Kangan Batman TAFE works with local aged care facilities to produce work-ready graduates and improve quality of care
20 August 2002
Student Lina Hayes with Gilgunya Village resident Mrs Phyllis Fowler.
Kangan Batman TAFE has been working with local aged care facilities to improve training for workers and standards of care within the aged care industry.
Through these partnerships, Kangan Batman TAFE has developed a unique approach to delivering the Certificate III in Community Services (Aged Care Work), ensuring that students gain significant hands-on experience during their training.
"The industry is crying out for work-ready graduates, because they often discover the graduates they hire don't have enough experience to perform their jobs competently and safely", says Julie Garreffa, Kangan Batman TAFE's Aged Care Course Coordinator.
Kangan Batman TAFE has always required its aged care students to undertake industry work-placements as part of their course, however, that is not the case with all training providers.
There is no requirement for the Certificate III in Community Services (Aged Care Work) to include a work experience component, and many providers do not. The 400-hour, six-month Kangan Batman TAFE course includes 200 hours of practical experience through two three-week work-placements in aged care facilities. Some other providers offer the course over just 120 hours and without any practical placement.
For the past two intakes of the course, Kangan Batman TAFE has taken a new, more structured approach to the placements, with help from two local aged care providers: the Salvation Army's Gilgunya Village in Coburg, and Fred Combridge House (run by Churches of Christ) in Northcote.
In the past, each student would organise their own work-placement with an aged care facility, and a Kangan Batman TAFE teacher would visit them once or twice during the placement to check on their progress.
Under the new approach, the teacher organises and accompanies the students on a group placement, supervising their work and conducting on-the-job training.
"Having a teacher on-site to supervise and mentor the students as a group is a better approach for everyone", says Jean Ferguson, Manager of Fred Combridge House.
"It's less demanding on the staff, because with the way aged care is funded, they are too busy to train students. But with the teacher based on-site, we can be assured the students are learning correct practice and that our residents are receiving the high standard of care they deserve".
Ms Ferguson is a long-time member of Kangan Batman TAFE's Aged Care Industry Advisory Committee, and an advocate of combining theory with practice in aged care training.
She has been so impressed with the institute's on-site training that she recently employed a student from the latest group placed at Fred Combridge House.
According to Course Coordinator Julie Garreffa, her students have always been in high demand with employers - the course has a 99% per cent employment rate on graduation.
However, now organisations from all over Melbourne are offering to host students for work-placements, as word spreads about Kangan Batman TAFE's structured group approach.
The process begins with extensive consultation between Kangan Batman TAFE teachers and the aged care provider, to establish expectations and guidelines, as well as obtain permission from the staff and residents who will have contact with the students.
Before the students undertake work-placements, they have studied subjects including anatomy, physiology, occupational health and safety, communication, and first aid. They have also completed practical training in the TAFE laboratories, such as learning to use patient lifting equipment.
During the placement they perform duties ranging from personal care, cooking and cleaning, to providing activities for residents or taking residents to medical appointments.
The residents' safety and well-being is assured at all times, with teachers supervising the students throughout the placement.
"With this new approach, the students' responsibilities increase as they increase in confidence, competence and become work-ready, which is the aim of the course", says Ms Garreffa.
During the first week of a placement in a high-level care facility, the level of supervision is one teacher per four students, with each student caring for one resident.
In the second and third weeks, the teacher/student ratio is 1:8, with each student responsible for two residents in the second week, and four residents in the third week.
In lower-level care facilities (i.e. hostels), the teacher/student ratio is 1:8, with each student responsible for between five and seven residents throughout the three-week placement.
"We believe this approach is best practice in aged care training. Not only are we producing work-ready graduates, but we are also helping to improve standards of care throughout the industry", Ms Garreffa says.
"Our approach provides a range of benefits for the organisations hosting our students. They have the opportunity to observe potential new employees on-the-job. It also provides a break for their staff, with our students taking on some of the hard, physical work involved in their job".
"But perhaps the best thing is that it creates a learning environment throughout the organisation. The staff have the opportunity to learn best practice from the TAFE teachers based on-site, and in turn the TAFE teachers gain up-to-date industry knowledge from the staff."
