On the 20th November ASQA announced plans to strategically review VET training in the Aged and Community Care sectors.
This follows the 2011 Productivity Commission report Caring for Older Australians, which raised a lack of consistency with the quality of training provided by RTOs delivering Aged and Community Care qualifications, including concerns about the fast tracking of students, some of whom seem to have completed a Certificate III in only one month. This report also identified that the amount of aged care workers required to meet the demand of our aging popultation needs to almost quadruple by 2050.
ASQA chief commisioner Chris Robinson announced that the review would include “Targeted audits of RTOs… supplemented by the information available from the audits of Aged & Community Care training providers already undertaken by ASQA.”
An article published by The Aging Australian on the 22nd November, spoke about wider industry workforce concerns that stakeholders have identified as broader than just training and education, and include problems with attracting workers to the industry due to comparatively low pay rates.
The ASQA review will be completed by the end of the current financial year (June 2013) and a report will be published detailing findings and recommendations.