Community Legal Education (CLE) and Training is an integral component of TAS' service delivery. Ongoing funding for a full-time CLE worker through the Rental Accommodation Fund has enabled TAS to plan ahead and to be increasingly developmental in our work.
In addition to education work in the metropolitan area, TAS has provided services to country regions wherever possible. This is important given the disadvantages often faced by tenants in regional areas and TAS' role as the only specialist tenancy service in Western Australia. Our capacity to do this has been limited by available resources, however TAS has attempted to provide education and training in at least one region per year. In 1998/99 TAS provided education and training in two regional areas. This valuable regional work could not have occurred without the collaborative efforts of Hedland Family Futures and Pilbara Community Legal Service in Port Hedland and the Office of Megan Anwyl in Kalgoorlie.
The TAS' Community Legal Education Worker completed the Certificate IV Assessor and Workplace Trainer during this year and two other workers are currently undertaking the course. The employment of a qualified trainer was crucial to the TAS application and approved status as a registered Training Organisation and indicative of TAS' increasing role as a quality training provider.
TAS' community legal education work involves a range of activities including the provision of information, education, training and publications to tenants and community agencies. A summary of this work for 1998/99 is provided below.
TAS' CLE development and delivery is informed by the principles outlined in the National Guidelines for the Management of Community Legal Education Practice. The Guidelines, which were developed by the National CLE Advisory Group in 1995, state that:
The above graphic is an illustration of TAS' ongoing commitment to community legal education and training. Training is a key component of TAS' work through our commitment to sharing our skills, knowledge and resources with others in the community and extending ownership of tenancy knowledge throughout the community. The community response to TAS work in this area has been overwhelmingly positive with ongoing and sustained demand for training from a variety of workers.
In recognition of increasing needs expressed by community workers in WA and in preparation for the new Network Model of tenancy Services TAS has concentrated CLE activities in the area of community worker training as well as consolidating the CLE aspect of the service.
In December 1998, after assistance from the Lotteries Commission of WA "Promoting Excellence Grant" and the consultancy services of the Community Services, Health and Education Industry Training Council, TAS became a Registered Training Organisation (RTO). The advantages of this status include:
The fact that TAS has the status of RTO was advantage during the tender process for the role of Resource Unit.
As part of the same project TAS had it's two day short course "Course in Tenancy Law for Community Workers" accredited. The course is now recognised nationally and has received expressions of interest from Tenant Unions in other states. TAS is currently exploring avenues for further accreditation and a developing role in the new Community Services Training Package.
Due to demand and community need TAS continued to offer two additional training sessions this year, "Homeswest: Tenancy Law Training for Community Workers" and "Advocacy in the Small Disputes Division" both of which were successful and will be offered in the future.In recognition of TAS increasing role as a training provider TAS was asked to be involved in an Action Learning group conducted by the Community Services, Health and Education Industry Training Council to explore models of team based assessment under the Community Services Training Project. Our involvement in this project will continue until December 1999.
Needs Analysis and consultation was undertaken in 14 projects where needs were researched and documented. The projects included:
With the shift toward provision of generic type training sessions the level of needs analysis directly with potential participants has decreased. The reason for this is the ongoing and clearly expressed demand for these programs expressed by community workers. A decrease in the level of intensive needs analysis has allowed us to focus resources on development and delivery of training sessions.
The figures below represent some of the data collected regarding CLE activities. It should be noted that TAS' took a deliberate approach to spending a greater time with fewer participants than in previous years. This strategy allowed for a more intensive and comprehensive training program for community workers.
The year to the end of June 1999 involved:
Activities took place in the metropolitan area, Rockingham, Mandurah, Kalgoorlie and Port Hedland. Examples of participants included:
TAS' provided three workers from community legal centres and Legal Aid WA with the opportunity to undertake a placement at TAS' in the past year. These workers undertook TAS' training and then observed and were supervised in the provision of the TAS' Advice Line for between 1 - 3 days. Feedback from these participants indicated that the "real life" experience in applying their learning and receiving feedback was an extremely useful addition to their training.
During 1998/99 TAS' also trained and supervised two Social Work students from Curtin University. As with the Paralegals these students undertook TAS' training in the initial stages of their placement and then worked mainly in the Advice and Advocacy area under the Supervision of the Tenant Advocate.
Evaluation of all TAS training/education activities is undertaken where appropriate and written reports are compiled for each project. The results for the year showed a very high 95.3% satisfaction rate.
Comments by participants included:
"held my interest all day, feel I am learning something"
Port Hedland Community Worker
"Thanks for some great training - hopefully we will see a large increase in tenancy rights / advocacy cases."
Kalgoorlie Community Worker
TAS' often receives verbal feedback from participants regarding the difference the training has made in their work with tenants. The constant demand for further and more advanced training also indicates the satisfaction of training participants and their enthusiasm to continue improving the service they provide to tenants.
Radio
A number of radio interviews were conducted this year including ABC Regional Radio in Kalgoorlie and 92.1 RTR FM in Perth as part of the "Law in the Raw" program.
Newspaper
A print media article appeared in the Kalgoorlie local newspaper and also in the Legal Aid WA journal Hearsay.
In 1998/99 TAS commenced design and development of the TAS Web Site. The site contains information about TAS, a Publications Order Form, Membership Form and a condensed version of the Tenants Rights Manual. The Web Site will be operational by October 1999 and whilst it will not be appropriate for all tenants there is an increasing level of use of this technology by a number of the groups ordinarily contacting via the advice line. For example, students attempt to contact TAS through the advice line with hypothetical queries for assignments and other students who are familiar with internet technology. In the future this information will be available via the website and we anticipate a reduction in demand for services from those groups. This in turn will result in an increased access availability for target groups.
TAS continues to be an active member of the WA Community Legal Education Workers (CLEWS) group. CLEWS meets monthly to share information and skills and to work toward the development of community legal education within the state and nationally. In 1998/99 the CLEWS group organise a two day meeting in Geraldton to address some of the issues of access for regional services. Workers traveled from Perth and Port Hedland to attend what was an extremely valuable professional development workshop, regarding community development, conducted by the group themselves.
The TAS CLEW currently holds the position of National Community Legal Education Network Convenor. The network consists of CLE workers from community legal centres across Australia.
Reflecting a greater focus on training the TAS CLEW has commenced involvement in the Training Providers Network sponsored by the Community Services, Health and Education Industry Training Council.
During the year a number of meetings were held of the Social Housing Education Network, which consisted of Shelter WA, Community Housing Coalition of WA and TAS. The group discussed issues of collaboration in education and training in the housing sector.
The TAS CLEW had a number of contacts during the year with Tenants Unions in other states regarding education, training and publications. The strengthening of these relationships has lead to the sharing of ideas and materials which ultimately benefit tenants throughout Australia.
In recognition of TAS' expertise in this area there has been an increasing demand for TAS' to provide consultancy type services to other services regarding their education and training programs. This type of service was provided to a range of other service providers including community legal centres and the Family Planning Association of WA.
With the advent of the Rental Accommodation Fund Tenancy Advice and Education Program and the commencement of funded Local Service Units the role of TAS has changed.
At this stage the direction for 1999/00 may include:
In undertaking this work TAS will seek to visit each region where a local tenancy service has been established to provide necessary training, resourcing and support.