Meeting the training needs of a child-protection workforce: perspectives on professional certificates in understanding, assessing, and responding to childhood trauma

Figures & data

Table 1. Demographics of enrolled and graduated students in the professional certificates as at July 2022.

Professional Certificate	Total Enrolled	Total Graduated	Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students (Enrolled)	Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students (Graduated)
‘Understanding’ (offering 1)	148	113	11	7
‘Understanding’ (offering 2)	171	88	4	1
‘Understanding’ (offering 3)	199	174	11	5
‘Understanding’ (offering 4)	184	136	9	5
‘Assessing’ (Offering 1)	69	44	5	1
‘Assessing’ (Offering 2)	94	46	2	1
‘Responding’ (Offering 1)	36	25	0	0

Table 2. Unique enrollments and graduations from the professional certificates as at July 2022.

	Number
Unique students (Enrolled)
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students	35
Total students	702
Unique students (Graduated)
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander graduates	18
Total graduates	511

Table 3. Participant identifiers of 12 graduates who participated in interviews.

Participant Identifier used in this paper	Professional Certificates completed
Graduate 1	‘Understanding’
Graduate 2	‘Understanding’
Graduate 3	‘Understanding’
Graduate 4	‘Understanding’ and partially completed ‘Assessing’
Graduate 5	‘Understanding’ and partially completed ‘Assessing’
Graduate 6	‘Understanding’ and partially completed ‘Assessing’
Graduate 7	‘Understanding’ and ‘Assessing’
Graduate 8	‘Understanding’, ‘Assessing’, and ‘Responding’
Graduate 9	‘Understanding’, ‘Assessing’, and ‘Responding’
Graduate 10	‘Understanding’, ‘Assessing’, and ‘Responding’
Graduate 11	‘Understanding’, ‘Assessing’, and ‘Responding’
Graduate 12	‘Understanding’, ‘Assessing’, and ‘Responding’

Table 4. Fields of employment of graduate interview (n = 12) and graduate survey (n = 45) participants.

Field of employment	Surveys (frequency)	Interviews (frequency)	Totals (frequency)	Totals (percent)
Child protection	8	0	8	14.04%
Community/NGO/ACCO	3	1	4	7.02%
Counselling/Social Work	2	2	4	7.02%
Early childhood	2	0	2	3.51%
Education/training	0	2	2	3.51%
Healthcare	10	3	13	22.81%
Justice	6	0	6	1.53%
Out-of-home care	2	1	3	5.26%
Police	9	1	10	17.54%
Psychology	3	2	5	8.77%

Table 5. Graduate (n = 44) response to likert scale question ‘I gained skills and knowledge that were applicable to my work’.

	Prof Cert Understanding		Prof Cert Assessing		Prof Cert Responding		Overall
	n	%(nUnderstanding = 26)	n	%(nAssessing = 14)	n	%(nResponding = 4)	n	%(nTotal = 44)
Strongly disagree	1	4%	0	0%	0	0%	1	2.3%
Disagree	1	4%	0	0%	0	0%	1	2.3%
Agree	12	46%	9	64%	0	0%	21	47.7%
Strongly agree	12	46%	5	36%	4	100.0%	21	47.7%

Table 6. Graduate (n = 44) response to likert scale question ‘the examples provided in the course were reflective of the context I work in’.

	Prof Cert Understanding		Prof Cert Assessing		Prof Cert Responding		Overall
	n	%(nUnderstanding = 26)	n	%(nAssessing = 14)	n	%(nResponding = 4)	n	%(nTotal = 44)
Strongly disagree	0	0.0%	0	0.0%	0	0%	0	0.0%
Disagree	1	3.8%	1	7.1%	0	0%	2	4.5%
Agree	18	69.2%	7	50.0%	1	25%	26	59.1%
Strongly agree	6	23.1%	6	42.9%	3	75%	15	34.1%
Unsure	1	3.8%	0	0.0%	0	0%	1	2.3%

Table 7. Graduate(n = 16) response to likert scale questions about COP seminars.

The COP Seminar …	Strongly Agree		Agree		Disagree		Strongly Disagree		Unsure
Allowed me to consolidate my learning	5	31%	8	50%	1	6%	0	0%	2	13%
Allowed by to extend my learning	5	31%	6	38%	3	19%	0	0%	2	13%
Allowed me to share experiences	7	44%	7	44%	1	6%	0	0%	1	6%
Helped me to achieve better results in my assignments	5	31%	6	38%	3	19%	0	0%	2	13%
Helped me to connect learning to action	5	31%	7	44%	2	13%	0	0%	2	13%
Provided a welcome, sharing environment	9	56%	4	25%	1	6%	0	0%	2	13%