Educator pathways

There is NO registration process for childbirth and parenting educators in Australia.  Anyone can legally set up their own private business to provide this service, however consumers expect a high quality professional service from qualified educators. 

Birth and parenting educators who are listed on a professional register (AHPRA) are bound by the rules and regulations of their profession, eg: midwifery, physiotherapy.   

As the only national professional body representing Australian birth and parenting educators, Childbirth And Parenting Educators of Australia, Inc (CAPEA) has a process that recognises the skills and knowledge at various levels of childbirth and parenting educators in Australia as a CAPEA Certified Educator. 

In 2011, CAPEA developed National Competency Standards. These have now been revised and updated in 2018 National Competency Standards and an Assessment tool, both highly regarded in Australia and United Kingdom. 

Pay rates for educators working within existing maternity services vary greatly. There are no national or state Awards just for birth and parenting educators, so they are employed under a range of award structures. 

Private Health Funds may provide rebates to clients attending birth and parenting and associated courses. Childbirth and parenting educators working privately, as well as managers of public and private maternity service courses, will need to periodically liaise with Private Health Funds to maintain eligibility for client rebates. 

CAPEA recommends due diligence if you are setting up your own private practice, including considering professional indemnity insurance options.

CAPEA is unable to recommend any particular insurance companies.

Public and private maternity services employing birth and parenting educators usually provide vicarious professional indemnity. 

If you are already working with expectant and new parents and:

You have a sound knowledge of pregnancy, labour, birth, breastfeeding, role of support people, becoming new parents and Australian maternity care systems because …

• Either you are registered on the AHPRA Professional Register, eg; midwifery, physiotherapy, nursing (maybe with additional maternity, child and family health qualifications), medicine, psychologist, and others 
• Or you provide doula services, teach pre-natal and/or post-natal yoga or other similar services   

… You will need additional skills in adult learning and group facilitation to provide excellent birth and parenting education to small groups.     

If you are already experienced in teaching, adult learning and group facilitation:

You will need to learn in some depth and in a formal, accountable way about the many aspects related to pregnancy, labour, birth, breastfeeding, role of support people, becoming new parents, infant communication and optimal growth and development, Australian maternity care systems, as well as current and changing trends, debates and guidelines.

Being passionate to share your personal experiences and wisdom alone is not sufficient to meet the required in Standard 2.1 of the Australian National Competency Standards.

• Ascertain the target group with whom you wish to work.
• Ascertain which current skills and/or knowledge you already have, and those that you need to gain.
• When applying for any training course or workshop, you should read the terms and conditions thoroughly BEFORE paying, asking questions about assessment procedures, results, certification, professional recognition, refunds, etc.

Thoroughly investigate the claims made by the provider of the training course re:

• Research results derived from a single provider of a course
• Training content and requirements
• The certification process:
  • who or what organisation awards the certificate of successful completion – is this important for you?
  • is the certificate recognised by the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) – is this important for you? 
  • what Competency Standards and Assessment processes are used?

Recognition and portability of the qualification across maternity and/or early parenting organisations in Australia and other countries
Qualifications of the trainers – do they hold:

• adult education and group facilitation skills? 
• any health professional background – is this important for you? 
• Professional relationships with maternity service providers and professional organisations, as well as consumers?