School Based Education Support Qualification Review

The school based education support workforce accounts for a large share of the children’s education and care sector. In 2025, there were 134,800 education support workers employed in Australia, compared to 164,300 primary school teachers. These numbers demonstrate the crucial nature of school based education support roles for schools, children and families.

This project aligns with the Commonwealth’s 2025 Review of the Disability Standards for Education which called for stronger implementation of inclusive education and reasonable adjustment across schools and vocational education and training. The review notes that many educators lack awareness and resources to meet their obligations under the Standards. The School Based Education Support qualification review will directly support improved educator awareness of these issues by incorporating person-centred and rights-based  practices, which will strengthen the workforce’s ability to support students with disability to participate like everyone else.

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

Project scope

We will review 2 qualifications and 29 units of competency. There is an expectation that there may be new units required to ensure the qualifications are fit for purpose.

Qualifications and units of competency

• CHC30221 Certificate III in School Based Education Support: supports a single occupation and reflects the role of workers who assist teachers and support student learning in a range of classroom settings. They complete general administrative as well as operational tasks to support students under the guidance of a teacher or other educational professional. Work requires use of discretion and judgement within the boundaries of established policies and procedures.
• CHC40225 Certificate IV in School Based Education Support: reflects the role of workers in a single occupation who assist teachers and support student learning in a range of classroom settings under the guidance of a teacher or other educational professional. At this level, workers may be involved in assisting learning for a range of instructional groupings, including students needing additional support. In these roles, the education support worker finds and analyses information from diverse sources, may work with limited direct supervision and could provide guidance to other workers.

Project governance and consultation strategy

A Technical Committee of industry experts will be established to provide specialised advice for this project. Members are carefully selected based on their relevant expertise and experience in areas critical to the project.

The Technical Committee will work with HumanAbility in this project to:

• identify relevant stakeholders to consult with about the project
• provide insights on proposed communication and consultation strategies
• provide technical knowledge on the skills and knowledge required to meet graduate outcomes and workforce needs.

Our draft Project Consultation Strategy and Technical Committee Terms of Reference will be finalised once the Technical Committee has been formed and had an opportunity to review. Once finalised it will be made available to download.

Information Session

Join our upcoming School Based Education and Support Information Session to learn about the latest updates to the CHC Community Services Training Package. The session will provide an overview of the review process, the factors influencing the proposed changes, implementation timeframes, available support resources, and opportunities to ask questions. This session is designed for schools, RTOs, teachers, and other stakeholders involved in delivering school-based education and training.

Workshops

Workshop 1
Date: Tuesday 8 September 2026
Time: at 1 pm - 2 pm (AEST)
Location: Microsoft Teams

Register to attend

Workshop 2
Date: Friday 11 September 2026
Time: 2 pm - 3 pm (AEST)
Location: Microsoft Teams

Register to attend

Functional Analysis

We are undertaking a comprehensive review and updating school-based education and support training products to ensure they align with current industry practice, regulatory and legislative requirements, modern 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
  • other details regarding workshop specifics to be finalised.

Functional Analysis Interviews

Humanbility will conduct employer interviews to gain insight into the current and emerging workforce needs across the school-based education support sector. We will explore 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 findings help ensure that training products accurately reflect modern industry practice and support a skilled, adaptable workforce.

The interviews will help us to structure qualifications and ensure training is closely aligned with industry and sector requirements.  

We are seeking your availability to participate in an interview to inform this qualification review.

Benefits of being involved  

Your involvement in this project is important and will help:  

• ensure qualifications, skill sets and units of competency reflect current school-based education support roles, practices and workforce needs
• ensure training products align with relevant legislative, regulatory, child safety and work health and safety requirements
• strengthen the knowledge and skills required to support diverse learners and contemporary educational environments
• create clear, flexible and sustainable career pathways that support workforce attraction, retention and professional progression across the school-based education support sector.

About the interviews

• One-hour online interviews will be held between the Monday 24 August and Tuesday 22 September 2026 (please note timing is AEST).
• The interview will be with the Project Manager and Technical Writer.
• More than one participant can attend (although a maximum of 5 interviewees is ideal).

The ideal participants are people working in the industry or those who have previously worked in the industry and have pivoted to a new role. These interviews are not designed for RTOs, but we are seeking RTO feedback through the RTO survey.

If this sounds like you, please complete this booking form.

Vocational Educators, Trainers and Assessors

We’re calling on trainers, educators and assessors of vocational qualifications in school based education support to provide feedback on existing qualifications, skill sets and units of competency. 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.