The Australian Lifesaving Academy : a safer community initiative / by Surf Life Saving Australia.

Cover title.

Plastic comb binding.

Winner: 2007 Australian Safer Communities Awards, Community safety focus.

Winner: 2007 Australian Safer Communities Awards, State Award Recipient.

One of the more difficult aspects of surf lifesaving in Australia has been ensuring consistency in the training of lifesavers. The establishment of a training Academy by Surf Live Saving Australia (SLSA) has enabled that organisation to enhance and expand the previously limited education and training service levels. SLSA is now able to deliver a Public Safety Training Package of qualifications to surf lifesavers in Australia and internationally. As SLSA is largely volunteer-based, setting up the registered training organisation has not been without complications. Firstly the trainers and assessors needed to become qualified to Certificate IV level in Training and Assessment to meet the requirements of registration. Careful explanation and encouragement has seen members take the initiative on board and they can now see the value of the nationally recognised qualifications that the Academy is offering. The Academy has formally centralised all training and resources, with each State and Territory affiliate organisation and regional entities being the prime deliverers of training and education. This centralised model with regional delivery centres provides high quality training through both on-site and with offering flexible delivery options. The national headquarters of SLSA in Sydney manages and leads the Academy, maintains the standards, develops standardised curricula along with education and training resources. Regional headquarters functions vary from state to state. In Tasmania the beach-going population is reasonably small and the regional headquarters maintains the management role including education and training but in the more northerly states such as Queensland, where the beach-going population is high and the population widely dispersed, the regional headquarters has a region-wide management role and Centres of Excellence are used for education and training. In Queensland and New South Wales, SLSA has established four Centres of Excellence, Victoria has two, Western Australia and South Australia have one each and in Tasmania and the Northern Territory the Regional Headquarters provides all services.