Career development

Once you've passed Initial Training and have gone on to complete your Category Training, there'll be plenty of opportunities for continued career development. In addition to specialist training courses, we also operate promotion courses that prepare you for a higher rank and the responsibilities and duties that go along with it. You might opt to further build on your existing specialisation through additional training and study, or you can even be approved to specialise in another field. 

Defence Assisted Study Scheme

One of our ongoing training options is the Defence Assisted Study Scheme, which allows you to identify a course you wish to study and to receive time off to complete classes and sit exams. You can receive a part payment, of up to 75% depending on the course, of all compulsory fees. This doesn't have to be a course run by the ADF, it can be any university course that has some relevance to the job you are doing.

Study overseas

In some cases your study or training may take place interstate or overseas. It is not unusual for the Australian Defence Force to fully fund study overseas for a year, so you might get the chance to complete that Masters Degree you've always wanted to, in a completely new environment.

The Centre for Defence and Strategic Studies

The Centre for Defence and Strategic Studies offers a Defence and Strategic Studies Course intended for senior Service and civilian officers of primarily Colonel equivalent rank. The DSSC provides advanced policy related skills, high level corporate leadership and strategic decision making skills, and in-depth knowledge of national and international Defence issues of strategic importance.

The Australian Command and Staff Course

The Australian Command and Staff Course, is for middle-ranking officers and prepares them for command and staff appointments in single Service, joint and integrated environments. The ACSC provides education in Command, Leadership and Management, Strategic and Australian Defence Studies, staff skills and Joint Operations. This is complemented by Service-specific education in operational warfighting, management, leadership and doctrine.

Career Transition Assistance Scheme / Re-settlement

The aim of the Career Transition Assistance Scheme (CTAS) is to provide members of the Australian Defence Force who have applied for a discharge, resign or transfer from their Service, with assistance that will facilitate their transition to civilian employment. The scheme does not provide members with specific employment on discharge; rather, it provides them with tools to help them market their skills and experience in the civilian world. So they leave the ADF secure in the knowledge that they will be able to find civilian employment.

Civil Schooling Scheme

The Civil Schooling Scheme, CSS, relates to post-secondary level studies and graduate medical studies that are sponsored by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).The CSS recognises that the Air Force cannot train within the Service, members it requires to be qualified in certain professional, scientific, technical, trade and other fields. So select members will be able to attend courses at approved universities or similar civilian tertiary institutions. Because Civil Schooling is approved to satisfy specific Service requirements and is a great opportunity for further study, selection is competitive. The Graduate Medical Scheme allows selected members with appropriate qualifications, who meet university selection criteria, to be sponsored through a graduate medical course at the medical faculty of an approved Australian university.

Recognition of prior learning and national recognition

The Australian Defence Force has plans to introduce a ‘Defence Accreditation and Articulation Advisory Body' which provides for accreditation of nationally recognised tertiary education qualifications. So credit can be awarded on the basis of previously completed study and/or higher education qualifications. We aim to help members achieve maximum recognition of professional military studies, experience and skills without the need for them to take unreasonable amounts of study in their own time or to fund study beyond their means.

This program also provides nationally recognised academic qualifications for this credited study. So members increase their professional and intellectual credibility and have enhanced mobility in the workplace, with the ability to transfer skills between the ADF and civilian employment.  

Training in languages other than English

Training in languages other than English is provided to Defence personnel who are deployed overseas on military operations, intelligence missions and other such appointments. The aim of this training is to make sure our personnel have the language skills necessary to perform their job functions. Tuition fees and training costs, such as travel and accommodation, are covered by the approving authority.