Disadvantaged workers helping aged care skills shortage

A scheme developed by the Brotherhood of St.Laurence is assisting disadvantaged people in working to overcome skills shortage in the Australian aged care industry.

The Brotherhood of St.Laurence (BSL) has reported on its Scheme for Training and Educating People (STEP) residential care program which gives people who face barriers to employment the opportunity to gain a traineeship in residential aged care.

The completion rate of the STEP trainees was high compared with other traineeships in Australia and the retention of STEP graduates with the Brotherhood was high compared with BSL regular personal care attendants, with nine of the 20 graduates still employed by BSL (and another three employed at non-BSL residential care facilities).

High levels of job satisfaction were reported by trainees still in the industry, as were increased self-esteem, generic employment skills and English language skill.

The Brotherhood’s report believes that the program has been largely successful in achieving its objectives and that the STEP residential care program is a worthy investment for training workers for the residential care industry.

The report is available at bsl.org.au under Recent Research.