7 Pro Tips to Help You Become a Support Worker Faster!
Are you considering studying an aged or disability care course face to face?
Do you find the idea of going back to a classroom setup scary?
You are not alone. We feel you 🙂.
Starting a new course or learning new skills is always tricky in the beginning. And doing it face to face makes it even harder for some people.
Firstly, making the decision and turning up on your first day is the biggest challenge.
Secondly, if you make it to the classroom, the next challenge is to start your first assessment and hope it will make sense when you read it the first time.
If you fail in the second one, you are very likely to be disappointed and at risk of dropping out.
At Sage Education Australia, we are very conscious about the second challenge you may face.
In fact, the secret behind our overwhelming course completion rate is that we took the time to understand the struggles of adult learners and found a way to eliminate some of them.
To share our experience, we put together this article that may help you overcome your fears of learning and getting started.
We have summarised everything you need to know to stop worrying and learn confidently.
So how do you handle this? Is it that hard?
Not really, if you follow the advice from experts worldwide.
We have heard it many times: Learn Smarter, NOT Harder!
✅ Tip No 1: Build rapport with your fellow students and your trainer
It is the first thing you want to do when you get started. Next, you build rapport with your trainer and other students in the classroom.
If you are familiar with everyone in the classroom, including your trainer, you will feel confident about returning to them.
You will discover all the good and bad ideas that other students have already applied to complete their coursework.
You will save time by not applying the bad ideas which did not work. It will help you complete your coursework faster and save time.
You will know which questions or assignments are difficult and what to do to get help.
Best of all, you will meet new people and make some friends.
Pro Tip: Make an appointment with your trainer in the first week for a quick personal discussion. Ask them how to make the most of each teaching day to complete your course work faster.
✅ Tip No 2: Be familiar with the surrounding of the classroom and the area!
If you know the best place to park, the fastest route to the campus; the best place for a quick lunch; the closest public transport, or a place for a quick beer, you will feel comfortable and relaxed because you know your way around.
- It will help you plan your day better and save a lot of time
- If you forget your lunch or want to relax after class, you will know where you can go
- Often our students love the routine, and they actually look forward to it
✅ Tip No 3: Stay organized and only focus on one subject at a time
This is really important. Many people focus on too many units or assessments at the same time and get confused.
It is not a good idea because you will be overwhelmed with a lot of information and end up partially completing multiple assessments.
There is no value in any assessments that you do not fully complete. Therefore, you are better off completing one unit in its entirety than 4 partially completed units.
Our course delivery structure is designed to give you enough time to complete assessments for each unit in the classroom or during online learning.
We strongly recommend you attend all your sessions and take advantage of your trainer’s availability before and after each training session. It will result in a high assessment completion rate, and you will not fall behind.
Pro Tip: Our trainers are available for one hours before and after each class. Use this time to your advantage.
✅ Tip No 4: Do not miss the practical activities week
The primary reason the aged and disability care courses are not suitable for online learning is that they consist of hands-on practical skills training.
These skills are essential to learn and practice before you go out on your vocational placement (120 hours) or if you would like to apply for paid employment.
During the interview, the employer will likely ask you the following:
- have you completed manual handling activity (use of the hoist)
- do you understand infection control
- have you completed personal care activities such as client showering, feeding, shaving, etc
Therefore, you must not miss the practicals while you study. The industry is facing huge staff shortages, which resulted in the change of guidelines from the department. Now, you can apply for paid work even before completing your course if you have completed the above practical activities.
Besides, practical days are serious fun. The majority of our graduates agree that the highlight of their entire study experience was the week when they completed their practical activities. You don’t want to miss that.
Pro-tip: Check out the dates for practical days when you start your course to plan your schedule.
✅ Tip No 5: Make a to-do list and plan your journey ahead of time. Set weekly goals.
This is the secret behind quick course completion and even getting a job before completing the course.
Yes, make a list and write down your plan on a piece of paper to remind yourself that you must prioritise your time and work (if you are employed) to complete this course in time.
Follow our course calendar and set weekly assessment goals for yourself. Record this in a notebook and carry it during your course journey to track your progress.
If you do well in the first 3 weeks, you are almost guaranteed to complete a course on time. After all, you don’t want to take any longer than required to complete any course.
Pro Tip: If you are studying to become a support worker in the aged or disability care industry, you can start applying for a paid position within a few weeks after starting a course. You can start applying for positions as soon as you feel confident.
✅ Tip No 6: Study from home if you cannot keep up the progress. Find or create a dedicated study space at home.
Having a bad day or going through a challenging week is not unusual. But, unfortunately, it happens to the best of us.
However, do not let that move you from your weekly study goals. Avoid adding extra work to the following week and try to catch up.
I have a bit of work left for this week, but I will go in early next week and finish it all. Avoid doing this if you can.
The best way to handle this is to create a dedicated study space at home at the beginning of your course. Just assume that you will have to study from home at least a couple of hours every week.
You will feel confident knowing that you have a plan B during a time of crisis.
✅ Tip No 7: Do not forget to have fun and enjoy your journey!
When studying a course in a classroom-based setup, especially if you have not done it for a long time, be sure to engage in every session and have your say.
You will get to know about your peers, their culture and most importantly you will make some new friends.
With the way the world is changing, face to face learning is becoming a rare experience outside school.
Do not miss out on all the fun you can have in the class and make memories.
We hope you enjoyed our small guide, which helped many of our students learn faster and graduate in a short amount of time.
Are you looking for the aged and disability care courses to kickstart a new career or trying to upskill to get a promotion or better pay?
Check out our most popular courses.
Let us know via email if you have any feedback about this article. We would love to hear from you.
