V1 Future OPD, Celebrant Training, Peak Body

Celebrant Training:

This Final Draft of this proposed Certificate IV in Celebrancy was distributed on the 8th September 2008 for endorsement by key industry stakeholders - celebrant associations and the Attorney General's Department by COB Tuesday 7th October 2008.

For details of the proposed training package, with the final draft course units provided for download in PDF format click here

This set of recommended knowledge and skills sets has been produced after extensive consultation with celebrants and celebrant associations and the Attorney General's Department over the last two years.

As a result of this process, it is believed that this Certificate IV in Celebrancy is at a satisfactory standard for the training needs of celebrants. It would replace the current Certificate IV in Marriage Celebrancy.

After implementation, this Certificate IV in Celebrancy will be subjected to a process of continuous review, along with other training programs in the community services and health sector of the national Vocational Education & Training (VET) scheme.

The Industry Skills Council values the substantial contributions and support received from key industry stakeholders throughout the Review process and will keep those stakeholders up to date with the progress of endorsement of the new package.

The time frame for process to endorsement is expected to be:
· End October 2008: Submission case for endorsement
·  End December 2008: Endorsement expected.

For regular updates on the progress of the Review, please visit the CHC02 Review project web page or subscribe to our ‘cs&h matters’ e-newsletter to have monthly updates delivered to you via email. Please contact me if you would like any further information about the endorsement process.

Endorsement would mean the training for celebrants under this Certificate IV in Celebrancy could commence early in 2009.

Establishing a peak body or a more unified collective representation of marriage celebrants.

The Attorney General's Department has invited representatives of celebrant association's to a meeting on 16 October 2008 in Canberra, to discuss establishing a peak body or a more unified collective representation of marriage celebrants.

Each association has been invited to send one representative, with the authority to speak on behalf of their association at the meeting which will be held from 8.30am to 5pm.

The Attorney General will attend the meeting between 10.30-11.00am to discuss his views on the need for more unified representation of marriage celebrants. The Registrar of Marriage Celebrants will be present to discuss the Department's perspective from 11.00am to 11.30am.

Other than this one hour period, the celebrant association representatives will be meeting without Department input and will be responsible for the chairing, format, process and recording of this meeting.

Feedback to the members of each celebrant association will be the responsibility of the representative and/or the Association's Management committee.

The Future of OPD

Representatives from celebrant associations representing marriage celebrants have been invited to a meeting on the 15th October 2008 in Canberra to consult with the Marriage Celebrant Section of the Attorney General's Department about the future of Ongoing Professional Development

The OPD requirement was introduced to help raise the professional standards of marriage celebrancy overall.  There have been several changes made to that program over the past 5 years.

The Marriage Celebrant Section aims to finalise and announce changes to the OPD system by end December 2008/early January 2009.

Timetable for consultation and change is as follows:
• Wednesday 15 October 2008 - first consultation meeting in Canberra
• Information about outcomes of meeting posted on Marriage Celebrant Section of AG website
• 16 October -  26 November - period for comment and further proposals.
• 26 November 2008 - closing date for proposals
• 3 December 2008 - second consultation meeting
• December 2008/early January 2009 - briefing to the Attorney-General by the Department
• January 2009 - announcement of future directions

All Associations have been asked by the Marriage Celebrant Section  to seek their members' views on the criteria and their proposals or comments, and to summarise those views into one document which is then brought to the consultation process as representing your Association's views.

Melbourne - 19th October 2008 1pm - 3pm
$50.00 (Facilitator - Sally Cant)

Coffs Harbour - 29th October 2008 6.30pm - 9.30pm
$60.00 (Facilitator - Wendy Haynes)

Topics to be covered:
Putting a process in place for working with couples
Legal refresher
Code of Practice
ID and documentation
Question and answer time
Networking
Forms and lots more.

Both courses are facilitated by Celebrants with over 13 years experience and many years training experience.

For more details: www.celebrantstraining.com.au

Subscribers wishing to speak with Tony may email him or call, and Tony will return calls at his expense.

Thus Celebrant Help Desk is a nationally available service, providing great value for money.

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$36 per annum. For more details: click here