Skills First – Government Funding

Eligibility requirements for courses under the Skills First program 

To be eligible for the skills first program, applicants must meet the following requirements: 

• An Australian/New Zealand citizen or Permanent residence who live in Victoria on a permanent basis 
• For applicant older than 20 years of age, they have to meet the upskilling requirement – enrol in a course that is at a higher AQF level than the highest Australian qualification completed before. (This requirement does not apply for applicants who enrol in our English courses). 

• There are limits to the number of subsidised courses applicants are entitled to. An applicant can not start more than 2 subsidised courses in a year, be enrolled in more than 2 subsidised courses at the same time or start more than 2 subsidised courses at the same qualification level in their life. (There are some exemptions to these rules. Please check with us to confirm your eligibility) 

Government-funded courses – Job trainer 

GBCA also delivers the FREE and concession low fee courses under the JobTrainer funding initiatives. Training areas available under the Job trainer program are: 

• childcare and early childhood education 
• Accounting and bookkeeping. 

Eligibility requirements for courses under the Job trainer funding program 

To be eligible for the Jobtrainer program, applicants must meet the following requirements: 

• An Australian/New Zealand citizen or Permanent residence who live in Victoria 
• Aged between 17 -24 
• Do not have and currently seeking for a job 
• There is NO upskilling requirement in this Job trainer program. 

Online and face to face classes 

COVID-19 and social lockdown made online courses becoming more popular. GBCA offers online learning during the social lockdown and we will resume face to face classes whenever practicable and allowable by the government. 

The online model is more suitable for highly motivated people who are disciplined in their study and have reasonable computer skills. Online learners are usually being a disadvantage in receiving supports and they slowly losing motivation, engagement and interest in the continuing study. 

Traditional face to face learning makes students feel more comfortable and learn more easily in a traditional classroom environment. It creates a sense of belonging, there is more engagement with teachers and classmates. However, it requires travelling time, and time away from home. 

For serious learners, the rule of thumb is the less time you come to class, the more time you need to spend in self-study. 

Language Literacy and Numeracy (LLN) and digital skills assessment 

At GBCA, we put student progression through their courses and gain employment outcome at the centre of our delivery of training. Our friendly course advisors, during the pre-training review process, will work with you to assess your current LLN digital skills. This will enable our trainers to understand how we can formulate a customised training plan that is suitable for your current LLN and digital skills. 

Trial lessons 

We organize regular trial lessons for new applicants who want to have some experience of our training prior to making their commitment. Please discuss your availability for a trial lesson with our course advisors during the pre-training review meeting. 

GBCA offers the FREE materials fees for the first 5 students enrolling for the government funding courses this coming intake. Please contact: