Presented at Keynote Presentations to the NSW Drug and Alcohol Training Forum

It is not possible to teach others anything, One can only help them to discover it. Galileo Over the past ten years or so there have been major changes in the alcohol and other drugs field. Such changes particularly include a significant expansion in the knowledge base of the field and a concomitant shift to evidence-based practice. These changes have important implications on several fronts but especially in regard to issues surrounding professional practice, workforce development and information and skills transfer. For some time now, there have been concerted efforts in terms of education and training as the principal strategy to upskill frontline workers. Australia has made some significant advances in this regard. This paper addresses the efforts that have been directed at improving the nature and quality of education and training in this area. It attempts to delineate some of the more evident efforts that have been undertaken and in so doing identifies strengths and weaknesses with various approaches, and notes emerging directions for the future. Successful models are identified together with some major overarching issues that are essential to address within the context of drug and alcohol education and training. At the most fundamental level, the questions are raised regarding whether the concept of education and training is broad enough to achieve what it is intended to and whether the traditional conceptualisation of education and training is, in fact, one of the greatest constraining factors with which we are faced