Health & Community Support · Employer knowledge

Training & competency

Match learning to the role, tasks and risks — then keep useful evidence.

For home and community services, the Ministry's Ngā Paerewa sector guidance describes ongoing professional development and training areas for health care and support workers. It also gives examples of training plans and records. The guidance itself is a guide and is not audited as if every example were a mandatory rule.

What should a manager have in place?

Start with the work people actually perform. Training should follow the role, tasks and risks rather than becoming a generic list that every worker completes regardless of need.

Role-based learning requirementsA clear view of the foundation learning, role-specific learning and risk-based learning relevant to each worker group.

Training completion recordsEvidence of what learning was completed, by whom and when, with review or refresher dates only where they are meaningful.

Practical competency checksA separate way to verify tasks where completing learning alone does not demonstrate that the worker can perform the task safely and correctly.

Review & follow-upVisibility of gaps, overdue actions and changes in roles, risks or procedures that may create a new learning or competency need.

Manager check

Can we explain why each required course or learning activity is relevant to the worker's role?
Can we see who has completed required learning and who still has an outstanding action?
Have we separated learning completion from practical competency where the task requires observation or demonstration?
Do managers know when a role, task, incident or procedure change should trigger a learning review?
Can we produce useful training and competency evidence without rebuilding it manually for an audit or review?

Open the Employer Training & Competency Framework →Back to Employer Hub

Connect this to your workforce

Use this topic to decide what workers need to understand for their actual role. NZQC learning supports awareness and knowledge; it does not replace provider-specific procedures, supervision or practical competency checks where those are needed.

Support Worker Learning Pathway →Health & Support course library →Medication support learning →

Keep the evidence useful

Record the learning or practical check that is relevant to the role, and make the next action visible to the person managing the workforce.

Medication practical competency check →Ministry: Ngā Paerewa sector guidance →

NZQC provides practical educational information. It is not legal advice and does not certify that a provider is compliant. Check the official source and the requirements that apply to your service, contracts and scope.