As I sit here and ponder that it has been almost a month since I last wrote a blog, I was thinking about the issues which faced me when I was running a Boarding House. First and foremost that came to mind was staffing - getting the right staff, keeping staff for longer than a year, and most importantly ensuring they knew what they were doing. This was a huge challenge when faced with a Boarding Staff of over 60 - many of whom were university students who were studying in areas other than education.
Over 15 years ago I thought it really worthwhile to use the old Duty of Care Course as a basis for training, giving the staff inservice each term in one unit. However, if I was faced with the challenge today I must admit that I would handle it differently. To be a staff member in a boarding house today without at least some solid base level training puts you at risk, and I would be challenged to ensure that all new staff started work on Book 1 of the Duty of Care Course to get their basic training done. This was one of the reasons ABSA decided to offer workshops to help people to complete the units of the workbooks, and one of the added side benefits of this has been the networking which occurs between staff, not only at different schools but from the same school too - so often staff working at the same place are so busy they don't get the time to sit and talk about the important work they are doing.
So my challenge to you all is - what training have you done, or provided for your boarding staff, and if the answer is very little, how can ABSA help you to rectify this?
As an added bonus for those studying Duty of Care we are well underway in the process of getting Book 1 accredited as a Certificate IV Course in Residential Care, and when completing Book 2 as well people will likely qualify for a Diploma in Residential Care. Those who have already completed the course and had it assessed by us at ABSA will be able to upgrade to these AQF qualifications!
Until next time.....Signing Out
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