Delivering training online is not a new thing for the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector. For more than a decade, training providers have delivered both accredited and non-accredited training online, with the quality of online delivery varying from excellent to really poor.
The question of quality in the delivery of training online has recently been put into the spotlight with the release of ASQA’s 2020-2022 Regulatory Strategy, which outlines the key risk areas and high-risk qualifications that ASQA will focus on for the following three years. This strategy is updated annually, with changes made where required, to ensure that new issues or concerns in the sector can be addressed as they emerge.
The team at Audit Express have reviewed the ASQA 2020-22 Regulatory Strategy and have prepared an infographic to help you understand the key points and how this will impact your organisation. Click here to download a copy of this infographic.
There are a number of key themes in this year’s release of the strategy that you should be focussing on in your organisation:
Online Delivery
VET in Schools Delivery
Priority Qualifications
If your organisation is delivering training online, you should be aware that this is considered to be ‘high-risk’ and that delivery of training online is now in the regulator’s radar.
Now is the time for you to be looking at the quality of the training programs that your organisation is offering online.
In partnership with educonomy, the team at Audit Express have researched best-practice approaches for online delivery from across the globe. We have looked closely at the way regulators of education in other countries around the world are regulating the quality of online delivery. This has helped us to build a suite of tools to be able to review and audit the quality of courses being delivered online here in Australia.
Click on the link below if you would like to have a chat with the team from Audit Express about how to improve the quality of training that your organisation is delivering online.
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The team at Audit Express are proud to be teaming up with our friends from Community Colleges Australia (CCA) to sponsor their upcoming Community Education Conversations Professional Development and Networking Event, which is to be held in Melbourne on Friday 12th May 2017.
There is an action packed agenda with a range of topics to be covered including:
– Setting the scene: Julie Neeson, Southern Grampians Adult Education and Community College, Hamilton
– Auditing in the new age – a presentation by Audit Express
– Update on Skills First, by a representative of the VIC Department of Education and Training
– Community RTOs in Victoria: History, Scope, Scale, Success Factors and Prospects, By Dr Kaye Bowman, former Director of Research at NCVER and VET consultant
– Foundations Skills Training Package: where are the consultations up to? Have your say – a session with Tim Rawlins, PwC Skills for Australia
– What you need to know about the Commonwealth’s new VET Student Loans program, even if you will never use it
– Community education providers and local and regional economic development roundtable discussion – come prepared to share your experiences
– A new national community education infrastructure program – what’s happened since the last one in 2009?
The Victorian Department of Education and Training have released the
suite of 2017 Skills First internal audit tools.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column][vc_column_text]The Victorian Department of Education and Training (DET) have released their suite of internal audit checklists to assist contracted Training Providers to determine that they have the quality systems, processes and resources in place to meet the requirements of the VET Funding Contract in line with the objectives of the Skills First Program.
There are 5 versions of the Internal Audit Checklist which align with the 5 different 2017 VET Funding Contracts. The Department have designed the Internal Audit Checklist with the aim of providing your organisation with a management tool to assist you in complying with the contractual requirements.
All Training Providers with a Victorian 2017 VET Funding Contract must complete an internal audit six months from the commencement date of the Contract. However contracted training providers are strongly encouraged to complete their internal audit as early as possible to ensure they are aware of the contractual requirements and compliant throughout the year.
You can access the 2017 internal audit checklist relevant to your organisation by logging into the departments SVTS portal.
While it is a requirement for all training providers with a Victorian funding contract to complete the internal audit checklist annually, it is considered best practice in the VET Sector to complete an independentinternal audit of your RTOs Registration Requirements and all Funding Contract Obligations at least annually. Audit Express recommends that RTOs engage a specialist VET internal auditor that is independent from the day to day operation of your business to complete your RTOs internal audits, and to provide you with independent advice on how to improve your operational, registration and contract compliance.
Need help completing your Skills First Internal Audit Checklist? Contact the experts at Audit Express today.
Recently ASQA has announced a series of changes to its audit model and audit processes. Are you Audit Ready?
Don’t put your head in the sand!
For your convenience we have summarised the changes to ASQAs Audit Model for you. [emaillocker id=6291]
ASQA will now publish its regulatory decisions
From 1 July 2016 ASQA will publish information on its websites about decisions on RTOs shortly after decisions are made. If you fail at audit, this will now be published and publicly available.
Click here to view the list of ASQA regulatory decisions
ASQA has changed its decision making processes
From 1 August 2016, if ASQA finds ‘highly concerning’ non-compliances at audit, the Commissioners of ASQA can now make a joint decision on the outcome of an audit and any sanctions, penalties or fines that may be applied. It is important to understand that if the ASQA Commissioners make a joint decision, you cannot appeal and respond directly to ASQA anymore. This decision can only be reviewed by an external authority (typically the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) ). In this instance, the RTO cannot apply for an internal ASQA reconsideration of the decision.This is a real game changer. If your RTO does not get it right at audit, ASQA can essentially throw the book at you on the spot and you will have less opportunity to rectify your non-compliances directly with the regulator. If your audit is significantly non-compliant you risk needing to appeal ASQA’s decision directly with the AAT.
ASQA has changed its audit process
When ASQA is conducting audits based on identified risk, including audits conducted as a result of complaints. ASQA will provide the RTO with a compliance audit report, and if non-compliance is identified ASQA can either:
issue the RTO with a written direction, requiring you to take a certain action
issue the RTO with a ‘Notice of intent to impose administrative sanction’, or
in exceptional circumstances, impose one or more sanctions on the RTO without prior notice.
If ASQA identifies highly concerning non-compliances at audit the RTO can now be issued with a ‘Notice of intent to impose administrative sanction’. RTOs will then have up to 20 working days to respond to the notice and submit any supporting evidence before a decision is made.
This is also a real game changer. The current process allows an RTO the chance to respond to non-compliances and provide evidence of compliance after an audit. At that stage if ASQA was still not satisfied they would then issue the RTO with a ‘Notice of intent to impose administrative sanction’ allowing the RTO an additional 20 days. RTOs will now have significantly less time to rectify their non-compliances following a non-compliant audit outcome. Instead of having in some cases a few months to rectify non-compliances RTOs may now only have a few weeks at best.
It is not all doom and gloom though. If ASQA identifies non-compliances at audit that are deemed to be not of a serious nature, ASQA may now issue the RTO with a written direction to address the non-compliances within a specified period and to maintain evidence of doing so. Is such cases RTOs will not be required to respond or provide evidence of rectification to ASQA. This is a good step towards less red tape and regulation.
ASQA is developing a new audit model [WATCH THIS SPACE]
ASQA has announced that it is currently in the process of reviewing its approach to auditing RTOs and is developing a more risk-based approach that will focus more on student experience and the actual practices and behaviours of RTOs. We also suspect that the quality and sufficiency of both learning and assessment material will be a focus for the regulator moving forward. The team at Audit Express have called on this for quite some time now and we welcome the regulators efforts to take a more risk-based approach to its regulation of RTOs.Keep your eyes out over the next month as more information regarding the new audit model will be published and ASQA will start to implement their new model later this year, with full implementation by early 2017.
For more information on changes to the ASQA Audit Process you might like to check out the latest ASQA Update.
The best way to make sure your RTO is Audit Ready and that it meets the requirement for RTOs to submit an annual declaration of compliance with the Standards for RTOs is to undertake an annual internal audit of your RTO with the support of a reputable independent internal auditor.
It is crucial that you are fully aware of your RTOs strengths, weaknesses and areas for improvement. Most importantly you should be fully aware of the quality of the training products across your full scope of registration.
If you need help to make sure your RTO is compliant and Audit Ready get in touch with the team atAudit Express. [/emaillocker]
Registered training organisations (RTOs) with Victorian VET Funding Contracts should brace themselves for the pending changes to the Victorian VET funding model.
Training providers that hold a current Victorian VET Funding Contract, (also referred to Victorian Training Guarantee or VTG) are expected to have new conditions imposed on them tomorrow (21/09/2015). The much tighter restrictions and contractual obligations are expected to be in-line with the recent Victorian VET Funding Review that was led by Bruce Mackenzie. Nineteen recommendations were made, all of which are expected to be fully implemented by the government. Other changes also include: [emaillocker id=6291]
Strengthening the department’s ability to conduct face-to-face reviews and investigate students’ complaints.
Launching an education campaign to help students make more informed choices about courses.
Lifting the quality of trainers and assessors by creating a list of approved providers.
The contract changes come at a significant time, with expressions of interest for RTOs wanting to obtain a Victorian government 2016 VET funding contract opening tomorrow (21/09/2015).
For the RTOs holding current funding contract, the time to comply and demonstrate best practice is now! With the (2015) funding contracts for about 174 RTOs will expire at the end of this year, and more than 400 other RTOs (2014-2016) 3-year funding contracts will expire at the end of 2016. Make no mistake, the Minister Steve Herbert has every intention of not renewing the contracts of sub-standard training providers.
If you require assistance with understanding and implementing changes to your RTOs Victorian VET Funding Contract please contact AuditExpress on 1300735541
