New qualification for aged care, disability and home and community care - Individual Support
Did you know the old CHC32012 Certificate III in Aged Care (Cert 3 Aged Care), CHC30408 Certificate III in Disability (Cert 3 Disability) and CHC30312 Certificate III in Home and Community Care (Cert 3 Home and Community Care) have all been superseded.
There is now a new qualification the CHC33015 Certificate III in Individual Support that replaces all of these qualifications. This new qualification has 3 specialisation streams. We are currently running the ageing stream (aged care) and you can complete this course in 8 weeks. It included 4 weeks of theory of units that have been specially chosen though our industry engagement and our My Flex Health International clients have requested our students study.
Our new disability stream will include both aged care facility and disability specialisation placement. If you complete the 8 week ageing course, you can then go onto disability and complete this in 3-4 weeks. This will consist of 1-2 weeks theory and 2 weeks additional work experience in disability. You would have already completed 4 weeks work experience in aged care so you would do a total of 6 weeks work experience (4 weeks aged care and 2 weeks disability). You can study just the disability stream direct and this will include 2 weeks aged care placement and 2 week disability specialisation placement as work experience places in disability are limited.* Disability is a growing industry with the introduction of the NDIS and the move to staff having Certificate 3 qualifications is growing in this industry.
Our new home and community care stream will include both aged care facility and home and community specialisation placement. If you complete the 8 week ageing course, you can then go onto disability and complete this in 3-4 weeks. This will consist of 1-2 weeks theory and 2 weeks additional work experience in home and community care (HACC). You would have already completed 4 weeks work experience in aged care so you would do a total of 6 weeks work experience (4 weeks aged care and 2 weeks Home and Community specific placement). You can study just the disability stream direct and this will include 2 weeks aged care placement and 2 week disability specialisation placement as work experience places in home and community care (HACC) are limited.*
It is recommended that students complete the aged care stream first and get adequate work experience before proceeding to disability and/or home and community care (HACC) as staff in this role often have to work under limited supervision and alone in the community and client homes. In order to achieve the best outcomes in relation to employment, industry has recommended as much experience as possible before students complete disability and/or HACC course. Direct entry to Disability stream or Home and Community Care stream will be on a case by case application process as previous experience would need to be demonstrated. Otherwise, we encourage students to start with aged care and gain knowledge, confidence and competence in a facility with experienced staff, passionate trainers and workplace assessors and supportive facility environments prior to proceeding to disability and home and community care (HACC) which is isolated and less supportive to new staff in the industry.