Led by NACCHO, the First Nations Health Worker Traineeship (FNHWT) program has been welcomed by the ACCHO sector as an ideal way to grow a suitably qualified and job ready Aboriginal Health Worker (AHW) and Aboriginal Health Practitioner (AHP) workforce.

The FNHWT program supports up to 500 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander trainees to become Aboriginal Health Workers or Health Practitioners. Trainees will undertake Certificate III or Certificate IV qualifications in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Primary Health Care training package.

These qualifications are unique in health training – there are no other qualifications like them in the world designed to meet the specific cultural and clinical needs of the communities they service.

The Commonwealth Government has committed to rebuilding the AHW and AHP workforce and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Controlled Health Registered Training Organisations (ACCHRTOs) that train them.

The program aims not only to re-establish a strong and sustainable Health Worker and Health Practitioner workforce, but also to address ACCHO workforce development challenges and support the sustainable growth of the ACCHRTO sector.

To ensure successful program outcomes, strong training and career pathways and additional wrap around supports for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students are embedded in the program to improve course completion rates and support transition for new, work ready graduates into the workforce.

Funding for the program supports ACCHOs to provide supervision and workplace supports which allows for better, more structured support for trainees, ensuring they understand the organisation and their place in it.

Funding also supports ACCHRTOs to deliver wrap-around cultural and educational supports to trainees, and structured support and training to ACCHO-based supervisors to ensure a streamlined and positive student experience.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health and Care Traineeship Framework underpins the FNHWT Program. It details the program context, design and structure, explains how it will be implemented, and ensures each stakeholder has a shared understanding of the VET qualification, and their role in ensuring its success. It ensures that classroom learning is contextualised in a meaningful way – both culturally and clinically, and that work experience builds on what has been learned in class.

The program was officially launched on 07 March 2024 by Assistant Minister for Indigenous Affairs and Indigenous Health, Senator the Hon Malarndirri McCarthy in Adelaide at the Aboriginal Health Council of South Australia.

If you have any questions, please contact NACCHO at traineeship@naccho.org.au