Education Portal FAQs

The Portal is funded as part of a $16.5M commitment by the Australian Government to the Cancer Patient Support Program, a component of the Australian Cancer Nursing and Navigation Program. This funding supports projects to improve outcomes for people affected by cancer and increase equity across tumour types. CNSA was awarded a $1M grant to develop and launch the Portal. 

CNSA is developing the Portal. Governance of the Portal is the responsibility of the CNSA Board of Directors.

The design and development of the Portal is being managed by a project team, with input and guidance from a Working Group (which includes respected Australian cancer nurse educators and nurse academics) and the CNSA Education Standing Committee (ESC).

CNSA intends to launch the Portal in 2027.

The aim is for the Portal to provide links to all cancer-specific nurse education available in Australia, which will include higher education courses, online and face-to-face courses/workshops, rapid learning modules, seminars/webinars, conferences, and podcasts.

The Portal will NOT host any of the content, but it will provide users with links to the relevant information online about how to access the educational content. 

The aim is for the Portal to include content provided by trusted providers of cancer-specific education relevant to nurses in Australia. This could include the following providers:

• Australian universities and higher education institutions
• TAFEs and the VET sector
• Non-government and government organisations
• Professional societies and associations
• Hospitals and health services (public and private)
• Pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and device companies
• Research organisations.

CNSA will undertake a scoping phase to understand the level of information required to help users navigate the education content according to their needs. CNSA will undertake an audit with education providers to request information about their content, including but not limited to the following:

• Target audience (including relevant career stage / competency level)
• Format and length of course/activity
• Professional qualification or CPD points associated
• Education topic(s) (e.g. cancer type, population focus, skill or intervention)
• Date of development and last reviewed
• Involvement of nurses in the development and delivery
• Access and cost considerations.

CNSA is developing minimum requirements for education to be listed on the Portal. This is likely to include, but not be limited to, the following:

• Type of education provider
• Relevance of content to Australian cancer nursing practice
• Date of development / review of content.

Involvement of nurses in the design, development and delivery of content is preferred, and if available, information about this will be included in the listing for content. Resources that have been developed without the involvement of a nurse will not automatically be excluded, but may be subject to further review by CNSA before being listed.  

The Portal will operate similarly to a search engine, such as Google. The database of education content will be searchable and then listed alphabetically based on the search terms input and certain filters.

The Portal will not rank education providers or content.

Individual users will be expected to use their judgment to select courses and activities relevant to their practice and stage of career.

Periodic reviews will be undertaken to ensure the content and links on the Portal is up-to-date and correct. Education providers will also be asked to notify CNSA about any changes to their courses and activities.

A feedback function will enable users to inform CNSA about incorrect information or broken links to content, or if it is not relevant or appropriate for Australian nursing practice. CNSA will investigate feedback to determine whether a listing should be removed or updated.  

Educational content listed on the Portal must be relevant to Australian cancer nursing practice. In the first phase of design and development, it is planned that the portal will be limited to education providers in Australia. International organisations wishing to list resources on the Portal will need to provide evidence that the content is appropriate and relevant for the Australian context.