and planning for future stages of the project.

(See the Guided Practice Project Guide for more information about mentoring in the context of Innovative Solutions Support).

  • Provision/Development of resources

Innovative Solutions Support cannot be used to fund the purchase of major resources. However, in some cases, the provision or development of specific resources may be essential to the successful implementation of a project. In these cases the cost of resources should not be more than 10% of the total cost of a project. Services will be asked to provide details of any resources to be included as part of a project and to provide a rationale for their inclusion, outlining how and why the resources are essential to meeting the project outcomes.

Support Provider's Guide

An Innovative Solution Support Guide is available for Support Providers which includes further information about:

  • The Support Provider's Role
  • Developing an Innovative Solutions Support project
  • Information required from Support Provider's
  • Support Provider Responsibilities: During the application process & service delivery
  • Confidentiality and Child Safety
  • Price Guide
Access the Support Provider Guide

Quick access to resources