Certificate
The Certificate III in Individual Support (Disability) course provides the required training to work in a community and/or residential workplace, offering support to people with disabilities. The growing disability sector is a valuable and fulfilling industry and offers a range of career paths.
Almost 20 percent of Australians have a disability (3.96 million people, or 1 in 5). This may be any condition that restricts a person's mental, sensory or mobility functions. It may be caused by accident, trauma, genetics or disease. A disability may be temporary or permanent, total or partial, lifelong or acquired, visible or invisible.
People with disabilities are living a lot longer as medical support and resources are readily available in Australia. Therefore, the demand for skilled workers is greater now than ever before. This qualification delivers the skills and knowledge required for working in the community and/or residential settings providing person-centred support to people with disabilities in everyday living tasks, recreation and leisure, accommodation support, skills development, recreation and respite care.
People with disability have the same rights as others to participate in community life. It is important that services and facilities are accessible for them. As a Disability Support Worker you are assisting people to access all services that are available to everybody living in Australia and improve inclusion of people with a disability.
This Certificate III in Individual Support (Disability) course is delivered via face to face training in a classroom environment with simulated practical tasks carried our practical room, followed by 160 hours of workplace training arranged by Australian Professional Skills Institute.
Completion of Year 10 or equivalent with upper immediate level of English, or minimum IELTS score 5.5 (no band less than 5.0) or pass the Institute's literacy (LLN) test. No prior work experience is required in this field.
RPL
APSI has developed a process that promotes holistic and task-based assessment. It focuses on relating assessment activities to actual job tasks. The intention of this model is to streamline and simplify the process of recognising competency.
Prior to RPL, information is provided to the candidate on the assessment process. Specific advice is given to each candidate on how they can demonstrate their competence and what documentary evidence is required to support their application. Each industry has unique documents that can provide evidence of experience and competence.
The candidate is required to provide adequate information prior to, throughout and after a training and assessment experience. The assessor, in this process, needs to be fully aware of the needs of the candidate and help them identify relevant workplace personnel who can confirm the candidate's competency.
The focus of the APSI streamlined holistic assessment process is to focus on demonstrated skills and knowledge and not to rely purely on documentary evidence as the main source of evidence.
Some examples of documentary evidence that can support the process include:
An RPL application kit can be obtained here.