Choosing early childhood training resources: a plain guide for RTOs.
Early childhood education and care sits inside the Community Services training package. This guide explains where the two current qualifications sit, how they are put together, how to check they are current, what each resource format contains, and what your RTO still has to do.
Where early childhood sits
The Community Services training package (CHC) covers a wide range of work, including ageing and disability support, community work, mental health and youth work. Early childhood education and care is one part of it. This site covers two current qualifications from that part: CHC30125 Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care, at AQF level 3, and CHC50125 Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care, at AQF level 5. For the rest of the Community Services range, use the CHC collection on the CAQA Resources store.
Learners often ask whether a qualification is approved for work in education and care services. That is a question for ACECQA, the national authority for the sector, which publishes the qualifications it approves. Point learners to acecqa.gov.au rather than answering from memory.
How a qualification is put together
Every qualification is made of units of competency: core units that every learner completes, and elective units chosen within limits the qualification sets. Those limits are the packaging rules. They say how many units are needed, which ones are core, and where electives may come from. The packaging rules, and the full list of core and elective units, are published on training.gov.au for each qualification. Read them there before you write a training and assessment strategy, and read them again when a new release appears.
Each unit then sets its own requirements: performance criteria, performance evidence, knowledge evidence and assessment conditions. The assessment conditions matter in early childhood. A unit can specify that skills are demonstrated in a workplace, and can set conditions for the setting, the resources available and who assesses. Read the conditions for each unit you deliver, and plan placement and observation around them.
Checking currency and transition
training.gov.au is the national register and the authority on whether a qualification is current. Each qualification page shows its release and status and, once it has been replaced, the qualification that supersedes it and whether the two are equivalent. Superseded qualifications come with transition arrangements, and ASQA publishes guidance on how they apply to your RTO.
Do not buy or promote resources for a superseded qualification for new enrolments. This site lists only the two current early childhood codes. Always check the current release on training.gov.au before you enrol learners.
What each resource format contains
These descriptions come from the CAQA Resources store. Documents are supplied in Microsoft Word, so you can customise them. Licences are a one-off fee, with no annual or ongoing fees.
- Learning and assessment kit
- Everything in learner resources and the assessment kit, in one purchase: learner guide, PowerPoint presentation, session plan, classroom activities and self-study guide, plus the student assessment pack, trainer marking guide, mapping for each unit and assessment record tools.
- Assessment kit
- Assessment pack (student), trainer assessment pack (marking guide), mapping for each unit of competency and assessment record tools.
- Learner resources
- Learner guide, PowerPoint presentation, session plan, classroom activities and self-study guide.
- RPL kit
- Staged tools written for the qualification: application form and information booklet, self-assessment, competency conversation, demonstration and observation tasks, and a third-party kit.
- LLND kit
- Tools to identify and support language, literacy, numeracy and digital skills, aligned with the Australian Core Skills Framework, with assessor guides, rubrics, marking keys and learning plan templates.
- Training and assessment strategy
- A template you customise to your learner cohort and your organisation. CAQA can customise it for you on request.
- Vocational placement kit
- Tools to help assess practical skills in a simulated environment or an actual workplace.
- ERF checklist
- Listed for the Certificate III. Ask CAQA what it contains before you buy.
Not sure which to start with? A learning and assessment kit gives you delivery and assessment material together. An assessment kit suits an RTO that already has learner material it trusts. Add the RPL kit if experienced candidates will seek recognition, and the LLND kit to support learners from enrolment.
What your RTO still has to do
A resource is a starting point. Under the Standards for RTOs 2025 your RTO remains responsible for the training and assessment it delivers. Plan to:
- contextualise the materials for your learners, the services they will work in and your delivery mode
- check the tools against each unit's requirements, and validate your assessment practice and judgements; validation sits at Standard 1.5 of the Outcome Standards
- make sure trainers and assessors hold the required credentials and know the material
- arrange placements that meet the assessment conditions, with the agreements and supervision they need
- keep records of the changes you make and why
ASQA's Standards for RTOs page explains what the regulator expects. When you are ready, the shelf lists both qualifications with links to the store.