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Author: Sonya Maley RN, TAE Trainer and Assessor, GAICD

The Federal government is cracking down on training organisations that are rorting the system Training rorts under fire . Vocational Placement is an area that you can get caught out.

All Care Training students

An Aged Care Certificate III course is a competency based qualification so there’s no exams like at Uni where you either pass or fail.  Instead you need to demonstrate that you’re a competent carer.  This means applying the knowledge you learn in theory and demonstrating the same in practice.

What is Vocational Placement?

Vocational placement is the term used to describe time spent practicing your skills in the workplace. It is unpaid work and different organisations require varying amounts of time, usually between 2-3 weeks. During this time you’ll be assessed in your ability to show you are a competent carer.

Who Organises Vocational Placement?

Most training providers will leave it up to you to source your own vocational placement.  Be very careful before signing up to these courses as placements on the Sunshine Coast have become increasing difficult to source, with some organisations actually charging students for it!

Why is Securing Placements a Problem?

A growing number of ill-prepared students, who receive little if any further support from their training provider, have been unleased on busy workplaces. I’ve had more than one facility tell me they are ‘over’ students and have stopped taking them on. I have been told by others that they have cut down on the numbers they are accepting. Some training organisations have been ‘black banned’ altogether.

Quality training providers like All Care Training on the Sunshine Coast have arrangements with local health care facilities to host their students during vocational placement. Your experience or placement component is guaranteed and is part of your 6 week course.

Be Wary of Offers to ‘work with you to find placements’. 

Some of these offers are legitimate but you might be waiting weeks or months to get a spot so your course actually takes you a lot longer. Also, the place they may find for you can be a long way from where you live (one student told me she was offered placement over 100kms from where she lived) making it a costly and time-draining experience. The problem isn’t confined to Queensland and there are numerous blogs about the difficulties students’ experience.

Be really careful of organisations that offer ‘paid’ vocational placement. There’s no such thing.  The only people able to offer you ‘paid’ work for training is employers (usually aged care facilities) and I’ve never heard of a facility paying students for vocational placement. Ask the training provider to show you an ‘Employment Contract’ – It’s almost certain you won’t see one.

Remember – Quality Training Organisations will include arrangements for vocational placement in their package. If you want to know more, please call or email us today.

Getting ready for learning!