ASQA has published an update and helpful checklist to help you stay on top of your RTO obligations and reporting requirements for 2021.
You can download ASQA’s 2021 RTO obligations checklist here.
If you need help with meeting your RTO’s obligations or reporting requirements, contact Audit Express on 1300735541.
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:
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.
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The Power of Community Education, ACEVic Conference, 28 and 29 March 2019
Audit Express are proud to be sponsoring the 2019 ACEVic Conference which will be held in Melbourne from 28-29 March 2019. The theme of this year’s conference theme is ‘The Power of Community Education’.
The conference will be opened by The Hon Gayle Tierney, Minister for Training and Skills, and brings together educators, trainers, speakers, and community leaders to share new perspectives and discuss innovative programs that place adult education at the heart of community mobilisation.
The conference will run for one and a half days, with drinks and canapés at 5.30pm on Day One and a networking event at 2.30pm on Day Two.
Click here to view the conference program
Tickets for this event are almost sold out and no further tickets will be released. If you are wanting to attend, be sure to book in your tickets today. Click on the following link for more information and to register to attend https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/the-power-of-community-education-acevic-conference-28-and-29-march-2019-tickets-55745918543
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Assistant Minister Karen Andrews MP at the at the Federal VET Policy Forum.
Key stakeholders from the vocational education and training (VET) sector, including decisions makers and thought leaders from TAFE Organisations, Private Registered Training Organisations and Community Education Providers met in Melbourne on 16/07/2018 at the Federal VET Policy Forum to discuss the future of the Australian VET Sector, which has been plagued by scandal and poor government policy.
Shadow Minister Senator Doug Cameron at the Federal VET Policy Forum
The forum was held at the VET Development Centre, and was organised and hosted by Audit Express, an assurance and advisory firm that specialises in education policy.
Kevin Ekendahl, CEO of Audit Express said that his team had organised the forum to promote cohesion and harmony within the vocational education and training sector, and to encourage all providers to work together to build a stronger sector. “For too long our sector has been used as a political football, we organised this forum to promote good policy in VET as we’ve seen the detrimental effects bad policy has on our sector, students and the economy” said Mr Ekendahl.
The forum was attended by more than 100 guests, representing some of Australia’s largest and highly regarded TAFE’s, RTO’s and Community Education Providers. The forum kicked off with presentations from Mary Faraone, Chair of TAFE Directors Australia (TDA), Rod Camm, CEO of the Australian Council of Private Education & Training (ACPET) and Don Perlgut, CEO of Community Colleges Australia (CCA), who each presented the challenges, concerns and needs of their parts of the VET sector.
Mary Faraone, Chair of Tafe Directors Australia, called for the removal of the 20% tax of students who take on a VET Student Loan. Ms Faraone said that VET is currently a “hard sell”, as evidenced by the decline in government-funded training, and the impact of issues such as demand driven university admissions and the VET student loan scandal. Ms Faraone also shared her concerns about the prospect of a looming skills mismatch – “people without jobs and jobs without people”, and that this is worsened by funding being uneven across states and territories, and student choices distorted by differing taxation and support arrangements between university and VET.
Don Perlgut, CEO of Community Colleges described the VET Sector as being the “Middle Child” of the greater education sector, and gave a plea for our government to demonstrate National Leadership, “calling for our national politicians to provide real vision and leadership in Australia’s VET space, developing bi-partisan approaches to national challenges”. Mr Perlgut noted that “it’s time for proper funding: don’t tell me that we don’t have the money, because we surely do, when we are considering tax cuts across the board”.
Rod Camm, CEO of the Australian Council of Private Education and Training (ACPET) said that “we need a vision, we need a national policy framework and we need to take ideology out of VET”. He also said that “the current construct of our system has to have a fundamental rethink”.
The forum attendees also heard from Assistant Minister Karen Andrews, who delivered her vision for VET, which was focussed on building on the past, securing our future. The Assistant Minister spoke about her support of innovation in the VET Sector, in particular of her support for micro-credentials, skill sets and innovative training programs that lead to employment for students. Assistant Minster Andrews also outlined the review of the AQF that is currently taking place. You can read more about the Assistant Minister’s announcements here.
Finally, the forum heard from the Shadow Minister Senator Doug Cameron, who spoke of his commitment to ensuring that a full inquiry of the VET Sector will take place should Labor win the upcoming Federal election. Senator Cameron also spoke of his unwavering support for TAFE’s, re-iterating that 2/3 of funding of VET will go directly to TAFE under a Labor led government. You can read Senator Cameron’s speech here.
Both Minister Andrews and Shadow Minister Cameron agreed on a number of key points, including the reality that training packages are currently outdated, in many cases not responsive to the needs of industry or current job roles, and that structure of both training packages the overall Australian qualifications framework is in desperate need of a rethink. Senator Cameron said that qualifications were narrow and not fit for purpose. He then raised the question “are Training Packages operating for public good?”.
One thing was clear from all presenters and the agreeable audience, that is the current Training Packages and the framework in which they operate are not working and are in desperate need of a re-think and new direction.
Sector representatives from TDA, ACPET and CCA all described a perceived “lack of a VET Policy vision at a federal level, on all sides of government”. There was also an overwhelming support from both the guests attending the forum and also from the panel of industry representatives for both sides of government to put good policy before ideology moving forward.
Attendees at the forum took to twitter throughout and after the forum with mixed views of support and frustration.
1. In the lead up to this Federal Election the team from Audit Express encourage you to participate in the policy discussion, especially when it comes to Vocational Education and Training. You can do this by following the three key industry representatives and member organisations, which can be followed here:
2. Keep in close contact with your relevant member organisation or industry representative organisation. If you see or hear something happening in the VET Sector that you disagree with or are unhappy with, or if you are passionate about a particular topic or issue, always remember that “the pen is mightier than the sword”. Never underestimate the power of writing to the minister, or your local senator or member of parliament. For more information on contacting your local senator or MP, click here.
3. Be active and vocal on social media about the issues that you care about!
RTOadvance: RT ACPET_national: ‘We do need a vision, we do need a national framework’ #VETPolicyForum CammRod pic.twitter.com/JqREPS35yO
— VocEdAustralia (@VocEdAustralia) July 16, 2018
Senator Doug Cameron talking about that businesses should be paying for their own training says “the business culture in this country is terrible” at the @audit_express led National Education Policy Forum. #Education #Policy #ACPET #TAFE #VET #VETPolicyForum #CommunityColleges pic.twitter.com/vTI1DRcuQO — Andrew Shea (@andrewshea2) July 16, 2018
#Innovation vs #regulation in #VET is a battle, change to thinking is needed, many providers are non compliant at audit, growth is in non-accredited, competency & skill set enrolments, #TrainingPackages don’t cater for #Industry4.0 #capabilities @ACPET_national #VETPolicyForum pic.twitter.com/4sHPWyWZKK
— Wendy Perry (@waperry) July 16, 2018
Addressing the VET Policy Forum today outlining my vision for a strong, flexible and high quality #VET system. #RealSkillsforRealCareers https://t.co/aavDJpK9B3 pic.twitter.com/emrtQSgzcX — Karen Andrews MP (@karenandrewsmp) July 16, 2018
#Qualifications that are narrow, not fit for purpose, developed but with no demand, #Australia’s #VET system is not better than #Germany says Doug Cameron time to reconsider #TrainingPackages & market @karenandrewsmp @audit_express @VDCeduau @ACPET_national @TafeDirectors pic.twitter.com/0mtbN49OAx
— Wendy Perry (@waperry) July 16, 2018
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Last week Audit Express Express was invited to attend an exclusive launch and private viewing of Rose Office Furniture’s new range of Education Furniture at their West Melbourne Showroom.
[emaillocker id=6291]The champagne flowed and canapés as guests worked their way through the showroom, wowed by the new range of incredibly designed, ergonomic, quality education furniture. The evening was well attended with a number of guests of honour, including The Hon Lord Mayor, Robert Doyle, who congratulated and thanked Rose Office Furniture for its long standing presence as a reputable, well known and well regarded Melbourne business.
Since 1954, Rose Office Furniture has delivered best practice in customer service and has become a Melbourne institution, as it has survived the test of time, supplying office furniture locally and nationally to individuals, businesses and training providers, both big and small.
If your Training Organisation, TAFE or University needs any education or office furniture, we highly recommend that you get in touch with Tom and the team at Rose Office Furniture. Mention this post by Audit Express and Tom will take care of you. You can also take a look at their range of products online by visiting >>> https://www.roseoffice.com.au/
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Registrations for this event are currently closed as we have reached full capacity. Thank you for your interest. The VET Development 2018 PD Calendar will be launched soon, check out their website in the coming weeks www.vdc.edu.au.
Audit Express has teamed up with the VET Development Centre to deliver a one off FREE Professional Development Session titled ‘VET Professional Development – How much is enough?’
This session will cover off on the most common questions that we receive about VET Professional Development, including:
• Understanding of what VET PD is
• What sources are acceptable for PD
• How to quantify
• Establishing an acceptable framework and plan for PD
As 2017 winds up, it is really important that Trainers and Assessors start planning their continuing professional development (PD) for the year ahead (2018) as VET practitioners.
As part of the Registration Standards, an RTO must ensure that all trainers and assessors undertake PD in the fields of the knowledge and practice of vocational training, learning and assessment, including competency-based training and assessment.
In this webinar we will explore what VET PD is, what forms of VET PD could be acceptable, how to quantify VET PD and explore some examples of best practice. Participants will also receive a complimentary 2018 VDC PD Planner.
• An understanding of what is required of Trainers/Assessors in maintaining their VET Professional Development
• Insight into what they should do in the lead up to 2018 in planning their Professional Development.
• Participants will also receive a complimentary 2018 VDC PD Planner
You can find out more information, and you can register for the live webinar by clicking here >>> http://www.cvent.com/events/webinar-vet-professional-development-how-much-is-enough-/event-summary-6a4ab97a10ea49999cdaef0fd453c186.aspx