30 July 2020
Education of personal carers needs tectonic shift
an apprenticeship pathway
The education of personal carers needs a tectonic shift. Until the 1970s nurses learnt their vital skills under an apprenticeship model. It worked well with strong employer investment and commitment. But nurses moved on to university education to place them on a par with their colleagues in the other health professions. It is now time for personal carers, the dominant aged care occupation, to move on from traineeships to apprenticeships. Such a move would deliver enhanced status and rigour to this Cinderella occupation.
The Department of Health recently sought public comment on the regulation of aged care workers (Consultation Paper: Aged care worker regulation scheme, May 2020). Many words were devoted to regulation models in other sectors, especially the disability sector. There was also confusion between regulation of all aged care workers – cooks, cleaners, drivers etc. – and personal carers in particular.
Elder Care Watch believes comparisons with the disability sector are unhelpful, not least because that sector eschews a national minimum qualification or a recognised standard of English language proficiency. Aged care regulation should stand alone and personal carers should be treated as a special case within the sector attracting a higher level of regulation than other unregulated workers. The tragedy now unfolding in Victoria lends weight to this view.
Development of the Certificate III curriculum needs to be freed from the current log jam of overloaded committees and multiple jurisdictions. Authority for course approval should be given to a national body such as the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council. It would likely make ‘infection control’ a compulsory unit.
Contact: Carol Williams 0407 515 636