Education Support Draft 2 Validation

"This statement ‘general administrative as well as operational tasks’ needs more definition regarding that this is part of the role, but not the core function of the role. The stipulation of the age requirements makes it very clear that no kindergarten environments are acceptable. This is a change for Victoria. Tafe allow kindergarten settings. In fact the Victorian curriculum has this stage on their web page. (DB)"

Michael Griffiths 11.09.2019 11.08AM

"I like that the age range has been extended to 18 years - rather than just yr 10, but why has the Kindy year been left out? Many EA's will be working in Kindy with 4 year old students."

Fiona Taylor 28.08.2019 04.22PM

"First aid "In response to the first aid question as a unit - certainly as an elective but not a core. Similar to aged care, most schools do not want qualified first aid support workers to be administering first aid to students as this can open a whole heap of legal issues. There are nurses at many schools or teachers who are paid to be the designated first aid responder. Whenever there are excursions, first aid is planned for and a person with advanced first aid or bronze medallion is made available. Finally, this unit can be argued to be applicable to every VET course in Australia for one reason for another - I think we should not lose sight of the fact that support workers' primary role, as per the research and what industry consistently says, is behaviour, disability, numeracy and literacy, as well as pedagogy/facilitation skills. Finally, most RTOs such as happens in ECEC, outsource this unit, which will make the course much more expensive - please remember that students in this area are 99% female and most already pay more than they can afford - many are single parents and are unemployed or underemployed. Schools are also happy to pay for staff that they select and want to hold first aid qualifications to attend a course through their preferred provider." "

Adam Green 20.08.2019 01.31PM

"This is an accurate, clear and concise description. Much improved on the previous version. "

Brigette Hall 13.08.2019 01.10PM

"I don't think Cert III should be an entry requirement, as long as there has been student support experience in a classroom previously. I think entry in the Cert IV needs to be with the pre-requisite of experience with students and within a school setting."

Sue McElroy 09.08.2019 10.43AM

"Assessment conditions on most units State ‘ implementation of classroom programs must be directly observed by the assessor on at least one occasion. I feel this is not realistic for any RTO or schools There are opportunities to achieve these through simulations or role plays. "

Michael Griffiths 11.09.2019 11.12AM

"I would prefer to see 18 units and not a decrease."

Adam Green 20.08.2019 01.16PM

"The amount of third party evidence required for authentic assessment would put a HUGE amount of extra work on the Supervising Teacher. It is hard enough at the moment to find schools who will take our students. Especially in rural areas."

Andrew Wales 04.09.2019 10.03AM

"Many rural areas deliver both CIII & CIV through Blended Delivery resulting in students studying in areas spread across hundreds of Kilometres. Many of these RTO's do not have Assessors therefore Teachers would have to perform these direct observations. Teachers would be traveling vast distances for long periods of time having no one to teach the rest of their class. This combined with Performance Evidence being more Assessor direct observation would make it impossible to Assess the Course in line with the amount of proposed direct assessor observation in all units. Much of the Performance Evidence and Evidence Knowledge in all Units could be Assessed by Written Responses, research and Portfolio items. Third Party Reports and Observation Checklists signed by the Supervising Teacher should be authentic enough to meet the Unit requirements. "

Andrew Wales 27.08.2019 11.09AM

"Great to see there is a unit covering student behaviour, i have found many doing their qualification are not prepared for handling students, having the various strategies they can use, have not had enough information on how to support."

Allison Rickard 21.08.2019 11.39AM

"Remove diversity unit and make elective. Diversity is embedded in all other units as students are working with a range of individuals to support them. They also cover many of the legal aspects in the ethics/legal unit so this unit is covered elsewhere in all aspects. As per previous comments we should concentrate on the core competencies of support workers (as you can see from all other comments here) which is behaviour, disability, numeracy, literacy and pedagogy."

Adam Green 20.08.2019 01.21PM

"majority of students in the ed support 111 course prefer to do units relating to Autism-as this is only offered in the cert IV . As Autism is quite high with students in schools it would be beneficial to see a unit in the cert 111's course offered."

liz buckley 12.08.2019 09.35AM

"The core units reflect what is required to support children of varying needs in a classroom. Great to see some units for additional needs and behavioural aspects."

Jeanette Sticker 09.08.2019 12.46PM

"This grouping of Core units makes sense now. I am thankful you have heard and responded to the feedback given, this selection of Core units better describe the work that is undertaken by support workers - and they are all crying out (along with their teachers) how to support students with additional and behavioural needs. These units will certainly contribute at the foundational stages of becoming a support worker. Thank you."

Sue McElroy 09.08.2019 10.39AM

"The amount of third party evidence required for authentic assessment would put a HUGE amount of extra work on the Supervising Teacher. It is hard enough at the moment to find schools who will take our students. Especially in rural areas."

Andrew Wales 04.09.2019 10.04AM

"Many rural areas deliver both CIII & CIV through Blended Delivery resulting in students studying in areas spread across hundreds of Kilometres. Many of these RTO's do not have Assessors therefore Teachers would have to perform these direct observations. Teachers would be traveling vast distances for long periods of time having no one to teach the rest of their class. This combined with Performance Evidence being more Assessor direct observation would make it impossible to Assess the Course in line with the amount of proposed direct assessor observation in all units. Much of the Performance Evidence and Evidence Knowledge in all Units could be Assessed by Written Responses, research and Portfolio items. Third Party Reports and Observation Checklists signed by the Supervising Teacher should be authentic enough to meet the Unit requirements. "

Andrew Wales 27.08.2019 11.11AM

"I understand that the new qualification CHC30219 itself will not be deemed equivalent to the existing qualification CHC30213. On a qualification level this makes sense. However for the individual units where the changes are only minor, relating to the clarity of wording, I would expect and hope that these new units are deemed equivalent to the existing ones. The concept of equivalence is significant factor which I believe must be taken into account. If similar units are not deemed equivalent then this creates extreme challenges for students moving from the current course to the new one. This is especially challenging for online students who do not attend face to face classes and study at their own pace. This also proposes challenges for lecturers who face severe scrutiny if they do not continuously upgrade to the new qualification. "

Bernadette McMullan 23.08.2019 11.30AM

"With the increased prevalence of Autism, it would be useful (if not essential) to address the learning needs of SLSOs in this area. At this stage, there are no units dedicated to learning about supporting students with Autism in either the core or elective components. Instead, there are 4 Elective units dedicated to learning about supporting Indigenous students. In addition, there is another Elective unit dedicated to supporting students with English as a second language. Whilst both of the latter areas are very important, research indicates that today's SLSO is much more likely to be supporting a number of students with autism (diagnosed or otherwise) in the mainstream classroom. It is suggested that our Cert III students at least have the opportunity to enrol in an elective to develop their abilities to support students with Autism using evidence-based practice. At this point in time, the CEO Sydney (Catholic schools) requires all SLSOs to have a Cert III for employment. These additional mandatory requirements have resulted in increased enrolments in the Cert III. It is suggested that many SLSOs may not acquire the Cert IV (or learn about supporting students with Autism) unless it becomes a mandatory requirement. It is recommended that an autism unit be included in either the Core units or Elective units for Cert III. "

Franki Ford 12.08.2019 12.35PM

"This unit in essence is great and looks to replace CHCDIV002. It does however have inherent problems with the assessment requirements when placed within the CIII Education Support. I can see for example in the unit description the "This unit applies to all educators who work in children’s education and care services". This does not apply to all of CIII Ed Support students and therefore has the following problems imbedded in the requirements which cannot be met in assessment for students working across the 5 - 18 year range as described correctly in the CIII Ed Support course description: KNOWLEDGE EVIDENCE: ◾requirements of the following National Quality Standard(s) ; Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander perspectives on early childhood learning and development. FOUNDATION SKILLS- reading: ◾interpret the learning framework. The field of Ed Support requires a version of this unit that is suitable for the school setting in its content and assessment requirements as this version of the ECE unit has problems when placed in an Ed Support qualification. "

Brigette Hall 12.08.2019 09.39AM

"Finally someone has listened and written a unit that addresses Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander culture in a culturally safe way!"

Jeanette Sticker 09.08.2019 12.48PM