The children’s services courses at Australian Workplace Training are about successfully and safely working in childcare centres, primary classrooms or in out of school hours care (OSHC) centres.

As from 2012, all child care centres and primary schools require that their frontline staff have (or are working towards) a minimum qualification. The CHC30708 Certificate III in Children’s Services is the minimum qualification which includes food safety & hygiene, planning, play, problems, first aid and child safe environments.

• In a childcare centre, the Cert III worker works under a supervisor who is qualified with a Diploma or higher. If working in a child care centre, many complete the CHC50908 Diploma of Children’s Services which means that they can work alone or be the supervisor.
• In a school classroom, the Cert III worker works under a supervisor who is qualified as a teacher or higher (eg DipT, BEd)
• OSHC centres are, more often than not, part of a primary school. If you always work under the supervision of a qualified worker, you do not currently need a mandatory qualification, although this may change when the government reviews this policy in 2014. Employees must have qualifications if they work alone, are a supervisor or a director of the OSHC.

As a worker:

Management and supervisory roles in a childcare centre are reflected by the Diploma and Advanced Diploma qualifications.

As a supervisor:

Australian Workplace Training also offers a range of corporate courses (bundles of Units of Competence) from the Diploma and Advanced Diploma level. They are designed to complement the various skills sets which supervisors and directors need to possess. These courses are offered either online and/or in campus.

Australian Workplace Training is a Skills for All Training Provider. For information on your Skills for All courses please visit out Skills for All page.