As an NDIS service provider, your disability support workers are vital in helping NDIS participants achieve their goals. Upskilling your support workers can help ensure they provide the highest standards of client care – ultimately helping your business to grow and thrive.

We’ve compiled a list of 22 NDIS training courses to educate and help your staff build skills in key areas.

For more free resources and training, check out ShiftCare's library of ebook guides and webinars.

Online NDIS Training Courses for Caregivers and Support Workers

Quality, safety, human rights, and abuse prevention

These NDIS training courses explore the important topics of quality support provision, human rights, and prevention of abuse, neglect, and violence when supporting people with disabilities. 

1. NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission – Quality, Safety and You

This interactive online course explains workers’ obligations under the NDIS Code of Conduct, from the perspective of NDIS participants. All registered NDIS providers should include this course as part of new worker inductions, with existing workers encouraged to complete it over time. The four modules take about 90 minutes to complete, and workers will receive a Certificate of Completion.

2. National Disability Services (NDS) – Human Rights and You eLearning Program

This free, video-based eLearning program explores why human rights matter when supporting people with disability. The four modules take about 30 minutes to complete and gain a certificate.

3. NDS – Understanding Abuse eLearning Program

Also from NDS, this free 30-minute course helps disability support workers recognise abuse as a violation of a person's human rights. It focuses on what is good for each person as the best way to enable rights and minimise abuse risk. It also covers the signs that abuse is or has been occurring to their clients. 

4. La Trobe University – Support for Decision-Making 

This free online resource is based on the understanding that everyone has the right to participate in decision-making. Built on an evidence-based framework, it helps support workers to enable the people they’re supporting to exercise control and choice in their own lives. The six modules each take between 30 and 60 minutes to complete.

Food safety

Assisting with meal preparation is a common task for disability support workers. Food safety training can help your NDIS employees understand and apply important food handling principles.

1. NGO Training Centre - Safe Food Handling Part 1 & 2

In this comprehensive two-part course, Disability Support Workers will gain an understanding of food handling regulations and the role of a food handler, alongside practical strategies for maintaining personal hygiene to ensure food safety. Additionally, they’ll delve into the various aspects of food poisoning, including its symptoms, causes, prevention methods, and strategies for avoiding contamination and infestation. By the end of the course, staff will possess the necessary knowledge and skills for safe food handling practices.

2. DoFoodSafely 

This free online learning program explains how work safely with food in commercial settings. After completing the seven modules, staff can take a quiz and gain their DoFoodSafely Certificate of Completion. Provided by the Department of Health Victoria, this course is supported by Queensland Health, South Australia Health and Tasmania Health.

3. Food Safety Australia – Safe Food Handling Course

This $49 course covers the basics of food safety in an easy-to-understand format. Upon completing three quizzes, participants can download a Statement of Achievement.

4. COVID-19 awareness for food service training

This free online course is available to anyone working in NSW food service and covers key measures recommended for COVID-19 control. It takes about 20 minutes, with a certificate emailed to participants who complete the 20-question multiple-choice quiz.

Infection control

With infection prevention being more important than ever, these courses are especially important for NDIS disability support workers.

1. Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care – Infection Prevention and Control eLearning 

This suite of modules provides information about infection prevention and control principles for Australian healthcare settings. Their ‘Basics of Infection Prevention and Control Orientation’ module suits all healthcare workers and students, including disability support workers.

To enrol, you must register as a new user in the National Hand Hygiene Initiative‘s Learning Management System.

2. Department of Health – COVID-19 infection control training

This free online training has been developed for care workers across all health settings, including those in NDIS disability support, to ensure they remain COVID-safe. Users need to register to access the modules. 

3. NGO Training Centre – Infection control

Within this course, learners will become familiar with infection prevention and control and what can be done to prevent infections from spreading. They’ll discover the nine globally recognised infection control precautions that will influence how they provide support to all participants, what additional precautions are needed depending on an infection’s mode of transmission, as well as their responsibilities in supporting participants to stay healthy and infection-free. Individual access costs $59 plus GST and takes about 45 minutes to complete.

4. NDS – Infection prevention and control

This comprehensive course offers support workers the latest evidence-based information about preventing and controlling infection according to current Work Health Safety (WHS) legislation, standards, and industry codes of practice.

Individual access costs $35 plus GST (with volume discounts available) and it takes about 60 minutes to complete.

5. NDS – Hand Hygiene Short Course

This free course takes approximately 30 minutes and covers crucial elements of hand hygiene, including how to handwash and the impacts of poor hand hygiene. 

Manual handling

As an important component of supporting many people with disability, NDIS manual handling training can help reduce risks for both your staff and the individuals they support.

1. NGO Training Centre – Manual Handling Part 1&2

This two-part course offers a comprehensive understanding of manual handling techniques and safety measures, tailored specifically for Disability Support Workers. Part 1 covers the fundamentals of safe manual handling, while the second part focuses on Manual Handling equipment commonly used, such as transfer belts, hoists and slings, slide sheets, and transfer boards. By integrating knowledge of manual handling techniques with practical equipment usage, learners gain the skills needed to provide safe and effective support to individuals with disabilities while minimising the risk of injury. Each part costs $49 plus GST per individual access.

2. NDS – Manual Handling for Disability Support Workers

This awareness e-learning module explores manual handling techniques for supporting people with disability. It looks at factors that make a manual task hazardous and how to manage associated risks. The manual offers 30 demonstrative videos and interactive activities, with individual access costing $75 plus GST for a 12-month licence.

Training in specific conditions

Support workers working with NDIS participants may be interested in these online courses about conditions specific to their clients.

1. NGO Training Centre- SIL and SDA Essentials

The SIL and SDA Essentials Pathway has been designed for Disability Support Workers who offer Supported Independent Living and Specialised Disability Accommodation Supports.

This pathway focuses on building essential and core competencies required when assisting participants who want to live independently or in a group shared home. Importantly, this pathway focuses on helping organisations achieve consistent quality care across their teams.

It includes six courses and more than 4 hours of training, costing $192 plus GST per individual access.

2. Mental health – MHPOD

This evidence-based, free online learning resource currently contains over 100 hours of material across 74 topics. Originally designed for mental health professionals working in mental health (such as nurses and psychologists), it has been expanded to cater to a broader audience, including disability support workers.

3. Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) – University of Tasmania Understanding TBI MOOC

This massive open online course (MOOC) offers free, online, university-quality education suitable for anyone interested in learning more about TBI, including disability support workers. It takes around two hours per week over five weeks to complete, with a certificate available for participants who do the final quiz for each module.

Vocational and leadership NDIS courses

While it’s possible to work in NDIS disability support without a formal qualification, these NDIS training courses set workers up for successful, lasting careers in disability services. 

1. NGO Training Centre - Leadership Excellence Program

The NGO Training Centre’s Leadership courses have been carefully designed for Frontline Managers, Middle Managers, and Executive Leaders in the Australian Disability Sector. They will equip sector leaders with the core leadership skills and strategies necessary to achieve leadership excellence and a high-performing team/organisation. 

These courses offer the leadership team practical tools, best practice frameworks, real and relevant examples, worksheets, and proven ways to create better outcomes for an organisation. Post successful implementation, organisations will expect a positive impact on the participants, staff and bottom line. The NGO Training Centre offers 13 Leadership courses, each costing $99 plus GST per individual access.

2. Certificate III in Individual Support

This qualification equips workers to provide person-centred support for people living with disabilities. Courses are delivered by providers across Australia. My Skills notes the average course duration is 34 weeks, and candidates need to complete at least 120 hours of work experience. The average fee is currently $2900, although courses may be free under JobTrainer for eligible people.

3. Support coordinator courses

NDIS support coordinators typically have formal qualifications or a background in allied health (such as social work, physiotherapy or occupational therapy) or the disability sector. A bachelor-level degree or a certificate-level course is usually required, although industry experience may be sufficient. This article by Seek explains more about becoming an NDIS support coordinator.

4. NDS – Cert IV in Leadership and Management (Emerging Leaders in Disability)

Are there people in your organisation with leadership potential? This NDIS training course – intended to foster rapid advancement of frontline and mid-level managers in the disability sector – can assist them in developing their talents.

With modules aligned to the NDIS Disability Capability Framework, participants study topics such as effective communication for workplace leaders, implementing an operational plan, and executing customer service strategies.

For more free resources and training check out ShiftCare’s library of ebook guides and webinars.

Running a successful NDIS business

Encouraging your staff to complete NDIS training courses can improve your business’s efficiency and profitability. Our blog Why Training Your Staff Is Vital as an NDIS Provider emphasises the advantages of training staff to unlock their potential and ensure they provide top-notch care to their clients. Quality digital tools and software are another excellent way to streamline and optimise your operations. 

ShiftCare offers a straightforward software solution that reduces paperwork and enhances efficiency, allowing care providers to focus on what's important: offering personalised client care and expanding their operations. Available from just $40/month, ShiftCare enables automation for disability support, aged care, and allied health businesses, ensuring a higher standard of care alongside business growth.

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