What are the new Skills SA student support standards professional development requirements?
Stakeholder feedback over the past few years has shown that supporting student mental health and accommodating neurodiversity are becoming increasingly important challenges for RTOs to meet. To help training providers to do so, Skills SA is introducing new mandatory professional development requirements in three essential areas.
These areas are:
- Mental Health First Aid
- Universal Design for Learning
- Supporting students with dyslexia
Each of these essential areas is covered in more detail below.
At least one relevant staff member (that is, someone who works with or assists the training provider’s students) must finish professional development in each of the three essential areas before 24 February 2026 and renew or update it annually. The same staff member may do the training in all three areas, or you may have different staff focus on different areas.
How to demonstrate compliance with the new requirements
You’ll need to confirm that at least one relevant staff member has completed the mandated professional development in each of the three essential areas in your 2025 Organisational Self-Assessment.
We’ll also ask you to summarise, in a couple of sentences, any benefits the professional development gave your training provider.
If you haven’t met the mandatory professional development requirements by the time you need to submit your Self-Assessment, you’ll need to describe your plan to do so before 24 February 2026. Where known, this should include the name of the training provider you’ll use and the proposed date/s for the training.
Mental Health First Aid
Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) refers to the help offered to a person who is:
- developing a mental health problem
- experiencing a worsening of an existing mental health problem
- in mental health crisis
MHFA does not teach people how to be therapists. MHFA trains people in how to provide initial help when someone is in a crisis. It also provides ways to guide a person towards appropriate treatments or support.
There are a number of organisations in Australia who offer MHFA training, such as Mental Health First Aid Australia.
You may already meet the MHFA requirements. More detail on acceptable evidence and qualifications that meet the requirement are provided below.
Acceptable evidence of currency as a mental health first-aider to provide in your self-assessment form includes:
- details of the MHFA training (or refresher training) undertaken in the past 12 months, or
- details of qualifications that cover mental health topics, completed in the last five years, or
- current accreditation with a relevant peak body such as the Australian Counselling Association or Australian Psychological Society, or
- If qualifications held are not on the list below, record the details in your self-assessment form and Skills SA will consider these on a case-by-case basis.
Below is a non-exhaustive list of qualifications that meet the MHFA training requirement. Superseded versions of the qualifications will be accepted if they were completed in the last five years.
- CHCSS00138 Mental Health Assistance Skill Set
- CHC43515 Certificate IV in Mental Health Peer Work
- CHC43315 Certificate IV in Mental Health
- CHC53315 Diploma of Mental Health
- CHC51015 Diploma of Counselling
- Graduate Certificate in Counselling
- Graduate Diploma of Counselling
- Master of Clinical Psychology
- Master of Counselling
Universal Design for Learning
Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a design approach that recognises there is no ‘average’ student. UDL embraces student diversity, designs for it, and reduces barriers to learning.
Using a UDL approach to course design builds in flexibility to meet a broad range of student needs and reduce the need for individual adjustment.
ADCET’s free online training course in UDL is an excellent starting point and is the minimum requirement to meet this standard.
Dyslexia
Dyslexia is a common learning issue that affects reading and spelling, even though a person can learn. Dyslexia occurs because of a brain difference (neurological) and causes problems with recognising words and spelling them correctly. People with dyslexia may identify as neurodivergent.
People with dyslexia might find it difficult to understand what they read and might not read as often. This can make it challenging to learn new words and information.
While there isn't a required course for dyslexia awareness, SPELD SA offers a workshop that focuses on helping high school and adult students with learning challenges like dyslexia. This workshop is a good place for trainers to start learning about this topic.