Graduate Certificate in Professional Supervision and the RTO: some changes

 

 

Exciting change #1:

We’re delighted to report that we will continue to offer our nation-leading course in professional supervision, the Graduate Certificate of Professional Supervision, through a new partnership.

The course will still be delivered in 2024 by our dedicated team of experts, headed by the Rev’d Assoc. Prof. Geoff Broughton. But it will now be offered through the Charles Sturt School of Theology as the Graduate Certificate in Professional Supervision (Pastoral) (with the CSU program code 1324PS01). Further information on the Charles Sturt website is being developed, and we’ll link to that as soon as it is available.

The course has, until 2023, been offered through our vocational and educational training arm, St Mark’s Registered Training Organisation (RTO). The move to CSU is largely ‘business as usual’. There will be the same close attention to skills development for experienced pastoral professionals, by the same team of highly experienced teachers, using in-person intensives. The main difference will be that rather than receiving a certificate from St Mark’s RTO, a graduate will receive a testamur from Charles Sturt.

But most significantly, anyone doing it may be eligible for Commonwealth Government HELP-loan assistance. (Check your eligibility here, choosing type of study ‘Higher education’ and location ‘Australia’; then ‘HELP loans’; then ‘FEE-HELP’. CSU enrolees applying to use FEE-HELP will do so during the CSU enrolment process.)

The revised course will include four subjects:

It will be possible to complete the course part-time in a year and a half.

Change #2:

It follows from this change that St Mark’s RTO has indicated to its regulator, the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA), our intention to close our RTO in 2024.

Over the past twenty years, the RTO has done a great service to many graduates in counselling, professional supervision, and Christian ministry. But after careful consideration, St Mark’s staff, faculty, and council have come to the conclusion that our work is best continued, and the GCPS made more financially-accessible to our student cohorts, through our partnership with Charles Sturt—now strengthened by the new offering, above—and through more attention to the needs of our Diocesan churches and agencies.

The final RTO offering in 2023 will be the Pastoral and Spiritual Care Skillset. It is an invaluable offering to assist anyone who wishes to get alongside others well. It will be trained by the Rev’d Jo Manouk, who is a professional counsellor and a minister in the Baptist denomination. Enrolments are open over the next several weeks, and anyone interested should contact the RTO Registrar, Mr Kevin Teo, at registrar@stmarks.edu.au.

All students in the RTO should aim to complete assignments and pay invoices by their due dates. In view of the impending closure, we will have very minimal options to offer extensions. If course requirements are not completed once the RTO is closed, there will be no legal possibility for St Mark’s to issue a qualification. However, lecturers and tutors will work closely with students to ensure they are aware of critical dates, and thus minimise the risk of not meeting closure dates.

St Mark’s staff and faculty will be very happy to assist enquirers and learners through these transitions. We firmly believe that the changes will improve student experience, and increase access to teaching and learning with us.