First-aid qualifications

March | 2020

Staff in education and care services are required to have first aid qualifications. These must be approved by the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA). This is a requirement of the Education and Care Services National Law.

ACECQA-approved qualifications

Before booking training, please consult the ACECQA-approved list of qualifications.

It is important to check the qualification codes of courses before booking training. Some cover all three required elements:

• first aid
• anaphylaxis management training
• emergency asthma management training.

However, other qualifications only cover individual elements, e.g. emergency asthma management training only.

Please note: There are some registered training organisations that list anaphylaxis management training and emergency asthma management training on their first aid certificate. However, the course code may have only been approved by ACECQA for the first aid qualification component. The anaphylaxis management training and emergency asthma management training components may still need to be addressed by the service.

If you have completed training and want to know if it is on ACECQA’s approved list, you need to know the name of the training course and its code (or other unique identifier). This information will appear on the certificate or transcript you received when you completed the training.

How often must qualifications be updated?

Please check with your training provider for how to your keep your qualification(s) updated. The first-aid certificate may specify additional requirements to keep it valid. For example, it may require you to complete the CPR component every 12 months to keep it current.

We recommended that approved providers develop a schedule to keep track of when staff qualifications need updating. This should include an adequate timeframe in which to undertake training prior to the qualification expiry date.

It would be useful for educators to keep track of their own qualifications too to ensure they are always current.

Staffing considerations

Below is a summary of the requirements under the Education and Care Services National Regulations 2011 for first-aid qualifications for different service types.

First-aid requirements for different service types

Staff with first-aid qualifications and training must be in attendance at any time children are in the care of the service. There must be contingency plans in place for educator illness or leave.

Provisions also need to be in place for events such as excursions. For example, if a centre-based service takes children on an excursion, the approved provider must ensure that a person(s) with first-aid qualifications and training is in attendance on the excursion. There must also be someone at the education and care service premises with first-aid qualifications and training if some of the children remain behind.

Educators may be required to undertake additional training if children with specific medical conditions are enrolled in the service. This would be identified at the time of enrolment.

Please note: Services are required to have a medical condition policy to assist with managing individual children’s health care needs as specified in r. 90.

Contact details

Education Standards Board
Phone: 1800 882 413
Website: www.esb.sa.gov.au
Email: educationstandardsboard [at] sa.gov.au 

This fact sheet provides guidance for approved providers of education and care services to help them operate in line with the National Quality Framework. We also recommend referring directly to the legislation:

• Education and Early Childhood Services (Registration and Standards) Act 2011 (SA), incorporating the Education and Care Services National Law (South Australia)
• Education and Care Services National Regulations 2011
• Education and Early Childhood Services (Registration and Standards) Regulations 2011 (SA).