ASQA expects RTOs to be accountable for identifying and correcting non-compliant practices and behaviours, particularly those that have had a negative impact on learners. In an audit situation they require a provider to address non-compliance so that future learners will not be negatively affected and identify the impact non-compliance has had on past learners remediating any impacts had on students. The following advice will assist RTOs in identifying and addressing non-compliances found in records located in trainer or assessor files.

Does not have evidence of holding appropriate training and assessment credentials:

If you find you have trainers or assessors that do not have evidence on file of holding a relevant TAE qualification, skillset or recognised higher level qualification they should not be permitted to train and assess until you rectify the situation. This includes those trainers and/or assessors that may hold a TAE10 credential and need to provide evidence that they also have completed both upgrade units as required by Clause 1.14 in the SRTOs 2015. RTOs should not assume that trainers or assessors hold these credentials and must verify the documentation and maintain appropriate records. Should you determine some staff do not have sufficient evidence of holding appropriate training and assessment credentials a plan that identifies actions to rectify the issue must be implemented immediately for the individual. This plan could include details of required supervision and support to obtain the necessary credentials.

Insufficient evidence to demonstrate vocational competencies:

Trainers or assessors that do not hold the relevant industry qualification and/or unit(s) of competency (or their equivalent) and cannot demonstrate equivalence through mapping relevant industry work experience, skills & knowledge should not be permitted to deliver training or conduct assessment until you can sufficiently evidence their vocational competence. Rectification includes removing them from your staffing matrixes in your training and assessment strategies (TAS’s). Where a trainer or assessor lacks sufficient evidence it may be a simple case of providing missing or incomplete records. However, if your trainer or assessor does not hold an industry qualification or cannot show equivalence of their work history to the units of competency being delivered then you need to develop a professional development plan that enables them to obtain relevant and sufficient industry experience. The plan could identify return to industry for a specified period of time depending on how many units of competency they are delivering. ASQA advise that if a trainer/assessor have no vocational competence (experience) in the area they are teaching in or no formal training or assessment qualifications, training and assessment delivered by them may be inadequate and learners impacted therefore it is critical for RTOs to ensure vocational competence of staff is confirmed and sufficiently evidenced.

Does not hold mandatory vocational qualifications:

Specific training products require that trainers and/or assessors hold mandatory vocational qualifications, licences or accreditations which are typically identified in the assessment conditions of units of competency or can otherwise be located in training package companion volumes or implementation guides e.g. nursing, commercial cookery, fitness. If you determine your trainer does not have evidence of holding the specified vocational qualification it may be the case that they cannot assess the units of competency they are delivering until they can provide the required evidence. In other instances a training product will make reference to required industry experience in the assessment conditions of units of competency e.g. hospitality, hairdressing, fitness, civil construction therefore, you must have documented evidence that your assessors have a work history that meets these requirements. Assessors that do not have sufficient evidence of industry experience should not be permitted to assess and be placed on a professional development plan that includes return to industry so as to obtain the required experience.

Insufficient evidence of maintaining industry currency:

If you have trainers and/or assessors that are vocationally competent but they do not have evidence of maintaining their industry currency in the last 2 years for all or some of the units of competency they are delivering you need to ensure they have a professional development plan that details how they are going to obtain this evidence. The plan needs to identify appropriate currency activities for each unit of competency they are identified against on the staffing matrixes in your TAS’s. Ideally these activities should be completed prior to the next delivery of the specific units of competency needing additional evidence. Remember that industry currency activities should be endorsed by the relevant industry sector of the training products you deliver as appropriate.

Insufficient evidence of maintaining VET currency:

Trainers or assessors that have not undertaken any professional development in VET training and assessment in the last 12 months should complete relevant PD as soon as possible as determined by your RTO. They can be permitted to continue delivering training and conducting assessment, but should commit to further PD over the next 12 months as identified in a professional development plan

Monitoring Professional Development Plans:

Any professional development plans implemented to return trainers or assessors to a compliant status should be monitored regularly by RTO managers to ensure timeframes for completion are met and individual goals achieved. We recommend ensuring that this is addressed in regular performance conversations between management and staff.