Education conditions on your registration

Councils place conditions on practitioners’ registration when they think it is necessary to protect public safety. One type of condition is to ask a practitioner to complete education to increase their knowledge and skill.

If we ask you to undertake education, it’s an important opportunity to address areas of your practice that need to improve. The Council must be confident you can practise safely before we remove any restrictions on your registration, including education conditions.

The education we ask you to complete is separate to any continuing professional development hours you fulfill each year to maintain your registration. You are responsible for the cost of any education you undertake. 

We will tell you how much time you have to find a relevant course and notify us. Taking longer than the allowed time, or not completing the approved course on time, is a breach of your conditions. The Council may take action if this occurs. 

Finding a course that meets the conditions on your registration is your responsibility. 

We will ask you to fill in an education nomination form and submit it to your monitoring officer. The Council will review and approve the course you choose. For example, a course could be online, or you might need to attend in person, depending on what your registration conditions say. 

Some courses involve an assessment. When we review your nominated course, the Council will consider how it meets the conditions on your registration. 

Remember, approval is needed before you enrol in or complete a course. Completing an unapproved course might not meet the requirements needed to fulfill your registration condition. The quicker you submit your completed course nomination form, the faster we can assess it. 

We’ll ask for the following information as part of our approval process:  

• name of the course 

• course provider 

• course learning outcomes 

• delivery of the course (online, face to face, individually tailored)

• course duration 

• whether there is a formal assessment (as required).

Your education conditions will identify topics that should be covered. One course might cover more than one or even all the required learning areas. If so, outline this in the teaching and learning objectives when you submit your course for approval. Alternatively, you might need to find separate courses to cover the topics identified. 

If you attend a face-to-face course, the location can be anywhere in Australia. The course must match the conditions on your registration and must be provided by a university (tertiary), TAFE, a registered training organisation (vocational), or even your workplace. 

Occasionally there are course providers who don’t fit into the above categories. We will consider these providers on a case-by-case basis. 

Councils can’t recommend individual education courses because each practitioner has different requirements to meet the conditions on their registration. But there are other organisations that can help.

• Your professional association or organisation: ask to speak with an education or professional officer 

• The education provider that awarded your qualification or another provider: discuss options with the faculty or course coordinator 

• Registered training organisations: search online for the type of education you require 

• Your Local Health District or appropriate health facility: they may run courses you can enrol in 

• HETI - eLearning (on My Health Learning) and professional development seminars or workshops that meet your requirements. 

The Health Professional Councils Authority (HPCA) monitoring team works with practitioners who have conditions on their registration. Talk to your monitoring officer about your conditions, your chosen course, or if you are having trouble finding a course. 

They will tell you if the Council approves your course. You can enrol in the course and begin once you receive confirmation. 

When you finish, send your monitoring officer the certificate of completion so the Council can decide if you have met your education condition. Depending on your conditions, the Council might ask you to undergo a performance assessment.

Meeting your education conditions is extremely important. If you don’t complete your course and can’t give a reasonable explanation why, we’ll consider this as evidence of non-compliance. We might then need to take further regulatory action.