Wondering what the latest development on the proposed changes with Children’s Education and Care Training Package? If you’re one of the RTOs currently delivering the various qualifications and units of competency under this training package, then this article can help you get up to date information on the latest developments.
The Training for early childhood education and care in Australia, a strategic review released in 2015 by the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA), identified the need to address issues related with the children’s education and care qualifications and units of competency in the Community Services Training Package. In line with this, SkillsIQ, a not-for-profit Skills Service Organisation (SSO) under the guidance of the Children’s Education and Care Industry Reference Committee (IRC), consulted with employers, RTOs, stakeholders, and regulators about the ASQA findings and submitted a Case for Change to the Australian Industry and Skills Committee (AISC) in 2016.
What are the 6 Children’s Education and Care qualifications under review?
Currently, there are 6 qualifications under the Children’s Education and Care Training Package and associated 65 units of competency that are being reviewed, these are:
- CHC30113 Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care
- CHC50113 Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care
- CHC40113 Certificate IV in School Age Education and Care
- CHC50213 Diploma of School Aged Education and Care
- CHC30213 Certificate III in Education Support
- CHC40213 Certificate IV in Education Support.
Draft 1 of the National Consultation Phase – Results and Key Issues
The national consultation phase for Draft 1, which was conducted on November 2017 to February 2018 by SkillsIQ helped provide valuable insights into the current state of the Children’s Education and Care Training Package. Consultation and feedback with various stakeholders and VET experts resulted to the identification of these key issues:
- Certificate III as an Entry Requirement for the Diploma in Early Childhood Education and Care
- The needs of regional and remote communities
- Strengthening alignment and pathways with job outcomes in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
- Updating of terminology to align to current language, frameworks and social changes
- The scope of work roles, particularly in the Education Support area
- Family Day Care and Outside of School Hours roles
- The role of an Educational Leader
- Consideration of recommendations from the Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence and the Federal Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
What are the Proposed Changes in the Children’s Education and Care Training Package?
One of the key issues raised during the various consultations was the creation of a Certificate II in children service’s qualification. It is expected that this will help address the needs of individuals planning to work in early childhood education and care roles in non-regulated services. Recommendations have resulted in the development of an initial learning framework consisting of core and elective units. The new units will help facilitate the creation of a “group” of skills appropriate for the level of qualification. Based on a PowerPoint slide released by SkillsIQ after the national consultation process for Draft 2 ending in February 19 2019, an initial recommendation was made for 7 core and 4 elective units for the new Certificate II qualification.
The new Certificate II in Children’s services will also serve to address the need for learning outcomes that strengthen alignment and pathways with job outcomes in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. This can be found in the proposed development of an elective unit which is aimed at developing knowledge of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander cultures.
The first item on the list of key issues identified during Draft 1 of the consultation phase was the need for entry requirements for the Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care. This was echoed by many stakeholders, with many recommending that the Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care serve this role. Although agreeing that an entry-level requirement for the Diploma qualification was needed, the Technical Advisory Council (TAC) expressed concerns that using the Cert III qualification for the Diploma in Children’s Education and Care can be restrictive and have negative consequences. However, TAC members still agreed that an entry-level requirement was needed for the Diploma in early childhood education and care qualifications and should be based on literacy skills.
Proposed changes in the Early Children’s Education and Care Training Package are subject to consultation and more importantly, must comply with the Standards for Training Packages. Some of these include changes to unit titles which they say should be adjusted or simplified to better reflect unit content and intent. Changes were also proposed for elements and performance criteria to improve wording and order for clarity, and to ensure a standard of performance as required by the Standards for Training Packages.
Checks on the various foundation skills will also be made for relevancy. Adjustments on performance evidence to improve the clarity of expression and making changes to knowledge evidence will be made to create a better match between performance criteria and knowledge. Changes were also proposed to assessment conditions to provide better specificity.
The strategic review conducted by the ASQA and consultations also identified the need to create a training program that addresses the needs of regional and remote communities, as well as budget-based funded services. Some of the issues being raised include the minimum work hours required to be completed in a regulated education and care setting. This might prove to be challenging if not costly for educators and learners located in remote locations. Completing the workhours can require them to seek training in a regulated education and care facilities which may not be currently possible in their location. Various stakeholders understand the needs of regional and remote community educator’s and their access to these services. The majority of feedback does not support any changes to these requirements. With this in mind, the IRC is now actively searching for a solution that will help educators in remote locations comply with nationally accredited training standards for delivering early childhood education and care qualifications.
After various consultations and feedback from VET professionals and stakeholders, another issue that came up was increasing the number of workplace hours. Again, concerns about the number of workplace hours in regulated services were brought to the forefront. TAC supported the additional 40 workplace hours for qualifications involved in a regulated service. It is yet to be determined if the additional hours will continue to appear in multiple units within a qualification and/or divided across units. There were no recommendations for workplace hours in Educational Support.
Our last discussions with the SSO responsible for implementing these updates was that we would likely see these two qualifications below published on www.training.gov.au by Dec 2019 or as soon as October 2019.
- CHC30119 Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care
- CHC50119 Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care
The education support qualifications to follow early next year.
Our team of instructional designers is well underway in the development of these Early Childhood Education Training Resources and assessment for the initial draft 2 units to ensure we are “ahead of the game” for RTOs wanting to deliver these qualifications. We are currently taking pre-orders for those wanting to be first to market with these latest qualifications. If you would like to receive samples of these latest training materials click Cert III Samples (CHC30119) or Diploma Samples – CHC50119 to get the latest samples of these materials. There is a massive advantage of being first to market with these latest ECE qualifications.
Compliant Learning Resources ensures that all learning resources and assessment materials are of the highest quality and compliant with the strictest standards for VET learning resources is to keep these updated with the latest changes in the delivery of qualifications and units of competency as recommended by Service Skills Organisations (SSOs), stakeholders, and industry. For more information on the latest news and updates in the VET industry, please visit us here at Compliant Learning Resources.
