RMIT | Excellence and innovation in care economy higher apprenticeships

“The skills you develop at the end of the day is beyond you. You can’tplace a value on it. It is exceptional and it is rewarding, not just for theprogram but in your social life, personal life, how you meet challenges, howyou solve problems, how you negotiate, how you collaborate. This program gave me a lot, I’m proud to say. Made me a better human being”.  

“Retention of staff can be really challenging in our industry, mostly because of the number of competitors that are out there. But having the RMIT and mentor program being a part of that, it was much easier to retain our staff because any issues we really faced head on and with the support of the mentors. It means the participants that we support have staff who have a better education and a better understanding of their direct needs. We are sending out people in the industry who have an actual understanding of what they are doing prior to doing it. I would absolutely recommend this model to other providers within the industry. It absolutely makes sense to have staff who are educated and qualified, who have a sound understanding and who go out with a level of confidence where they know that they’re supporting people with disabilities in an ethical way that’s respectful to them, and that meets standards, especially the NDIS practice standards”.  

“Yooralla, as a large provider of disability services, is confronting significant challenges in relation to workforce shortages and sourcing an appropriately skilled workforce. Our strategic partnership with RMIT through the Workforce Innovation & Development Institute has been critical in assisting us address these challenges. The SKiP project has provided innovative ways to be able to source and attract new candidates in the sector while also supporting the updating of these candidates through completion of formal qualifications. The ability of RMIT to effectively establish strong connections with partners and deliver outcomes is a testament to their commitment to supporting the disability sector and the clients we service. We are on track to increase the number of recruited Disability Support Workers by 25% in 2022 and will also increase numbers of qualified workers by 10% across Yooralla, which in large part is directly attributable to our partnership”.