How to Build an Aged Care Workforce Development Plan

An aged care workforce development plan helps you make learning a planned part of care, not a response that begins only after a problem arises. It gives leaders a way to connect staff learning with residents’ needs, service risks and the skills required for each role.

For residential aged care providers in Australia and New Zealand, this means bringing orientation, induction, ongoing education, supervision and competency assessment into a coordinated approach. A plan also helps you see whether learning is reaching the people who need it and where further support may be required.

The plan does not need to be complicated. It does need to reflect your service, be put into practice and be reviewed as needs change.

Start your aged care workforce development plan with the work your team needs to do

A useful plan begins with the roles and responsibilities in your service. Consider the support workers, registered nurses, enrolled nurses, lifestyle staff, managers and other team members who contribute to care. Their learning needs will overlap in some areas, but not in every area.

Review the skills and knowledge required for each role, including any qualifications, professional registration or role-specific competencies. Then consider what your service’s current information tells you about learning needs. This might include:

• Feedback from residents, families and staff.

• Complaints, incidents and near misses.

• Audit findings, observations and quality reviews.

• Changes to care practices, equipment, policies or procedures.

• Supervision discussions and performance reviews.

• New or changing responsibilities within a role.

Use this information to identify both common needs across the workforce and learning that is specific to particular roles, teams or individuals. This helps you direct time and resources to areas where they can be useful.

Connect the plan to your standards and responsibilities

In Australia, the Strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards include requirements relating to an organisation’s workforce. Under Standard 2, Outcome 2.9: Human resource management, providers are expected to ensure workers have the skills and competencies needed for their roles, provide training and supervision, and regularly assess, monitor and review worker performance.

The outcome also calls for regular competency-based training in specified core areas, with training strategies informed by feedback, complaints, incidents, identified risks and performance reviews. Check the current Commission guidance and the requirements that apply to your service when developing your plan.

In New Zealand, Ngā Paerewa NZS 8134:2021 includes expectations for health care and support workers, including that they have knowledge and skills aligned with the needs of people using the service. The Ministry of Health’s Ngā Paerewa training and support resources can help providers understand the standard and support implementation.

The details differ between countries, so avoid treating one jurisdiction’s requirements as a substitute for the other’s. Build your plan around the applicable standards, legislation and professional requirements for the service and roles involved.

Make orientation and induction a supported process

A person’s first days and weeks matter. Orientation and induction should help a new worker understand the organisation, the needs and rights of residents, how the team works, where to find support, and how those expectations apply to their actual duties and work setting.

A structured process may include an introduction to:

• The service’s values, policies and key procedures.

• Residents’ rights, preferences and individual care needs.

• Communication, privacy and documentation expectations.

• Infection prevention and control, emergency response and safety practices.

• Role boundaries, escalation pathways and who to ask for help.

Orientation is not a single information session or a checklist to complete without discussion. Pair it with practical support, such as a buddy or supervisor, opportunities to ask questions and an agreed way to check how the new worker is settling into the role.

Plan learning across the year

Once you understand the needs, set priorities and map learning across the year. A schedule makes it easier to plan around rosters and service demands, while reducing reliance on last-minute reminders.

Your plan could distinguish between:

• Core learning for everyone, where relevant to their role.

• Role-specific learning for particular responsibilities or clinical tasks.

• Refresher learning where knowledge or skills need to be revisited.

• Learning in response to change, such as new guidance, equipment or service procedures.

• Individual development agreed through supervision or performance conversations.

Set out who the learning applies to, how it will be delivered, when it is due and how participation or progress will be recorded. Some learning may be completed online; other topics may need discussion, demonstration or practice in the workplace.

The Foundation Programme from Improve Aged Care is one example of structured orientation and induction learning for people entering residential aged care. It can support a provider’s learning approach, while the provider remains responsible for making sure induction reflects its own service, people and role expectations.

Treat completion and competence as different evidence

Learning records are important. They can show what was assigned, who participated, when learning was completed and where follow-up is needed. But a completion record alone does not show that a worker can apply the learning safely and consistently in practice.

Where a role or task requires demonstrated competence, plan for an appropriate assessment. This may involve direct observation, a practical demonstration, a discussion of a scenario or another method suited to the skill being assessed. The assessor should be suitably qualified or experienced for the task, and the result should be documented.

Competency assessment should also be distinct from supervision. Supervision gives workers guidance, feedback and a chance to raise concerns. It can identify when someone needs additional practice or support, but it may not replace a formal assessment where one is required.

Build follow-up into the plan. If a worker needs more support, agree what will happen next, who will provide it and when the skill will be reviewed again.

Use supervision to keep learning connected to practice

Regular supervision helps staff discuss real work, not just course content. It can provide a useful space to reflect on difficult situations, reinforce expected practice and identify gaps that may not appear in completion reports.

Leaders can use supervision to ask practical questions: What feels clear? Where would more guidance help? Has a recent change affected the way you work? Are there tasks you do not feel ready to complete independently?

These conversations should support a fair, learning-focused culture. They do not remove the provider’s responsibility to address safety concerns, maintain suitable staffing and support workers to perform their roles.

Assign clear ownership and review progress

A plan works best when responsibilities are clear. Senior leaders can set priorities and provide resources. Managers and educators can coordinate learning and follow up on participation. Supervisors can support learning in practice. Workers can take part, ask for help and raise learning needs.

Choose a regular review point to consider whether the plan is working. Look beyond the number of completed modules. Check whether learning is current, whether required assessments have been completed, whether gaps are being followed up and whether feedback or incidents suggest a need to adjust priorities.

For multi-site providers, agree on the core approach while allowing facilities to respond to their local workforce and resident needs. Consistent reporting can help leaders see patterns, but it should not replace discussion with local teams.

Improve Aged Care was founded and is clinically led by Melissa Small, a Registered Nurse with more than 18 years’ experience in senior aged care leadership across Australia and New Zealand. For providers considering structured learning and organisational oversight, explore Improve Aged Care for organisations.

Practical takeaway

Start with the learning needs your service can identify from its roles, resident feedback, incidents, reviews and supervision. Map those needs to orientation, ongoing education, refreshers and any required competency assessments. Assign responsibility, keep clear records and review the plan regularly.

A workforce development plan is not a guarantee of compliance or proof of competence. It is a practical leadership tool for supporting a skilled workforce and making learning more consistent, visible and responsive.