Certificate IV in Ageing Support

A Certificate IV in Ageing Support reflects the role of senior support workers who complete specialised tasks and functions in aged services, either in residential, home or community based environments. Workers will take on responsibility for their own work and may be required to demonstrate leadership within defined organisation guidelines and maintain quality service delivery through the development, facilitation and review of individualised service planning and delivery.

The course combines both theory and practical training, with the bulk of the learning and assessment in the workplace where learners will be practising acquired knowledge through delivery of skills in areas relating to personal care, assisting people to maintain independence in their home of choice and provide welfare and support services to assist some of the most vulnerable people in the community in an effective manner. Person-centred and consumer-directed care requires the support worker to have well developed communication skills to work with the client and the family.

RPL

• provides an alternative pathway to achieving a qualification without course attendance
• is a consultative process between with the candidate and the assessor to determine whether the candidate has acquired the requisite learning, skills and knowledge to demonstrate that they have achieved the required learning outcomes or performance criteria of the course or qualification, for which the candidate is seeking
• identifies where appropriate additional learning experiences or training gaps are needed to achieve the course or qualification
• is the conduct of an assessment to confirm competency.

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:

• licences such as First Aid, RSA
• CV or work history with details of job role and responsibilities
• previous qualifications from overseas and Australia
• certificates and records of results or assessments completed with other RTO's
• photographs of work undertaken
• samples of related project work
• diaries of tasks performed
• task sheets/job sheets/logbooks
• site training records
• pay slips / employment contracts / job descriptions
• memberships of relevant professional associations
• references/letters/third party reports from previous employers/supervisors
• industry awards
• performance appraisals

An RPL application kit can be obtained here.