Unit of competency details

Unit descriptor 

This unit of competency specifies the outcomes required to promote behaviour change and the adoption of home sustainability practices by residents.

No licensing, legislative, regulatory or certification requirements apply to this unit at the time of publication.

Application of the unit 

This unit of competency supports the work of home sustainability assessors engaged in promoting the adoption of home sustainability practices by residents.

Employability skills 

This unit contains employability skills.

Elements describe the essential outcomes of a unit of competency.

Performance criteria describe the performance needed to demonstrate achievement of the element. Where bold italicised text is used, further information is detailed in the required skills and knowledge section and the range statement. Assessment of performance is to be consistent with the evidence guide.

ELEMENT 

PERFORMANCE CRITERIA 

1. Assess residents' readiness to adopt home sustainability practices.

1.1 Effective communication strategies  are employed in establishing rapport with residents and responding to residents' questions and concerns.

1.2 Influences that impact on residents' attitudes  to home sustainability are identified.

1.3 Barriers  to residents adopting home sustainability practices  are identified.

1.4 Residents' motivations  and factors that increase residents' willingness to voluntarily change behaviour and adopt home sustainability practices  are identified.

1.5 Information needs  of residents in relation to home sustainability practices are identified and addressed.

1.6 Positive attitudes and behaviours demonstrated by residents in relation to home sustainability practices  are identified and reinforced.

Develop an implementation plan.

2.1 Appropriate communication and consultation techniques  are used to assist residents in prioritising their home sustainability needs.

2.2 Home sustainability practices that are consistent with residents' priorities, motivation, budget, commitment, timeframes and confidence levels are identified and agreed with residents.

2.3 Resources, rebates and other forms of assistance available to support implementation of agreed home sustainability practices are identified and explained to residents.

2.4 Proactive strategies for supporting residents' adoption of agreed home sustainability practices  are identified.

2.5 Data and success measures  required to assess adoption of agreed home sustainability practices are identified in consultation with residents.

2.6 Appropriate data collection methods  are identified in consultation with residents.

2.7 Potential barriers to successful implementation of agreed home sustainability practices, and strategies for overcoming these barriers, are identified in consultation with residents.

2.8 Implementation plan that includes ways in which residents can monitor and review progress  in adopting home sustainability practices is prepared in consultation with residents.

Provide follow-up services.

3.1 Need for follow -up services  is determined in consultation with residents.

3.2 Follow-up services are identified and provided, as agreed with residents.

REQUIRED SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE 

This section describes the skills and knowledge required for this unit.

Required skills 

• communication and interpersonal skills to interact with clients from diverse social, economic and cultural backgrounds
• data analysis skills to interpret information gathered by residents on home sustainability practices
• decision-making and problem-solving skills to assist residents to identify home sustainability priorities
• literacy skills to:

• complete standard forms
• generate business correspondence
• prepare reports
• read and interpret a variety of texts, including legislation, regulations, and codes of conduct and ethical standards

• networking skills to establish relationships between residents and others interested in home sustainability
• numeracy and data analysis skills to analyse household energy accounts and statistical data gathered by residents on home sustainability practices
• planning, organising and scheduling skills to:

• undertake work-related tasks, such as meeting with residents to review effectiveness of home sustainability measures
• plan projects to assist residents to establish home sustainability implementation plans

• research skills to identify and locate documents, reports and information related to the information needs of residents, such as rebates and other forms of support for home sustainability measures
• technology skills to use general purpose software packages to collate information and produce written reports

Required knowledge 

• behaviour change:

• barriers to voluntary behaviour change
• conditions necessary for behaviour change
• factors that increase likelihood of voluntary behaviour change
• models of behaviour change
• personal and environmental factors that impact on behaviour change
• stages of change
• strategies for dealing with relapse
• strategies to promote behaviour change

• communication strategies
• consultation models and approaches
• home sustainability:

• barriers to adoption of home sustainability practices
• data, data collection methods and success measures related to resident adoption of home sustainability practices
• factors that increase likelihood of voluntary adoption of home sustainability practices
• home sustainability practices:

• energy use and management
• thermal performance
• waste minimisation and management
• water use and management

• personal and environmental factors that impact on residents' adoption of home sustainability practices
• purpose of home sustainability assessments
• rebates and other forms of support for home sustainability measures
• relationship between household energy, water and waste use, and greenhouse gases and emissions
• role of home sustainability assessor in promoting behaviour change
• sources of information on home sustainability

• social marketing techniques and strategies

EVIDENCE GUIDE 

The evidence guide provides advice on assessment and must be read in conjunction with the performance criteria, required skills and knowledge, range statement and the Assessment Guidelines for the Training Package.

Overview of assessment 

This unit of competency could be assessed by demonstration of applying behaviour change principles and approaches in assisting residents to establish a plan for adopting home sustainability practices and monitoring and reviewing their progress.

Critical aspects for assessment and evidence required to demonstrate competency in this unit 

A person who demonstrates competency in this unit must be able to provide evidence of the required skills and knowledge specified in this unit.

In particular, the person should demonstrate the ability to:

• apply effective communication and interpersonal skills to build rapport with residents
• assess residents' readiness to adopt home sustainability practices
• apply behaviour change principles and approaches in assisting residents to establish a plan for adopting home sustainability practices, and monitoring and reviewing their progress
• apply knowledge of behaviour change strategies and how these are applied in the context of a home sustainability assessment.

Context of and specific resources for assessment 

Assessment of essential underpinning knowledge may be conducted in an off-site context and is to comply with relevant regulatory and Australian standards' requirements.

Resource implications for assessment include:

• data collection tools
• relevant codes, standards and government regulations
• access to residents participating in a home sustainability assessment
• technology suitable for generating reports
• technical reference library with current publications on:

• behaviour change
• communication strategies
• consultation models and strategies
• home sustainability practices.

Method of assessment 

Assessment methods must:

• satisfy the endorsed Assessment Guidelines of the Property Services Training Package
• include direct observation of tasks in real or simulated work conditions, with questioning to confirm the ability to consistently identify and correctly interpret the essential underpinning knowledge required for practical application
• reinforce the integration of employability skills with workplace tasks and job roles
• confirm that competency is verified and able to be transferred to other circumstances and environments.

Guidance information for assessment 

This unit could be assessed on its own or in combination with other units relevant to the job function.

Reasonable adjustments for people with disabilities must be made to assessment processes where required. This could include access to modified equipment and other physical resources, and the provision of appropriate assessment support.

Assessment processes and techniques should, as far as is practical, take into account the language, literacy and numeracy capacity of the candidate in relation to the competency being assessed.

RANGE STATEMENT 

The range statement relates to the unit of competency as a whole. It allows for different work environments and situations that may affect performance. Bold italicised wording, if used in the performance criteria, is detailed below. Essential operating conditions that may be present with training and assessment (depending on the work situation, needs of the candidate, accessibility of the item, and local industry and regional contexts) may also be included.

Effective communication strategies  may include:

• active listening
• being non-judgemental
• empathy
• exploring problems
• expressing an individual perspective
• providing sufficient time for questions and responses
• providing summarising and reflective responses in conflict situations
• using appropriate words, behaviour, posture and tone
• using clarifying, summarising questions
• using clear and concise language
• using culturally appropriate communication
• using plain English
• using verbal and non-verbal communication.

Influences that impact on residents' attitudes  may include:

• advertising
• age and gender
• cost
• dwelling type
• education level
• employment status
• family type
• government funding
• household income
• location
• media
• perceptions:

• benefits and limitations
• impact on lifestyle

• past experience
• political and social leanings
• socio-economic status
• views of others:

• colleagues
• family
• friends
• peers
• significant others.

Barriers  may include:

• apathy
• cost
• expectations of high consumption lifestyle
• inaccurate and inadequate information
• lack of engagement
• lack of support from other household members
• lack of time
• medical needs
• negative perceptions
• past experience
• poor communication
• powerlessness.

Home sustainability practices  may include:

• recycling
• reducing:

• energy use
• greenhouse gas generation
• waste volume
• water use

• refusing
• removing
• reusing.

Residents' motivations  may be influenced by:

• financial incentives and disincentives
• information
• personal attitudes
• personal values.

Factors that increase residents' willingness to voluntarily change behaviour and adopt home sustainability practices  may include:

• community benefit
• compatibility of change with lifestyle
• different ways of contributing to change
• ease of change
• ease of seeing and measuring change
• engagement of other people in change
• environmental benefits
• financial incentives
• household-based approach to change
• personal benefit
• personal knowledge of change
• range of choices
• recognition for personal, household and community efforts and achievement
• social norms.

Information needs  may include:

• home sustainability assessment:

• accreditation of assessors
• assessment process
• objectives
• outcomes

• home sustainability practices:

• benefits
• costs
• types

• home sustainability products and services
• rebates and other forms of support.

Positive attitudes and behaviours demonstrated by residents in relation to home sustainability practices  may include:

• attitudes:

• climate change
• energy conservation
• green power
• packaging
• passive conservation
• recycling and reuse
• sustainability
• waste minimisation
• water conservation

• behaviours to recycling, reducing, refusing, removing and reusing.

Appropriate communication and consultation techniques  may include:

• active listening
• conversation
• discussion
• email
• information provision
• interview
• meeting
• presentation
• questioning
• questionnaire
• survey
• telephone.

Proactive strategies for supporting residents' adoption of agreed home sustainability practices  may include:

• capacity building
• case management
• community education
• feedback
• follow-up strategies
• information sharing
• mentoring
• networking
• partnerships
• positive reinforcement of resident decisions to adopt sustainability practices
• resource sharing
• social support
• specialist support
• special interest groups
• use of community groups and leaders
• virtual communities.

Data and success measures  may include:

• data on home sustainability practices:

• energy:

• cost
• type
• use

• trend data on energy and water use
• perceptions
• photographs
• waste:

• composition
• cost
• quantity

• water:

• cost
• type
• use

• success measures:

• recycling measures
• reduction in costs of energy, water and waste
• reduction in energy use, water use and volume of waste
• reduction in greenhouse gas emissions
• reuse of resources.

Appropriate data collection methods  may include:

• checklists and forms
• collation of energy and water bills
• diaries
• discussions
• graphs
• logs
• questionnaires
• self-assessment forms
• software tools
• surveys.

Ways in which residents can monitor and review progress  may include:

• analysis of utility and other household accounts
• benchmarking
• feedback from others
• household discussions
• monitoring data
• personal reflection
• reflective questioning
• report writing
• software tools
• stories.

Follow -up services  may include:

• collation and analysis of data on residents' adoption of home sustainability practices
• positive feedback and reinforcement
• provision of information on changes and innovations in home sustainability practices, technologies, funding and support programs
• support and mentoring
• tactics to deal with relapse
• updating of implementation plan.

Unit sector 

Home sustainability assessment.

Competency field