School Age Education and Care Qualification Review

Development

Student Roundtable

We're inviting interested learners to join our student roundtable discussions and share their thoughts and experiences on the Outside School Hours Care and School Age Education and Care qualifications and units. Discussions about the relevance of the qualifications, the skills and knowledge they deliver, and how well they reflect what is required to work in schools will really help inform the project.

The roundtable will focus specifically on the qualifications and are not intended to gather feedback about individual training organisations, trainers or training delivery methods.

Date: Monday 16 November 2026
Time: 12.30 PM - 2 PM AEDT
Location: Online

Please register your interest in attending by COB Monday 9 November 2026.

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Registered Training Organisation Survey

We’re calling on trainers, educators and assessors of vocational qualifications in childhood education and care to provide feedback on existing qualifications, skill sets and units of competency before Friday 7 November 2026. We want to know what’s working, what’s not working and where things could change or improvements could be made.

Please submit your feedback by completing this survey.

Your feedback will influence the design of national qualification training products and contribute to resolving current workforce issues.

Draft materials will be developed and available for feedback during the Consultation Stage.

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Information Session

We held 2 online project information sessions (07/09/26 and 10/09/26) to discuss the latest updates to the CHC Community Services Training Package. The sessions provided an overview of the review process, the factors influencing the proposed changes, implementation timeframes, available support resources, and opportunities to ask questions. They were specifically designed for schools, RTOs, teachers, and other stakeholders involved in delivering  school-aged education and training.

View the information session presentation.

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Functional Analysis

Project development is underway to undertake a comprehensive review and update the training products in school based education and support to ensure they are aligned with current industry practice, regulatory and legislative requirements, contemporary educational approaches and the evolving needs of schools, students and education support professionals.

We will engage in the following information gathering activities as part of the functional analysis:

• desktop research
• review available information on industry standards, working conditions, and employer recruitment selection criteria
• 20 virtual workshops to:
  
  • exploring the skills organisations need
  • discuss foreseeable changes in the sector.

Functional Analysis Interviews

Between Monday 24 August and Friday 16 October 2026, we conducted employer interviews to gain insight into the current and emerging workforce needs across the school-based education support sector. We explored workforce roles, day to day responsibilities, required knowledge and skills, emerging practices and career pathways. We'll also identify common functions performed across different school settings and specialist roles and practices unique to individual schools, education systems or jurisdictions.

The interviews will help ensure that training products accurately reflect modern industry practice and support a skilled, adaptable workforce. They will also help us to structure qualifications and ensure training is closely aligned with industry and sector requirements.  

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Set Up

This project is being delivered in parallel with early childhood education and care (ECEC) and school based education support (SBES) reviews to support potential pathway opportunities between outside school hours care (OSHC) and interrelated sectors.

Background

The School Age Education and Care Qualification Review is an extension of the 2025 Outside School Hours Care project which also focused on transitioning the 10983NAT Certificate III in Outside School Hours Care course to the CHC Community Services Training Package. After extensive consultation, it was identified that a fuller review of the qualification was required, rather than transitioning to the existing course.

This is an 18-month project that is expected to be completed by January 2028.

Project Scope

We will review 2 existing qualifications (one nationally accredited), potentially develop one new qualification, review one skill set and 6 units of competency and potentially develop up to 26 new units with some units of competency having potential cross over with early childhood education and care (ECEC) and school based education support (SBES).

Qualifications and Units of Competency

• ‍10983NAT Certificate III in Outside School Hours Care: supports the training for the following occupations: outside school hours care educator, outside school hours care assistant, play leader, and recreation assistant (children’s services).
• CHC50225 Diploma of School Age Education and Care: reflects a the role of educators who are responsible for the day-to-day running of a regulated school age education and care service in Australia. They plan, implement and manage programs across all areas of service operations. They use specialised knowledge and anlyse and apply theoretical concepts to diverse work situations. Educators with this qualification have responsibility for the supervision of volunteers and/or other staff.

It is also proposed a number of new units will be developed. Areas for consideration include:

• child safety, protection and wellbeing
• legal, ethical and regulatory compliance
• documentation and assessment
• play, leisure and learning
• educational leadership
• leadership and service management
• inclusion and behaviour support
• partnerships with families, schools and communities
• documentation and assessment.

As part of this project, we're looking into the Provide First Aid in an Education and Care Setting unit of competency to consider how it aligns with contemporary first aid practices, including the latest guidance from the Australian Resuscitation Council (ARC) and other relevant national peak bodies.

How to get involved

There are a number of ways that you can get involved in this project:

• Register for project updates‍
• Provide feedback on the existing training products by completeing our registered training organisation survey (below)
• Complete our industry survey (below).