ASQ-TRAK Training is for staff (practitioners) who wish to use the ASQ-TRAK faithfully in their practice. The Training is aimed at any practitioners who work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families. Practitioners may work in health, education and community service settings and include Aboriginal Health Practitioners, Nurses and Child Health Nurses, Early Childhood Educators and Teachers, Allied Health Practitioners, and Community based workers. 

ASQ-TRAK Practitioner Training will ensure the ASQ-TRAK is used in the way it has been co-designed to be implemented and maintain the cultural safety and quality of the tool. Our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander colleagues and collaborators advise that without training, there is a risk that the way the tool is administered is not culturally responsive.

ASQ-TRAK Practitioner Training is delivered face to face, by two Accredited ASQ-TRAK Facilitators.  The University of Melbourne ASQ-TRAK Facilitators follow a bicultural co-facilitation model. This means Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander facilitators work with non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander colleagues to ensure the cultural safety of workshop participants and of the families that practitioners will then go on to work with. Facilitators are trained and supervised by ASQ-TRAK developer A/Prof Anita D’Aprano with additional supervision provided by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education experts.

Informed by Aboriginal educational consultants and consistent with adult learning theories and recommendations from the literature regarding culturally appropriate training methods, the ASQ-TRAK Workshop is experiential, comprising interactive group and small group activities, and behaviour rehearsals. Workshops are for a maximum of 14 participants to facilitate this model.

The Training comprises: 

• 2-day face-to-face Training Workshop 
• ½-day Workplace Practice Task – within six weeks of attending the 2-day workshop, you will be required to complete a Workplace Practice Task. The task is a half-day practical activity supported by your Peer Coach.  This is an essential component of the ASQ-TRAK Practitioner Training to obtain experience of using the tool with a family and that promotes reflective practice.  

The workshop will cover modules 1 to 4 (see image below).

In addition to learning how to administer the ASQ-TRAK, the training has a focus on working with families in a culturally safe way.  The workshop has been shown to improve practitioners' skills, knowledge, competence, and confidence to identify and manage developmental difficulties and promote child development (D'Aprano et al., 2015).  Participants have also reported that it is an opportunity for team building, bringing together team members with different professional backgrounds, to ensure a shared understanding of the need for culturally responsive developmental monitoring and the best practice approaches.

We are transitioning to a co-facilitation model as best-practice for all training workshops.  We are committed to a bi-cultural co-facilitation model, so Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander facilitators will work with non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander colleagues to ensure the cultural safety of workshop participants and of the families that practitioners will then go on to work with.  

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander co-facilitators will contribute to providing a culturally safe learning environment and to creating a space for practitioners to reflect on how they can provide culturally safe care to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families they work with. They will lead elements of workshop delivery to ensure a strengths-based approach.  This will provide an opportunity for ongoing reflection of our training practice and of the training content by working with an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander educational supervisor. By working together with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander colleagues, we will ensure the ongoing quality and cultural safety of the training. 

Our aim is to have Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Facilitators at all ASQ-TRAK Workshops. To support this commitment to the cultural safety of the participants and of the children and families they will go on to serve, our team of ASQ-TRAK Training Facilitators undergo cultural safety training annually and access supervision with an Aboriginal cultural safety expert. This reflective practice is enhanced by accessing regular professional development in relational facilitation through the Centre for Community Child Health at the Royal Children’s Hospital.

On the advice of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander advisor, we strongly recommend that all non-Indigenous participants complete cultural safety training prior to taking part in ASQ-TRAK Practitioner Training.

Practitioners who complete all training requirements are recognised as Certified ASQ-TRAK Practitioners and can use the ASQ-TRAK tool in their workplace. 

You can review the ‘Becoming a certified ASQ-TRAK Practitioner checklist’ in the Training Procedure Guide. 

On successful completion of ASQ-TRAK Practitioner Training, you will be awarded a Certificate of ASQ-TRAK Practice. This means you will be able to: 

• Administer the ASQ-TRAK in your workplace, as a Certified ASQ-TRAK Practitioner  
• Participate in exclusive Booster Webinars hosted by the ASQ-TRAK team  
• Participate in Community of Practice sessions, attended by the Training Coordinator and Clinical Lead and ASQ-TRAK founder, A/Prof D'Aprano
• Access resources to support you to administer the ASQ-TRAK 
• Renew your certification annually  

Download the Training Procedure Guide for details on what is required to maintain ASQ-TRAK Practitioner certification.