Two sides to training story

The CSHISC supports recent calls for minimum qualifications for carers but it says there isn’t enough quality training available.

Recent calls for mandatory minimum qualifications for aged care staff providing client care have received supported from the Community Services & Health Industry Skills Council (CSHISC).

However the body that sets the national competency standards for the industry says the introduction of such a requirement may not be achievable at the moment.

The council acknowledges that a number of strategies and reviews have proposed compulsory entry level qualifications for aged care workers over the past decade.

But it believes key systemic issues make this goal difficult to achieve.

“It’s something that everyone continues to strive towards but perhaps at this point in time, if you said everyone needs to have a Cert III tomorrow, there might not be a sufficient availability of quality training to do that,” said the industry skills council’s research and policy manager, Robin Flynn.

Mr Flynn said one of the CSHISC’s biggest concerns was the inconsistency in audit outcomes among registered training organisations (RTOs).

“We hear stories of training providers delivering Cert IIIs in aged care where the standards that are expected clearly aren’t in place,” he said.

“What that indicates is that the regulation could be better. At the same time, this is not purely an issue about fixing the regulation of RTOs by state and territory authorities.

“There is a need for a robust vocational and educational training system with best practice models and resources. There is also a role for employers to work and collaborate with RTOs in providing their workplaces as learning environments. There are two sides to this.”

Mr Flynn said the introduction of national registration for training providers next year could help identify a single set of expected outcomes for RTOs providing aged care courses.

Tags: cshisc, education-and-training,

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