2026 Start Strong Pathways

Who can apply

Department of Education lists this program as open to the following kinds of applicant. It is a starting filter, not the full eligibility test, and the guidelines on the official page are what decide it.

• Indigenous organisations

What the program funds

The 2026 Pathways program has a specific focus on encouraging participation of children aged 0-3 years old to engage with and transition into early childhood education and care settings. Providers are required to deliver activities that align with at least one of the three core objectives of the program: support engagement of children too young to receive a preschool education, who are aged 0-3 years, in an early years education program that provides culturally and developmentally appropriate activities (e.g.

That description is Department of Education's own wording, reproduced from the official listing under CC BY 4.0. Our plain-English summaries are being written program by program and this one has not been done yet.

What it is for

This program is categorised under the following purposes. Each one that has a page of its own links to every other Australian grant we track for the same purpose.

• Training and skills

How to apply

Applications for 2026 Start Strong Pathways are made through Department of Education, not through GrantWindow. We do not take applications, charge a fee or act as an intermediary, and any site that offers to apply on your behalf for a government grant is worth a very careful look.

This round is closed. Many Australian grant programs run again, and a closed program is the reason the alert list exists: we watch this page nightly and tell the list the day it reopens.