One of the questions we get asked a lot when prospective students call to inquire about our childcare courses is “Do you deliver online child care training?”
We don’t. Subsequently, the following reactions always ensue:
“Why don’t you deliver your childcare training online?”
“Oh, but other registered training organisations deliver their child care courses via distance.”
And:
“It’s just easier for me to undertake child care training via correspondence.”
Here at Suzan Johnston Australia, we have considered, time and time again, the possibility of delivering nationally recognised training for our Certificate 3 in Early Childhood Education and Care online. But we always arrive back at the same answer.
How can we provide child care training – involving the changing of nappies, the provision of activities to support children’s play, and the development of respectful relationships with children in your care – online, via distance?
If the course was conducted via distance, how could our trainers responsibly and continuously monitor each student’s growth and development throughout their child care studies, ensuring that they fully meet the standards required of this nationally recognised childcare course?
Suzan Johnston Australia has been delivering accredited child care training since 1994 and government funded childcare courses since 2009. We have never delivered it simply because it was ‘trendy’ and we will never deliver it online for the sake of ‘convenience’. We are fiercely passionate about the quality and results of our cert 3 in childcare training and we are not about to short change our graduates and the industry by making it ‘easier’.
Due to the industry’s ever-changing compliance and legislative requirements, the certificate 3 in childcare, to date, remains a highly scrutinised government funded course. We cater to this with our resolute training principle that every student who completes the Certificate 3 in childcare must be one that we are confident in sending out there, taking care of a parent’s most irreplaceable blessing, with the most current and up-to-date industry knowledge.
A study conducted in 2015 brought to light evidence of very low completion rates for online learning programs in the VET sector in Australia. The study indicated that as of early 2015, students studying in online-only mode had completion rates of around 7% in comparison to around 40% for students who undertook face-to-face classroom or workplace based training.
The results of this study applied across the board to all national VET qualifications, but it rings especially true in areas like online children’s services courses where training delivery styles cannot adequately simulate an educator’s role or their future work environment.
Moreover, the certificate in child care course is also one that is specifically designed to be competency based, whereby the development and assessment of actual performance components is best conducted face-to-face in a classroom, with students’ learning also supported during hands-on practical placement. You simply can’t learn how to take care of children and support their holistic development by scrolling through pages and pages of text, watching a series of videos, or clicking through long audio files.
Most students who intend to commence the Cert 3 in childcare course have little experience in the children’s services industry. With limited knowledge of the sector, students will find it difficult to engage with the complexity of both the learning materials and the assessments online.
Our face-to-face, hands-on classroom delivery caters to students of varying levels of learning styles and abilities because our trainers and program coordinator are always there to provide real learning support in person.
Furthermore, our diverse student demographic itself provides great learning support for each other. Our childcare training is designed to maximise student engagement, with regular contact between students where they get to chat with each other, exchange ideas, and begin to operate together as a diverse team – all of which is essential for educators working in today’s children’s services industry.
Suzan Johnston is committed to producing childcare educators who are truly dedicated and capable of providing the best possible standard of care for children, and we don’t believe this can be achieved through distance education.
Interested to know more about our children’s services courses?
For further information please phone (03) 96540999 or visit www.sjaustralia.com.au.
