Matt Ahern is captain of The Basin Fire Brigade and a Community Education Coordinator at District 13 so he has depth of CFA experience. He was, however, lacking national accreditation for some of his hard-earned skills, but that has changed with CFA’s new process for recognition of prior learning (RPL).
“I’ve now got the ‘Participate in community safety activities’ national accreditation’,” said Matt, “and it wasn’t hard. I’ve attended lots of community events, engaged with the public and done community safety presentations, so I just had to compile documentary evidence of that work and skills gained.
“Working through the RPL process has made me realise, not always do you need to go and sit through lengthy courses for subjects you are already familiar with. That’s a huge advantage.”
On top of the accreditation, Matt is now an endorsed RPL assessor for that unit.
RPL is part of CFA’s skills recognition and assessment process, enabling members to have their current skills assessed against CFA standards and accredited national competency standards. Members are supported by endorsed assessors throughout the process to plan and submit their RPL application.
Other national accreditations now available through RPL are ‘Lead a crew’, ‘Assist with prescribed burning’, ‘Control a Level 1 incident’ and ‘Navigate to an incident’. Members work with their RPL assessor on a plan to assemble directly-related evidence which might include photos, video, observation reports from a senior officer, strike team records, communication logs and even newspaper or online reports. The assessment plan includes a timeframe which is usually up to three months.
“It’s worth it,” said Matt. “The evidence-gathering was a positive process. It unearths people who have seen you operating and speak well of you.”
Access Brigades Online for an RPL member information kit which includes a self-evaluation checklist and outlines the type of evidence required to obtain RPL.
Author: Leith Hillard