Disability Services Australia - South Western Sydney Institute - TAFE ...

Improving workforce capabilities
How TAFE NSW – South Western Sydney
Institute effectively assists organisations
to develop their workforces
www.swsi.tafensw.edu.au
Case study from Mitchell, J.G. 2011, Improving Workforce Capabilities.
How TAFE NSW - South Western Sydney Institute (SWSI) effectively
assists organisations to develop their workforces.
Case study: Disability
Services Australia
Workforce capability building with Disability Services Australia (DSA)

Foreword
TAFE NSW - South Western Sydney Institute actively
services the workforce development needs of a wide
range of businesses and industries, ranging from
some of Australia’s largest companies to medium and
small enterprises and government departments.
To profile the Institute’s capacity to deliver workforce
development services, the Institute commissioned
this case study.
My thanks is extended to our industry partner
that gave permission to reproduce their story.
The case study achieves the multiple goals of:
• demonstrating our capacity to provide
programs that meet and frequently exceed
client expectations
• illustrating how we are working with
organisations to support their workforce
capability and capacity building
• highlighting the skills of our Institute staff in
designing, delivering and supporting programs
for our clients
• providing examples of collaboration between
the Institute, our clients and other partner
organisations.
Importantly, the case study shows how the
benefits of working with South Western Sydney
Institute have ensured sustainable outcomes for
our clients as the Institute is:
• committed to ongoing client partnerships and
has the essential skills and resources to
maintain that partnership
• capable and willing to provide follow-up
training and advice linked to ongoing
monitoring and review.
We welcome the opportunity to discuss how we
can provide workforce development solutions to
your business.
Peter Roberts
Institute Director
TAFE NSW - South Western Sydney Institute

Case study: Disability Services Australia
Workforce capability building with Disability Services Australia (DSA)
• client needs
• challenge for Institute
• Institute responsiveness
• client outcomes
- Disability Services
Australia (DSA) is one of
Australia’s most respected
providers of employment
and community support
services for people with a
disability. It needs to cope
with substantial growth in
demand for its services
and thus for competent
staff.
- While DSA requires its staff to obtain a
Certificate III as a minimum qualification, many
staff have literacy or other challenges that need
resolving before the staff can complete the
qualification.
- The staff are spread over an area from
Queanbeyan near Canberra to Penrith in Sydney
and north to Port Stephens near Newcastle.
- DSA provides 24-hour services and the Institute
has to fit in with that feature of DSA.
- Three partners are involved: DSA, DSA’s own
registered training organisation and the Institute.
- To meet DSA’s needs, the Institute
had to adapt to new models of
learning developed by DSA, including
moving away from classroom theorybased
teaching to self-paced online
learning.
- Rather than classroom-based
training the Institute’s teachers work
with one learner at a time.
- The cooperation between DSA and
the Institute led to the streamlining
of essential learning resources for
ongoing future delivery.
- The language and literacy support
by the Institute has contributed to
the high rates of completion of
Certificate programs, confirming
a growth in staff capability.
- The training has enabled staff to
use the newly introduced
electronic tools and to change
their mode of communication,
increasing their productivity.
Description of client
Disability Services Australia (DSA)
provides support to adults with
intellectual, physical, sensory,
psychiatric or multiple disabilities,
with low to high support needs. DSA
is a highly respected large provider
of employment and community
support services for people with a
disability operating mainly in NSW.
Its services include in-home
support, crisis and interim support,
behavioural intervention
consultancy and support, vocational
support programs, day options
support programs (including
community participation, transition
to work and block-funded day
programs) and lifestyle support
(supported accommodation).
The Institute’s Employment Preparation Faculty has a
successful record in the commercial delivery of
workplace English language and literacy (WELL)
programs, which are accessed through Commonwealth
government funding in partnership with industry
employers. The faculty’s language and literacy
specialists have delivered over 100 WELL programs
across a range of industries including mining,
manufacturing, local government, aged care and
disability services. Provision of WELL programs
extends to partnerships with other Institutes, and to
delivery for clients with worksites in Melbourne,
Adelaide and Perth.
The faculty has a longstanding partnership with DSA
in the joint delivery of the Certificates III and IV in
Community Services (disability work).
Client goals
DSA needs to cope with substantial growth in demand
for its services and thus for competent staff. In
addition to a sector-wide shortage of staff, there are
increased accountability, transparency and reporting
requirements.
In the past, constant recruitment by DSA
had not provided sufficient numbers of
trained, experienced staff. Applicants with
training and experience are highly mobile
in pursuit of career advancement. The
organisation has not yet achieved its full
staffing quota.
A Certificate III qualification is seen as a
sector minimum for disability workers
providing the programs that DSA is funded
to deliver, and DSA is committed to
providing training towards this
qualification to all new employees. Many
recruits are trained or qualified in different,
sometimes unrelated, areas, and come to
the industry with gaps in understanding
and misapprehensions. Experienced staff
need support to engage with programs
that would give them recognition for the
skills they hold and training in those they
need.

Key features of the program
The main focus of the WELL program for DSA is
long-term mature-age workers who will need
integrated language, literacy and numeracy
skills support and computer literacy skill
development. A large proportion of this group
have been identified as needing additional
support to complete.
DSA training partners comprise support
workers, team leaders, and supervisors who
support individuals with disabilities in their own
homes or in day programs.
Good practice strategies
SWSI provides effective student and staff
support through WELL, leading to a full
qualification in Cert III Disability work for most
trainees and existing workers undertaking the
training program.
Highlights
The cooperation between DSA and the Institute has led
to the streamlining of essential learning resources for
ongoing future delivery. Delivering sector vocational
skills and communication skills in combination has
ensured the program’s success.
Sustainable benefits
Industry regulatory and other changes – including the
introduction of reporting requirements based on
quantitative results for the individuals for whom
organisations provide service, and the development of
new planning and reporting documents – require staff
to acquire a range of new skills and knowledge.
In the course of the program, DSA has seen the
benefits of moving to an electronics-based system
encompassing email communication, web-based
document organisation, and electronic payroll and
service delivery tools. A major aim of the training is to
ensure that staff are able to change their mode of
communication and use the newly introduced tools.
Interview with Elisa Beecham,
Education and Training Consultant
Could you describe DSA please, from your perspective?
Disability Services Australia is a specialist disability organisation where support
workers work with people who have severely physically and intellectually barriers
to a quality lifestyle. DSA’s staff support people in all aspects of daily living with
and age group range from the young to the not so young, across a whole range of
lifestyle activities. Some people in receipt of a DSA service are employed in an
Australian Business Enterprise funded by the Commonwealth doing packing and
labelling on contract. Other people in receipt of a DSA service share support in
their own home (Group Home), while others are supported to access a fully and
inclusive role in the community of the choice. DSA has over fourteen facilities
across five regions that focus on skill development, community access and
inclusion, social and recreational pursuits. In addition DSA’s Specialist Intervention
Service provides a range of therapy services. You name it, they provide it for the
people who are registered with their organisation.
What services were they looking to the Institute to provide?
They had a history of having the most willing come and offer to work for them but
DSA developed a policy of requiring everyone to have a minimum of Certificate III.
In addition DSA wanted to help their existing staff improve their qualification so
they could supervise and mentor new recruits at the beginner level.
What are some of the key features of your work with DSA?
We’ve worked with a whole cross-section of support workers in a whole range of
locations for DSA. It’s not possible to go into group homes because it is a private
home and there are privacy issues so we’ve had rotating group sessions in DSA
offices and local facilities in certain locations. We work all the way from the Blue
Mountains to the Southern Highlands to here in the inner west of Sydney.
Several members of our staff have adopted their own geographical location and
developed a close relationship with DSA but they come together under a coordinator
so that everything they do is according to the DSA guidelines and in their
format and their reporting systems.
We’ve done a lot of computer work with them and they had a private RTO actually
delivering the Disability Work qualification and that wasn’t a problem to us, we
could fit in very well with the private RTO and help with their assessments and
offer tutorial support for those involved in the training. For the first time ever 91%
of the people undertaking the course passed first time and they’d achieved a
percentage of completions like that before.

What other innovations have you implemented?
Together with our WELL trainer, DSA has developed
online training support so that people who are
undergoing Certificate III and Certificate IV Disability
Work can go online and get reference material.
It will be able to be used by all the disability industries,
not just the DSA. It’s specific enough for DSA but it’s
generic enough for anyone who’s doing training for
disability work.
Of your good practice strategies, which one was
absolutely critical to achieving these results?
The critical one was having trainers who are sensitive to
the needs of DSA’s service users. The TAFE staff need to
observe confidentiality and use empathy and
understanding. They’re super flexible because needs
arise without warning and they have to allow the
support workers to cope with that.
When you think about the work with DSA, is there
a highlight?
One highlight was when the first group graduated and
held at Bankstown Sports Club with Minister and our
Institute Director and DSA’s Director, Community and
Support Services, Catherine Dickson who attends our
student Institute awards.
We’ve also cooperated with DSA in training expos to
promote what we’re doing for each other. DSA is happy
to talk about the role of TAFE in their training and TAFE
is very keen to showcase DSA as an organisation that
values training and the benefits for their staff. They’re
very supportive of TAFE and they find that TAFE is a
great partner for them to showcase what they do as
well.
How are you ensuring that these benefits will be
sustainable?
The third year of the partnership is coming around now
we’ve developed a new partnership with DSA’s internal
RTO, METS. TAFE continues to focus on targeted support
with DSA’s new employees and existing employees
needing additional workplace language, literacy and
numeracy assistance, so that’s really great.
Interview with Catherine Dickson, Director,
Community and Support Services, Disability Services Australia
What training has the Institute
provided to Disability Services
Australia?
TAFE has been providing the Disability
Services Australia (DSA) with WELL
(workplace English, language and literacy) training for a number
of years now, to supplement our own registered training
organisation’s (RTO) training in Certificate III and Certificate IV in
Disability Work.
Could you please talk about who the training is for and
where is it located?
It’s spread across a very large geographic area coming from
Queanbeyan to Port Stephens and out to Penrith. Over the years
we would have trained 300-400 staff. Of those I would suggest
40% would have had some additional or supplementary support
from TAFE’s WELL trainers in literacy and language. Much of that
that literacy and language training is around computer usage.
The target groups are those who have obviously literacy
difficulties. People of a non-English speaking background are of
course the largest proportion of those people, followed by the
people returning to work and those coming from the trades who
aren’t used to writing reports.
What customising of the learning program did you require
of the Institute?
The major work for TAFE was to adapt to a teaching or learning
environment for our workers that also was in context with the
traineeships that they were doing and the specific workplace in
which they were working. The program is very true to the concept
of workplace learning. So TAFE teachers were adapting to the
environment and ensuring that the learning methodology was
relevant to what the people were doing. It was really learning
through day-to-day work, so the teaching had to be something
that really had significance and meant something to the worker.
TAFE also had to adapt to different models of learning, away from
classroom theory-based teaching and through to self-paced online
learning.
What good practice did TAFE need to model to make
this work?
The most significant thing that TAFE had to do was work in
partnership with either our organisation’s RTO and an
external RTO. It was a three-way partnership. TAFE also had
to adapt to the idiosyncrasies of the type of work we do: we
run 24-hour services so TAFE had to adapt to that life and
that type of worker as well, which was really important.
The biggest challenge for TAFE was to provide English
language and literacy within the context of our workers
doing a workplace traineeship and adapting to the
workplace policies, procedures, workplace documents and
compliance, all in context of the strong underlining
principles associated with the provision of contemporary
services for people with a disability.
Was communication important?
TAFE have had to adapt and change and be really good
communicators with the supervisors on the ground, making
sure that where they’re going with their literacy training is
actually being translated or worked upon in the work
situation. It’s about a substantial amount of communication.
The partnership with TAFE has been an evolution for us and
it’s worked.
So TAFE needed to work with another RTO?
Yes, our own RTO actually runs the traineeships and TAFE has
been providing our WELL training in partnership with them.
The two agencies are working together in partnerships to
provide an outcome for our staff and enhanced service
delivery for people with a disability.
What other innovation and flexibility was required
from the Institute?
Their most recent innovation of the partnership was
adapting the training to a self-paced web-based learning
approach which was absolutely fundamental because of that
geographic spread of our people.

Another unique feature about our workforce is that we
have beginners starting all the year, all the time, so single
theory-based classes were never going to work. It was
expensive too and our replacement costs would have been
enormous so what our RTO and our WELL provider have
had to do is, in partnership, work out ways of adapting
training, the learning methodology, to suit a new way of
learning.
So rather than classroom-based training the teachers are
working with one learner at a time. They may run session
days where they support two or three or four learners
who will all be at a different place in the learning process
but they can’t just say “This is the session plan for the
day” because each learner will have a different level of
capability and a different need. Some will be from a non-
English speaking background while others may have a
literacy problem. One person might have a problem with
working on a computer whereas another one may have a
problem with comprehension in general, so the nature of
that work has made it extremely complex.
Have the completion rates been satisfactory?
Together with the our RTO, DSA learners have actually
achieved a very, very high rate of completion. And the
outstanding thing is that our completion rates are
continuing to grow.
How are the three partners ensuring that the
benefits are ongoing?
The most important thing is that the partnership has
three wheels: the three of us have worked on and
developed the materials. The learning tools that the three
partners have worked on together now actually mean
that a learner can pop back in and have another look at
something at any time.
For those workers who are showing increased difficulty
over time – they might be two and three years out of
their traineeship but they’re having trouble adapting to a
new environment – the TAFE staff are popping back in
and rescheduling sessions for them. TAFE is offering some
refresher courses both on the materials that we’ve
developed but also on the job.
Say the worker’s environment has changed –
they may have changed from say a day
program to shift work – so they have to
learn about medication charts and
medication charts can confuse the best of
us. In these cases we might schedule two
hours of the WELL teachers from TAFE to
help that person get comfortable with that
new chart. We’ve been able to use that
approach because our relationship works
really well.
What further improvements would you
like to see in the program?
From a commercial point of view, and it will
come with time, TAFE still is a little bit on the
side of the school model as far as terms are
concerned. That’s the only thing that we
need changed: just that little bit more of a
commercial edge because we run 52 weeks
of the year. It would make it that much
easier for us if TAFE could operate for more
weeks of the year because our demand for
staff is constant. But we’re working through
those things with TAFE and that’s one of the
things that TAFE have been flexible with: we
always manage somehow to do catch-ups
with TAFE. We’ve been doing this work with
TAFE for quite some years now and it’s
worked well and we’ve improved it every
year.
How would you summarise the
partnership with the Institute?
It’s working well. It’s not perfect, it’s a
difficult environment to provide training in,
a very difficult environment, and we’ve been
able to work out a partnership that’s worked
really well for all concerned. The staff and
the people that we support are the ones that
benefit.
we’ve been able to
work out a partnership
that’s worked really
well for all concerned