Help Create A New Generation Of Leaders

Help Create A New Generation Of Leaders

Business coaches and those who have undertaken a leadership coaching course are valuable assets to any organisation because in today’s business environment it can be challenging for leaders to move forward with confidence. They can assist businesses with organisational change and when specific problems like dysfunctional behaviours need to be resolved. They can also help employees develop specific skills for specific purposes like being prepared for a role change or promotion.

Our Leader as Coach professional development course is ideal for those currently in a leadership role or wanting to transition from a leadership role to a coaching role.

 

Learning Outcomes

Some outcomes achieved by undertaking a leadership coaching course include:

  • Learning how to develop successful coaching relationships
  • Exploring successful coaching in the workplace
  • Studying how to initiate and develop a productive relationship with a coach
  • Gaining insights into facilitating the coaching process
  • Learning how to handle coaching challenges
  • Exploring the MIT Sloan management review process
  • Studying how to manage for performance development
  • Understanding the dominant leadership types
  • Examining how to identify leadership potential
  • Gaining insights into using data-driven assessments
  • Learning about finding hidden gems
  • Exploring how to adopt data-driven methods
  • Studying the six types of supporters
  • Understanding how to validate the six categories
  • Discovering the importance of fit
  • Examining the impact of organisational context
  • Gaining insights into the implications for organisations and individuals
  • Discovering how to align leadership at multiple levels
  • Examining the focus on the human dimension
  • Gaining insights into working within a broader ecosystem
  • Learning how to support ‘analytical amateurs’
  • Exploring neuroscience for coaches
  • Studying the brain areas
  • Gaining an understanding of the prefrontal cortex
  • Examining the basal ganglia
  • Learning about striatum and nucleus accumbens
  • Exploring the insular cortex
  • Studying the amygdala
  • Understanding the anterior cingulate cortex
  • Examining the hypothalamus and hippocampus
  • Gaining insights into brain chemicals
  • Discovering the communication molecules of your mind
  • Learning about GABA and glutamate
  • Exploring neurons and synapses
  • Studying neuroplasticity and neuroimaging
  • Gaining an understanding of brain networks
  • Examining the quantum brain
  • Gaining insights into self-control and willpower
  • Learning about mindfulness and motivation
  • Exploring decision making
  • How to leverage individual performance for company success
  • And more…

 

Top 8 Characteristics of Great Leaders

Managers who show great leadership can inspire their teams to accomplish amazing things. And coaches can play a big part in developing positive leadership using what they’ve learned in our leadership coaching course. But what characteristics make for a great leader?

 

#1 – Enthusiasm

Authentic enthusiasm can’t be faked. And when leaders are sincerely passionate about their work it can be contagious. Being enthusiastic can also help leaders identify existing problems in an organisation, which can lead to innovation and real change.

 

#2 – Integrity

Whether it’s acknowledging their mistakes, putting safety and quality first, or giving proper credit for accomplishments, great leaders exhibit integrity at all times. Basically, they do what’s right, even if it’s not the best thing for the project or the company’s bottom line at the time.

 

#3 – Communication Skills

Leaders instruct, discipline and motivate their employees — none of which can be accomplished with poor communication. Poor communication can also lead to poor outcomes, and leaders who fail to develop these skills, including listening skills, are often perceived as being weak.

 

#4 – Loyalty

Great leaders understand that true loyalty should be reciprocated, so they express loyalty in tangible ways that benefit their employees. It is also about ensuring all team members have the support, training and resources to do their jobs well, and supporting them in times of conflict or crisis.

 

#5 – Decisiveness

Leaders aren’t empowered to make decisions simply due to their position. They are willing to make decisions and take risks knowing that if things don’t work out, they need to be personally accountable. Leaders who aren’t decisive are often ineffective, and too much consensus-building can often have a negative impact.

 

#6 – Competence

Simply being good at your job doesn’t prove that you’ll make a great leader. Employees who are great workers understand their organisation’s products, services, goals and processes. But are they also competent in inspiring, motivating, directing and mentoring as all great leaders are?

 

#7 – Empowerment

Great leaders have faith in their ability to develop their employees. They also have a willingness to empower those they lead to act autonomously, which is about trusting that their team can successfully negotiate any challenges they might face. Empowered employees are more likely to make decisions that benefit their organisation.

 

#8 – Charisma

Great leaders are friendly, approachable, well-spoken and show sincere care for others. Employees are more likely to follow leaders they like, find it easier to relate to them, and therefore more likely to make a positive contribution to the organisation.

 

The Importance Of Emotional Intelligence

A lack of Emotional Intelligence (EI) can make or break even the best leaders. A leadership coaching course can help coaches assist clients with motivating themselves, managing their emotions, and recognising their own feelings and those of others. The basic components of EI are:

 

#1 – Self-awareness

Self-awareness refers to someone’s capacity to recognise and understand emotions, and have a sense of how their moods and actions and the emotions of others take effect. It also involves being able to identify one’s emotions correctly, being aware of personal strengths and limitations, and being open to different experiences and ideas.

 

#2 – Self-regulation

This refers to someone’s ability to express emotion appropriately. It includes being able to cope with change, managing conflict and being flexible. It also refers to being aware of how one’s actions affect others and taking ownership of those actions.

#3 – Social Skills

Having social skills refers to being able to interact well with other people. Different social skills include leadership, developing rapport, active listening, and both verbal and non-verbal communication skills.

#4 – Empathy

This component refers to being able to understand how others are feeling. It enables individuals to respond appropriately to others based on recognising their own emotions, and play a part in social relationships including in the workplace.

#5 – Motivation

In the context of EI, motivation refers to intrinsic motivation. This means an individual is driven to meet personal goals and needs rather than being motivated by external rewards like fame, money or recognition. People with motivation set goals are action-oriented, take initiative and typically search for ways to improve themselves.

 

There is also a range of theories that explore these concepts more deeply. These include:

Mayer, Salovey and Caruso’s EI Ability Model

This four-branch model suggests information from the perceived understanding and managing of emotions can be used to facilitate thinking and guide our decision-making. They include the ability to:

  • Perceive emotion — this involves being able to identify emotions in the postural and facial expressions of others.
  • Use emotion to facilitate thought — this involves the ability to use emotions in order to aid thinking.
  • Understand emotions — this involves the capacity to understand emotions, appreciate the outcomes of emotions, and discriminate and label between feelings.
  • Self-manage emotion — this involves an individual’s goals and self-awareness shaping the way their emotions are managed.

Goleman’s EI Performance Model

This theory is built on four capabilities – the first two are about ‘self’, the second two about others. They include having:

  • Self-awareness — this relates to perception and accurate understanding.
  • Self-management — this relates to emotional self-control.
  • Social awareness — this relates to empathy and an understanding of the emotions of others.
  • Relationship management — this relates to collaborating, accomplishing goals with others and working effectively in the social space.

 

These four capabilities form the basis of twelve ‘subscales’:

 

  • emotional self-awareness
  • emotional self-control
  • adaptability
  • achievement orientation
  • a positive outlook
  • influence
  • coaching and mentoring
  • empathy
  • conflict management
  • teamwork
  • organisational awareness
  • inspirational leadership

 

Bar-On’s EI Competencies Model

This theory revolves around EI being a system of interconnected behaviour that arises from social and emotional competencies. Bar-On argues that these have an influence on performance, behaviour and relationships. The five ‘meta-factors’ are the ability to:

  • Be aware of emotions and understand and express feelings.
  • Understand how others feel and interact with them.
  • Manage and control emotions.
  • Adapt, manage change and solve problems of a personal and interpersonal nature.
  • Generate a positive effect to enhance self-motivation and facilitate emotionally and socially intelligent behaviour.

 

This theory also has 15 subscales:

  • self-regard
  • self-actualization
  • emotional self-awareness
  • emotional expression
  • assertiveness
  • independence
  • interpersonal relationships
  • empathy
  • social responsibility
  • problem-solving
  • reality testing
  • impulse control
  • flexibility
  • stress tolerance
  • optimism

 

Help businesses transform and employees thrive in today’s challenging and ever-changing business world with our Leader as Coach professional development course!

 

 

Create Winning Attitudes With Our Sport Psychology Course!

If you work with individuals in the sporting sector, then a sport psychology course will give you valuable insights into how people’s psychological state can impact their sporting performance – which is obviously key to their success.

Our Certificate of Sport Psychology will teach you how to identify the psychological traits found in successful athletes, how the mind affects athletic performance, and how to maintain and increase motivation. Athletes, coaches, fitness instructors and physical education teachers … get ready to help others activate their minds and their bodies!

 

Learning Outcomes

Outcomes achieved by undertaking a sport psychology course include:

  • Understanding performance psychology
  • Learning about exercise psychology
  • Exploring environmental influences
  • Studying the aspects of sports psychology
  • Discovering how to apply sports psychology
  • Examining the psychological traits of successful athletes
  • Gaining insights into personality inventory determining a personality type
  • Learning about cognitive techniques
  • Exploring anxiety and arousal
  • Understanding and dealing with anxiety
  • Studying the physiology of anxiety
  • Understanding how to maximise the psychological state
  • Examining focusing and centring
  • Learning about motivation as an internal impulse
  • Exploring the basic principles of motivation
  • Studying intrinsic and extrinsic motivation
  • Understanding the factors that affect motivation
  • Examining motivation for fun
  • Gaining insights into aggression
  • Learning about mental rehearsal
  • Exploring error parking
  • Studying how to use self-consciousness
  • Understanding how to use word association
  • Examining anger and conflict
  • Gaining insights into measuring aggression
  • Learning about the simulated practice and e-event procedures
  • Exploring reliving success
  • Studying conflict handling techniques
  • Understanding leadership and coaching
  • Examining the role of a coach
  • Learning how to get attention
  • Exploring questioning and punishment
  • Studying team dynamics
  • And more!

 

What It’s Like To Work With Olympians

 

Georgia Ridler is a sports psychologist with more than 15 years’ experience supporting professional athletes across a range of sporting codes. She builds team dynamics, offers support and encouragement, and helps athletes develop mental strength and resilience. This is what her job entailed during the 2016 Rio Olympics swimming events, which will give you plenty of inspiration to undertake a sport psychology course!

Keeping Unusual Competition Hours 

At the Rio Olympics, broadcasting giant NBC held the swimming events much later on in the day to cater to American audiences. This meant heats were from 1 pm to 3 pm and finals from 10 pm until 1.15 am! Given the team typically wake very early for training, Georgia worked to transition them to a later schedule which involved shifting their mindsets, and ensuring they ate meals later than normal to maximise their energy levels.

Promoting Positive Team Dynamics

Swimming is predominantly an individual sport, and a large part of Georgia’s role was to make sure the team of 40 athletes and 20 support staff could work together harmoniously in what she calls an ‘Olympic pressure-cooker environment’.

As she explains, “Relationships are the most difficult thing for any human being to manage, especially when you bring together a group of 60 people who don’t typically sleep, eat, wash, exercise and catch transport together. The better people can get on and the less issues people have with each other, the less distractions we’re creating internally, which is very important because there are enough external distractions. A lot of my work in terms of team dynamics was to help everyone focus on similarities and respect differences.”

Managing Anxiety and Distractions

Georgia also spent a lot of time helping the team remain focused, as distractions — from the increased media attention to sharing an Olympic village with over 10,000 athletes — could have lead to anxiety. This included working with the management team to ensure the right messages were communicated in the lead-up to the event. This involved coaching the athletes to work on ‘focusing on the process’ and ‘expecting the unexpected’ to ensure they didn’t get too emotionally caught up in the distractions and challenges of Olympic village life.

“When swimmers experience anxiety, a lot of the support I provided was around reassurance and reinforcing peak performance routines”, she says. “We also talked with the athletes about focusing in a noisy environment. Some swimmers liked to embrace the noise but others preferred to protect themselves from the noise so they created an imaginary bubble over the pool area which allowed them to stay focused.”

Supervising Warm-ups

Before the competition began each day, Georgia spent time with the athletes during their warm-up and stretching routines assisting with anxiety levels and reminding them of the benefits of an adrenaline surge. When anyone is under stress, our ability to think clearly can be impacted. And while adrenaline is a benefit in elite sport, it can also affect decision-making and information processing. One of her key tools was using cue words.

“Cue words were the keywords that were a very quick reminder of how they wanted to swim and were related to focus, technique, power and confidence”, she says. “For example, ‘me, length, build, go’. This athlete was reminding themselves to focus on self, ensure length in their technique, build power in the water and to go for it.”

Counselling Winners and Losers

Olympic competition is extremely tough and unfortunately, many athletes don’t progress beyond the heats. Part of Georgia’s role was to help unsuccessful athletes cope with and learn from having been unsuccessful.

“Swimmers who don’t achieve their goals will have a natural emotional response. However, once an athlete has come to terms with the outcome, it is very valuable to reflect on the learnings in order to grow and improve”, she says.

Georgia was also on hand to help swimmers who qualified for semis and finals with less-than-optimal performances.

“Sometimes swimmers would get through to semi-finals or finals but it may not have been a good time and they perceived that they wouldn’t get a good lane,” she says. “In these cases, we assisted swimmers to reframe their thinking and focus on the opportunities.”

Sport Psychology Theories

When studying a sport psychology course, you will come across a range of topics and research methodologies. One common area is the theory of the relationship between personality and performance. There are a number of personality characteristics that have been found to be consistent among elite athletes. These include:

  • Mental toughness – a psychological edge that helps athletes perform consistently at a high level.
  • Self-efficacy – a belief that they can successfully perform a specific task and in sport, it has been conceptualised as ‘sport-confidence’.
  • Arousal – refers to an athlete’s physiological and cognitive activation.
  • Motivation – defined broadly as the will to perform a given task.
  • Commitment – a dedication to continuing a sport from early development into a high level of expertise.
  • Competitiveness – the ability to challenge opponents with an aim of success.
  • Control – the ability to focus and separate on different events occurring in one’s life, both within and outside of their chosen sport.

There are also multiple approaches to this personality/performance theory, including:

Psychodynamic Approach

This theory explores how an individual’s subconscious interacts with the conscience. It proposes that our underlying feelings, thoughts and emotions influence how we act and think. It also emphasizes the understanding of an individual as a whole, rather than by each trait. However, it doesn’t consider environmental factors that can influence behaviour.

Trait Approach

This theory focuses on the traits that are commonly attributed to an individual and how they influence the way they will act on a ‘normal’ basis. However, although traits are helpful in predicting ‘usual’ behaviour, they can’t always predispose ‘situational behaviour’.

Situational Approach

This theory suggests that how an individual will act depends entirely on the environment. For example, if a player acts aggressively during a competition, they might not act the same way removed from that situation. However, this theory neglects individual traits and doesn’t consider differences among people.

Interactional Approach

This theory is a combination of a trait and a situational approach. It suggests that the traits commonly attributed to an individual do predispose behaviour, however, they won’t influence behaviour unless the situation calls for it. This theory is most commonly used by sports psychologists because it takes into consideration the situation at hand and the components of each person. This method of measuring personality involves assessing a person’s traits and typical style of behaviour versus the immediate emotion or behaviour ‘in the moment’.

 

With our Certificate of Sport Psychology course you’ll be empowered to support people in both club sports and individual sporting careers get the most out of their performance. It’s a win-win!

Make Working With Words Your New Career!

The publishing world is highly dynamic and competitive, which is why an online publishing course can be so valuable. Our Certificate of Publishing is ideal for those keen to work as a publishing, marketing or production manager or even writers who wish to get their own work out into the market. It will give you insights into page layouts, desktop publishing, illustrations and research, and how to market publications in accordance with ethics and the law. All of this can prepare you for an exciting and ever-changing career!

 

Learning Outcomes

Outcomes achieved by undertaking an online publishing course include:

  • Exploring the world of publishing
  • Understanding what publishing is
  • Learning about the role of a publisher
  • Studying the role of a production manager
  • Understanding the world of an editor
  • Examining the role of a designer
  • Learning about the role of marketing staff
  • Exploring how to set tasks
  • Studying publishing procedures and techniques
  • Undertaking an overview of the publishing process
  • Understanding the production schedule
  • Examining page design
  • Studying page layout in terms of consistency, direction, headings, graphics etc.
  • Learning how to establish the skeleton of a document
  • Exploring pull quotes and sidebars
  • Studying typography in terms of fonts and other settings
  • Understanding Public Lending Rights
  • Gaining insights into desktop publishing
  • Learning about word processing
  • Exploring alternative publishing methods
  • Studying how to print on a computer printer
  • Understanding how to supply a ‘master’ to a commercial printer
  • Examining how to publish electronically including on CD and the internet
  • Gaining insights into software options
  • Learning about the use of colour and black and white
  • Exploring the use of graphics
  • Studying illustrations and graphics including line illustrations, cartoons and photos
  • Examining graphics like freehand work and computer graphics
  • Gaining insights into photography
  • And much more!

Your Best Publishing Options

Both technology and time have changed the world of publishing. Most people now have a computer and lots of those people have stories to share. With the onset of digital printing, printing a book has also become even cheaper (our online publishing course will give you some great insights). But what’s the best way to go about it? Here are some of the Australian Writers’ Centre’s top tips.

Commercial Publishing

With most commercial publishers, you submit your work via their submission guidelines and then you wait (usually around three months). However, ultimately you are either accepted or rejected. If you are accepted, you will be given a contract. Depending on the size of the publisher, you may get an advance, an advance against the royalties (so the royalties pay off the advance), or just royalties alone. Standard royalties from commercial publishers are around five to ten per cent of a book’s recommended retail price.

You’ll then be assigned an editor to fine-tune your book, and it will be laid out, issued a cover design and then offered to bookstores. In terms of financial outlay, you pay nothing as commercial publishers take on all the financial risk themselves.

Partnership Publishing

With partnership publishing, you will have to pay a sizeable amount (usually over $5000) for the services involved with having your book published. These include basic copyediting, the layout of your book and the cover design. Print runs will involve an additional fee, however, they the publisher will organise the distribution of your book, including into bookstores, and they’ll advertise it on their website.

Partnership publishers take on none of the financial risks — it all falls on you. Additionally, they will demand around 50 per cent of your royalties!

Self-Publishing

As the name implies, self-publishing is all about doing it all yourself. You’ll need to organise editing, layout and design, then find a printer suitable for your project and decide on the size of the print run. However, probably the most difficult thing with self-publishing is getting your book into bookstores. However, there are distributors you can approach to help with this task.

 

Top 5 Publishers To Send Your Work To

In the highly competitive world of publishing, finding a publisher that will accept your work can be extremely difficult – particularly if you don’t have an agent. Our online publishing course will help you negotiate this process, however, it’s also worth approaching a few of the bigger Australian publishers that accept un-agented manuscripts.

 

#1 – Allen & Unwin is an independent Australian publishing company established in 1976 and one of the leading publishers of the twentieth century. They currently publish up to 250 new titles a year, including commercial and literary fiction, academic and professional titles, a broad range of general non-fiction, and books for children and young adults. But the best bit? They accept submissions every day of the week!

 

#2 – Pan Macmillan Australia is a major Australian publisher with a wide range of titles under several sub-brands. They publish literary and commercial fiction, children and young adult fiction, and history, picture, Australiana, cooking, biographical, health and self-help, travel and sportsbooks. They currently accept submissions directly from writers between 10 am and 4 pm on the first Monday of every month as part of their manuscript submission process.

 

#3 – Penguin Australia was formed in 2013 and is the world’s largest trade book publisher. They publish non-fiction and adult and children’s fiction and are currently accepting unsolicited manuscripts of children’s literature in the first week of every month.

 

#4 – Text Publishing Australia is an independent, Melbourne-based publisher of literary and commercial fiction and non-fiction. They are currently accepting fiction and non-fiction manuscripts including those for middle-grade children and young adults.

 

#5 –Hachette Australia is a team of passionate readers and expert publishers dedicated to discovering and supporting talented writers. They accept fiction and non-fiction manuscripts excluding illustrated children’s books, cookbooks, poetry, science fiction/fantasy, self-help books, screenplays and academic submissions.

 

A Day In The Life Of A Publishing Director

You’ve completed an online publishing course and decided your future career aspiration is to work in the publishing sector. But what does it involve? Jane Willson is the former editor of Epicure and the food section of The Age. She is now a Publishing Director at Hardie Grant Books and here is a snapshot of her typical day.

9 am: Her production manager delivers the first copies of two of their big monthly titles that have arrived from the printer. There is a unique combination of fear and excitement in the air that always accompanies receiving a title in the flesh for the very first time!

9.30 am: Jane attends a covers meeting with her design manager, project editor and the sales and management team. They talk through cover concepts for a future title including direction, colour schemes and its general appropriateness for the market. Depending on the author’s openness to the design, this could be a multiple-meeting scenario!

10 am: She attends an acquisitions meeting with fellow publishers and imports, sales and managing directors. Each publisher presents their potential new titles and they explore detail around the audience, structure and the author profile. Each pitch is assessed on topicality, commerciality, relevance, likely expense and achievability, and the ‘X factor’. Updates on other contracts underway are also discussed, as well as the viability of an ongoing series and the launch of a potential project for new authors.

1 pm: Jane catches up on emails and reads a variety of manuscripts, proposals and proofs.

2 pm: She attends an author meeting which she believes is one of the best parts of her job. Today they have the go-ahead on a project that has returned to acquisitions three times over four years – which is unusual but extremely satisfying. The author is hardworking, enthusiastic and has a unique selling point. The team talk through the process, the creative team, the timeline, potential sales partners and the overseas market. She leaves the meeting keen to leap into the next stage!

3 pm: Jane meets with her publicity manager and publicist to workshop the vision and expectations around some of the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival events that will involve one of their key overseas authors.

4 pm: She meets with her design manager to discuss the final touches on a book that is due to pre-press in a few days. The author has requested a ‘natural’, wood-free finish that has undeniable appeal, but there are questions as to its useability and wear and tear. They also discuss the cover colour of another title. The designer wants a rich ‘punchy’ red but it’s a nervous decision as the ‘wrong red’ would be a disaster once 10,000 copies are printed!

4.30 pm: Jane responds to more emails, advises her creative team on an upcoming photoshoot in Tasmania for a book cover, and liaises with her contracts director on the details of the deal. Then it’s home for family time and the chance to snuggle up with a new book (obviously)!

Keen to gain insights into editorial principles that can be used across a range of media and genres? Harness your creativity and your business skills with our Certificate of Publishing!

Study Farm Management and Watch Your Career Flourish

Farm management today is more complex than ever because the ability to produce a viable crop or animal production is no guarantee for success. This course is ideal for farm owners or managers, retail agricultural suppliers or anyone interested in an agricultural career.

Our Certificate of Farm Management will give you insights into strategic planning, how to undertake a viability analysis and craft a viable agricultural business plan. You will also study a range of production, financial, technology and HR strategies, including managing staff, water, soil and machinery, and learn about the relevant legislation and regulations involved.

Learning Outcomes

Outcomes achieved by undertaking a farm management course include:

  • Learning about strategic planning
  • Exploring planning procedures
  • Studying policy formulation approach
  • Understanding a strategic management approach
  • Examining an initial strategy approach
  • Gaining insights into farm business structures
  • Learning about farm management plans
  • Exploring financial terminology and the money market
  • Studying rural finance sources and how to find finance
  • Understanding financial terminology and record-keeping
  • Gaining an understanding of contract law
  • Examining the elements of a simple contract
  • Gaining insights into offers, acceptance and consideration
  • Learning about strategic plans
  • Exploring trusts
  • Gaining insights into farm planning
  • Learning about quality management systems
  • Exploring whole farm planning
  • Studying how to prepare a business plan
  • Understanding integrated production plans
  • Examining business assessment
  • Gaining insights into business goals
  • Learning factors involved in business assessment
  • Exploring the factors that affect your business
  • Examining how to draw conclusions
  • Gaining insights into viability analysis
  • Learning about viability analysis
  • Studying how to assess profit
  • Understanding risk analysis and managing risk
  • Examining standards and cost-efficiency
  • Exploring the cost of production
  • Learning about quality and quantity standards
  • Studying how to keep financial records
  • Understanding the bookkeeping process
  • Examining the end of period accounting
  • Gaining insights into cash flow
  • Studying an example of a budget
  • Learning about sensitivity analysis
  • Exploring management strategies
  • Understanding how to organise the workplace
  • Examining scheduling and production systems
  • Gaining insights into system variables
  • And much more!

 

The 10 Biggest ‘Farms’  In Australia

As the sixth-largest country in the world, Australia spans a staggering 770 million hectares. And according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, over 62 per cent of that is privately owned. Here are the country’s Top 10 biggest agricultural portfolios as of 2019, which include families that have farmed their land for generations to multinational companies after a bit of Australia’s farm management action!

#10 – Brook family

Organic food enthusiast David Brooke and his family owns and operates several farms in South Australia and Queensland with a combined area of over 3 million hectares. All of their farms and the products produced – including their beef – are certified organic and free of pollutants, chemicals and additional hormones.

#9 – McDonald family

One of Australia’s largest beef cattle operations, the McDonalds run over 175,000 head of cattle over 3.36 million hectares in the heart of Queensland. Family owned and operated, they represent six generations of beef producers and have over 190 years of experience in Australian agriculture.

#8 – Terra Firma Capital Partners

Australia’s largest privately-owned beef producer, the Consolidated Pastoral Company, is majority-owned by Terra Firma Capital Partners a business run by UK investor Guy Hands. It owns and operates nine cattle stations with a carrying capacity of over 300,000 head of cattle over 3.6 million hectares.

#7 – Macquarie Group

The Paraway Pastoral Company is a privately owned operating entity of the Macquarie Group and runs 27 stations across New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland. The company has the capacity to run over 250,000 sheep and 220,000 cattle as well as a mixture of dryland and irrigated cropping across 4.48 million hectares.

#6 – Williams family

In 2019, the Williams family’s cattle company acquired Anna Creek Station in South Australia to add to the six stations already owned. At 2.36 million hectares, it is the world’s largest working cattle station. The maximum carrying capacity of the seven stations across 4.5 million hectares totals over 36,500 head of cattle, with five of the stations organically credited.

#5 – Crown Point Pastoral Company

The company acquired Clifton Hills last year — one of the world’s biggest stations at 1.65 million hectares in size. Their portfolio covers four stations of around 30,000 cattle near the South Australian border. The stations — New Crown, Andado, Horseshoe Bend and Lilla Creek — comprise a total of 4.6 million hectares and are managed by members of the Costello family.

#4 – MacLachlan family

Established by patriarch H. P. MacLachlan in Adelaide in 1888, Jumbuck controls 11 properties across 5.7 million hectares in New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australian and the Northern Territory. It runs cattle in WA and the NT, and sheep on stations across three of those states, and the company is Australia’s chief wool supplier.

#3 – The North Australian Pastoral Company

From humble beginnings in 1877, The North Australian Pastoral company has expanded into over 6 million hectares’ worth of farmland and is one of the country’s largest beef producers. It manages over 200,000 cattle across Queensland and the Northern Territory.

#2 – Australian Agricultural Company

Dating back to 1824, the Australian Agricultural Company is the oldest continuously operating company in Australia and the country’s largest integrated cattle and beef producer. British tycoon Joe Lewis is the major shareholder, and the company owns and operates properties in Queensland and the Northern Territory covering over 6.4 million hectares.

#1 – S. Kidman & Co Pty Ltd

Mining magnate Gina Rinehart teamed up with China’s Shanghai CRED in 2016 to buy the lion’s share of S. Kidman & Co. —the largest individual private landholding on the planet at over 8 million hectares. With a herd of over 171,000 cattle, the company is one of Australia’s largest beef producers and exports to the USA, Japan and South-East Asia.

 

Emerging Technologies In Agriculture

For Australian farmers, time is precious, and there is increasing pressure in farm management to maximise productivity and produce more with less. However, farmers are also dealing with increasing overheads and natural disasters like bushfires and floods, all the while trying to minimise the impact on the environment. And that’s where technology comes into play! Here are some of the emerging agricultural technologies according to a report issued by rural industry research group AgriFutures Australia in 2018.

 

Internet of Things/Sensors

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of entities that are connected wirelessly using sensors. These include humans, plants, animals and infrastructure like buildings and equipment. Although not new to the sector, technology advancements in quality, cost and the robustness of sensors, data analysis and the connectivity of technologies have accelerated the potential of IoT device installations. In fact, it is predicted that their usage by the sector will have increased by over 20% annually by 2022.

 

Blockchain

Blockchain is essentially a database invented by the creators of cryptocurrency Bitcoin, and it focuses on a shift away from inefficient, costly and centralised record keeping. In the agriculture sector, it is used in conjunction with IoT devices, such as scanners and sensors. This removes the human error component of ledger data entry, and it can help reduce costs, improve food safety control, and create incentives for economically and ecologically beneficial production practices.

 

Artificial Intelligence (AI)/Big Data

Big Data refers to data sets that are so complex and large that traditional data-processing applications are inadequate. AI refers to intelligence machines that ‘learn’ from experience by accomplishing specific tasks that require the processing of large amounts of data.

Big Data and AI technologies are playing an increasingly essential role in the sector due to the amount of data being collected on farms via the use of more complex machine sensors.  Applications range from thermostats regulating greenhouse air temperatures to complex algorithms that provide growers with recommendations on automated management interventions. With a multitude of sources, AI increases the value of data being collected, analysed and converted, which can help support farm management decision-making.

 

Nano Materials Data

Nanomaterials are about one billionth of a metre in size and most recently have been used in the environmental science, medical and food processing sectors. Their potential for agriculture lies in detecting pathogens and pesticide/herbicide residue and in improving seed germinations and growth. The ultimate result is increasing crop yields while providing environmental benefits and minimising input costs.

 

Automation/Robotics

Robotics is the science and technology of movable, mechanical structures that function under some form of autonomous control. Robotic technology can substitute human functioning in order to complete tasks that are deemed too dangerous, repetitive or impossible for humans.

In agriculture, it can be used to complete tasks like harvesting, spraying, surveying and dairy milking, and can help growers increase reliability, efficiency and productivity while minimising environmental impacts.

 

Satellites

Satellite technology assists farmers by observing, measuring and responding to intra and inter-field variability. Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) technology has provided huge benefits to the agricultural industry in terms of practices like soil data analytics and yield and topographical mapping.

This allows farmers to access real-time data about their farm operations and make more precise and informed decisions. There is also the potential for satellite technology to measure vegetation health and growth at different stages of a crop’s life. This may increase the lead-time of a crop’s yield which could positively impact supply and price trends.

 

Keen to analyse, diagnose and make viable management decisions to optimise the success of a farm or agricultural enterprise? Nurture your skills and grow your career with our Certificate of Farm Management!

 

 

 

Life Coaching Courses Help People Live Better

Life coaching provides people with resources and self-confidence to live life better. If that sounds like an appealing job to you, then life coaching might be your calling.

The Certificate of Life Coaching is an online professional development course that will give you the essential knowledge and skills to pursue a career as a life coach. You will learn about different types of coaching methodologies, how to build a life coaching business from the ground up, and how to market yourself to potential clients.

In this course, you will better understand the role of a life coach, including how to support mental and physical health. Importantly, you will also learn how to confront difficult situations and help people achieve personal and professional success.

Learning Outcomes

Outcomes achieved by undertaking a life coaching course include:

  • Learning about the nature of life coaching
  • Cognitive behaviour therapy
  • Different approaches to counselling
  • The scope of life coaching
  • Psychology of self-perception
  • Perceptual barriers
  • Motivating clients to challenge their perceptions
  • The inter-relationship between psychology and physiology
  • Stress management
  • The psychology of balance
  • Key coaching processes
  • Assessment of the client’s situation
  • Dealing with emotions
  • Setting goals
  • Replacing negative habits with positive ones
  • Leadership qualities in a life coach
  • Imagination and enthusiasm
  • Clarifying goals
  • Recognition of limitations
  • Understanding the communication process
  • Body language
  • Communication barriers
  • Listening skills
  • Assessing learning styles
  • Human nutrition
  • Important factors in nutrition
  • Physical wellbeing
  • The psychology of self-esteem
  • Stress management program
  • Identifying stressors
  • Career guidance
  • Managing your money
  • Beginning a business
  • Types of goals
  • Goal planning
  • Steps for successful goal achievement
  • Indications that a program needs to be reassessed
  • Client’s lack of confidence
  • Dealing with a personality clash
  • Over-achievers
  • Health and safety issues

 

6 Popular Reasons People Have Life Coaches

Life coaching courses can help you to help others set goals, boost confidence, improve relationships, change careers and help with making healthy lifestyle choices.

 

#1 Goal Setting

Goals setting is a huge task, but it’s a significant problem for many people, and it’s often the number one reason people seek a life coach. Life coaches are great at helping people who feel lost to find themselves and to shape their lives so that they’re more in line with their dreams.

#2 Confidence Boosting 

Life coaches develop their client’s self-confidence so that they are better able to achieve goals. They also help clients with assertiveness training and help them take risks that improve their lives. It’s part of the process to instil in clients the desire to succeed and the confidence to make it happen.

#3 Looking for Direction 

It can be challenging to know what direction to take in life – there are so many choices. Whether clients are just starting out in life or are past midlife – they still need guidance. Life coaches are fantastic at helping people to find a new path – whether that’s in their career or personal life.

#4 Help with Relationships 

If people need help in their relationships, a life coach can mentor them to improve their communication skills with loved ones and friends. They can help them connect with positive people and also help them lose those negative influences that don’t serve them.

#5 Career Change 

A career coach also helps people to realise their passion for a profession. They assist people with moving into a different career or can help with a promotion. In defining clear ambitions, people can begin to live to work – instead of working to live.

#6 Help with Healthy Lifestyle 

Clients may consult with a life coach to help them to improve their diet, increase physical activity and overall wellbeing. Life coaches can assist with meal planning, exercise routines and finding time to pursue healthy habits.

 

6 Signs You’re Made for Life Coaching 

If you’re considering a life coaching course, before you enrol, think about whether you have (or can develop) the following qualities that make a life coach great!

  1. You Love Helping People

Are you a people-person? If you aspire to inspire others, or simply enjoy helping people, then life coaching could be a great career choice for you.

  1. Passion for Professional Development

The most successful life coaches have a passion for their self-development. They are inspiring and have seen the result of investing in their own personal and professional development and want to share that with others.

  1. You Are Empathic 

Life coaches need to be able to relate to the feelings, struggles and hopes of their clients. If you are naturally able to show understanding and share in the feelings of others, life coaching may be your calling.

  1. You’ve Good People Skills

Excellent people skills are a must for life coaches because they have in-depth conversations with their clients. Life coaches need to be able to speak confidently and listen attentively.

  1. You Have Patience 

Life coaches have the patience for their clients – it’s a necessity as they must continuously listen to the problems of others. Unsurprisingly, many clients are not happy on arrival and sought out a life coach for precisely that reason.

  1. Self-Employment Appeals

Most life coaches will work for themselves. Self-employment provides a great deal of flexibility in work hours and how much they can earn. But it also means income can be sporadic and unreliable. It also takes time and money to set up a business professionally.

 

Help people set goals, enhance relationships and achieve optimal health and wellbeing with a life coaching course like the Certificate of Life Coaching today. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Develop Your Mentoring Skills With Our Business Coaching Course!

A business coaching course can teach you how to help clients achieve goals and develop their full business potential through results-focused strategies. This can be achieved through time management, leadership development, growing revenue and identifying new opportunities. Business coaches also provide mentorship to provide managers and business owners with the skills to improve their work/life balance and realise their business and personal goals for both short and long-term success.

Our Certificate of Business Coaching is ideal for anyone working in the financial planning, life coaching or business consulting sector or those keen to establish their own practice as a business coach.

Learning Outcomes

Outcomes achieved by undertaking a business coaching course include: 

  • Learning about the nature and scope of business coaching
  • Exploring business, life and sports coaching
  • Studying business coaching terminology
  • Understanding why people use business coaches
  • Examining business coaching case studies
  • Gaining insights into business failure or success
  • Learning about the initial consultation
  • Exploring cognitive behaviour therapy
  • Studying goal-centred, reality-based and motivational approaches
  • Understanding the first contact
  • Examining SWOT analysis
  • Gaining insights into replacing negative habits with positive ones
  • Learning how to monitor and evaluate progress
  • Exploring business coaching case studies
  • Studying how to consider alternative actions
  • Understanding how to develop a business plan
  • Discovering feasibility studies
  • Examining formal documentation
  • Gaining insights into operational management
  • Learning about strategic and operational planning
  • Exploring the components of a business plan
  • Studying how to implement ideas
  • Understanding how to change behaviour
  • Learning how to look after long term viability
  • Exploring partial sell-offs
  • Studying restructuring
  • Examining research and development
  • Understanding how to change products and services
  • Learning how to buy a new business and employ staff
  • Exploring selling and winding down
  • Studying how to improve productivity
  • Understanding quality circles
  • Discovering cause and effect diagrams
  • Examining the Pareto Analysis
  • Gaining insights into brainstorming
  • Learning about motivation
  • Exploring internal and intrinsic incentives
  • Studying the incentives external to the working environment
  • Understanding social reinforcers as incentives
  • Discovering tangible rewards
  • Examining marketing and marketing strategies
  • Gaining insights into starting out in business
  • Learning how to make contact
  • Exploring how to control growth and improve results
  • Studying how to build better staff
  • Understanding staff recruitment and development and training
  • Examining team building and team management
  • Gaining insights into improving resource management
  • Learning about Business Resource Management (BRM)
  • Exploring stress management
  • Understanding the significance of the knowledge of interviewing and assessment
  • Discovering incentives and motivational strategies
  • Examining productivity and marketing strategies
  • Learning theoretical information to derive sensible solutions
  • Exploring initial business coaching assessments for a specified business
  • Studying actions for improving and sustaining the level of performance
  • Learning how to put it all into practice via Project-Based Learning

 

Why Do People Have Business Coaches?

 Business coaching is considered a great method of intervention to improve businesses because it can be effective, efficient, outcome-focused and individually tailored to a client’s requirements. People who have undertaken a business coaching course can offer clients expert insights, relevant advice and a good dose of morale-boosting! But what are their areas of expertise and why should people engage with a business coach?

 

Establishing a Vision Identifying what your business stands for and the goals you want to achieve gives direction and credibility and helps customers understand your product or service offering.

 

Setting Goals Good business is built on creating and also achieving goals. A business coach can help you establish your priorities and give you the strategies to meet your goals.

 

Writing a Business Plan Every business needs a plan, which should be updated regularly. Business plans should be current and comprehensive and a business coach can help you formulate and fast-track one.

 

Growing Revenue There is a myriad of reasons why even the best businesses might be underperforming. A business coach can offer a trained set of eyes to help identify why in order to enhance profits and business growth.

 

Managing Time Time is money, so implementing strategies to use it well can increase productivity and free business owners up for a better work/life balance.

 

Identifying Customers Business coaches can help owners and managers know more about their customers, and target potential new customers to increase profit.

 

Training Leaders Training helps employees hone their skills and knowledge and enhance their career opportunities. Fostering a culture of leadership also allows them to feel valued so their talents can shine.

 

Meeting Targets Like goals, business is all about targets whether it be growth, safety or sales targets. A business coach can help organisations identify them and provide strategies to meet them.

 

Planning for Succession Whether owners are looking to spend less time in their business or pass it on to someone else, a solid succession plan is crucial – and way before retirement age!

 

Selling a Business Selling a business can be complicated, particularly in terms of its monetary worth. A business coach can help highlight its future potential, and offer insights into how to maximise its appeal.

 

Six Traits Of A Great Business Coach

For great business coaches to be effective, they must establish an environment of trust, respect, challenge and accountability to motivate their clients to take action. (And of course, our business coaching course can help with this). But what traits set business coaches apart from the rest?

 

#1 – They Have Had Business Success

Great business coaches know how to grow and sustain a business and have had proven coaching success. Ideally, they have real-life experience and have both failed and succeeded, allowing their clients to benefit from their wisdom.

They also have testimonials from former mentees readily available that are positive, personal and detailed. These people have been through the process and their success is a good indicator of the quality of a coach.

Being active in the business community is also a good sign, particularly if they have written books, are interviewed by the media and/or regularly give lectures. It also means they will have longstanding relationships with people who can benefit their clients. Sometimes it is about who you know!

 

#2 – They Are A Good Listener

Being a good listener is important for success in both your personal and professional life, but what does it actually mean? Firstly, it takes other-orientation. Great business coaches will focus their attention on their clients and their communication — both verbal and non-verbal.

During sessions, they will also treat their clients as if they are the most important thing at that time, and be confident and engaging with their feedback. Good listeners also backtrack by repeating what their clients have said in order to ensure they’ve understood their comments clearly.

 

#3 – They Love To Teach

Teaching is a skill that people improve at over time. Great coaches love helping clients and actually enjoy the act of teaching. The initial consultation meeting is where clients can start to ‘feel’ a coach out. If the interactions are positive and passionate, it is a good indicator of how the relationship will progress.

Experienced coaches also understand that people learn in different ways, and they will tailor their sessions towards their client’s preference. For example, visual learners prefer diagrams, images and videos or demonstrations. Auditory learners learn best through the process of talking and listening. And kinaesthetic learners learn primarily by doing.

 

#4 – They Have A Positive Mindset

So much of what we call success these days comes down to mindset, and a great attitude comes with experience and time. A great coach will have been through challenging times, but have a relentlessly positive outlook on life anyway! They don’t see failure as a negative but as a learning experience, and this mindset helps their clients develop the resilience to thrive when they themselves are challenged.

They are also able to see the big picture, are patient, persistent and determined, and are capable of envisaging great things for their clients. Business coaches are their clients’ biggest fan!

 

#5 – They Are Accessible

Expert business coaches make sure they are as accessible as possible to their clients. They go beyond just scheduled sessions by answering phone calls, text messages and answering emails whenever possible.

Those in business coaching are also willing to customise a program for you because they know that one size certainly doesn’t fit all. They care about your individual concerns and challenges. They are also willing to share all of their experiences with their clients — both good and bad — and are often radically transparent!

 

#6 – They Practice Accountability

Great coaches actually care about whether or not their clients succeed. They are accountable for their own actions but practice ‘tough love’ by holding clients accountable for their own personal growth and results.

Clients don’t simply disappear after their sessions are done. Interestingly, they care about how clients progress, enjoy sharing successes and often turn out to be friends for life!

 

Help business owners establish a vision, set goals, enhance productivity and achieve a healthy work/life balance with a business coaching course like the Certificate of Business Coaching!

 

 

 

Understanding Equine Behaviour Crucial to Horse Training 

If you’re looking to develop a more sensitive and informed training method for horses, studying equine behaviour is crucial. The study of equine behaviour will help you to understand a horse’s behaviour, and to work with its inherent nature for successful, faster results.

The Certificate of Equine Behaviour is ideal for horse training professionals, riding instructors, horse owners, equestrian enthusiasts or anyone who wants to understand these majestic animals better.

While the assumption is that all equine behaviour is an adaptation designed to support survival, it’s not always the case. Horses can behave self-destructively, out of habit, or out of boredom, just like their human counterparts. 

So, if you want to enhance the wellbeing and performance of horses in your care by gaining an understanding of what drives their behaviour, this course is ideal for you.

Learning Outcomes 

In this online horse training course, you will learn about all aspects of equine behaviour. 

  • Identify factors affecting equine behaviour
  • Describe the influence of genes on equine behaviour
  • Explain how horses perceive and how they respond to various stimuli
  • Understand how horses communicate and the nature of their social organisation
  • Explain the sexual and reproductive behaviour of the horse
  • Describe the different ways that horses learn and how this can be applied to the training environment
  • Explain how and why behavioural problems occur and how they can be prevented
  • Understand how horses perceive their surroundings

 

Horse Breeds and Temperament 

Horses have personalities – and while many factors influence their behaviour, such as their environment and handling, a lot comes down to genetics. As any horse training professional knows, there are personality traits and temperaments common to certain breeds.

In the equine industry, the terms hot-blooded, warm-blooded and cold-blooded categorise a horse’s temperament, size and origin. 

Hot-Blooded Breeds 

As the name suggests, hot bloods can be highly strung and flighty. They’re comprised of ancient horse breeds from the Middle East. These light, refined, long-legged creatures are the athletes of the horse world, full of energy and with hot tempers. The hot-blooded breeds are the hardest to train but are also the most competitive and are popular racehorses. 

Thoroughbreds 

The most popular horse racing breed, the thoroughbred is known for its agility, speed and spirit. This breed is also a favourite in equestrian competitions such as dressage and jumping. 

Arabian 

The Arabian is the oldest breed in the world, dating back as far as 3000 B.C. The linage is evident in many light horse breeds, including the Appaloosas, Morgans and Andalusians. They’re known for their high spirit, loyalty and loving nature. 

Warm-Blooded Breeds 

Warm-bloods are a combination of hot and cold-bloods that originated in Europe (mainly Germany). Warmbloods are explicitly bred for equestrian sports such as dressage, showjumping, cross-country and leisure riding. They have a robust and attractive conformation and a quiet temperament.  

Hanoverian 

Originating in Germany, this warmblood is popular in dressage and show jumping circuits for its mild temperament and versatility. 

Dutch Warmblood 

The easy-going Dutch Warmblood originates from Holland and is known for its mild temperament and calm nature. They are versatile and excel in at top-level competitive equestrian pursuits from dressage to show jumping, eventing and driving. 

Holsteiner

Mildly temperamental, this breed is competitive in dressage and reining, but is an exceptional showjumper. 

Cold-Blooded Breeds 

The cold-blooded breeds are heavy draft horses, including Belgians, Clydesdales, Percherons, and Shires. They are renowned for their calm, gentle and patient nature and were bred originally for strength and usefulness in farming and transport. 

Shire Horse 

The Shire is a British heavy draught horse and is the largest and heaviest horse in the world. This breed is versatile for use in driving, leisure riding and competitive equestrian. Shires are renowned for their calm temperament, strength, elegant head and prominent docile eyes. 

Clydesdale 

A Scottish breed of draught horse, the Clydesdale has a formidable statue, feathered legs and a high-stepping gait. They are well-known as gentle, easy-going giants that are easy to train and a joy to work around. 

Percheron 

The Percheron is a draught horse that originated from north-western France. It is admired for its immense power, innate intelligence and willingness to perform well under all conditions. 

Understanding Horse Body Language 

Horses, like humans, experience a range of emotions and express this through their body language. It’s important to read a horse’s body language to take necessary action, whether to protect yourself or to ensure the horse’s health and wellbeing. 

A Happy Horse 

It’s easy to identify a relaxed, happy horse as they display a comfortable posture, often with a resting hindleg, and alert forward-facing ears. Their eyes are open (but you can’t see the whites of their eyes), the mouth is closed, nostrils are oval, and their muzzle is relaxed. 

A Scared Horse 

If a horse is worried, they will stand with their head raised and ears either pointing backwards (or moving in all directions), eyes wide, a tense muzzle and square-shaped nostrils. The horse may also be sweating if they are excessively anxious or in pain. 

An Angry Horse 

It’s essential to identify an angry horse to avoid being bitten or kicked. The angry horse will display aggressive body language, including elongated, open nostrils, ears laid back, wide eyes with whites showing and mouth open showing teeth. 

Whether you want to work in the horse training industry or simply want to understand your own horses better, our horse training courses, such as the Certificate of Equine Behaviour is ideal professional or personal development for you.  

Less Negatives, More Positives – Learn How To Manage People’s Anger

Anger management courses can help individuals manage anger in themselves and others. This is particularly valuable because like other emotions, it can be difficult to give a precise definition of anger.

Because it is also such a strong emotion, anger can sometimes become overbearing and cause individuals to overreact and draw-in others, causing it to escalate. But anger can have positive aspects too – the key to managing it is not in its elimination but in challenging it constructively. This can include changing thought patterns, doing relaxation exercises and learning how to communicate better to reduce stress levels.

Our Anger Management For Professionals course will give you the skills to help others manage their anger in the workplace and in professional settings. This includes sports coaches, those in management roles, or those who work in the counselling or health and wellbeing sector.

Learning Outcomes

Outcomes achieved by undertaking anger management courses include:

  • Learning about the nature and scope of anger
  • Exploring the autonomic nervous system
  • Studying anger and arousal
  • Understanding galvanic skin resistance
  • Analysing voice stress
  • Gaining insights into polygraphs
  • Learning about the degrees of arousal
  • Exploring the difficulties of arousal theories
  • Studying theories of emotion including those of James Lange, Cannon-Bard and Schachter
  • Examining Lazarus’s appraisal theory and Weiner’s attribution theory
  • Gaining insights into facial feedback theory and Averill’s social construction theory
  • Learning about managing anger with counselling
  • Exploring the causes of anger including frustration and self-defence
  • Studying the expressions of anger
  • Examining anger counselling strategies
  • Gaining insights into the ‘empty chair’ technique
  • Learning how to recognise psychological arousal
  • Exploring thought stopping, time out and relaxation exercises
  • Gaining insights into assertiveness training
  • Studying the five stages of an assertiveness training interview
  • Uncovering the mental blocks to assertiveness
  • Gaining insights into managing anger with Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
  • Learning how to identify antecedents
  • Exploring anger assessments
  • Studying beginning therapy
  • Examining inferences, evaluations and chaining
  • Gaining insights into disputing inferences and evaluations
  • Learning about independence and the blockages to change
  • Exploring the use of imagery
  • Studying emotional insight, exposure and termination
  • Gaining insights into working with anger problems in CBT
  • Learning about anger management techniques for violence
  • Exploring appearance, posture, affect and speech
  • Studying the causes of violence
  • Understanding cold, hot and reactive violence
  • Gaining tips on dealing with violent people
  • Learning strategies for violence prevention
  • Exploring action after violence
  • Studying how to manage violence against others
  • Understanding mental disorders and violence
  • Examining anger management for people with mental health issues
  • Gaining insights into the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) of mental disorders
  • Learning about dementia and anger and how to support people with dementia
  • Exploring anxiety and depression
  • Studying grief, its stages and the tasks of mourning
  • Understanding how to manage anger and temper tantrums in toddlers
  • Examining anger in older children including adolescents
  • Gaining insights into psychological changes in girls and boys
  • Learning about depression and eating problems in children
  • Exploring how and why adults share anger
  • Studying anger management for people with personality disorders
  • Gaining an understanding of psychopathology
  • Examining borderline personality disorders and treatment
  • Gaining insights into psychopathy and treatments
  • Learning about roid rage and its symptoms
  • Exploring anger management services
  • Studying counselling services, courses, workshops and anger management clinics
  • Understanding group and individual work in anger management
  • Examining conflict management and conflict handling techniques
  • Gaining insights into life coaching
  • Learning how to set up an anger management consultancy

 

The 10 Basic Types of Anger

Anger is a universal emotion, and we all feel annoyed, frustrated or even outraged from time to time. The type of anger we use to express our feelings can also vary depending on our mood and the circumstances. But anger is neither good or bad – it is simply an emotion. Clarifying different types of anger and learning the strategies to manage them – particularly by taking anger management courses – is the key to controlling emotions and the subsequent behaviours that follow.

 

#1 – Assertive Anger

This is the most constructive type of anger in that feelings of frustration or rage can act as a catalyst for positive change. Rather than internalising feelings, avoiding confrontation or resorting to physical or verbal outbursts, anger is expressed in ways that don’t cause destruction or distress. This ‘assertive anger’ can help individuals address injustice, overcome fear and achieve their desired life outcomes. It’s a powerful motivator!

 

#2 – Behavioural Anger

This type of anger is expressed physically and usually aggressively. It might involve throwing or breaking things or even physically attacking the object of an individual’s rage. It can be highly unpredictable and often has negative interpersonal and legal consequences. Management strategies include individuals taking a moment to calm down, removing themselves from the situation and using self-talk techniques to regain control of their emotions.

 

#3 – Chronic Anger

This is an ongoing frustration with circumstances, anger towards oneself or a general resentment of other people. Because of its prolonged nature, it can have profoundly negative effects on one’s health and wellbeing. To manage it, individuals should spend some time on reflection and identify the source of their resentment. It can also involve forgiveness – which is a powerful process that can help people resolve lingering frustration and hurt.

 

#4 – Judgemental Anger

This type of anger is indignant and usually a reaction to someone else’s shortcomings or a perceived injustice. It assumes a morally superior stance and may alienate potential allies by invalidating differences of opinion. Management strategies include individuals being open-minded about different situations because they are rarely as simple as they seem! Other people’s perspectives can also give valuable insights into some of life’s challenges.

 

#5 – Overwhelmed Anger

This is a form of anger that occurs when individuals feel a situation is beyond their control. This results in feelings of frustration and hopelessness and is common when people take on too much responsibility, or unexpected events have reduced their capacity to cope. In order to manage it, individuals should reach out to others for support. By alleviating potential sources of stress, emotional and behavioural control may be achieved.

 

#6 – Passive-aggressive Anger

This is an ‘avoidant’ type of anger, where individuals try to evade confrontation and may deny feelings of fury or frustration. It can be expressed as silence, mockery or sarcasm, and often people who express anger in this way aren’t even aware they are being aggressive. Management techniques include individuals learning to assertively communicate and confidently face their fears in order to meet their personal and professional needs.

# 7 – Retaliatory Anger

One of the most common types of anger, this is usually an instinctual response to being attacked or confronted by someone else. It can be deliberate and motivated by revenge for a perceived wrong and often aims to intimidate others by asserting control over an outcome or situation. In order to manage it, individuals should pause and think before they act. By choosing to diffuse the conflict, they can avoid the often long-term consequences of revenge.

 

# 8 – Self-abusive Anger

This type of anger is shame-based and individuals may feel unworthy, humiliated or hopeless. By internalising feelings, anger can be expressed by self-harm, substance abuse, eating disorders or negative self-talk. Management strategies include cognitive reframing techniques and mindful meditation, which can help centre an individual in the present and help them deal with impulse-related behaviours.

 

# 9 – Verbal Anger

Verbal anger can be a form of psychological or emotional abuse that deeply hurts an individual’s target. It may be expressed as furious threats, ridicule, sarcasm or intense criticism or blame. This often results in the individual feeling ashamed and apologetic afterwards. In order to manage it, individuals should take a breath before they speak and try and delay the impulse to lash out.

 

#10 – Volatile Anger

This type of anger often comes out of nowhere and is experienced by individuals who are quick to get upset by annoyances. It can be incredibly destructive because even though individuals calm down just as quickly if left unchecked it may eventually lead to more violent verbal or physical behaviour. Management strategies include individuals identifying the signs and symptoms that precede an outburst, and using relaxation techniques to stop their anger from escalating.

 

Are things a little too tense at work? Learn a range of valuable anger management techniques that will improve communication and help reduce people’s stress with our Anger Management For Professionals course.

Nurture Your Love Of Plants With Landscape Design Courses!

Landscape design courses that focus on biophilic design combine natural systems and elements into a landscape to increase people’s physical and mental wellbeing. The word biophilic essentially means ‘love of nature’, and this course will teach you how to use landscaping methodologies and techniques to encourage the use of public spaces and make landscapes more people-friendly.

Our Introduction to Biophilic Landscaping is ideal for those working in horticulture, environmental management landscape design and construction, or anyone keen to undertake the design of parks, gardens, cityscapes, streetscapes and more!

Learning Outcomes

Learning outcomes achieved by undertaking landscape design courses include:

  • Exploring the relationship between outdoor environments and human wellbeing
  • Learning about and understanding biophilia
  • Studying health problems and biophobic design
  • Understanding the urban heat island effect
  • Examining psychological and physiological stress
  • Gaining insights into the breakdown of ecosystems
  • Learning about environmental degradation
  • Exploring the health benefits of biophilic design
  • Studying the theories of stress recovery
  • Understanding the value of green space
  • Learning about biophilic landscaping terminology
  • Exploring design considerations
  • Learning from past mistakes
  • Understanding the repercussions of failing to involve the community
  • Studying isolation from nature
  • Examining good biophilic design
  • Gaining insights into connections with nature
  • Learning about sense of place
  • Exploring long term sustainability
  • Studying the beneficial user experience
  • Understanding the practical considerations
  • Examining a multidisciplinary approach
  • Gaining insights into town planning
  • Learning to consider of outcomes
  • Thinking about the future
  • Exploring the patterns and principles of urban design
  • Studying the terrapin bright green criteria
  • Understanding nature in the space patterns
  • Examining natural analogue patterns
  • Gaining insights into nature of the space patterns
  • Learning about biophilic landscaping and its relationship to health
  • Exploring the strongest empirical support
  • Studying the application of patterns
  • Examining the components of the landscape
  • Gaining insights into biophilic components
  • Learning about hard landscape components
  • Exploring stone and brick surfaces
  • Studying timber surfaces
  • Understanding soft landscape components
  • Examining the relationship between health and design components
  • Gaining insights into the direct experience of nature
  • Learning about air, water, plants animals and weather
  • Exploring natural landscapes and ecosystems
  • Studying the indirect experience of nature
  • Understanding the experience of space and place
  • Discovering the concept of prospect and refuge
  • Examining natural components in detail
  • Gaining insights into vegetation and animals
  • Learning about water quality issues
  • Exploring the five principles of healthy places
  • Studying how to improve air, water and soil quality
  • Discovering how to overcome health inequalities
  • Examining how to promote healthy lifestyles
  • Learning how to increase social interaction
  • Exploring how to reduce anti-social behaviour, isolation and stress
  • Examining opportunities for working, learning and development
  • Studying uplifting and healing for both physical and mental health conditions
  • Understanding water harvesting, retention and reuse
  • Gaining insights into stormwater, rainwater and urban runoff
  • Learning about integrated urban water management (IUWM)
  • Exploring biophilia in different environments
  • Studying environmental stress
  • Understanding general adaptation syndrome
  • Examining the physiological effects of stress
  • Gaining insights into biophilia in the workplace
  • Learning about noise levels and temperature
  • Exploring environmental and climate conditions
  • Studying water contaminants and water chemical problems
  • Understanding microbiological problems
  • Examining water quality for aquaria and ponds
  • Learning about Legionnaires disease in soil and potting media
  • Exploring using plants to extract contamination
  • Studying how to grow plants on contaminated soil
  • Understanding the biological filters for water pollution and wastewater
  • Using roof and wall gardens to improve air quality and aesthetics
  • Examining accessibility and safety
  • Gaining insights into roof gardens and vertical gardens
  • Learning about decorative plant supports
  • Exploring the types of installations for roof gardens
  • Studying wall gardens
  • Examining design considerations and plant selection
  • Learning about the building and components of a green roof
  • Exploring construction materials
  • Studying how to deal with heights
  • Understanding plants which cause damage
  • Examining plants suited to roof and vertical gardens
  • Gaining insights into bromeliads and succulents
  • Learning about hardy groundcovers
  • Exploring xerophytes
  • Being able to analyse existing landscapes
  • Studying how to assess a landscape
  • Understanding how to measure pollutants
  • Discovering how to create buffer zones for pollution
  • Examining using windbreaks, hedges and screens
  • Gaining insights into creating and landscaping shaded areas
  • Learning how to design a home garden using biophilic design principles
  • Studying how to consider your priorities
  • Understanding how to create a natural approach to gardening
  • Learning to avoid problem materials
  • Discovering how to dispose of waste and make good compost
  • Uncovering simple design procedures
  • Exploring how to integrate biophilic design into an existing landscape
  • Studying how to retrofit green walls and roofs
  • Uncovering how to use hydroponics for a vertical wall NFT system
  • Understanding how to redevelop public institutions
  • Examining the water chemistry of runoff
  • Gaining insights into the quality of urban runoff
  • Learning about annual pollutant loadings from runoff
  • Exploring water quality in urban compared with rural areas
  • Studying how to improve the water quality of runoff in the biophilic context
  • Examining how to improve the water quality of recycled water in the biophilic context
  • Gaining insights into reducing the use of pest control chemicals in gardens
  • Learning about biocontrol
  • Exploring a range of chemical weedicides
  • Studying how to work in and improve urban development
  • Understanding the challenges for design
  • Examining permaculture and hydroponics
  • Learning how to use swales for water retention
  • Exploring how to work in urban development

 

The Patterns of Biophilic Design

Many landscape design courses like ours focus on biophilic design because it can reduce stress and improve well-being – qualities which are important in our increasingly urbanised world. The 14 patterns of biophilic design represent the relationship between human biology, nature and the design of a built environment. And according to research scientists and design practitioners, they define the aspects of nature that most impact our satisfaction within these types of environments.

Nature in the Space:

#1 – Visual Connection With Nature – this is a view to elements of nature, natural processes and living systems. If achieved, it can be either stimulating or calming, and convey a sense of weather, time and other living things.

 

#2 – Non-Visual Connection With Nature – this is stimuli connected to the other senses (hearing, touch, smell and taste) that gives a positive reference to nature, natural processes or living systems. Spaces feel well balanced and fresh, and the conditions are both complex and familiar.

 

#3 – Non-Rhythmic Sensory Stimuli – when in these spaces, people feel as though they are experiencing something fresh, stimulating, interesting and energizing. They also give people brief, but welcome distractions.

 

#4 – Thermal and Airflow Variability – this pattern is characterized by subtle changes in humidity, temperature and airflow across the skin that mimics a natural environment. These spaces feel alive, refreshing and invigorating, while providing a feeling of both flexibility and control.

 

#5 – Presence of Water – these are spaces that enhance someone’s experience through hearing, touching or seeing water. They feel captivating and compelling, and sound, lighting, accessibility and proximity can contribute to whether someone feels calm or stimulated or both.

 

#6 – Dynamic and Diffuse Light – this pattern leverages varying intensities of shadow and light that change over time to create natural conditions. They convey expressions of movement and time and evoke intrigue and drama combined with a sense of calm.

 

#7 – Connection with Natural Systems – this is an awareness of natural processes especially seasonal changes that define a healthy ecosystem. These spaces make people aware of the cycles of life, and they are nostalgic, relaxing, enlightening and frequently anticipated.

 

Natural Analogues:

#8 – Biomorphic Forms and Patterns – these are symbolic references to textured, patterned or numerical arrangements that we see in nature. These spaces feel comfortable and possibly contemplative, captivating and even capable of absorbing energy.

 

#9 – Material Connection with Nature – this pattern refers to elements and materials from nature that reflect the local geology or ecology. These spaces feel warm, authentic, rich and sometimes stimulating to people’s touch.

 

#10 – Complexity and Order – this is rich, sensory information to connects to a spatial hierarchy that is similar to what you would experience in nature. These spaces feel engaging and are a balance between being boring and overwhelming.

 

Nature of the Space:  

#11 – Prospect – this pattern offers an unobstructed view over distances. These spaces feel freeing and open while offering a sense of control and safety, particularly when people are alone or in an unfamiliar environment.

 

#12 – Refuge – these are places for withdrawal from activity or environmental conditions where people are protected overhead and from behind.  They feel safe, contemplative, embracing and offer people a sense of retreat.

 

#13 – Mystery – this pattern is a promise of more information, and entice people to travel deeper into the environment. They evoke a feeling of anticipation and offer a combination of denial and reward that compels people to further investigate the space.

 

#14 – Risk or Peril – this pattern refers to an identifiable threat combined with a reliable safeguard. These spaces feel exhilarating because people feel they may be dangerous but nevertheless intriguing and worth exploring.

Winners of the 2019 AILDM National Awards

Every year, the Australian Institute of Landscape Designers and Managers (AILDM) recognises the very best landscape designers and their projects from around the country. Here is a list of last year’s Gold Award winners who will offer plenty of reasons for you to consider landscape design courses as your next career move!

Landscape Design – Rooftop

Richard Rimell of Quercus Gardens
Judy Dolin of South House Gardens
Claudia Crawley of Grindstone Landscapes
Alison Watson of Outdoor Designs

 

Residential Landscape Design – less than 50m2

Rebecca Colechin and Michael Doak of Ecodesign

Steve Warner of Outhouse Design
Charlie Albone of Inspired Exteriors
Nicola Cameron of Pepo Botanic Design
Julia Levitt of Sticks & Stones Landscape Design

 

Residential Landscape Design – 50 to 150m2

Adrian Swain and Michael Doak of Ecodesign
Jane Stark of Stark Design
Gerrad Everson of Octopus Garden Design
Steve Warner of Outhouse Design
Mitchell Turner of Goodmanors Pools and Gardens
Nicola Cameron of Pepo Botanic Design

 

Residential Landscape Design – over 150m2

Adam McDonald of Impressions Landscape Design
Colin Marchant of Costata Landscape Design
Nathan Burkett of Nathan Burkett Design
Phil Antcliff of Fifth Season Landscapes

 

Rural or Coastal Landscape Design

Nathan Burkett of Nathan Burkett Design
Steve Taylor of C.O.S Design
Fiona Ericsson of Sticks and Stones Landscape Design

 

Commercial Open Space

Jamie Clapham of Clapham Landscape Architecture
Robert McIlroy of Saunders Havill Group

 

Commercial – Educational/Institutional/Playspace

Adrian Swain of Ecodesign
Ruth Czermak of Botanical Traditions
Brendan Barmby of Blue Landscape Architecture
Daniel Kavanagh of The Gardenmakers

 

Plantscape Design

Adam McDonald of Impressions Landscape-Design
Jane Stark of Stark Design
Gerrad Everson of Octopus Garden Design
Nathan Burkett of Nathan Burkett Design
Judy Dolin of South House Gardens
Steve Taylor of C.O.S Design
Barbara Landsberg of Landsberg Garden Design
Alison Watson of Outdoor Designs
Phil Antcliff of Fifth Season Landscapes

 

Landscape Management – Environmental and Amenity Horticulture

Adrian Swain of Ecodesign
Robert McIlroy of Saunders Havill Group

Allan Correy Award for Design Excellence

And finally, this award is named in honour of landscape architect and horticulturist Allan Correy, who was known for his ecological and modernist approach to design. The winner of last year’s most coveted award (and the ultimate inspiration for undertaking landscape design courses) was…Adrian Swain from Ecodesign

 

Keen to create landscapes that positively enhance people’s physical and mental wellbeing? Put that green thumb to good use with a landscape design course like our Introduction to Biophilic Landscaping!

Learn How to Write a Biography – Certificate of Biographical Writing

Biography writing is the art of telling someone else’s life story. It highlights their work, achievements, and contribution to the world. A biography may cover a person’s whole life or only a short period, from a week to a few years. Popular subjects for biographers include historical figures, actors, artists, writers, and political figures.

The Certificate of Biographical Writing is an online program that will teach you how to write a biography, from researching to editing and publishing for publication. On completion of this online course, you’ll feel confident in constructing your first draft of a biography for the purpose of publication.

Learning Outcomes 

In this online course, you’ll discover how to write a biography and will achieve the following learning outcomes. 

  • In this online biographical writing course, you will learn about all aspects of conservation. 
  • Determine when, why, where and how biographies are written.
  • Determine sources of information and then acquire appropriate information for a biography.
  • To decide on the type of biography and context in which it should be developed, based upon researched information.
  • Write different types of short biographies to meet different purposes.
  • Analyse a life to determine the structure, style and content of a comprehensive biography that could become a small book, large book, or screenplay.
  • Plan a type of biography.
  • Determine how a biographical manuscript may be dealt with after the author completes writing; to produce and market a finished product.
  • Apply knowledge and skills developed throughout this course, to research and produce a biographical short story.
  • Discuss how topics are integrated into biography and how they help or hinder the work.
  • Create a biographical timeline.
  • Locate a biography, in print or online, and assess the referencing used.
  • Identify a theme or themes in a biographical work and think about how events in the work tie back to the theme.
  • Research copyright and libel laws in your area.
  • Research letters requesting information or interviews with experts or other sources.
  • Locate two pieces of primary evidence, then two pieces of secondary evidence for the topic of your choice. Keep notes on how you found your evidence and what makes it primary and secondary, respectively.
  • Research short biographies of “ordinary” people.
  • Analyse the life of a person you’d like to write about. Look at this task from the perspective of deciding what content you would include and the best structure and style to use for this subject.

 

Creative Non-Fiction – Biography, Autobiography & Memoir

A biography, autobiography and memoir are all creative non-fiction genres. A biography is the life history of a person, authored by someone else. An autobiography, on the other hand, is the story of a person’s life, written by that person. And a memoir is a collection of memories written by the person themselves.

 

5 Famous & Fascinating Biographies

Biographical writers know how to write a biography to capture their subject’s major life events while telling a gripping story. Great biographies should engross the reader just like fiction. Generally, biographers have a keen interest in their subjects. The following is a list of five popular biographies of notable public figures. 

The Dalai Lama by Alexander Norman

This biography of His Holiness the Dalai Lama is the first authorised book in 25 years. The author, an acclaimed Oxford-trained scholar of the history of Tibet, presents the definitive biography. It is a unique, multi-layered, and at times even shocking tribute to this inspiration public figure. 

The Dalai Lama illuminates an astonishing odyssey from isolated Tibetan village to worldwide standing as a spiritual and political leader of one of the world’s most profound and complex cultural traditions. 

Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley by Peter Guralnick

Commencing with Elvis’ service in the army in 1958 and culminating with his death in Memphis in 1977, Careless Love chronicles the unravelling of a life that shone so brightly. The work focuses on the complexities of Elvis’ relationship with his manager, Colonel Tom Parker. It’s a spectacular revelatory read and offers a unique perspective on American popular culture and the trappings of success. It shines a spotlight on one of the most misunderstood public figures of all time!

Marilyn Monroe by Barbara Leaming 

Barbara Leaming’s Marilyn Monroe is a multifaceted, sympathetic portrayal that will forever change the way we perceive one of the most enduring icons of sexuality. If you think you’ve heard all there is to know Marilyn Monroe, you’re in for a surprise. This author reveals a fresh narrative of sexual, psychological, and political intrigue.

Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance

Author Ashlee Vance delves into the technology and vision of Elon Musk, entrepreneur and innovator of SpaceX, Tesla, and SolarCity. Musk sold one of his Internet companies, PayPal, for $1.5 billion. This exciting biography explores the genius’s life and work, from his turbulent beginnings in South Africa and arrival in the United States to his remarkable technical advances and entrepreneurial pursuits.

Becoming Dr Seuss by Brian Jay Jones

A biography of Theodor Geisel, author of the legendary Dr Seuss books, is a definitive, fascinating, all-reaching book by biographer Brian Jay Jones. Dr Seuss is a wild, wonderful, and whimsical children’s character – think The Grinch, the Cat in the Hat, and Horton, to name just a few! But his creator, Theodor Geisel, had a second more radical side. Geisel was a complicated man on an important mission which this talented biographer brings to life. 

 

Do you know a life that needs documenting? Perhaps your ambition is to write about someone remarkable. Or maybe it’s someone closer to home. Whatever your subject, our biography writing courses, such as the Certificate of Biographical Writing, will show you how to write a biography. 

Wild for Wildlife? Discover Our Wildlife Conservation Course!

Many alarming world trends, including climate change, is threatening our wildlife more than ever. These animals need knowledgeable, compassionate humans to help! This wildlife conservation course suits those with a general interest in wildlife conservation. It is also ideal for those looking to pursue a career in academia, consulting companies, wildlife and conservation organisations, professional and scientific societies or even in zoos and aquariums.

The Certificate of Wildlife Conservation is an online wildlife conservation course that will give you a broad knowledge base of the strategies involved in wildlife conservation and how research, surveys and management techniques can assist with its preservation.

Learning Outcomes 

In this online wildlife conservation course, you will learn about all aspects of conservation. 

  • Develop a concept of the guiding principles of wildlife conservation and the threats to wildlife.
  • Determine the principles and approaches used toward species recovery.
  • Discuss the principles of habitat conservation with regards to fragmentation, restoration and the use of protected areas.
  • Describe and discuss the various approaches used to conserve threatened species and ecosystems.
  • Appreciate the range of flora survey techniques that have been developed to sample fauna for the purposes of conservation.
  • Discuss and differentiate between fauna survey techniques that have been developed to sample fauna for the purposes of conservation.
  • Demonstrate an understanding of the consequences of overexploitation. Discuss and differentiate between marine survey techniques used to conserve marine species.
  • Discuss and differentiate the range of planning tools available for farming, urban and residential planning to help conserve wildlife.
  • Identify various management techniques used to conserve wildlife.
  • Develop a wildlife recovery plan for a species under threat.

 

Jobs in Wildlife Conservation 

Are you a modern-day conservationist? Do you have a passion for animals? If so, discover your dream job in wildlife conservation. Wildlife conservationists work to preserve the habitats of animals and plants. 

The typical duties performed by wildlife conservationists include studying water, plants, and soil, and preventing and finding cause for environmental degradation of habitats. In wildlife conservation courses, you’ll discover your aptitude for becoming a professional, volunteer or advocate in the wildlife conservation industry. 

The types of jobs in wildlife conservation include: 

  • Parks & Wildlife Ranger 
  • Environmental Science & Protection Technician 
  • Parks & Conservation Technician 
  • Conservation Scientist 

10 Endangered Animals in the Wild

Endangered animals are those that are at risk of becoming extinct. Species become endangered for two main reasons – a loss of their habitat or genetic variation. The following is a list of ten of some of the most endangered animals in the wild. 

Black-Flanked Rock Wallaby

These shy, small, and extremely agile marsupials live amongst the rocky outcrops and caves in central and western Australia. The black-flanked rock-wallaby comes out at dusk to feed on grass, leaves, bark, and fruits. In winter, this exquisite animal can be seen basking in the sun! 

The WWF reports that while still quite widespread across its range, habitat destruction, predation by foxes and feral cats, and competition for food and shelter have exacted a toll. As such, local extinctions and the wallaby’s distribution is now significantly reduced. The populations that remain are generally small, isolated and at risk of extinction.

Snow Leopard 

This wild cat’s beautiful coat and elusive nature make it a rare creature. Sadly, human threats have created an uncertain future. Scientists predict that there may be only between 3,920 and 6,390 snow leopards left in the wild. 

Koala

The Australian Koala Foundation (AKF) strongly suggests that the koala’s conservation status be upgraded to ‘critically endangered’ in South East Queensland as they are, according to the Queensland Minister for Environment, ‘functionally extinct.’ 

The decline of this cute Australian icon is a result of habitat destruction, dog attacks, bushfires, and road accidents. The AKF estimates that there are less than 1,000 koalas left in the wild. 

Hawksbill Turtle

The hawksbill turtle, named for its narrow-pointed beak resembling a hawk, is critically endangered. Its habitat is the world’s tropical oceans, including the Great Barrier Reef. 

Sadly, this creature is hunted for its precious shell, which is used to make everything from hair accessories to furniture. According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), nesting female numbers have declined by over 80 per cent in the past 100 years. 

Sunda Tiger

Distinguished by their heavy black stripes on orange coats, there are estimated to be no more than 400 left in the wild today. They survive only in the remaining patches of forest on the island of Sumatra. The demise of this majestic animal is a result of deforestation and rampant poaching, which could result in their extinction like their Javan and Balinese counterparts. 

Sumatran Elephant 

This magnificent creature is threatened by habitat loss, degradation, fragmentation, and poaching, which has caused the population to plummet by at least 80 per cent over the last 75 years. It’s estimated that the current population of the Sumatran elephant is 2,600 in the wild. 

Giant Panda 

Despite having no natural predators, the Giant Panda is endangered due to habitat loss, fragmentation, illegal poaching, and deforestation. Only about 1,864 pandas are remaining in the wild. 

Green Turtle 

The green turtle is among the world’s greatest travellers, known to travel more than 2,600 kilometres during migration between feeding grounds and nesting beaches. This beautiful creature, an integral part of our tropical coastal ecosystem, is endangered due to harm by discarded fishing gear, long-line nets, boats and ingestion of marine plastics. Feral animals also attack their nests. 

Blue Whale 

The largest animal on the planet, weighing as much as 33 elephants, these giants of the ocean are endangered due to environmental change, such as habitat loss and toxins, and harm by boats and fishing gear. 

Orangutan 

Orangutans are closely related to humans – sharing 97 per cent DNA! They are patient, curious, and intelligent mammals. Unfortunately, they are critically endangered due to logging, fires, palm oil plantations and poaching. 

 

Whether you want to work in wildlife conservation as a professional or as an advocate, our wildlife conservation courses, such as the Certificate of Wildlife Conservation is ideal professional or personal development for you.   

Learn How To Write a Script With Our Scriptwriting Course

A diverse and exciting industry full of opportunity awaits those who know how to write a script. With hard work and dedication, you’ll start to get your work noticed, and could gain employment as a sub-contractor or even start your own production business!

In this course, you’ll learn how to develop a storyline, develop a script and understand how characterisation, dialogue, music, sound effects and visual elements can combine to create a compelling piece of work. You’ll gain an understanding of the business of scriptwriting, from legal and ethical considerations to the commercial opportunities available.

The breadth of your professional writing skills will also mean you could be writing scripts for a variety of mediums and audiences, from marketing and advertising services to mainstream and fringe media. This includes writing scripts for TV, radio and film, to working on niche projects like producing podcasts and training videos.

With a Certificate of Script Writing, the sky really is the limit! 

Learning Outcomes

Outcomes achieved by learning how to write a script include:

  • Studying the scope and nature of script writing
  • Exploring what scripts are and how they are used
  • Learning about writing scripts including uncovering the story you want to tell
  • Gaining an understanding of the one page, one-minute rule
  • Understanding visual, behaviour and aural storytelling
  • Discovering the ‘show and don’t tell’ concept
  • Examining abbreviations, how to handle your time and how to format scripts
  • Gaining insights into how to plot a screenplay
  • Learning about different types of stories including their specifications
  • Exploring the duration of performance
  • Studying how to develop the storyline
  • Understanding the Story Pyramid
  • Gaining insights into creating a storyboard
  • Learning the techniques for plotting a story
  • Exploring fiction and creative non-fiction
  • Studying non-fiction scriptwriting in terms of education, corporate and presentation writing
  • Gaining an understanding of scriptwriting formatting
  • Learning how to write the outline and the script
  • Exploring cliff hangers in a script
  • Studying how to format outlines
  • Understanding characterisation and how to build, plan and write good characters
  • Examining sound effects in script writing
  • Gaining insights into dialogue in script writing
  • Exploring examples of dialogue
  • Learning how to write dialogue and dialogue tags
  • Studying how to write scripts for TV, film and the internet
  • Gaining an understanding of fiction and non-fiction script writing
  • Examining pace, time frame and visuals
  • Learning how to write scripts for radio in terms of voice, music and sound effects
  • Studying how to write scripts for training and instructional videos
  • Gaining an understanding of one, two and multiple-person scripts
  • Learning how to use visuals in training presentations
  • Exploring scriptwriting for children
  • Studying fiction and non-fiction hybrids when writing for children
  • Understanding children’s cognitive development
  • Examining the implications for the writer
  • Gaining insights into socialisation, gender, roles and stereotyping
  • Learning about writing for advertising
  • Exploring the purpose of advertising
  • Studying how to write and analyse ads
  • Understanding summary skills including tips for summarising
  • Gaining insights into writing for infomercials
  • Learning about scriptwriting commercial opportunities
  • Studying how to start your own production business
  • Gaining an understanding of the law and ethical and legal considerations.

Freytag’s Plot Pyramid

One of the earliest dramatic plot structures was devised in the 1800s by German novelist and critic, Gustav Freytag, in his analysis of ancient Greek and Shakespearean drama. He conceptualised five plot elements and his ‘pyramid’ continues to help writers organise their ideas and thoughts. So if you’re after some tips on how to write a script with a simple yet dramatic structure, read on!

Freytag’s derived his plot pyramid from the conflict of man against man, specifically the hero and his adversary. The action of the drama and the grouping of characters is in two parts – the hero’s own deeds and those of his antagonist – which Freytag describes as ‘play and counter-play’. These two parts must be united by a climax, to which the action rises and falls away. Freytag is indifferent as to which of the two parties justice favours. In both groups, power and weakness and good and evil are mingled. The drama is then divided into five acts (sometimes referred to as a ‘dramatic arc’) – Exposition, Rising action, Climax, Falling action and finally, Catastrophe.

Exposition

Once the setting is fixed in a particular time and place, the mood is set and characters are introduced. Exposition can then be conveyed through flashbacks, dialogues, background details or the narrator telling a back-story.

Rising action

An exciting force or event begins immediately after the exposition, building the rising action in one or a number of stages towards the point of greatest interest. These events are generally the most important parts of the story because the entire plot depends on them to set up the climax and the satisfactory resolution of the story itself.

Climax

The climax is the turning point and changes the protagonist’s fate. If things were going well for them, the plot will turn against them, often revealing their hidden weaknesses. If the story is a comedy, the opposite will often happen, with things going from bad to good for the protagonist, often requiring them to draw on hidden inner strengths.

Falling action

During this act, the hostility of the counter-party targets the hero. Freytag lays out two rules here – the number of characters should be limited and the number of scenes where the hero ‘falls’ should be fewer than in the rising movement. The falling action may contain a moment of final suspense, often where the final outcome may be in doubt.

Catastrophe

The catastrophe is where the hero meets his destruction and where conflicts are resolved, creating normality for the characters, and the release of anxiety and tension for the reader or viewer. A tragedy ends with the protagonist being worse off than at the beginning of the narrative. Comedies often end the opposite way!

 

Five Famous Screenwriters Who Hated Their Own Movies

In exploring how to write a script, we often turn to famous screenwriters. However, even the most successful of these don’t always like the movie that results!

#1 – Kelly Marcel – Fifty Shades of Grey (2015)

Universal Pictures acquired the film rights to E.L. James’s bestselling novel, Fifty Shades of Grey in early 2013. The studio then hired Saving Mr Banks screenwriter Kelly Marcel to adapt the book. However, although the studio promised Marcel creative freedom, the author was unhappy with her work.

E.L James wanted to remove a lot of the dialogue as she believed ‘it could be a really sexy film if there wasn’t so much talking in it’. Subsequently, Marcel wasn’t commissioned to write the film’s sequels, Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed, and couldn’t even watch the original as her ‘heart was really broken by the process’.

#2 – Lana and Lilly Wachowski – Assassins (1995)

During the mid-1990s, the Wachowski sisters sold their screenplay to producer Joel Silver for $1 million. Richard Donner was signed on to direct with Sylvester Stallone and Antonio Banderas in the lead roles. However, although it was one of the hottest unproduced screenplays at the time, Donner didn’t like the darker tone, so he hired another screenwriter to rewrite it to make it into a standard action thriller.

The Wachowskis weren’t happy with the decision to tone down their screenplay, so asked that their names be removed from the project. The American Writer’s Guild denied their request. However, their negative experience led to the sisters wanting more control over their work, so they became directors instead!

#3 – Bret Easton Ellis – The Informers (2008)

Although Ellis co-wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of the movie from his own novel, the final cut was not exactly what he was after. He was predominantly upset that the tone of the story went from dark humour to something more melodramatic, and blamed Australian director Gregor Jordan.

 

In Ellis’ opinion, he wrote scenes in the script that were funny – with an Altman-esque sense of humour. However, they were directed in a way that resulted in the scenes not being funny at all and what he believed played out like an Aussie soap opera!

#4 – Quentin Tarantino – Natural Born Killers (1994)

Renowned as someone who knows how to write a script, Tarantino sold his screenplay for Natural Born Killers to director Oliver Stone in the early 90’s. Two years later, Stone released the film with Juliette Lewis and Woody Harrelson in starring roles. And while it was a box office hit, Tarantino despised the production because of the alterations made to much of his original content.

Years after its release, the producers of the movie sued Tarantino when he tried to publish the original screenplay. However, although producers believed Tarantino forfeited his rights when he sold it to them, a judge ruled in Tarantino’s favour.

#5 – J.D. Shapiro – Battlefield Earth – 2000

Actor John Travolta commissioned screenwriter J.D. Shapiro to adapt Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard’s novel Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000 for the big screen in 1997. However, Shapiro ended up writing a darker version of the novel and was fired from the project when he refused to change its tone.

Regardless, much of what he wrote ended up in the final movie and he received a writer’s credit, much to his dismay. Released in 2000, Battlefield Earth ended up being known as the worst movie of the decade. However, Shapiro remained a good sport about its failure, accepting a Golden Raspberry Award in 2001 for the year’s Worst Screenplay!

 

Aspiring to be a famous screenwriter or advertising jingle writer? Get those creative juices flowing and learn to write for a variety of exciting mediums with our Certificate of Script Writing!

 

Wedding Photography – Snap Up This Opportunity!

Whether you want to photograph a loved one’s special day or start your own commercial enterprise as a professional wedding photographer, this online photography course is ideal for you. 

The Certificate of Wedding Photography is an online program that will teach you how to shoot a wedding ceremony and reception and provide you with the knowledge you need to start your own successful photography business. 

On completion of this course, you will have gained the fundamental knowledge to start your own business as a wedding photographer or expand your skillset and increase your employability in the wedding photography sector.

Learning Outcomes

Outcomes achieved by undertaking an online photography course include: 

  • Determine factors relevant to any wedding that can impact how a photographer will plan and conduct the shooting of photos for that wedding
  • Learn how to plan what to do, where and when on the wedding day
  • Select photographic equipment appropriate for use when photographing a wedding
  • Determine an appropriate style for wedding photographs, according to the needs of the client
  • Improving your photographic composition
  • Shoot a Wedding Ceremony
  • Shoot a Wedding Reception
  • Process and present wedding photos to the clients, in a variety of formats
  • Successfully establish, market, and manage a wedding photography business

6 Traits of a Successful Wedding Photographer

As a wedding photographer, your primary responsibility is to your clients – the bride and groom. It’s their day you’re tasked with documenting precious memories that will last a lifetime. As such, you’ll need to have a passion for the art of photography, have a creative flair and be tech-savvy. But you’ll also need the soft skills too – patience, a sense of humour, a friendly and social nature, and problem-solving skills! You can learn many skills with an online photography course, but there are others that you’ll need to develop naturally.

 

  1. A Passion for the Art

Wedding photographers are artists with good business sense. They’re also performers. But top of the list is their fierce passion for the art of photography. If you’re considering a career as a wedding photographer, the passion for the art will be what sets you apart and drives your career success. 

  1. Creativity

Creativity is an important attribute for any wedding photographer, from choosing backdrops to subject and juxtaposition of both – you’ll need creative flair. This creativity will give you the confidence to put forward ideas to make the photographs as memorable and unique to the happy couple as possible.

  1. Detail-Oriented 

Just like creativity, being detail-oriented is a must for wedding photographers. You’ll need to see that a bride’s hair is slightly askew, that a groom’s laces are undone – these can ruin a great photograph. Most will agree, there’s no more significant event in a couple’s life than their wedding day. And the wedding photographs need the attention-to-detail to capture it perfectly. After all, these photos will be around for over 100 years!

  1. Tech-Savvy

Good photographers should commit to ongoing professional development. The field is continuously changing, so you need to embrace new developments readily. New photography software and tools are being introduced so they should know how to use them. This skill is vital in getting more customers to their side.

  1. A Friendly, Social Disposition 

Remember, you’re not just a photographer – you’ve also got to be a performer. A wedding is a momentous occasion, especially for the bride and groom and their parents, so they’ll be a lot of anxiety. Your job is to make these people feel relaxed and comfortable, so you’ll need to be able to turn on the charm. A sense of humour is always appreciated. When it comes to easing the pre-wedding jitters, nothing relaxes people faster than a bit of laughter.

  1. Patience 

You’ll need to evoke the patience of a saint as a wedding photographer. You can bet that they’ll be obstacles – whether it’s a sour guest, a weather event or wardrobe malfunction – be prepared, and be patient. It will be worth the wait and the extra time spent when your clients are thrilled with their wedding photographs! After all, referrals are big in this business.

 

9 Different Styles of Wedding Photography

As with other photography niches, wedding photography has its specialisations too! You can express your artistic flair with a variety of photographic ‘styles.’ 

 

  1. Traditional Wedding Photography 

This timeless and elegant style of photography is classic and posed. The usual subjects are group shots of the happy couple with the bridal party, immediate family – as well as the all-important cake cutting and the first kiss and the first dance of the couple as husband and wife.

  1. Photojournalistic Wedding Photography 

This style tells the story of the day in a more relaxed, informal way. Photojournalistic wedding photography is often mixed with traditional wedding photography to find a balance between formal and informal shots. It’s similar to photojournalism and documentary-style photography. 

  1. Illustrative Wedding Photography 

Illustrative wedding photography focuses on composition, lighting, and background. It’s often inspired by landscape photography with the use of wide-angle lenses and even aerial photography. 

 

  1. Portrait Wedding Photography 

Portraiture generates magnificent images, think the blushing bride or the happy couple at their wedding ceremony. This style is formal as subjects pose for the shot with direction from the photographer. 

 

  1. Natural Wedding Photography

This style has an emphasis on using natural light, resulting in more natural images. It’s ideal for outdoor and destination weddings with – after sunrise and before sunset to avoid the harsh sunlight. 

 

  1. Fine Art Wedding Photography 

Think creative framing, lighting, composition, and post-production skills. Fine art wedding photography entails artistic flair to capture unique images. There’s no real posing involved, and it often features rings, bouquets, and the wedding attire. 

 

  1. Fashion Wedding Photography 

Lights, camera – action! This style of photography is glamourous. Expect fashionable poses, elegant expressions, and beautiful backgrounds. You can get creative with posted shots while the happy couple enjoys being a high fashion model for the day!

 

  1. Black & White Wedding Photography 

Black and white wedding photography is classic and timeless – it also enhances the mood of many photographs. This type of photography can bring the couple into focus. 

 

  1. Vintage Wedding Photography 

The retro-client will love the vintage look, and with the availability of clever vintage photo filters, it can be an easy effect to achieve. There’s an old and timeless feel to these shots – perhaps due to evoking feelings of nostalgia. You can turn ordinary images into extraordinary artistic works of art.

 

Do you have a passion for weddings and an eye for photography? Why not combine them and start your own business as a wedding photographer? Discover our online photography course, the Certificate of Wedding Photography today!  

 

 

How to Become a Wedding Planner 

Before you consider how to become a wedding planner, think about why you want to study a wedding planner course. Is it to plan your own special day or that of a loved one? Or do you dream of starting an event planning business? Either way, wedding planning is equal parts art and business skill – it takes a special person to be a successful wedding planner.  

The Certificate of Wedding Planning will help you to develop and apply the talents you’ll need to be a successful wedding planner. You will expand your organisational skills and technical knowledge necessary to organise and manage a significant social event.

In this professional development course, you will learn the fundamental skills required to work as a wedding planner or apply your skills to planning naming ceremonies, commitment ceremonies, renewal of vows and other significant life celebrations. 

On completion of this course, you will also have a strong foundation to pursue a host of event management and hospitality careers. 

Learning Outcomes

Outcomes achieved by undertaking a wedding planner course include: 

  • Describe the nature and scope of wedding planning and the wedding industry.
  • Present a client with options and facilitate critical decision making for a wedding.
  • Explain how to handle different personalities and the roles of various members of the bridal party.
  • Select and manage the use of appropriate locations for and associated with a wedding.
  • Develop a programme or schedule of activities and events associated with a wedding.
  • Manage those events within the time constraints of the established schedule.
  • Effectively control events on the day of a wedding.
  • Improve your ability to communicate with and assist the people who have employed you to manage a wedding to achieve the desired outcome.
  • Prepare to manage a wedding day, planning for all foreseeable and significant contingencies.
  • Establish and run a viable wedding planning service.
  • Run your own wedding planning business or plan your own wedding.
  • Learn procedures that will enable you to be highly organised.
  • Discover how to advise the bride and groom on the wide range of options available when planning a wedding style or type.
  • Learn about the tasks involved in managing a wedding event.

9 Essential Skills of a Wedding Planner

As a wedding planner, your primary role is to ensure that the wedding runs smoothly. As a result, you’ll need certain traits such as sensitivity, creativity, excellent listening skills, a calm disposition and good attention to detail. Some of these skills can be taught in a wedding planner course, and others are in your nature. 

  1. Sensitivity 

    Wedding planners need to have a high degree of sensitivity to understand and meet the needs of the bride, bridegroom, and their families. It can be a delicate balance to keep everyone happy when it comes to highly emotional events like a wedding. Are you a sensitive person? Do you pick up on non-verbal cues? If so, this quality may make you a popular wedding planner – but don’t let that high-sensitivity get to you. You’ll also need a thick skin to deal with clients when they’re emotions are running high!

  2. Creativity

    Creativity is an important attribute for any wedding planner, from what colours to theme a wedding reception to help the couple with their vows or wedding speeches. You’ll need creative flair to put forward ideas to make the day as memorable and unique to the happy couple as possible.

  3. Excellent Listening Skills

    Listening to your clients will allow you to hear their ideas for the big day – and turn it into a celebration they’re proud of. Listening skills do come naturally to some, but if you’re not one of them don’t despair – listening is also a skill that can be developed!

  4. Calm Disposition

    Being calm under pressure is a must in this business. Weddings are wonderful, but they’re also stressful. This is particularly the case when you’re in charge of how smoothly the event runs. So, you’ll need to have a calm personality when working in such a high-pressure environment.

  5. Good Attention to Detail

    Just like creativity, attention to detail is a must for wedding planners who want to ensure their client enjoys a memorable event. Arguably, there’s no more significant event in a couple’s life than their wedding day. So, you’ll need to be on the ball when it comes to the minor details that will make or break the big day.

  6. Budgeting

    The ability to work to a budget is one of the most important aspects of planning a wedding. After all, these are expensive events! You’ll need to be able to find alternatives if the budget doesn’t stretch to the expectations of the client!

  7. Negotiating

    Whether it’s negotiating with the bride and groom on wedding decorations or trying to get the best price from suppliers, strong negotiation skills are a must.

  8. Planning and Organising

    Okay, this one is obvious– but the ability to manage your time, plan and organise down to the smallest detail and minute of a ceremony can make or break the happy couple’s day. Make sure you have the best planning and organisation processes in place before you take on the role of a wedding planner. After all, ‘planning’ is in your title! A quality wedding planner course will provide guidelines on planning and organising a big event. 

  9. Problem Solving

    The big day must go off without a hitch – and you’ll have to problem-solve your way out of a multitude of obstacles to get there! Problem-solving is an essential skill for wedding planners.

Events That Wedding Planners Can Manage

There are many types of events that wedding planners can take as projects. The events range from wedding receptions to a renewal of vows, naming and commitment ceremonies and any life celebration.

Wedding Ceremony

A wedding is a ceremony unites two people in marriage. Wedding ceremonies vary significantly in their traditions and customs between different cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes. The wedding ceremony marks the official part of a wedding. The wedding reception usually follows and is often more informal. 

Wedding Reception 

A wedding reception is the informal part of a wedding that usually involves a meal, dancing and speeches to mark the occasion. Wedding receptions can be as large or small as the couple desire, from an intimate dinner for immediate family to a lavish celebration in a restaurant for hundreds of people. 

Naming Ceremony

The birth of a baby and the choosing of a name is a special occasion for many cultures. As such, a special ceremony is planned in the child’s honour. 

Commitment Ceremony 

Commitment Ceremonies celebrate the bond of love between two people. Rather than being a legally binding ceremony like a wedding, it is merely a public declaration of a couple’s commitment to one another.

Renewal of Vows

A vow renewal celebrates an enduring and happy marriage. Whether the couple has been married for 2, 5, 10, 25 or 50 years together – the couple wants the world to know they’d do it over again in a heartbeat. Some couples may be prompted to reaffirm their commitment after a rough period in their relationship.

Bridal Shower

A bridal shower is a party to celebrate a bride-to-be in anticipation of her upcoming wedding. The guests usually bring gifts to mark the occasion.

 

Do you have a passion for weddings and a wealth of creativity to draw on? Build your dream career as a wedding planner, discover our Certificate of Wedding Planning today!  

Keep Little Ones Healthy With Our Child Nutrition Course!

Online nutrition courses are important for encouraging healthy eating in the younger population, particularly because over 28 per cent of children and adolescents in Australia were considered overweight or obese in 2019. It’s a disturbing statistic and one that can have serious and long-term implications for their future health and wellbeing.

Learning about children’s nutrition, and developing strategies for healthy eating early can help reduce the risks of social and emotional problems, and diseases in later life like obesity, Type-2 diabetes, heart disease and even some types of cancer.

Our Certificate of Child Nutrition is focused on a holistic approach, where you’ll learn about optimal diets and the healthy eating patterns and nutritional requirements suited to infants right through to adolescents.

 

Learning Outcomes

Outcomes achieved by undertaking online nutrition courses include:

  • Learning about the scope, nature and history of nutrition
  • Exploring the effect of culture and family background on nutrition
  • Studying the importance of nutrition in early childhood
  • Understanding the basic nutrients needed in a child’s diet
  • Examining nutrition tips for children
  • Gaining insights into nutrition for pre-pregnancy
  • Learning about the pre-conception diet – maternal weight and maternal nutrient status
  • Exploring paternal health and nutrition
  • Studying the effect of nutrition of parents at conception
  • Examining how to make diet changes pre-conception
  • Gaining insights into nutrition in pregnancy
  • Learning about early pregnancy and morning sickness
  • Gaining tips on helping with pregnancy nausea
  • Exploring nutrition through pregnancy in terms of a recommended dietary intake (RDI)
  • Studying caloric and fluid intake through pregnancy
  • Understanding the calorie demands of a pregnant woman
  • Gaining insights into foods to avoid while pregnant
  • Learning about hypervitaminosis
  • Exploring pregnancy complications that relate to nutrition
  • Studying nutrition in infants
  • Gaining an understanding of breastfeeding
  • Examining formula feeding
  • Gaining insights into feeding for the first six months
  • Learning about starting infants on solid foods
  • Exploring the adequate Vitamin C and iron intake for infants in the first year
  • Studying how to progress infants on solid foods – protein, dairy and finger foods etc.
  • Gaining an understanding of nutrition for toddlers
  • Examining snack packs, small meals and meal alternatives
  • Gaining insights into allergens
  • Exploring weaning
  • Studying nutrition in childhood
  • Understanding caloric, mineral and vitamin intake
  • Learning how to encourage good eating habits
  • Gaining insights into breakfast, packed lunches and morning and afternoon snacks
  • Learning about childhood eating habits
  • Studying puberty
  • Gaining an understanding of nutritional concerns
  • Examining the scope and nature of nutritional health for children
  • Gaining insights into healthy snacks and re-hydration
  • Learning about underweight children and malnutrition
  • Exploring anaemia/iron deficiency
  • Studying dental care in children
  • Understanding eating disorders like anorexia, bulimia and binge eating
  • Examining fast food and junk food
  • Gaining insights into influencing children’s eating
  • Learning how to teach healthy eating to children
  • Exploring healthy snack ideas
  • Studying childhood food sensitivities
  • Understanding food intolerances and allergies
  • Exploring the relevant research
  • Studying food and autism in children
  • Understanding food and child behaviour problems
  • Examining sensitivity diagnosis including diet and skin and blood tests
  • Gaining insights into child nutrition issues
  • Learning about the causes of childhood obesity including what’s unhealthy
  • Exploring the guidelines for child weight loss
  • Studying diet plans and special nutritional needs
  • Gaining an understanding of childhood diabetes
  • Examining vegetarian and vegan diets
  • Learning about normal eating habits for children

Childhood Obesity in Australia

Obesity can take its toll on both physical and mental health, including increasing the chance of children developing a range of other medical conditions. Because obese children also tend to be obese in later life, it’s vital that health professionals – including those who have undertaken online nutrition courses – are equipped with the skills to manage children’s healthy eating habits as early as possible.

What Is Childhood Obesity?

The term basically refers to children having too much body fat or an abnormal amount of body fat. It occurs when the energy children get from what they consume is greater than the energy they output via growing and physical activities – the excess energy is then stored as fat.

Why Is Healthy Weight Important?

Maintaining a healthy weight is important to children’s health – both now and in the future – as it can reduce their chances of:

  • being obese or overweight as an adult
  • developing serious health problems during childhood, including type-2 diabetes, hip and joint problems and obstructive sleep apnoea
  • suffering from social and emotional problems like depression, low self-esteem, eating disorders, poor body image and teasing and bullying
  • suffering physical health problems as adults, including type-2 diabetes, skin disorders, heart disease, infertility and some types of cancer.

What Factors Influence It?

Many factors can put children and adolescents at a higher risk of becoming overweight and obese, and they include:

#1 – Unhealthy Food And Drink Choices

Healthy nutritious foods include fruit and veggies, reduced-fat dairy products and protein-rich foods like fish, eggs, legumes and lean meat and chicken. Tap water and reduced-fat milk are the healthiest drinks for children. Children and adolescents need to eat different amounts of these foods at different ages, which is why health professionals should follow the recommended Australian dietary guidelines.

#2 – A Lack Of Physical Activity

Children need to be as physically active as possible as part of an overall healthy lifestyle. This includes walking and playing outdoors, as these activities can use up their excess energy and decrease their stress levels. Physical activity can also prevent health issues and disease, and give children the chance to socialise with other children.

#3 – The Influence Of Family Role Models

Children are more likely to be active and make healthy food choices if they see their parents and other influencers doing the same. Young children, in particular, do as adults do, so modelling healthy eating and regular exercise can have a huge impact.

#4 – Family History And Medical Factors

Lifestyle factors can affect children’s health, but so can things like our genes. Some children are at greater risk of obesity because their genes can make them gain weight more easily, or because they have existing health problems or take certain medications.

#5 – Other Factors

Busy family lifestyles, a lack of outdoor space and too much screen time can make it harder for children to be active, which makes it easier for them to overeat. Sleep problems are also a risk factor in terms of childhood obesity, so it’s important to promote regular and adequate sleep as part of a healthy lifestyle.

 

The Healthy Eating Pyramid

The Healthy Eating Pyramid was first introduced by Nutrition Australia in 1980. It was designed as a simple, conceptual model to encourage Australians to eat a varied and balanced diet in line with the current dietary guidelines. Since then, the Pyramid has continued to evolve, with the latest version being launched in 2015.

It’s a great visual guide for health professionals – including those who are undertaking online nutrition courses – that outlines the types and proportions of foods we should eat every day for good health.

The Concept

The Healthy Eating Pyramid contains the five core food groups (plus healthy fats) and is based on their contribution to a balanced diet based on the Australian Dietary Guidelines from 2013. The layers represent the recommended food intake for 19 to 50-year-olds, however, the placement and proportions of each food group are generally applicable to everyone aged from one to 70. Australians should enjoy a variety of foods from each of the food groups every single day (something you’ll learn about very quickly when you study online nutrition courses!).

The Layers

The foundation layers of the Pyramid include the three plant-based food groups – fruits, vegetables, and legumes and grains. They make up the largest portion because they should be 70% of our diet! These foods contain a wide variety of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, and they’re also our main source of fibre and carbohydrates. In terms of grains, whole grains (like brown rice, oats and wholegrain varieties of bread, pasta etc.) should be chosen over refined, highly processed options.

The middle layer includes things like milk, cheese, yoghurt and their alternatives, and poultry, lean meat, fish, nuts, seeds, legumes and eggs. The dairy category provides us with protein, calcium and other vitamins and minerals, and it can also refer to non-dairy options like rice, soy or cereal milks. Reduced-fat options are also recommended in this group. The second category contains our main sources of protein, which provides nutrients like iron, zinc, iodine, healthy fats and B12 vitamins. Everyone should aim to have a variety of meat and non-meat options from this category.

The top layer refers to healthy fats, as opposed to saturated or trans fats. Small amounts of these are needed every day to support brain function and heart health. Unrefined polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats can come from plant sources like nut, seed and extra virgin olive oils. Healthy fats are also found in other food groups like nuts, seeds, fish and avocadoes.

Other Recommendations

The Healthy Eating Pyramid also reminds us to limit our intake of sugar and salt, which is linked to an increased risk of some diseases. This means avoiding adding sugar or salt to food when we’re cooking or eating and consuming drinks and packaged foods that have sugar or salt added to their ingredients.

In terms of salt, we do need small amounts for good health, however, too much of it is linked to a risk of high blood pressure which can lead to kidney and heart disease.

In terms of sugars, most vegetables, fruits, legumes and unsweetened dairy foods contain small amounts of naturally occurring sugars which aren’t harmful. However, consuming a lot of added sugars can add extra kilojoules, lead to weight gain and increase the risk of developing type-2 diabetes, heart disease and some cancers.

In terms of drinks, water is best! It keeps us hydrated and supports other essential functions in the body, so sugary options like soft drinks and sports and energy drinks should be avoided.

Little bodies need lots of the good stuff and less of the bad stuff. So if you’re keen to have a positive impact on the future health of our children, our Certificate of Child Nutrition is a fantastic place to start!

 

 

Capture Ever-lasting Memories With Our Photojournalism Course!

Master the art of photography and get your work published with our inspiring photojournalism course, the Introduction to Photojournalism! 

With so many would-be photographers out there, publishers can be very choosy and often prefer published photographers and/or those who have qualifications like a photojournalism course. This photojournalism course will teach you how to select photos for specific publications, submit work, and meet the requirements of an editor or publisher. You’ll also learn how to publish your own work online, generate ideas for photo stories and deal with ethical dilemmas. 

Learning Outcomes

Outcomes achieved by undertaking a photojournalism course include: 

  • Exploring a short history of photojournalism
  • Studying famous photographers including Margaret Bourke-White, Gordon Parks, Diane Arbus, Nick Ut and Larry Burrows
  • Understanding ethics and photojournalism 
  • Examining the nature of ethics and the schools of philosophy
  • Gaining insights into utilitarianism, rationalism and humanism
  • Learning about famous philosophers including Kant and Socrates
  • Exploring digital manipulation and ethics and the Code of Ethics  
  • Studying the guidelines for making ethical decisions
  • Gaining an understanding of ethics in practice
  • Understanding what to photograph
  • Gaining insights into composition and camera techniques 
  • Learning about the principles of photographic composition
  • Exploring the qualities of the components
  • Studying the effects of different angles on the subject
  • Gaining an understanding of the legal issues involved
  • Learning about photography terms 
  • Exploring depth of field and shutter speed 
  • Studying digital versus conventional photography
  • Understanding how to develop a photographic style
  • Gaining insights into equipment and materials
  • Learning about sensitometry and lighting
  • Exploring photo stories and how to edit images 
  • Studying the ethics of digital manipulation
  • Understanding the controversy of fairy photos
  • Gaining insights into how to correctly interpreting photos
  • Learning about photojournalism publishing opportunities
  • Exploring how to compose a portfolio
  • Studying how to compose an online, direct or slide portfolio
  • Gaining insights into CD’s, music and using flash photography 
  • Learning how to stand out in terms of your cover letter and resume 
  • Studying how to create a job hunt database
  • Gaining insights into how to get work and the type of clients you might want
  • Being able to develop and draft submission for an electronic publication 
  • Developing a photo story that meets these specifications
  • Gaining the skills to publish using an online management system 
  • Learning about the types of digital files and how to publish online 
  • Studying how to take photos and submit images
  • Understanding portraiture versus photojournalism
  • Examining sports photography
  • Learning about freezing action, blurring movement and panning
  • Studying sports photography using a digital SLR camera
  • Understanding how to photograph an event
  • Gaining insights into how to submit images for publication
  • Studying how to write effective sentences and phrases 
  • Understanding how to choose effective words and use paragraphs and punctuation 
  • Examining what makes a newsworthy article
  • Gaining insights into news values 
  • Learning about news values
  • Studying how to write storylines, news articles and captions to accompany your image 

History’s Most Famous Photojournalists 

Photojournalists tell stories and often put a spotlight on those who deserve to be heard, changing their lives for the better. Our photojournalism course will take you one step closer to the accolades that the following renowned historical legends have achieved.

Margaret Bourke-White

Bourke-White was the first American female war photojournalist, and in the 1930s, the first Western photographer permitted to take photographs of Soviet industry under the Soviet’s five-year plan. She travelled around Europe recording how Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia were faring under Nazism, and how Russia was faring under Communism. While in Russia, she also photographed a rare occurrence – political leader Joseph Stalin with a smile on his face! 

In 1936, she was hired as the first female photojournalist for Life magazine, and one of her photographs appeared on the cover of the first issue. Bourke-White held the title of Staff Photographer at the magazine until 1940. 

Gordon Parks

Parks became prominent in the field of US documentary photojournalism, particularly concerning the poverty and civil rights surrounding African-Americans. A self-taught photographer (no photojournalism course here!), he first obtained work as a freelance portrait and fashion photographer, and in the early 1940s, began to chronicle the city’s South Side black ghetto.

This won him a fellowship with the Farm Security Administration, and while working as a trainee, he created one of his best-known photographs, “American Gothic”. Later in his life, he undertook photographic essays for Life magazine and joined the Standard Oil Photography Project in New Jersey, which assigned photographers to take pictures of small towns and industrial centres.

Diane Arbus

Arbus primarily worked to normalise marginalised groups and worked with a wide range of subjects including strippers, nudists, carnival performers and members of the LGBTQ+ community. By befriending, not objectifying her subjects, she was able to capture a rare psychological intensity in her work.

In her lifetime she achieved notoriety, beginning in 1960 with the publication of photographs in magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar, Esquire and London’s Sunday Times Magazine. In 1963, the Guggenheim Foundation awarded her a fellowship for her proposal entitled, “American Rites, Manners and Customs”. The first major retrospective of her work was held in 1972 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and it garnered the highest attendance of any exhibition in the museum’s history to date. 

Nick Ut

Ut is a Vietnamese American photographer who began taking photos for the Associated Press (AP) when he was just 16 years of age. In 1973, he won both the World Press Photo of the Year and the Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography for his work, “The Terror of War”, which depicted children fleeing from a napalm bombing during the Vietnam War. His own brother, another AP photographer, was killed in Vietnam years earlier and Ut himself was injured numerous times while on assignment.

In September 2012, on the 40th anniversary of the photo, he became the third person inducted by the Leica Hall of Fame for his contributions to photojournalism.

Larry Burrows

English photojournalist Burrows also spent over nine years covering the Vietnam War for AP. One of his most famous images published first in Life magazine in 1965 was titled, “One Ride with Yankee Papa 13”. This captured the death of co-pilot Lieutenant James Magel while flying in a helicopter with the US Marines. 

In early 1971, Burrows’ was elected a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society. However, he died in February that year along with three fellow photojournalists when their helicopter was shot down over the Ho Chi Minh Trail. One of his other famous images, “Reaching Out“, which captures a US Marine reaching out to a wounded comrade, was published in Life magazine following his death.

2019’s World Press Photo Winners 

The World Press Photo Contest is a highly anticipated photojournalism event that recognises and celebrates the best visual journalism produced internationally every year. 2019’s awards ceremony was held in Amsterdam, and over four million people have now seen the prize-winning photographs in 45 countries. Here is all the inspiration you’ll need to undertake our photojournalism course!

World Press Photo of the Year 

American photojournalist John Moore took out the top prize at the 62nd annual contest with a photo titled, “Crying Girl On The Border”. As a senior staff photographer for Getty Images, Moore has been focusing on immigration and border issues since 2008. His haunting image shows a Honduran toddler wailing as a US Border Patrol in Texas searches her mother. 

This particular image summed up the US government’s policy of separating families at the border and reinforces why the public outcry against these practices was so strong. Judges deemed his piece a combination of technical prowess and storytelling capabilities that produced “a jarring image that is impossible to look away from”. 

World Press Photo Story of the Year

Born in the Netherlands, Pieter Ten Hoopen’s submission, titled “The Migrant Caravan”, captured the thousands of Central American refugees who joined a caravan heading to the US border during October and November 2018. Migrant caravans travel to the border at different times every year, but this was the largest in recent memory according to the United Nations, with over 7000 travellers, including at least 2300 children. 

Travellers included a mix of people fleeing harsh economic conditions and those facing political repression and violence – and all were hoping for a better life. However, although travelling via caravan offered a degree of safety on a dangerous route, conditions along the way were gruelling. Most travellers walked over 30 kilometres a day in brutal temperatures of over 30°C.

General News, Stories 

A new award for 2019, this category honoured a photographer who combined visual skills and creativity to produce a story that captured a journalistically important event or issue from the previous year. 

After nearly four years of conflict in Yemen, at least 8.4 million people are at risk of starvation, and 22 million people – almost 75% of the population – need humanitarian assistance. However in many cases, near-famine conditions have been caused not so much by the unavailability of food, but because it has become unaffordable due to import restrictions, fuel scarcity and a collapsing currency. 

The winner of this award, Lorenzo Tugnoli, captured the war the UN has termed ‘the world’s worst man-made humanitarian disaster’ in a submission called the “Yemen Crisis”. 

Nature, Stories

The millennia-old practice of falconry is experiencing an international resurgence, especially in Arab locations. And although falcons bred in captivity have helped diminish the trade-in captured wild birds, some falcons in the wild continue to be at risk. These include sakers, which are endangered due to habitat loss and the illegal wildlife trade. UNESCO recognises falconry as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (ICH), a title which ensures better protection of important intangible cultural heritages worldwide.

Winner of this category was Brent Stirton, an employee of Getty Images for National Geographic, with his submission, “Falcons and the Arab Influence”. Stirton’s photo afforded a ‘birds-eye’ view of a female saker falcon and her nesting chicks in Erdene Sant in Mongolia.

Portraits, Stories

Bénédicte Kurzen won this category for his submission titled, “Double Trouble, Blessed Twice”, where he used two colour filters to express duality – of identity and the attitude towards twins. Nigeria has one of the highest occurrences of twins in the world, particularly among the Yoruba people in the southwest. Over the years, communities have developed different cultural practices to twins, and at one stage in some regions, they were considered evil and either vilified or killed at birth. 

Nowadays, their arrival is generally met with celebration, and many think they bring wealth and good luck. In the town of Igbo-Ora – ‘The Nation’s Home of Twins’ – reportedly almost every family has at least one set of twins, and in 2018, the town hosted a Twins Festival, attended by over 2,000 pairs. 

Got a keen visual eye and an abundance of creative vision? Ignite your passion for photography and get your work published with our Introduction to Photojournalism!

Play Therapy Courses Valuable for Many Professions

Play therapy helps to reduce or eliminate negative or unhelpful behaviours while encouraging the use of positive, more adaptive ones. A play therapy course is useful for parents and carers. It is also valuable professional development in health care, counselling, teaching, and in the toy and gaming sector.

In undertaking a play therapy course, you will learn to encourage healing in children and adults experiencing physical, mental, or emotional trauma. This type of therapy, like other therapies, help to improve mood, coping skills, problems solving, self-awareness, social skills and more. 

The Certificate of Play Therapy is an online play therapy course that will teach you how to apply play therapy to help those with mental health conditions and developmental disorders to regain their motivation and emotional stability. You will also discover how play therapy can help with dementia, family problems and grief and loss

In this play therapy course, you discover the foundations of play therapy. You will also learn how to create the right environment and choose the right toys, materials, and activities to suit a specific client and more.

Learning Outcomes

  • The purpose of using play therapy, the potential of what it might achieve, and determine situations where it is appropriate to use it as a therapeutic technique.
  • The therapeutic play continuum, applications of play and play therapy, play therapy tools, advantages and issues arising in therapy.
  • How play therapy can be used to help children with emotional disturbances, such as depression and anxiety disorders.
  • In what way play therapy can be used to help children with behavioural disorders such as conduct disorder, oppositional defiant disorder and problems with anger and impulse control.
  • By what means play therapy can be used to treat developmental disorders such as autism, intellectual disability and learning disorders.
  • A range of different but closely related therapies including music, art, and drama therapy, and techniques used in these therapies which are incorporated into play therapy.
  • How play can be used in occupational therapy and other contexts to help people manage or rehabilitate from physical and mental disabilities, and the role of science and technology.
  • Determine appropriate uses of play therapy for children suffering from social and family-related problems such as grief and loss, crises such as divorce, and trauma-related issues.
  • Understand the uses of play therapy to assist adult populations with specific emotional and psychological problems which can benefit from play.

What is Play Therapy? 

Psychology Today defines play therapy as a ‘psychotherapeutic approach used primarily to help children ages 3 to 12 explore their lives and freely express repressed thoughts and emotions through play. 

‘Therapeutic play usually takes place in a safe, comfortable playroom, where very few rules or limits are imposed on the child, encouraging free expression, and allowing the therapist to observe the child’s choices, decisions, and play style.

‘The goal is to help children learn to express themselves in healthier ways, become more respectful and empathetic, and discover new and more positive ways to solve problems.’

What are the Benefits of Play Therapy? 

You’ll discover a wide range of benefits derived from play therapy in play therapy courses, including: 

  • Improved mood and positive feelings
  • Better coping skills
  • Enhanced problem solving
  • Less internal conflict and stress
  • Greater self-awareness
  • Increased impulse control
  • Appropriate emotional expression
  • Improved verbal skills
  • Better communication
  • Improved social skills
  • Increased confidence and self-esteem
  • Greater trust of others
  • Increased maturity

Types of Play Therapy Toys

The most popular type of play therapy toys falls into three categories, including real-life; expressive and creative; and aggressive-emotional release. 

Child-centred play therapy clinician Dr Garry Landreth recommends therapists include several toys from each category. 

Real Life

  • Play kitchens and play food
  • Doctor kits and band-aids
  • Dolls and Dollhouses
  • Animals, Cars, Trucks, People
  • Cash Register and Play Money

Expressive and Creative 

  • Art supplies
  • Paint
  • Play-doh/clay
  • Dress ups
  • Puppets and Puppet Shows
  • Sand 
  • Water

Aggressive and Emotional Release

  • Toy guns (plastic, not real-looking)
  • Fake/plastic swords
  • Army soldiers
  • Rubber knives
  • Rope
  • Aggressive puppets (sharks, dinosaurs, crocodiles)

How Can Play Therapy Help Adults?

It’s easy to overlook the relevance of play in treating adult clients. After all, isn’t play the work of children? In many ways, teenagers and adults can benefit from re-learning the value of play.

Playful exploration enhances both cognitive and physical behaviours in adult clients. In fact, research from the fields of neurophysiology and molecular biology support play therapy as a therapeutic tool for adults. 

Of course, play therapy may not suit all adult clients. But, play therapy shouldn’t be automatically ruled out as developmentally inappropriate without proper assessment and consideration.

Play therapy takes the view that adults retain child-like representations of the world and can make use of non-verbal expression. As such, adults of all ages can get in touch with their inner-child and work through trauma or issues stemming from childhood.

The benefits of play therapy for adults include enhanced relationships, optimised learning, and better overall improve health and wellbeing.

Play therapy with adults may be at its most successful when used in alongside other types of treatment.

Adults with the following conditions may benefit from play therapy.

  • Dementia 
  • Grief and loss
  • Arrested emotional development
  • Problems associated with developmental disorders 
  • Depression
  • Anxiety
  • Post-traumatic stress
  • Obsessive-compulsive disorder 
  • Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

 

Play Therapy is a useful tool to have in your professional toolkit, especially if you work in a counselling role. It’s also ideal personal development for anyone working with or caring for children, including parents. Discover the Certificate of Play Therapy today and unlock the power of play. 

Exercise Your Career Ambition With Health and Fitness Qualifications!

Experts are predicting strong growth in the health and fitness sector over the next five years, particularly for those who have undertaken personal training courses. Job opportunities are also increasing in line with society’s awareness of the health benefits of physical activity and growth in health consciousness.

Because this sector is also not clearly defined, it overlaps into many fields including medicine, natural therapies, sports, recreation, tourism and education … so the career possibilities are endless! 

Our new course, the Certificate of Health and Fitness, is ideal for anyone keen to improve their own wellbeing as well as help others achieve their health goals. This includes personal trainers, gym and group instructors, fitness services coordinators, or those who work in other health and fitness-related sectors.

Learning Outcomes

Learning outcomes achieved by undertaking personal training courses include: 

  • Exploring the scope and nature of the health and fitness industry 
  • Studying the definition of fitness 
  • Learning about the components of physical fitness 
  • Gaining access to health and fitness resources 
  • Studying health and fitness organisations
  • Gaining insights into exercise physiology
  • Learning about muscle and muscle contraction
  • Exploring fast and slow muscle 
  • Studying how exercise affects muscles 
  • Examining pulse rate and the cardiorespiratory system
  • Learning about energy and enzymes 
  • Exploring food as an energy source 
  • Studying the recommended daily intake of nutrients
  • Gaining an understanding of respiration and exercise recovery
  • Examining exercise principles and cardiorespiratory programming
  • Gaining insights into the relationship between heart rate and workload 
  • Learning about the biology of the circulatory system
  • Exploring blood composition, blood functions and blood vessels
  • Studying the heart, pulse rate and cardiac output 
  • Examining heart disease and cardiovascular disease 
  • Gaining insights into the spleen and the lymphatic system
  • Learning about biomechanics and risk
  • Exploring the skeleton and the muscular system in terms of risk
  • Studying the risks involved with training
  • Gaining an understanding of the common musculoskeletal injuries
  • Examining back and spinal injuries
  • Gaining insight into how to prevent injury
  • Learning about fitness program design and the typical process
  • Exploring the kinds of exercise used in a fitness program
  • Studying how to develop the physique and provide a balanced program
  • Gaining an understanding of indoor and outdoor locations and the equipment and music needed
  • Learning how to deliver a fitness program
  • Exploring fitness leader functions including teaching, counselling, motivation and evaluation
  • Studying leadership communication and the barriers to communication 
  • Gaining an understanding of how to communicate with children and young people
  • Examining communication techniques including whistling and raising an arm
  • Gaining insights into motivation including intrinsic and extrinsic motivation 
  • Learning about the factors that affect motivation
  • Exploring self-belief and self-talk
  • Gaining an understanding of relationships with your participants 
  • Gaining insights into motivating for fitness and weight control
  • Learning about nutrition and sport 
  • Exploring sports psychologists and fitness programs
  • Studying the elements of a session or class and how to deliver and conclude them
  • Gaining insights into how to write an exercise program
  • Learning how to support participants’ needs 
  • Exploring communication strategies including active listening and reinforcement
  • Studying how to deal with problems and conflict 
  • Understanding safety, injury and general wellbeing
  • Examining safety considerations including those in aerobic activities 
  • Gaining insights into dealing with injuries including giving First Aid 
  • Learning about occupational health and safety regulations
  • Studying how to identify hazards and the legalities of the fitness sector 
  • Gaining insights into how to pre-screen clients
  • Learning about suitable surfaces, clothing and footwear 
  • Exploring anthropometric measurements 
  • Studying cancer and general wellbeing when it comes to fitness 
  • Gaining an understanding of fitness programs for special groups
  • Understanding inclusive program management 
  • Examining exercise variables including frequency, duration and intensity
  • Gaining insights into training zones 
  • Learning how to deliver programs for older adults 
  • Studying how to deliver programs for those with physical and mental disabilities 
  • Understanding how to deliver programs for ethnic groups 
  • Examining the principals of weight control and how to deliver weight control programs
  • Learning how to evaluate cardiorespiratory and muscular strength and endurance

Australia’s Top 5 Fitness Influences on Instagram

Many personal trainers these days are more than just influencers, they’re downright celebrities! The following fitness gurus are fantastic examples of how personal training courses can ignite your passion, and you can use your knowledge to launch an Insta-worthy business! 

#1 – Kayla Itsines – over 12 million followers 

Kayla began her fitness journey in 2008 after graduating from a PT course. Her business includes a series of fitness E-books, and a meal planning and workout app called Sweat with Kayla. Kayla has inspired thousands of women to achieve their ‘bikini-confident body’ and believes that healthy eating is a vital part of weight loss.

#2 – Tammy Hembrow – over 11 million followers 

Tammy and her sister Emilee have combined their skills to develop a global, multi-million dollar health, fitness and fashion business empire. The sisters are the creators of the Tammy Fit app, which is used by nearly half a million people worldwide, and they also have a leisure clothing line known as the Saski Collection. 

#3 – Emily Skye – over 2 million followers 

Fitness model Emily shows women of all ages and body types how to tone, trim and shape their entire bodies via motivational exercise videos and nutritionist-developed meal plans. Her workouts can be done both in and out of the gym, and she is a prime example of how personal training courses can lead to a successful career in the industry.

#4 – Amanda Bisk – over 720K followers 

Amanda was previously a Commonwealth Games pole vaulter, and national high jumper and gymnast at the West Australian Institute of Sport. She now brings all of her training and knowledge to her work as a coach and fitness trainer. Her personal mantra is to lead, learn and love your active journey empowered with health, balance and happiness.

#5 – Dan Conn – over 290K followers

A former NRL star who played for the Gold Coast Titans, Sydney City Roosters and Canterbury Bulldogs, Dan is passionate about the future of the health and fitness industry. After being sidelined with a neck injury, Dan decided to share his knowledge of fitness and extends his reach through modelling, social media and TV commercials.

Characteristics Of Good Personal Trainers 

Personal training courses can equip you with the knowledge and skills you need to work in the sector, but what other characteristics make for a good personal trainer?

They Have Experience 

One of the most important qualities of a good PT, many trainers will attest to having learnt a lot about what they know from achieving their own fitness goals. From tailored exercises to technique, rest times, and sets and reps – they have probably gone through the motions thousands of times before! And if their venue of choice is a gym, they would have also had the bonus of sharing what they have (or haven’t) learnt with similarly motivated people, including qualified trainers.

They Care About Your Goals 

Whether a client’s fitness goals are weight-related, sports-driven or simply a need for a healthier lifestyle, it’s a PT’s job to motivate clients in ways they couldn’t achieve themselves. Many PT’s are on a long-term journey with their clients to meet personal training goals, and in fact, clients are a reflection of their PT’s work. Successes and failures are shared, and they will invest in them as much as their clients do. 

They Have Great Communication Skills 

There is no point in a trainer spouting textbook moves or medical phrases that their clients don’t understand – it just leads to confusion, frustration and a lack of motivation. Good PT’s should be able to communicate their knowledge – ideally learned from personal training courses – inefficient and straightforward terms. Communication should also be two-way in that clients should feel comfortable talking to their trainer about their goals before, during and after their sessions.

They Know Their Limitations 

Great PT’s should be honest about understanding any limitations in their own expertise. Trainers come from a variety of backgrounds and have experience in different areas. These range from nutrition, rehabilitation and strength and conditioning to group training and even yoga and pilates. Because it is unwise to give recommendations on subjects they are not qualified in, PT’s should also have alliances with medical and other allied health professionals to arm themselves with accurate and up-to-date information. 

They Practise What They Preach 

For clients to have complete faith in their PT, they need to see that they care as much about their physical health as they demand! They need to personally understand what it’s like to train hard and be disciplined about their fitness. However, fitness isn’t just about the perfect physical body. In other words, it’s not just what they look like, but what they should be like. They should have knowledge, integrity, character and passion. And more importantly, they should want to help clients achieve a healthier and more sustainable lifestyle. 

They Make Excercise Enjoyable

Training sessions should be fun, and something clients look forward to rather than dread. Good PT’s will encourage and clients to train beyond their capabilities, so they are challenged. Patience is also a key to a great client-trainer relationship, as achieving fitness certainly doesn’t happen overnight! Tailoring sessions to a client’s individual needs will ensure they are not pushed beyond their limits, which can cause frustration, let alone exhaustion. Ultimately, it’s a fine balance between trust, understanding and compromise.

They Are Adequately Trained 

This is undoubtedly the most important quality as PT’s need to be able to help clients achieve their goals safely and professionally. Personal training courses can assist those who are keen to work in the sector in a variety of ways. They help PT’s stand out as experts by understanding how the body works, and they can look for warning signs that certain actions could compromise a client’s wellbeing. Ultimately, having skills and knowledge in health and fitness helps trainers not just talk the talk, but walk the talk! 

 

Keen to develop and operate a health and fitness program for individual or groups that will positively change people’s lives? Get your career up and running with our Certificate of Health and Fitness!

Canine Careers! The Certificate of Dog Psychology and Training

Whether you want to understand your own dog, establish a dog training business or work with dogs, this online dog training course is ideal for you.

The Certificate of Dog Psychology and Training is an online program that will give you the knowledge and skills required to understand canine psychology to implement successful obedience training programs.

On completion of this online dog training course, you will have an in-depth understanding of dog psychology and obedience training methods to build respectful and responsive relationships with dogs. 

Learning Outcomes 

In this online dog training course, you will build on your knowledge and solidify what you know, fill skill-gaps, and gain a professional development qualification. 

  • Describe how canine animals think and discuss the relevance of understanding canine psychology to people.
  • Explain how canine animals communicate and formulate an understanding of possible ways that a human may communicate with a dog.
  • Understand behaviours that are natural and predictable in canines and learn to recognise and understand signals that dogs give.
  • Explain how dogs develop behavioural characteristics throughout the stages of their life.
  • Describe commonly occurring behavioural problems in dogs.
  • Develop a program for training a new pet dog when it is brought into a household.
  • Explain how to train a dog to perform predetermined actions upon command.
  • Describe how the movement of dogs can be controlled, both through training and other methods.
  • Describe how dogs can be trained to perform tasks required as a working dog, including a sheepdog, tracking dog, blind dog, or substance detection dog.

7 of the Smartest Dog Breeds

As a dog trainer, you’ll have your work cut out for you! But some dogs will make your job a little easier. The following breeds are considered the most intelligent by a canine psychologist. 

These bright working dogs tended to learn a new command in less than five exposures and obeyed commands at least 95 per cent of the time!

1. Border Collie

The Border Collie was bred to gather and control sheep in the hilly border country between Scotland and England. This breed has unlimited energy, stamina, and working drive – all-important for herding sheep on farms and ranches around the world!

2. Poodle

Ranked second most intelligent dog breed behind the Border Collie, the Poodle is skilful in many dog sports and activities, such as agility, obedience, tracking, herding, circus performance, and assistance dogs.

3. German Shepherd

Obedient, intelligent, curious, alert, loyal, confident, and courageous, the German Shephard is a popular working dog – particularly in law enforcement. 

4. Golden Retriever

The Golden Retriever is a medium to large dog that was bred to retrieve shot waterfowl, such as ducks and upland game birds, during hunting. The name “retriever” refers to the dog’s ability to retrieve shot game undamaged due to their soft mouth.

5. Doberman 

The Dobermann is a medium to large breed of dog originally developed around 1890 by Karl Friedrich Louis Dobermann, a tax collector from Germany. 

6. Shetland Sheepdog

The Shetland Sheepdog, made famous by the television show “Lassie”, is often known as a Sheltie. This breed is popular as a herding dog and originated in the Shetland Islands of Scotland.

7. Labrador Retriever

The Labrador Retriever, also known as a Labrador or Lab, is a medium to large breed of retriever-gun dog. This breed is both a friendly companion dog and a useful working dog. Historically, they were fishermen’s helpers – hauling nets, fetching ropes and retrieving fish from the ice-cold North Atlantic!

 

7 Canine Industry Careers

If you’re considering a canine career, you’re onto a lucrative path with expenditure on pet-related products and services in Australia estimated at more than $13 billion a year! And from dog breeding to grooming and obedience training – there’s a profession for everyone’s taste. 

You’re also living in the right country. Around 40% of Australian households include at least one dog, making them the most popular type of pet!

Whether you take an online dog training course and develop your own obedience school or dog walking business or set up a grooming salon – you’re spoilt for choice when it comes to working with pets (and, specifically dogs). 

Dog Breeder

Animal breeding is a popular hobby, but it can also be a highly specialised and sophisticated career or business. What’s important, whether working in zoos, wildlife sanctuaries, agricultural research stations or from a home-based business, is a genuine interest in and empathy for animals.

Dog Groomer

Professional dog groomers own profitable businesses, with the steadily increasing trend to pamper pets. So, if you’ve got a passion for pets, there’s never been a better time to start your own business or gain employment as a professional groomer.

Dog Obedience and Trainer

Australians spend $0.4 billion on training, behaviour, or therapy annually. So, studying an online dog training course is a profitable investment if you turn it into a business venture. Dog obedience professionals work with companion dogs and their owners but may also specialise in working with scent dogs, search and rescue dogs, agility dogs and police dogs.

Dog Boarding or Kennel Enterprise

One of the drawbacks of pet ownership is that most holidays aren’t pet-friendly. As such, pet owners seek quality boarding and kennel services. There has also been an increasing demand for pampering kennels or “pet holidays.” Australians spend $0.7 billion on dog boarding services annually. And with the rise in dog-ownership, it’s a figure that’s likely to keep growing. So, this is also a lucrative business to be in right now. 

Dog Walker and Pet Sitter

Many professionals who own a dog are asset rich but time-poor, so taking their pooch out for a leisurely stroll can be difficult. As a result, dog walkers and pet sitters are in demand and can create booming businesses. 

Pet Shop Business 

The Australian market for pet products and accessories is estimated at $1.2 billion annually – $600 million of which is attributed to dog owners. Popular items include food bowls, bedding, leads, litter trays, toys, and clothing.

Canine Behaviour Therapist

A canine behavioural therapist or “dog psychologist” modifies or changes a dog’s problematic behaviour. They can be hands-on dog handlers, who have developed their experience over many years, or they can acquire formal qualifications.

 

There are many careers you can pursue to work with (wo) man’s best friend. And an online dog training course is just one of many options. Discover our Certificate of Dog Psychology and Training to learn about what makes our furry companion’s tick.  

A Counselling Psychology Course Will Help You Help Others!

Studying a counselling course online like our Certificate of Counselling Psychology will be of particular interest to people working in or planning to work in counselling, psychology, psychotherapy, social work, nursing or in caring or health professional roles.

Relationship issues, discrimination, work and family demands, physical and mental health problems … there is a range of issues that can cause stress. In fact, according to the World Health Organisation, 25% of people will develop a mental or behavioural disorder during their lifespan.

And while some people can adequately manage stress, others can develop adverse feelings and anxieties that can persist and intensify. This can lead to issues including depression, substance abuse, behavioural problems and disorders that are particular to children and adolescents.

Counselling psychologists can assist people with physical, mental and emotional health issues to resolve crises, alleviate feelings of distress and improve their sense of well‐being. 

 

Learning Outcomes

Outcomes achieved by undertaking a counselling course online include: 

  • Learning about stress in terms of the mind to body connection
  • Studying how to recognise stress
  • Exploring what happens to the body when you experience stress
  • Uncovering the physiological response
  • Gaining an understanding of chronic and acute stress
  • Understanding Erikson’s psychosocial stages
  • Discovering the oral sensory, anal muscular, genital locomotor and latency stages of stress
  • Examining stress in young, middle and late adulthood
  • Gaining insights into social adjustment
  • Learning about the relationship between stress and heart disease
  • Exploring the basic sources of stress
  • Understanding why some people suffer more with stress
  • Studying how to deal with stress
  • Gaining an understanding of stress defence mechanisms
  • Learning about stress and abnormal behaviour
  • Exploring the definition of abnormality
  • Studying the deviation from statistical and social norms
  • Gaining an understanding of maladaptiveness in behaviour
  • Examining personal distress
  • Gaining insights into disabilities and stress 
  • Learning about Wakefield’s harmful dysfunction concept
  • Understanding what makes psychologically healthy individuals
  • Exploring deviation in character
  • Studying the classification of mental disorders
  • Examining anxiety and mood disorders
  • Gaining insights into the prevalence and treatment of depression
  • Learning about schizophrenia 
  • Exploring substance-related disorders
  • Examining disorders diagnosed in childhood
  • Gaining insights into delirium, dementia and amnestic and cognitive disorders
  • Exploring classification problems
  • Studying individual and pro-social or altruistic behaviours
  • Understanding when children first exhibit pro-social behaviour
  • Learning about socialisation and conformity
  • Studying disciplinary measures
  • Exploring family and sibling influence
  • Examining the influence of family structure
  • Gaining insights into the influence of school and peers
  • Learning about Heider’s balance theory
  • Exploring dissonance theory and cognitive dissonance
  • Studying group behaviour
  • Gaining an understanding of social considerations
  • Learning about different types of groups – temporary, organised, industrial and organisational 
  • Examining the influence of different types of groups
  • Gaining insights into the methods of dealing with abnormalities
  • Learning about professionals in counselling and psychology
  • Exploring therapist techniques
  • Studying transference
  • Examining directiveness and non-directiveness
  • Gaining insights into systematic desensitisation
  • Learning about a variety of behaviour therapies
  • Exploring psychoanalytical approaches
  • Studying psychoanalytic techniques
  • Examining humanistic therapy
  • Gaining insights into eclectic approaches
  • Learning about conflict resolution
  • Exploring conflict handling techniques
  • Studying anger in terms of conflict 
  • Gaining an understanding of negotiation
  • Examining joint problem solving
  • Gaining insights into negotiation problems
  • Learning about mediation and the procedures involved
  • Studying how to run a mediation process in a conflict situation
  • Gaining an understanding of agreements or contracts
  • Learning more about suggested timetables for mediation sessions
  • Exploring interpersonal communication skills
  • Studying communication channels and effective communication
  • Gaining an understanding of awareness in communication 
  • Uncovering valuable communication skills
  • Learning about hearing verbal messages and perceiving non-verbal messages  
  • Studying how to respond 
  • Gaining an understanding of verbal and non-verbal communication
  • Examining body language
  • Gaining insights into communication barriers
  • Learning about self-awareness and self-esteem
  • Studying specific skills like listening, paraphrasing and reflective responses
  • Gaining an understanding of conversation development
  • Learnings how to build professional relationships 
  • And more, in our counselling course online.

The Most Influential Psychologists Throughout History 

Although many psychologists over the years have contributed to various schools of thought, individual practitioners have bought a unique perspective to the understanding of human behaviour. Be inspired to undertake our counselling course online with our pick of history’s best-known thinkers!

William James 

Born in New York in 1842, James is considered a leading thinker of the late nineteenth century, and often referred to as the ‘Father of American psychology’. His teachings and writings, including his book, The Principles of Psychology, helped establish psychology as a science, particularly in the areas of structuralism and functionalism.

Ivan Pavlov 

Pavlov was born in 1849 in Russia and from childhood demonstrated an intellectual curiosity he referred to as ‘the instinct for research’. Best known for his work in classical conditioning, he helped move psychology away from subjective assessments to objective measurements of behaviour.

Sigmund Freud 

Born in Czechia in 1856, Freud was a neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis. His work supported a belief that not all mental illnesses have physiological causes and that cultural differences also have an impact on behaviour. His work also contributed to today’s understanding of clinical psychology and abnormal psychology.

Jean Piaget 

Swiss-born Piaget was known for his work on child development, in particular his theory of cognitive development, and he placed great importance on children’s educational reform. As a testament to his work, Albert Einstein once described Piaget’s observations as a discovery “so simple that only a genius could have thought of it.”

Lev Vygotsky 

A Russian psychologist, Vygotsky, was born in 1896, and his work has become enormously influential in recent decades. However, much of it was largely inaccessible to the Western world before the 1960’s when it was finally translated. Before his premature death at age 38, he was most known for his studies in the areas of child development and educational psychology.

Carl Rogers 

Rogers was born in the US in 1902 and was among the founders of the humanistic approach to psychology. As an educator, writer and therapist, he was one of the major ‘humanist thinkers’ of his time and a key influence in the field with his theories on person-centred therapy.

Erik Erikson 

Born in Germany in 1902, Erikson is most known for his staged theory of psychosocial development, which focused on human development throughout a lifespan. He coined the phrase ‘identity crisis’ and expanded the notion of psychoanalytic theory by exploring development throughout childhood, adulthood and old age. 

F. Skinner  

Burrhus Frederic Skinner was an American psychologist, inventor, author and social philosopher who was born in the US in 1904. He was Professor of Psychology at Harvard University from 1958 until his retirement in 1974, and is remembered for his concepts of operant conditioning and schedules of reinforcement. 

Leon Festinger 

American Festinger was born in 1919 and as a social psychologist, was best known for his theories on cognitive dissonance and social comparison. The first theory relates to the discomfort people feel when they hold two conflicting beliefs, and the second to people evaluating their ideas by comparing them to what other people believe.

Albert Bandura 

Born in 1925 in Canada (and at 94, he is still alive and well today!), Bandura was considered part of the cognitive revolution in psychology that began in the late 1960s. A Professor of Social Science in Psychology at Stanford University, his theories stress the importance of modelling, imitation and social learning.

 

10 Infamous Serial Killers Throughout History

Robbery, sexual assault, murder and even cannibalism – their actions were brutal and often hard to comprehend. Undertake our counselling course online, and you may just understand a little more about the psyches and motivations of some of history’s most notorious killers. 

Gilles de Rais

Born in 1404 in France, Gilles de Rais was a wealthy knight, a leader in the French army, and a companion-in-arms to Joan of Arc. Sound noble? Well yes … that is until he was convicted of murdering at least 40 young boys between 1432 and 1433. He died by hanging in October 1440.

Jack the Ripper

While it’s a name most people would be familiar with, nobody has ever been sure of this monster’s true identity. Terrorising the Whitechapel neighbourhood of London in 1888, he or she killed at least five prostitutes. The study and analysis of the murders – often referred to as ‘ripperology‘ – has been the inspiration for a variety of books and films. 

Albert Fish

Fish was born in the US in 1870 and was found guilty of raping, killing, and cannibalising three children in the early 1900s. His various nicknames include the Moon Maniac, The Boogey Man, the Brooklyn Vampire and the Werewolf of Wysteria. He died by electrocution in January 1936.

Joachim Kroll

German serial killer Kroll murdered at least 14 people in and around the Ruhr metropolitan region between 1955 and 1976. After strangling his victims with his bare hands, Kroll would indulge in cannibalism. After a 151-day trial, he received a life sentence and died in prison in 1991.

Andrei Chikatilo

Born in the Ukraine in 1936, Chikatilo sexually assaulted, murdered, and mutilated more than 50 young women and children between 1978 and 1990. Nicknamed the Red Ripper and the Butcher of Rostov, he was convicted and executed by firing squad in 1994.

John Wayne Gacy

Gacy was born in 1942 and regularly performed at charitable events and birthday parties as Pogo the Clown. The ‘Killer Clown’ was eventually convicted of raping, torturing, and murdering 33 teenage boys over six years, and was executed in May 1994.

Ted Bundy

One of the most recognised serial killers of all time, Bundy kidnapped, raped and murdered numerous young women and girls during the 1970s. After more than a decade of denials, he confessed to 30 homicides across seven US states and was executed in 1989.

Pedro López

Colombian López was sentenced for killing 110 girls but claims to have raped and killed more than 300 women across Peru, Colombia and Ecuador. He was declared insane and jailed, however, was released in 1998 for ‘good behaviour’. His location is currently unknown.

Jeffrey Dahmer

Known as the Milwaukee Cannibal, Dahmer murdered and dismembered 17 men and boys from 1978 to 1991. Although Dahmer would have been eventually executed for his deranged crimes, he was beaten to death in prison in 1994.

Richard Ramirez

Born in 1960, Ramirez terrorised neighbourhoods throughout Los Angeles and San Francisco from June 1984 until August 1985. His weapons of choice included knives, handguns, a machete and even a hammer. He was sentenced to death in 1989 but died in prison before he could be executed.

 

The stresses of today’s world can be overwhelming for some people. Counselling courses online like our Certificate of Counselling Psychology will help you learn to help others be the best version of themselves. 

Find your new direction today!

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Postal Address: 
PO BOX 431 Toowong DC QLD 4066

Phone 1300 76 2221

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