St John Ambulance SA Inc. Annual Report 2020-21

TRAINING SERVICES CHAIR’S REPORT

I am delighted to report on another successful year for St John SA training. We are widely recognised for our expertise and delivery of first aid training and we continue to go from strength to strength in delivering a high standard training offering to South Australians in their homes, workplaces and schools. As I was appointed as the Chair of Training in January 2021, I would like to acknowledge and thank the outgoing Chair, Professor Paul Arbon AM KStJ for his leadership to the Training division of St John SA. As I look back on my time in this role, I am extremely proud to report on the continued successes, acknowledging the importance of this work in strengthening communities and making South Australia a safer place. We have experienced ups and downs throughout 2020/21 due to COVID-19 and the consequential restrictions, with varying degrees of limitations to classroom numbers and suitable locations often imposed. A number of preventative measures and guidelines were introduced to ensure the welfare and safety of both First Aid trainers and students within the classroom which included moderating class numbers, social distancing, wearing of PPE and the introduction of student packs to minimise contact and sharing. St John SA managed to balance community safety and responsibilities, with the need to keep commercial training functioning as a core offering for the organisation. The impacts of COVID-19 were far-reaching and brought about some unforeseen impacts, including a higher than usual Commercial Trainer turnover. Recruitment in response to this turnover was challenging, however different strategies employed towards the end of 2020/21 saw resources for the 2021/22 financial year stabilise. Despite all of the challenges that have come with the COVID-19 pandemic, significant growth in public and industry training was recorded across the financial year as a significant surge in market demand has now presented. Commercial Training

I am extremely proud of the way the St John SA Training team handled this hurdle; the way they recovered from it and adapted to new ways of operating. We managed to continue to provide excellent first aid training to the public and our volunteers while maintaining the highest level of first aid skills.

Operations Training

I am pleased to report on the recruitment program that commenced in 2020/21 within Education Training Quality (ETQ), revitalising the induction experience for new operational volunteers. The hub program equipped new members with skills, knowledge, experience, and access to high quality, standardised training. Complemented by a dedicated group of professional educators, the hub program aims to better position members to competently and confidently provide service at events. Overall, this program supported divisional training and leadership by increasing the level of foundation skills and knowledge of new members. Furthermore, in line with changes in the recruitment and induction process, the operational members scope of practice underwent a comprehensive review. As a result, upskilling programs were modified to provide members with more applicable skills and knowledge with the implementation of the programs to commence towards the end of 2021. A new Authority to Practice (ATP) certification was also announced, with the introduction of Certificate IV in Health being introduced as part of the review, allowing St John SA to upskill our own members to the Ambulance Officer scope of practice, providing an exciting education pathway for membership. Audit looked different in 2020, allowing the organisation to undergo a robust review of our Registered Training Organisation (RTO) governance. This allowed St John SA to strengthen the systems and processes supporting this functionality, and improve our learner experiences. Lastly, I would like to extend a big thank you to Kier Pitt, former Manager of Education and Training Quality for her contributions towards ETQ during her time in management. She was continually enthusiastic to assist in implementing new and improved ways of learning and was extremely impactful with her knowledge in first aid. ETQ has continued to support trainer development in commercial and operational fields through the development of resources and new programs, and I look forward to seeing further developments in this area in the coming year.