Aged care training courses under fresh scrutiny

Almost 50 per cent of aged care providers said less than half of Cert III in Aged Care graduates had the required skills to be employed, an SA Government review has found, adding to long-standing sector concerns about the variable quality of care worker training.

Almost 50 per cent of aged care providers said that less than half of Certificate III in Aged Care graduates held the required skills to be employed, a review by the South Australian Government has found.

The 103 aged care employers surveyed cited poor English language skills, little or no work experience or being ill-suited to aged care as the top reasons for qualified graduates being knocked back.

The independent review, which sought to validate the skills and knowledge of graduates against industry standards, adds to significant and long-standing sector concerns about the variable quality of care worker training through Australia’s vocational and education training (VET) system.

Two-thirds of employers also said they preferred some training providers to others due to the quality of the graduates and work placement arrangements in place.

The report, released last week, found that variable training quality compromised the suitability and competency of aged care graduates.

“Employers report that a significant number of graduates they interview are not suitable for employment at their worksite and there are providers from whom they will not recruit graduates,” said the Skills SA report.

To improve the quality of Certificate III training, employers recommended students have more time to develop practical skills and that a minimum four-week work placement period be introduced.

Aged care providers said courses should also ensure students held or could develop the right personal attributes to work in the industry. Content should also be strengthened in the areas of dementia, palliative care, infection control and in a person-centred approach, employers said.

According to training provider data, the average course duration was 4.7 months and 39 per cent of courses were less than three-months’ duration. Regarding practical experience, 54 per cent of graduates said their placement lasted less than 20 days.

Student experience

Despite widespread concerns about the quality of training and the employability of graduates, students reported high rates of course satisfaction.

Surprisingly, 94 per cent of graduates said they were overall satisfied with their training and 90 per cent said they received training that prepared them well for work.

This appeared to suggest a noteworthy disconnect between graduate satisfaction and industry’s views on their work-readiness.

Hired graduates

Most graduates who gained employment in aged care were assessed by their employer as being able to perform most of their duties in the workplace to a satisfactory standard. However, one-third of hired graduates could only perform some or ‘very limited’ duties.

Many students (54 per cent) who were either unemployed or employed but not in aged care when they commenced their training found work in aged care after graduation.

The report said the review’s findings had been discussed with training providers and further action is being considered. The findings will also be handed to the national VET regulator, the Australian Skills Quality Authority, which completed its own damning review into aged care training in 2013.

An enduring issue

Luke Westenberg, workforce/service support manager at Aged & Community Services SA & NT, said the finding of significant variation in graduate quality reflected feedback from members and was a long-standing issue for the sector.

“Concerns about the variable quality of training provided in aged care have been raised for some time, in a number of contexts. Having these concerns supported by empirical data is an important step to addressing them.”

He said as a result of these issues, some members had reported difficulties in recruiting staff and recruitment processes had become more challenging.

“As the validation of assessment report notes, some employers will not engage graduates from some training providers – this does reduce the effectiveness of the training system for both students and employers.”

The peak body said it had participated in the Federal Government’s review of the VET system to provide industry input into assessment and package design for aged care qualifications.

The report was a collaboration between the SA Department of State Development and Aged and Community Services SA/NT and comes as the Federal Government launched a new national training complaints hotline on Tuesday for the public to report poor quality training providers.

Related AAA coverage: Employers reject Cert III graduates

Tags: asqa, cert-III, education, rtos, sa, training,

5 thoughts on “Aged care training courses under fresh scrutiny

  1. Great article and at ACC-TV we are glad to be part of this conversation. It has been my experience as well that providers are glad to be able to employ staff who have vocational education qualifications but many feel there has have been gaps in the education provided.

    This has made access to specliased educational providers like ours invaluable.

  2. It is promising to hear that the standard of cert 3 AIN training is being examined. I currently work as a CNC in the public health system. My role has me attending RACF,s on a regular basis and I am often disappointed in the quality of care provided to aged residents and the limited knowledge and skills of many new graduates. From my observation there is a definite lack of skill and knowledge related to dementia, person centred care and managing BPSD. I have a background in education and previously taught the AIN course for 2 separate RTO,s. The quality of the course material, length of the course and practical experience component were quite different for each organisation. I am passionate about care for our older folk and became disillusioned with how the training system was changing – for the worse. More disturbing though was the residential aged care facilities treatment of those new graduates they employed. After imparting knowledge to students ( emphasising a person centred approach and to treat the person with respect and dignity) i received feedback from these students after they gained employment that they were being told they were too slow and spending too much time attending to each resident. Apparently providing personal care did not include talking to the person and going at their pace. Apparently there was not enough time to promote independence and self worth during ADL,s. Graduates were expected to do the job and do it quickly. Many students felt disillusioned as what they had been taught was not what happened “in the real world”. You may think I had no idea about reality and was teaching from a book… But I had extensive experience in aged care … And working “on the floor” and I knew it was absolutely possible to achieve what I was teaching.
    Having said this I do meet many great AIN,s who are doing their best in a difficult system.
    I welcome the review of the cert 3 training and propose that RTO,s collaborate with RACF,s more to develop guidelines that meet the needs of the resident. This may result in AIN,s graduating with the necessary attributes to care for older people and RACF management who embrace what the student has been taught.

  3. When I was involved in a review some years back I found huge variability also, some teachers used New Idea and Women’s Weekly as evidence!
    This is really important work if older people are to receive quality care, however, the most important characteristic of organisations that have quality outcomes and continuous staffing is great leadership

  4. In Australia there are over 1,200 organisations in the Aged Care Industry, over 5,000 registered facilities, and 200,000+ employees. This figure of 103 seems a bit low to make this survey a legitimate response from the entire industry.
    that being said, I understand that this is a major issue, and I welcome the Governments research into developing an aged care workforce strategy, one that puts the consumer and providers needs firmly in the spotlight.

  5. Finished the course but cannot get a job!!what is a joke!!All advertising need 3 years experience!!!I need to be unemployed to door knocking to find jobs!!!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Advertisement