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Find out what you need to do to be eligible to apply for an ancillary or support role in South Australian government schools and preschools.
Ancillary or support staff roles in schools and preschools include:
- Aboriginal community education officer (ACEO)
- school services officer (SSO)
- early childhood worker (ECW)
- government services employees (GSE).
Mandatory requirements
To work in an ancillary or support role you must:
- be an Australian resident either with Australian birth certificate, residency permit or current work visa
- have a current application on the employable ancillary register (EAR) – see preparing your Edujobs online application to help you avoid delays in your application for employment.
- have completed full day responding to Risks of Harm, Abuse and Neglect – education and care training and maintained training by holding a current approved full day or update Responding to Abuse and Neglect training certificate, see keeping your RRHAN-EC current – for staff
- hold a current general Department of Human Services (DHS) working with children check (WWCC) – a volunteer WWCC is not valid for paid employment
- obtain an authority to work letter
- see COVID-19 safe measures for current teacher requirements.
Additional requirements depending on the role
Early childhood certification
In addition to the requirements above, all early childhood workers (ECW) and school support officers (SSO) who are 'primary contact staff' within early childhood programs must have an approved early childhood qualification.
Primary contact staff are the staff employed to maintain the student staff ratios.
The minimum approved qualifications include a Certificate III in Children's Services or Education Support, or the employee must be actively working towards an approved qualification.
All primary contact ECWs and SSOs in department preschool occasional care or rural care programs must have a minimum qualification of a Diploma in Children's Services, Education and Care.
Find more information about approved qualifications on the Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) website.
Mandatory child safety training – early childhood education and care services
Everyone working or volunteering in an education and care service regulated under the National Quality Framework (NQF) and Family Assistance Law must complete national child safety training.
Foundations of child safety training
Completion of the foundations of child safety training (course 1 and 2) is a mandatory requirement for all staff prior to commencing work in an early childhood education and care service.
Foundations of child safety training must be completed by:
- persons with management or control
- nominated supervisors
- persons in day-to-day charge of a service
- staff members.
Complete the child safety training – foundations module in Geccko – follow prompts on the page to register an account or sign in.
Existing RRHAN-EC mandatory training requirements remain in effect and are not superseded by the requirements relating to child safety training.
Attach your certificate of completion to your online job application as part of the mandatory requirements to work in early childhood. Additionally, you must provide a copy of the certificate to the site leader upon commencement of work.
Find further information on the ACECQA child safety and child protection training website.
Optional first aid training
Although first aid training isn't a requirement for ancillary employment, if you're looking for work as an ECW or SSO in a school based preschool program you should consider getting the 'provide first aid in an education and care setting (HLTAID012)' certification. Alternatively, you could combine the 'provide first aid HLTAID011' with approved anaphylaxis and asthma certification.
Search for an approved training organisation by entering the required unit of competency code on training.gov.au.
Not having this training may limit your employment opportunities.
Swimming and aquatics instructors
Swimming or aquatics instructors follow a different process. See working in swimming and aquatics for information.
Find vacancies or register for employment
You can apply for specific ancillary and support vacancies or register your availability for work on Edujobs.
You can be recommended for a position, but won't be cleared to take up that position until you've met and verified all employment requirements.
Non-permanent staff must:
- maintain a current completed online registration for employment on EduJobs
- update minimum requirements as expiry dates are reached
- submit a new application each year.
