English and digital skills training for migrant care workers

Essential English language training and digital skills development for migrant care workers in the Northern Territory (NT) is being provided by Charles Darwin University’s (CDU) Foundation Skills team to help improve the quality of care provided.

The CDU Foundation Skills team delivers face to face training at workplaces, CDU campuses and online across the NT.

This project aims to boost care workers’ communication and digital skills that have a positive impact on the quality of care and compliance with regulatory frameworks.

In a recent project in Darwin, 75 per cent of care workers were from Asian backgrounds and spoke English as an additional language.

VET Lecturer in Foundation Skills Hieu Nguyen said improving communications and language training for care workers who come from non-English speaking backgrounds contributes to improvements in their work performance.

“With more than 60 nationalities and 70 different ethnic backgrounds represented in Darwin and a high First Nations population across the NT who require care, the care workers’ ability to communicate effectively is essential to facilitate their work and to reduce risks,” Ms Nguyen said.

Jobs in aged care, hospitals and disability support services require clear communication with clients, patients, families, colleagues, and other health professionals.  Typical tasks include reporting changes in client's conditions, delivering essential treatment and medication, completing basic documentation, responding to clients' health concerns, and writing progress notes for hand-over.

“Language and digital skills play an important role in daily life and work. Some care workers also have difficulties completing their qualifications because they are unable to follow course requirements due to language and digital literacy barriers,” Ms Nguyen said.

Projects have been delivered over the past 18 months at a range of locations in the Territory, supporting childcare centres in Alice Springs and Darwin, NDIS service providers, Royal Darwin and Palmerston Regional hospitals.

The CDU Foundation Skills team works with organisations and individuals to develop tailored accredited or non-accredited training to improve English, oral and written communication, reading, numeracy and digital literacy skills.

The team assesses language, literacy, numeracy, and digital literacy (LLND) skills, designs a customised training model, applies the skills to the workplace and provides recommendations to inform future professional development initiatives.

Foundation Skills for Your Future projects are funded by the Commonwealth Department of Education, Skills and Employment (DESE).