NEW AND ASPIRING CELEBRANTS ~ PLEASE NOTE

REFRESHER COURSES WILL BE OFFERED IN PERTH/BUNBURY/ALBANY THROUGH AUGUST, SEPTEMBER, OCTOBER, 2008

PLEASE CHECK THE TIMETABLE FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

ABOUT OUR COURSES

RECOGNISED AUSTRALIAN QUALIFICATIONS
& Essential elements of delivery

QualTrain Australia delivers courses to small groups in order to ensure a valuable and rewarding learning experience. Carol Astbury, Principal-Trainer, has over 30 years experience in celebrancy and is well respected for her work in promoting professional development for celebrants and creating personally meaningful, deeply rewarding ceremonies for her clients.

Carol brings this passion to her delivery of the courses. All courses are delivered face-to-face in Western Australia. Carol recognises the specific needs of new and aspiring celebrants, in particular, the need to form networks and bonds of support, and to this end she encourages and arranges, regular 'get-togethers' refresher courses, and on-going support for her graduates.

Celebrancy is a wonderful business - as a celebrant, you are privileged to share in the most significant and precious moments of the couples' lives. This is why it is so important to perform brilliantly, anything less than this is disappointing for the couple, the family, the guests ..... there is no 'second chance' for such an important moment in peoples' lives!

Don't settle for 'second best' yourself! If you want to deliver the best quality service to your clients: creatively constructed ceremonies, accurate attention to detail in respect to the requirements of legislation and effective communication with your clients - choose QualTrain Australia and be assured of the personal attention and professional expertise of Carol Astbury as your face-to-face trainer.

HOW MAY WE ASSIST YOU?

If your ambition is to become a marriage celebrant - then QualTrain Australia can offer you our Aspiring Marriage Celebrant course. However, as we are now approaching the end of a five year review, this face-to-face course is currently unavailable. As soon as information is available following the review, information will be posted on this site.

Registered marriage celebrants may wish to undertake the qualification through recognition of prior learning by the Assessment Only Pathway.
Cost $450.00

Refresher courses offered twice each year to graduates of the course whilst awaiting registration (no charge to QTA students)

WHEN APPLYING FOR REGISTRATION AS A MARRIAGE CELEBRANT (The following information is current until 31st August 2008, please check latest information available on the Commonwealth Attorney-General's web page www.ag.gov.au/celebrants before undertaking this training)

Please note attainment of the unit of competency CHCMCEL401A Plan, conduct and review a marriage ceremony, does not automatically guarantee registration as a marriage celebrant. Following the attainment of this unit, you must apply to the Federal Attorney-General's department for registration as a marriage celebrant, and meet the selection criteria. The following information was sourced from the Attorney-General's Department (July 2005).

The following are examples of situations that may give rise to a possible conflict of interest:

A situation in which a marriage celebrant offers ancillary products related to marriage to be purchased from a marriage celebrant;
A situation in which a marriage celebrant offers premises for receptions or offers to perform the ceremony in particular privately owned premises (or boats, launches, gardens, etc.) This could conflict with the marriage celebrant's duty to allow couples to choose the nature of their wedding ceremony;
A situation in which a marriage celebrant offers his or her services as a 'wedding planner' to organise and perform the ceremony as part of a package; or |
A situation in which a marriage celebrant offers counselling or relationship education as part of his or her service.

The number of celebrants registered each year is limited and currently completion of the qualification and subsequent approval by the Attorney-General's Department will result in registration in the period 2007-2008, slightly earlier in rural and remote areas of WA. For further information regarding application for registration and the “fit and proper person’s test”, visit this website: www.ag.gov.au/celebrants.
Before you embark on training to become a marriage celebrant, please read the message below, sourced from the Attorney-General's web page www.ag.gov.au/celebrants 20.11.2007:

*"The marriage rate is generall stable although there has been a decline over the past twenty years. In 2005, 109,000 marriages were registered in Australia, which is equivalent to 5.4 marriages for every 1,000 people. More information on the current statistics and trends on marriages performed each year can be found on the following link: Australian Social Trends 2007 Australian Bureau of Statistics;
* The number of Commonwealth-appointed marriage celebrants has increased from just under 3,500 in 2003 to just over 5,500 in 2007;
* There are also approximately 20,000 ministers of religion, appointed by State and Territory registering authorities as marriage celebrants for mainstream religious denominations;
* Do you know how many people live in your area? Or how many registered marriage celebrants are there? You can search the Register of Marriage Celebrants /L ist of all authorised marriage celebrants to find out by clicking on the relevant related link found on the right hand side of this page [www.ag.gov.au/celebrants];
* Remember that it may take some time to recoup the costs outlaid for the initial training, annual professional development training and start up costs involved in setting up your business as a marriage celebrant."

Funeral Celebrant Course

WFSFNL407A
Perform General Funeral Celebrancy
This unit covers the ability to prepare for and perform a funeral ceremony in accordance with the needs of the client family. In addition to three days classroom attendance candidates will travel to various locations as a group escorted by the trainer, field trips include: monumental cemetery, lawn cemetery, crematorium and chapel.
Cost for this course: $750.00 (includes GST)
Access to a computer would be an advantage during the course in order to prepare for the final assessment, in preparing a ceremony. Participants are expected to dress to a professional standard for celebrants when conducting their mock ceremony for the final assessment on the last day of the course.

CHC 41502 Certificate IV in Marriage Celebrancy

If you are a practicing registered celebrant interested in enhancing your skills and experience by achieving a professional qualification ~ then QualTrain Australia offers: CHC 41502 Certificate IV in Marriage Celebrancy. Please contact QualTrain for further information - POA. This qualification is currently under review.

Optional: Assessment only pathway:
QualTrain Australia recognises that candidates may have substantial skills acquired through various combinations of formal and informal education and training, work experience or general life experiences.
Candidates may present evidence of current competence in the units of competency. The evidence is assessed using this assessment tool and the assessment tools for the Certificate IV in Marriage Celebrancy.
QualTrain Australia welcomes candidates wishing to explore the assessment only pathway, please contact QualTrain Australia for an information package and outline of costs.

Ongoing Professional Development - the annual requirement of 5 hours will be offered each year at various locations (Perth, Bunbury, Geraldton. Please refer to the timetable.

Alternative Ceremony Trainings & Workshops include: Namegiving, Medieval-Handfasting, Ceremonies of Separation and Loss, Reaffirmation of Vows, Commitment - and many more.

PLEASE REFER TO THE TIMETABLE FOR DATES AND VENUES OF ALL COURSES