Family Start training

Family Start recognises the importance of initial and ongoing training for family/whānau workers.  Each Family Start provider has responsibility for ensuring that all Governance and Management personnel, family/whanau workers and supervisors receive training in delivering the Family Start programme to a uniformly high standard.

Training for Family Start employees and governance personnel is set out in Section 8 of the Family Start Service Specifications.

Each family/whānau worker requires an individual training and development plan based on an initial and annual training needs analysis. This plan is often linked to a performance appraisal system.

Training requirements for the Family Start programme

Induction Training for Governance Personnel

Objective	Familiarisation with the Family Start programme, outcomes, values and principles.
Responsibility	Family Start providers are responsible for training new Board members.
Timeframe	Ideally one month after being appointed as a Board member. Initial training will be delivered in a 2-3 hour session.

Orientation of Employees

Objective	Familiarisation with organisational operations.
Responsibility	Family Start provider
Timeframe	Within first week of employment.

Induction Training for Employees

Objective	Familiarisation with Family Start history, guiding principles, service specifications, support processes and development of relationships with key stakeholders.
Responsibility	Family Start providers are responsible for training new employees.
Timeframe	Within three months of employment and prior to working independently with families.

Āhuru Mōwai and Born to Learn (AMBTL) for Supervisors and Family/whānau workers

Objective	To empower parents to become more confident in their parenting role and participate more effectively in their child’s development.
Responsibility	The training is paid for by the Funder and delivered by accredited Ministry of Education personnel.
Timeframe	Within four months of employment and after completion of induction training. The initial training takes place in a 5 day block course. Refresher training occurs within 1 year of the initial training and is delivered over a 2-day period.

Database Training for all Employees

Objective	To provide a common understanding of how Family Start data information is inputted and interpreted and to explore place of data collection in professional practice.
Responsibility	Initially training will be provided by the Funder. After the establishment phase you will be responsible for training new employees.
Timeframe	Within four months of employment and after induction training. The training contracted during the start up phase will be delivered over a 3 day period.