First Aid Training: More Than a Compliance Requirement | The Educators Well

Why First Aid Training Is More Than a Compliance Requirement

If you’re searching for a first aid course or CPR course, there’s a good chance it started with a requirement.

Your certificate might be due for renewal. Your employer may have asked you to update your training. You might be starting a new role or need first aid training to meet the requirements of working in education and care.

But first aid training can offer much more than simply meeting a compliance requirement.

For early childhood educators, Family Day Care educators and education and care professionals, quality first aid training is also an opportunity to build practical skills, professional confidence and the ability to respond when something goes wrong.

What should you actually get from first aid training?

Completing a first aid course gives you evidence that you have completed the required training, but the certificate shouldn’t be the only thing you walk away with.

Good first aid training should help you understand what to do when faced with an emergency and give you opportunities to practise the skills you may one day need to use.

In an education and care setting, that might mean responding when:

• a child is choking during a meal
• someone has a severe allergic reaction
• a child has a seizure
• someone falls and is injured
• a child becomes suddenly unwell
• an educator, parent or visitor experiences a medical emergency

In those moments, knowing that you completed a course six months ago isn’t what matters most.

What matters is whether you can recognise what is happening and take the next appropriate action.

First aid training is also professional development

We don’t always talk about first aid training as professional development, particularly because nationally recognised first aid training sits within the vocational education and training system.

But think about the capabilities you are developing.

You are learning to assess situations, recognise signs and symptoms, make decisions, communicate with others, respond to risk and provide assistance within the scope of your training.