You can work as an aged care worker without qualifications. However, examining the educational attainments of Personal Care Attendant as per Table 3.1.2 below, around two-thirds have a Certificate III in Aged Care (67 per cent in 2016), which is considered to be the standard qualification for working in this occupation. This proportion has stayed constant since 2012, and going back since 2003. In contrast, the proportion of PCAs with a Certificate IV in Aged Care has steadily increased from 8 per cent in 2003 to 20 per cent in 2012 and 23 per cent in 2016.
Table 3.12: Post-school qualifications completed by the residential direct care workforce, by occupation: 2016 (per cent)
| Qualification | Care Manager | Care Leader | RN | EN | PCA | AH | All DCW* |
| No Post-school | |||||||
| Year 10 or below | 0.4 | 2.9 | 0.6 | 1.1 | 6.1 | 2.8 | 4.7 |
| Year 11/12 | 2.0 | 3.3 | 2.2 | 2.1 | 6.5 | 2.6 | 5.3 |
| Health | |||||||
| Certificate IV/Diploma in Enrolled Nursing | 8.6 | 27.3 | 7.2 | 82.0 | 4.5 | 4.1 | 12.6 |
| Other basic nursing qualification | 16.1 | 8.2 | 13.2 | 8.4 | 4.3 | 2.9 | 5.9 |
| Post-basic nursing qualification | 10.3 | 3.9 | 10.1 | 2.7 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 2.3 |
| Bachelor Degree in Nursing | 64.2 | 23.9 | 75.4 | 3.4 | 3.3 | 1.7 | 13.6 |
| Bachelor Degree in Allied Health Profession | 0.5 | 1.3 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 19.6 | 1.2 |
| Postgraduate allied health qualification | 2.3 | 0.8 | 2.2 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 6.2 | 0.8 |
| Other health related | 11.0 | 5.4 | 8.3 | 5.1 | 4.5 | 12.3 | 5.5 |
| Aged Care | |||||||
| Certificate III in Aged Care | 11.1 | 41.2 | 13.0 | 32.5 | 67.4 | 35.8 | 54.6 |
| Certificate III in Home and Community Care | 2.1 | 5.9 | 1.3 | 4.2 | 12.0 | 8.2 | 9.5 |
| Certificate IV in Aged Care | 6.6 | 24.5 | 3.7 | 10.4 | 22.9 | 17.6 | 18.6 |
| Certificate IV in Service Coordination | 0.4 | 1.7 | 0.3 | 1.1 | 1.5 | 3.5 | 1.4 |
| Other Certificate in Care Work | 2.6 | 6.0 | 1.5 | 3.9 | 5.8 | 11.8 | 5.2 |
| Post basic nursing qualification in aged care | 7.0 | 1.5 | 5.5 | 1.5 | 0.6 | 0.0 | 1.4 |
| Other aged care related | 8.5 | 5.2 | 5.9 | 3.3 | 4.1 | 17.2 | 4.9 |
| Disability | |||||||
| Certificate III in Disability | 0.5 | 2.4 | 0.6 | 1.4 | 5.2 | 2.9 | 4.0 |
| Certificate IV in Disability | 0.2 | 1.1 | 0.3 | 1.1 | 2.2 | 2.4 | 1.8 |
| Diploma in Disability | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.2 |
| Diploma Community Service | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 2.4 | 0.5 |
| Other (Disability related) | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 1.8 | 0.7 |
| Management | |||||||
| Certificate III or IV (Management) | 17.6 | 8.0 | 11.5 | 6.4 | 3.6 | 5.8 | 5.1 |
| Diploma (Management) | 16.9 | 3.0 | 9.3 | 3.6 | 2.2 | 4.6 | 3.5 |
| Bachelor or Postgraduate Degree (Management) | 8.6 | 2.1 | 7.4 | 0.5 | 1.7 | 1.5 | 2.4 |
| Other | |||||||
| Certificate III or IV (Other) | 12.9 | 12.7 | 10.1 | 11.4 | 12.4 | 24.8 | 12.5 |
| Diploma (Other) | 5.4 | 4.9 | 5.3 | 7.2 | 4.6 | 11.4 | 5.3 |
| Bachelor or Postgraduate Degree (Other) | 10.7 | 3.5 | 8.9 | 2.2 | 5.5 | 5.3 | 5.7 |
Residential aged care direct care workers with a disability related qualification are mainly Personal Care Attendants and Allied Health workers. For Personal Care Attendants, this qualification is most typically a Certificate III in Disability. AH workers show no concentration in any specific type of disability related qualification. Note that workers can hold more than one qualification type and there can be overlap where Certificate IV holders also have a Certificate III
All training in relation to aged care; disability and home & community are offered at nationally recognised registered training organisation, ACE Nurse School RTO ID45405.
https://acenurse.com.au/aged-care-disability-courses/
Source: The Aged Care Workforce, 2012 – Final Report