SP 2030 Report

Making it happen

As we step into the future, the speech pathology profession will:

• develop and implement a suite of complementary strategies to attract a diverse range of people to the profession, possible strategies include: • increasing the availability of school based traineeships for allied health assistants and Aboriginal health workers; • articulated pathways from a range of vocational education programs into speech pathology pre- entry training; • revising the Competency Based Occupational Standards to accommodate restricted scope of practice for new entrants to the profession and those returning after a long career break to enable inclusion of people who have a specific disability, those who are not fluent in English but are interested to work with people from a specific language background, and those returning to the profession who only wish to work with specific client groups.

• maintain awareness of Australia’s changing demographics and policy directions and proactively plan to ensure there is adequate capacity and capability across the total workforce, and appropriate distribution to respond effectively; • train pre-entry students and professionals across all career stages in advocacy and policy skills to ensure they are well- equipped to contribute to developing and promoting the role of the profession and its contribution to the community; • advocate for appropriate remuneration for our knowledge, experience, and the demands of our role, including having equitable pay across domains of practice, service sectors and jurisdictions; • support each other through mentoring, strengthening our culture of collaboration and sharing expertise; and • develop systems to record comprehensive, accurate, current data on the profession to inform policy and workforce strategies.

Leading the way...

Indigenous Allied Health Australia

that it is important to have both a professional and a cultural mentor to promote “two-way learning” between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students and professionals. IAHA explained that building a future workforce of speech pathologists from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds requires investment not only in Indigenous individuals and communities but also in academics and clinical educators, service managers and non-Indigenous professional colleagues. People working in these systems must build their knowledge and understanding of Indigenous culture and practice and embrace the opportunities this presents for the profession.

Territory and Western Australia with the goal of establishing school- based traineeships for allied health assistants. Through the traineeships students will meet different allied health professionals and start identifying mentors to support their future careers. Into the future this work will provide an important foundation for building formal links between certificate programs and pre-entry allied health training programs. IAHA supports Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander allied health students and professionals through processes such as connecting Indigenous students with each other, arranging mentor–mentee relationships, and offering opportunities for students to share their experiences. Through this work, it is becoming clear

Indigenous Allied Health Australia (IAHA) is playing an important role in building the workforce of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander allied health professionals. The Workforce Development Officer does a lot of work in schools. She explained that although young people know a lot about the role of doctors, nurses and Aboriginal health workers, they know very little about allied health. The work of IAHA helps to open up their career choices and encourages young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders into the allied health workforce. This work is particularly important in rural and remote areas where supports for career planning are limited. IAHA are working closely with education departments and training organisations in the Northern

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www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/SP2030