What are workforce education policies?
Workforce education policies refer to education or training requirements at a system, state, or government level, rather than those required by an organisation.
These policies can include requirements or credentials that workers must have to qualify them to work in a certain role, or ongoing training requirements for workers who are already employed.
Workforce education polices can support rights-based care (RBC) legislation by ensuring that workers are competent to deliver it.
Why does this matter for rights-based care?
The Aged Care Act (2024) sets out a framework for workforce education in aged care. [1] This legislation includes guidelines for mandated competency-based training, and strengthened quality standards.
Strengthened Quality Standard 2.9: Registered providers must ensure their workforce is skilled and competent. At a minimum, all aged care workers must receive training in:
- Person-centred, rights-based care
- Culturally safe, trauma aware, and healing informed care
- Caring for individuals living with dementia
- Responding to medical emergencies, and
- The requirements of the Code of Conduct, the Serious Incident Response Scheme, the quality standards, and additional relevant requirements. [2]
There are additional requirements for specific roles, including nurses and some personal care workers. Additional initiatives include Fee-Free TAFE, free online training modules, and legislation-specific learning resources. [3]
Workforce education policies address initial pre-employment studies to obtain a qualification, as well as ongoing training once in the workforce. Ethical issues were a key topic identified as an ongoing training need for nurses. It was suggested that ethics should be included in the curriculum of those studying for the profession, and that it should be included in ongoing education for relevant workers. [4] At the provider level, education should be required at induction as well as ongoing refresher training. [5]
Studies also suggested that in addition to direct care staff, education guidelines should be adapted to consider training at the administrative level as well. [6]
Education and training alone are not enough to successfully establish RBC in a care system, but they work together with other policies to create the conditions to fully embed it. For example, a program designed to reduce the use of physical restraints included mandated workforce education and regulatory changes. [5]
Workforce education and training are an important mechanism to support RBC. Training in ethics was identified as a need for people working with older adults, [4] as well as human rights, communication, decision-making, and person-centred approaches. [7] Training about restraint use and sexuality were also identified as needs, [5, 6] along with cultural competence and consent. [8]
Want to learn more?
This Open Access article by Dogan et al. examines how human rights education is addressed in nursing education. It highlights the value of tailoring learning to students’ experiences and incorporating the voices of rights-holders.
This Open Access article by Newham et al. discusses the nature of human rights education and examine its potential impact on care.
This catalogue brings together learning modules and education resources from the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing and the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission to support workforce capability under the Aged Care Act 2024. Resources are organised by key learning areas, helping providers quickly identify training needs and select appropriate education options.
What can be done?
Embed ongoing workforce education in organisational policy
Providers:
- Embed education and training as part of induction and ongoing education, linked to organisational policy.
- Deliver education across administrative and direct care roles.
The evidence:
- Ethical issues change over time; therefore training must be continually revisited for relevant workers. [4]
- Information on physical restraints should be part of the clinical staff’s orientation and continuous education. [5]
- Staff require ongoing education in human rights, ethics, consent, communication, and cultural competence. [8]
- A study of how long-term care facilities respond to sexuality identified training at the administrative and direct care worker levels as important and essential to RBC. [6]
Seek out RBC-relevant education opportunities
Aged care workers:
- Develop competencies identified by the Aged Care Act and relevant to RBC, including human rights, communication, decision making support, cultural competence, and respect for residents’ rights.
- Apply competencies learned from training to guide responses to complex and sensitive care issues.
The evidence:
- Professional training to increase competencies in human rights, accessible communication, decision making supports, and person centred approaches can support staff to better enable residents’ self expression. [7]
- Workers can apply education to guide responses to sexuality, rights, and other complex care situations. [6]