sarah22

Hi,

I hope someone here can help me or point me in the right direction.
I have a BA (Hons) in Applied Social Studies in Social Care, Which in Ireland makes me a social care worker. Does anybody know the Australian equivalent or know where I can find out? Google just leads me to information about social workers.

The areas I have experience working in are residential units for kids, women’s refuge and family support work. Ideally I would like to continue to work in residential child care. but I would also consider other youth work roles.
So if anyone knows how I find out if my qualifications are relevant to working in these areas in Australia I would be very grateful.

the troubadour

Sounds to me a level 4 Taffe Certificate in Welfare would be ample requirements here for residential care positions...

louiseos

Hi Sarah,

I have the same qualification and had some of the sames issues as you when it came to finding the equivalent. I've only got the degree and am having HUGE problems in finding an equivalent course here to do the Hons.

PM me is there are specific things I can help you with!

sarah22

I have looked into the level 4 Taffe Certificate and it’s a step down from my degree. I also looked into residential care work in Australia and it seems I may be overqualified and the average pay is about $40,000 before tax which doesn’t seem like a very good wage.

sarah22

Hi thanks for the reply,
Im just at a loss really and don’t know who to contact. Im just trying to find out the different jobs I would be qualified for. I looked into residential care work in Australia which is what I do now and it seems I may be overqualified and the average pay is about $40,000 before tax which doesn’t seem like a very good wage.
Have you been able to find employment? In what areas? Is there a difference in having a degree and an Hons degree?

HelenTD

Hi, have a look at the WA Govt jobs website, http://search.jobs.wa.gov.au/page.php?pageID=215. Other states have probably got similar sites. On the WA site you can save a search and be emailed if a suitable job turns up, best to keep the search broad otherwise you might miss something suitable. Perhaps just put in Perth Metro as a filter. I looked up one social worker job and it said that applicants needed to be eligible to become a member of the Australian Association of Social Workers, http://www.aasw.asn.au/.

Having an Honours degree is not standard here, as it involves a 4th year of study on a research project. It is usually undertaken by someone who intends to go on to do a PhD. The AASW website might give you more info about additional courses that might be useful.

Phlanger

Sarah - you almost certainly will be overqualified - but that doesn't mean you won't be cooerced into a mickey mouse TAFE course before you can work.

Bear in mind though that there is no national qualifications framework for social care/social work/community work like the UK and Ireland. The qualification bar will vary from state to state and sector to sector.

Checking with AASW give you a starting point - but you need to have conversations with individual employers. Check out ads that seem to fit and hit the phones.

Mr Grumpy

My advice is not to migrate if you can not find a suitable role and pay. Australia chooses not to invest a great deal of money into social work as it is mostly the domain of the Church and volunteers. In fact the overwhelming majority of people and organisations have some religious affiliation or some kind of NGO status. You wont get a decent government pay, and yo most certainly will not get a decent private sector pay.

the troubadour

I would say that you are over qualified for such a position. Management in the area is something you could think of applying for.

Cert 4 would be too low,of course you could go for the Diploma,but you'll possibly be bored and i believe there are a lot of workers in the area now.

Pay rates are low in the social area,some are more around $35,000,which is dismill taking into account the high cost of living here.

Could make more as a cleaner.

the troubadour

This is sound advice,i'm afraid. UK takes this position far more seriously and has qualifications to match. Here they churn them out of Taffe,with limited skills and my informed sources tell me a lot of social agencies and residential care facilities find it hard to keep staff owing to poor conditions and poorer pay. A rather large number of folk from refugee backgrounds are taking these positions as so many are enticed into doing a human service study.

Social workers don't fare here too well either. Something,for example, in accounts would be far better to get on in Oz.

louiseos

Sarah - As someone who worked in residential care in Ireland for over 7 years, I do not recommend that you rush into any residential care job here before doing careful research. In my experience, most of the residential centres I came across here (in Melbourne) were very badly managed, low/no skilled staff and essentially it was a case of 'the lunatics running the asylum'.

In saying that, I have friends who worked in NSW/VIC and were happy with the terms/conditions offered to them.

Since coming to Melbourne, I have worked in a young men's secure welfare (think Oberstown/Trinity House) which was well run, but not great pay for the every day risk involved with such a role. In saying that, it was great pay for someone on a WHM visa and I was cleaning up in comparison to others who were waitressing etc. I guess it depends on whether you're working to holiday or working to live?

I've also worked in Child Protection, which by Irish standards is more like the role of a Social Worker. Social Care enables you to work in this field. However in my experience, overall its not a well structured/managed system. The 'locals' tend to last 'longer' in this environment as opposed to us 'foreigners'. I expect this is because us foreigners have others systems to compare it to.

There is a lot of advice on this thread to contact the Australian Association Social Workers (AASW). You can do this, but given you're a Social Care Worker and not a Social Worker, I don't see much point in this. Their website doesn't seem to offer anything to indicate that it would support Social Care Workers. In saying that, things may have changed and they may be able to offer you some advice.

On the other hand, I would recommend contacting the Australian Institute of Welfare and Community Workers (http://www.aiwcw.org.au). Its not quite Social Care Work, but seems to be more similar than Social Work. They can also help with the assessment of oversea's qualifications if necessary.

Depending on where you want to work in the country, there are various agencies that can match you to jobs in the community/welfare field. Those are the phrases that you should consider searching google. Social Care will bring up little to nothing in Australia google (unless you're talking post grad qualifications).

Oh, and the difference between my qualification and yours is that you did an extra year of study. I did mine at WIT and at that time, our third year required a thesis. I was wrecked after that so I didn't do the fourth. Things changed and I end up moving here before doing it. Now I'm on a search to find a way to do the Hons Degree in Australia. Not looking likely!! : )

P.S. Are you moving here for good or just coming on a Working Holiday visa?

HUP

Try a couple of searches on www.alljobs.com.au try putting in a few different search criteria

I got this one typing social worker and not selecting any areas

http://www.jobsjobsjobs.com.au/healt...orkers/1569418

Its a very useful site as it searches across several sites\states in one go

sarah22

Wow thanks for all your info and advice, it’s been really helpful.
It seems the grass may not be greener. . . . . . .

My initial plan was to emigrate however that is beginning to look like less of an option. So now I think I will go down the WHV route. Do my regional work spend a while travelling around etc then reassess the work situation while I’m there. That will give me about 1.5 years working in Australia and a better idea of my options.
Looking up job sites there seems to be a lot of temp and six month contract work. Which would be ideal on a WHV. I can’t find many permanent positions though.
I’m going to contact Australian Institute of Welfare and Community Workers and see if they can offer some advice.

Phlanger

They'll probably advise you to send them a cheque

It might very well be worth your while looking at community work as an alternative though - there's no qualification bar as in the UK and Ireland - they just look for 'relevant' qualifications and experince.

It can be a little open to interpretation and lead to odd mixes in the workplace but there's always openings in Youth Work or community renewal project work.

sarah22

Do management positions generally have a better salary?

Do you think it would be possible to get a management job without having management experience?

So basically I should be able to work in any social care related field as there are no strict qualifications for each position.