Education

The Education area within a Surf Life Saving Club looks after the aspects of training and proficiency or skills maintenance. This is relevant for all areas of the Club from Nippers to U13 to adults. All of the below listed areas will be included to some point with the Education area.

• Age Group Managing
• Nippers Rescue Certificate (NRC)
• Surf Rescue Certificate (SRC)
• Bronze Medallion
• IRB Crew
• Silver Medallion
  o IRB Drivers
  o Beach Management
  o First Aid
  o Aquatic Rescue
• Gold Medallion
• Advanced Resuscitation Techniques (ART)
• Pain Management
• First Aid
• Communications
• Members Protection
• Training, Assessing and Facilitation
• Officiating
• Coaching
• Proficiencies
• And many more aspects

Proficiency and Skill Maintenance

We perform skills maintenance checks on a basis required by Surf Life Saving WA. These are generally run on an annual basis within the first half of the season (September – December). This is a requirement by Surf Life Saving WA to ensure ongoing competency of members in their area of training and performance. A member’s proficiency is valid until the 31 December each year, unless stated otherwise in SurfGuard or via a Circular (e.g., Provide First Aid has a three-year proficiency requirement and Age Group Manager requirements can be on a two year basis).
Proficiency requals / Refreshes are required for the following Surf Life Saving qualifications:

• Nippers Rescue Certificate (NRC)
• Surf Rescue Certificates (SRC)
• Bronze Medallion
• IRB Crew
• IRB Drivers
• Advanced Resuscitation Techniques (ARTC)
• Age Group Manager
• First Aid

The skills maintenance requalification assists with:

• Maintaining the standards of knowledge of volunteers in positions within the Club.
• Maintaining and reinforcing our service commitment to the community and public attending the beach.
• Satisfying legal and statutory requirements.
• Providing up to date training which in turn aids in confidence building.
• Updating volunteers and members of changes in policy or procedure.

All resources in relation to the requal / refresh training requirements are available in the SLS Members Area Library for members to view and refresh their knowledge.
https://members.sls.com.au/SLSA_Online/modules/login/index.php

Members who are not proficient by the 31 December may be restricted in relation to their ability to volunteer in the following areas:

• Patrol
• Assist with or operate certain equipment ie: IRB
• Compete in surf lifesaving competitions

On completion of the proficiency required, the restrictions will be lifted and the ability to continue as approved will be reinstated.
Special requirements / approval from the local State / Branch is required to perform skills maintenance proficiencies after 31 December. Members completing their proficiency after 31 December of the season will be eligible to patrol but will not be permitted to participate in any SLSA Championship competition until 1 July later that year (SLSA Policy 5.04 provides further details on competitor proficiency/patrol requirements). If a skills maintenance proficiency is completed or a member gains an award after 30 June the proficiency or qualification is current until 31 December in the following season.