CHC50121 Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care – Flexible Study Course

There are 15 units in total – 12 compulsory units and 3 elective units must be completed for this qualification.

Compulsory Units

1. CHCECE041 Maintain a safe and healthy environment for children
2. CHCPRP003 Reflect on and improve own professional practice
3. CHCECE050 Work in partnership with children’s families
4. CHCECE043 Nurture creativity in children
5. CHCECE049 Embed environmental responsibility in service operations
6. CHCECE042 Foster holistic early childhood learning, development and wellbeing
7. CHCECE048 Plan and implement children’s education and care curriculum
8. CHCECE047 Analyse information to inform children’s learning
9. CHCECE044 Facilitate compliance in a children’s education and care service
10. CHCECE045 Foster positive and respectful interactions and behaviour in children
11. CHCECE046 Implement strategies for the inclusion of all children
12. BSBTWK502 Manage team effectiveness

Electives

The following units are suggested electives based on consultation with the Education and Care sector. Where a student wishes to complete a different elective this may be discussed with their ECTARC Training and Development Officer.

1. CHCMGT003 Lead the work team
2. BSBHRM413 Support the learning and development of teams and individuals
3. BSBSTR501 Establish innovative work environments

Please note:

For a full list of electives, please visit training.gov.au/Training/Details/CHC50121

Units within this qualification require students to complete work placement hours in a regulated early childhood education and care service within Australia. These hours may be completed as part of the students paid employment or as an unpaid practicum. An ECTARC Training and Development Officer will visit the workplace to assess students on the job and/or via video conferencing throughout the qualification.

Work placement requirements – 280 hours

• 40 hours – Birth-23 months – Babies
• 40 hours – 2-3 years – Toddlers
• 80 hours – 3-5 years – Preschool
• 40 hours – must include a child with additional needs (any age group)
• 80 hours – service management

Please note: Where you are employed in an education and care service that has the required ages/groups, these hours can be completed within your workplace. Where all required ages/groups are not available in your workplace these hours must be completed as a practicum at another regulated education and care service.

Certain units have work placement hours that are required to be completed before the unit is deemed competent. ECTARC Training and Development Officers can provide further information on this.

Criminal History Check

Most states and territories throughout Australia have regulatory and/or legislative requirements to protect the interests of children, by setting standards that include the requirement that ‘fit and proper’ persons be engaged in prescribed children’s services. This requirement applies equally to voluntary/work experience educators.

If you are enrolled in an education and care qualification and are not currently employed in the sector, you may be required to complete your states relevant checks prior to attending practicum. Contact ECTARC for further details.

ECTARC students receive support from their personal ECTARC Training and Development Officer by phone, email, live webinar study sessions and assessment visits in the service. ECTARC students have access to the online ECTARC Training Portal where they can access learning materials and submit assessments. Practical assessments are conducted through observation in the workplace or via live video conferencing.  Trainees will require access to a computer and the internet to undertake this course. Through the ECTARC Training Portal students can also:

– message their Training and Development Officer
– upload forms and documents
– view marked assessment tasks – students are notified as soon as an assignment is marked
– access resources – additional information and documentation to support learning.

The ECTARC Training Portal is available through secure market leading technology and students find it very easy to use. The ECTARC Training Portal increases communications with students and ensures valuable information is available when required and provides access to their student records 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If for some reason you do not have access to the internet, please contact our office to arrange an alternative study solution. Hard copies of learning materials can also be provided on request.

ECTARC guarantees that a Training and Development Officer is always available to speak to Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm and Tuesday evenings 5pm to 7pm.

Access to the Training Portal on completion

All students will have 14 days access to the ECTARC Training Portal after their course completion date to download content and any completed assessments for future reference. To download completed assessments, go to the relevant unit and click on the ASSIGNMENTS link to view your assessment tasks. Click on the assessment task you wish to copy and then right click on your mouse and choose the PRINT function. Change the destination from your printer to the PDF setting and click SAVE. If you have any questions regarding the saving of your online content, please call 02 4223 1111.

Assessment Submission Requirements

Fee for service students must submit at least one assessment task within a 6 month period or their enrolment will be made inactive. Where the student has not made attempt to contact ECTARC or submitted an assessment within 12 months the student will be withdrawn from the program.

Enrolment period is 24 months. The average completion time is 12-18 months. This is self-paced and may vary depending on the learner’s previous skills and knowledge. Please note however, students must submit at least one assessment task within a 6-month period, or their enrolment will be made inactive. If they remain inactive for 12 months they will be withdrawn from the program. To recommence studies, student will need to complete the full enrolment process, and this will include the payment of enrolment fees.

Please see the ECTARC Fee Schedule for current fees.

Fee on enrolment application is $455 ($225 enrolment fee + $230 first unit).

Purchase one unit at a time as you progress through the qualification when you study at your own pace. No large full course fees required on enrolment.

Courses can be commenced at any time of year.

Please note: To enrol in this course you are required to hold a CHC30113 or CHC30121 Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care.

What you need to read…

Students are required to read the following documentation and ECTARC policies prior to commencing the online Enrolment Application Form (this will be sent to you by email from ECTARC) to ensure they understand their rights and responsibilities before enrolling:

• Flexible Study Student Information Handbook
• ECTARC Training and Course Guide
• ECTARC Fee Schedule

What you need to get ready…

To complete the online enrolment application form, students need to:

• provide a valid Unique Student Identifier (USI) number.
• photo identification – driver’s licence, passport or proof of age card – take a photo of the document so it is ready to upload.
• evidence of citizenship – birth certificate, passport or green medicare card – take a photo of the document so it is ready to upload.
• give permission on the USI website for ECTARC to view their USI records (if applying for credit transfer only). Note: Where study was completed prior to 2015 or has not yet been reported, the student must provide a copy of their transcript for ECTARC to verify with the training provider.

Foundation Skills Questionnaire

Once you have submitted your online Enrolment Application Form you will be required to complete a Foundation Skills Questionnaire – ‘Foundation skills’ is the term that Australian Government agencies use to cover both Core Skills and Employability Skills. The five Core Skills are reading, writing, numeracy, oral communication, and learning; and the Employability Skills are teamwork, problem solving, initiative and enterprise, planning and organising, self-management, learning, and technology. ECTARC is required to identify needs of students throughout the enrolment application process and to ensure that the qualification is suitable for the student. After ECTARC receives the Enrolment Application Form, students will be provided access to the relevant Foundation Skills Questionnaire on the ECTARC Training Portal, which must be completed for the enrolment process to be finalised. ECTARC will contact the student to complete the oral component and discuss the outcomes of this questionnaire where required.

It’s a regulatory requirement that if you’re studying nationally recognised training in Australia from 1 January 2015, you will be required to have a Unique Student Identifier (USI). Your USI links to an online account that contains all your training records and results (transcript) that you have completed from 1 January 2015 onwards. When applying for a job or enrolling in further study, you will often need to provide your training records and results (transcript). One of the main benefits of the USI is the ability to provide students with easy access to their training records and results (transcript) throughout their life. You can access your USI account online from your computer, tablet or smart phone anytime.

How do you get a USI?

Visit www.usi.gov.au/students/get-a-usi

Follow the steps here to get a USI. It is easy and quick to do. When you enrol online you will be required to enter your USI number.

For detailed information on the USI please visit the Australian Government’s Department of Industry website at visit www.usi.gov.au

Identification

On enrolment you are required to upload a copy of photo identification (e.g driver’s licence, passport or proof of age card). Your ECTARC Training and Development Officer will need to sight the original document during your sign up which may occur in person or via webinar.

Previous Qualifications

The Australian Governments’ Standards for Registered Training Organisations (RTO’s) 2015 requires RTO’s, such as ECTARC, to authenticate VET qualifications, Statement of Attainments and transcripts that are provided by students for the purposes of granting credit transfer or Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL). To do this students must provide copies of qualifications, Statements of Attainments and/or transcripts to ECTARC and grant permission for ECTARC to view their records on the USI Portal at www.usi.gov.au

Where permission is not granted, ECTARC will contact the issuing RTO for verification.

Please note

ECTARC requires all documentation and relevant information before fully processing enrolments. Training will not commence until all documentation is received. We want to ensure that you get any credit transfer or RPL you are entitled to and that all regulatory requirements are met.

What is RPL?

RPL is an assessment process where candidates provide evidence of previous experience to demonstrate that they hold the required skills and knowledge of one or more units of competency. Previous experience may include (but is not limited to) paid or voluntary work, life experience, professional development or formal qualifications.

Can I apply for RPL?

RPL is suited to candidates who have demonstrated experience in an education and care service or equivalent. ECTARC recommends experience of a minimum of 5 years for those wishing to apply for RPL for a full qualification, in a variety of roles within an education and care service.  This however, is very dependent on the individual experiences, so we encourage anyone wanting to learn more about RPL to contact ECTARC to discuss this further.

What evidence is required?

The candidate must provide sufficient evidence to demonstrate their competence against an entire unit of competency. For each unit, the following tasks provide the candidate with the opportunity to ensure that sufficient evidence can be gathered:

• Competency Conversation – An ECTARC Training and Development Officer (TDO) will discuss with the candidate their previous experiences to determine the extent of their skills and knowledge for each unit of competency. In addition to this, throughout the assessment process, and where appropriate, Competency Conversations may also be used to confirm competence where sufficient evidence has not been provided.
• Practical Assessment – Every unit of competency includes practical skills that must be demonstrated within a regulated education and care service within Australia. The candidate will be observed in the workplace to ensure that they are performing these skills to the standards required. In some cases, simulations may be conducted and evidence may be submitted by video to support the practical assessment.
• Portfolio – The candidate provides a portfolio of evidence of previous experiences, such as testimonials, copies of former qualifications, statements of participation in professional development, photographs and examples of their own work. This evidence is assessed and mapped by an ECTARC TDO to the requirements of a unit.

Credit Transfer

Credit Transfer is different to RPL in that the student already has completed a unit of competency in a previous qualification. To be granted Credit Transfer, ECTARC requires evidence of successful completion of the unit; this can be provided through the USI Portal or a certified copy of a transcript or Statement of Attainment. Once this evidence is verified, Credit Transfer will be granted.

Example: Tania has been working in a primary school as an education support worker for  the past 6 years. Two years ago she completed the CHC40213 Certificate IV in Education Support, which included the unit CHCPRT001 Identify and respond to children and young people at risk. Over the past year, Tania has also been volunteering in the outside school hours care that is provided within the school and has decided she would like to complete the CHC50213 Diploma of School Age Education and Care. Tania enrols with ECTARC and has a competency conversation with an ECTARC TDO and an assessment plan is developed for her. Tania is granted a credit transfer for the unit CHCPRT001 Identify and respond to children and young people at risk and the TDO decides that she has sufficient experience to apply for RPL for a number of units relating to the development of children aged 5-12 years, developing relationships with children and supporting the behaviour of children. The remainder of units will be completed through the training and assessment pathway, where Tania will receive her learning materials and assessment tasks on the ECTARC Training Portal and will be supported by her ECTARC TDO to complete these.

Eligible?

If you think you may be eligible for RPL or credit transfer be sure to discuss this with ECTARC and/or provide relevant information and documentation when enrolling as it can save you time and/or money.

The CHC50121 Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care qualification is for educators in early childhood education and care services who are responsible for planning, implementing and managing programs in accordance with approvals, quality rating systems and duty of care requirements.

The Education and Care Services National Regulations state under Section 126: Centre-based services – The qualification requirements for educators at centre-based services for children preschool age or under are – at least 50 per cent of the educators who are required to meet the relevant educator to child ratios for the service must have, or be actively working towards, at least an approved diploma level education and care qualification. Section 128: Family Day Care Co-ordinator qualifications state: A family day care co-ordinator must have an approved diploma level education and care qualification.

For more information on ECTARC’s policies such as complaints, refunds and privacy please click here.