Contextualisation of training packages, accredited curricula and learning resources can be achieved without compromising the Standards for Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) 2015.

Contextualisation is the addition of industry-specific information to tailor the Standards for Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) 2015 to reflect the immediate operating context and thereby increase its relevance for the learner. Contextualisation is ultimately defined as; the activity undertaken by a Trainer/Assessor to make units of competency, accredited curricula or learning resources meaningful to the learner.

How to contextualise units of competency?
Contextualisation is a process that we use to create learning/assessment opportunities that are more relevant to our learner. When we do this, we link the Unit of Competency to the client’s needs using language that they understand.

Contextualisation is achieved by including, modifying or substituting text within units of competency and usually within the assessment requirements including performance evidence, knowledge evidence and assessment conditions.

It is about providing training and assessment that is specific to an enterprise or individual learner.

Any modifications to a unit of competency must maintain the integrity of the industry skill and portability requirements, including all legislative licensing and any other regulatory requirements.

The following are some suggestions for contextualising units of competency to make them more relevant for specific industries or workplaces:

• Refer to the guidelines in the relevant training package. Usually, it will be possible to replace generic terms and general descriptions of equipment or processes and procedures with specific examples. For example, a guide working at Uluru may learn and demonstrate body language appropriate to the Pitjantjatjara people. There would be little point in that guide being required to learn and demonstrate body language appropriate for working among the Jewish community at the Sydney Holocaust Museum.
• Analyse the generalised statements about the range of work and job tasks specified in the units of competency. These may need to be aligned to a particular job profile and translated to highlight particular tasks and levels of performance that are relevant to a particular workplace.
• Identify the kinds of evidence that candidates may be able to provide in their job roles to satisfy the requirements of a particular unit of competency.
• Prepare evidence plans for the candidates, showing how they might collect the identified kinds of evidence.

Let’s have a look at some examples:

• If the Competency mentions Machinery, then we could use the exact name of the machine used.
• If the Competency mentions Equipment, then we could use the names of each item of equipment
• If the Competency mentions Location, then we could use the exact location, eg, Shed 1, kitchen bench, etc
• If the Competency mentions Relevant Procedures, then we could use the exact title of the procedure manual
• If the Competency mentions Relevant Personnel, then we could use the names of the people and their positions

Contextualise, but Follow the Rules
When it comes to contextualisation, we can be very creative. But, we need to make sure that we do not change the standards required of us. Remember: we must always follow the Qualification Packaging Rules of the Training Package.

When contextualising units of competency, teachers and trainers:

• Must not remove the number and content of elements and performance criteria
• May add specific industry terminology to performance criteria where this does not distort or narrow the competency outcomes
• Changes should not diminish the breadth of application of the competency and reduce its portability
• May add detail to the assessment requirements, where these expand the breadth of the competency but do not limit its use.
• To make sure that we still follow the Training Package rules, we can read the Training Package itself, or we can get the advice of others, including:
• Skills Service Organisations (SSOs) and Industry Reference Committees (IRCs) responsible
• Our colleagues within the training industry or within the industry for whom we are delivering the training
• Accessing the Support Resources available for each Training Package at TGA (training.gov.au) can also give us some great ideas of what is appropriate.

When we are contextualising, it is a good idea to speak with the client to make sure that we really are going to link the Unit of Competency to the participants’ actual work.

When we are contextualising, it is a good idea to speak with others to make sure that we really are going to be delivering the Unit of Competency in accordance with the Training Package rules.

In this ever changing world, we are seeing many RTO’s change ownership for a variety of reasons. So what is involved? How do you know you are ready and prepared? What evidence do you need?

Anyone involved in the transfer of ownership of registered training organisations (RTOs) and Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students (CRICOS) is subject to a number of requirements.

It is not permitted for RTOs and CRICOS providers to move their registration from one legal entity to another. That being said, if there is a change in company shareholdings but no change in the ABN/ACN of the organisation registered with ASQA, the provider can continue as long as they inform ASQA of the change in ownership. This is referred to as a change of ownership by ASQA.

Change of ownership is considered high risk and can lead to a full-fledged audit on the RTO’s registration to ensure the RTO is transferred to fit and proper persons. The individuals thinking about buying a training provider must be aware of their responsibilities under the Vocational Education and Training (VET) Quality Framework and to ASQA, the national regulator.

Changes in company shareholding of 50% or more are considered significant. ASQA aims to ensure that buying into a training provider does not enable a buyer to avoid the scrutiny that is applied to initial applications.

Registration requirements include:

1. Demonstrating compliance with Standards for Registered Training Organisations (SRTOs) 2015 (the Standards)
2. Demonstrating compliance with Fit and Proper Person Requirements 2011
3. Demonstrating compliance with Financial Viability Risk Assessment Requirements 2011
4. Demonstrating compliance with Data Provision Requirements 2012
5. Demonstrating compliance with Australian Qualifications Framework

Along with meeting your legislative requirements under the VET Quality Framework, you must also:

• cooperate with ASQA’s General Directions and compliance monitoring activities
• pay all required fees and charges associated with your registration
• comply with any additional licensing requirements imposed on particular VET courses.

In addition, if providing training to overseas students, you will also be subject to the requirements of the Education Services for Overseas Students (ESOS) Quality Framework.

The ESOS Framework is comprised of the:

• Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000 (ESOS Act)
• National Code of Practice for Providers of Education and Training to Overseas Students 2018 (the National Code)
• Education Services for Overseas Students Regulations 2019
• English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students (ELICOS) Standards 2018 (if applicable)

Evidence required from new owners

The following evidence is required from the new owners of the training organisation:

Fit and proper person requirements declaration: Click here.

Financial viability risk assessment tool: Click here.

The Financial Viability Risk Assessment tool guides through the process of considering the key expenses faced by an RTO/CRICOS provider and revenue forecasts. It assesses financial viability risk by evaluating the likelihood of business continuity, and capacity to achieve quality outcomes.

The assessment informs a judgement about whether the organisation has the financial resources necessary to:

• acquire and maintain the requisite assets and physical resources to deliver all qualifications on its scope of registration
• employ sufficient appropriately qualified staff to cover the courses for which it takes enrolments
• provide appropriate levels of student services to students
• remain in business to ensure that each student can achieve completion
• meet the above requirements, even in an unsure environment.

The Financial Viability Risk Assessment tool should be completed by the new owners of the legal entity once the change is/will be completed. A registered accountant who is external and independent to the training provider is required to certify the tool.

Other records, such as previous financial statements and a business plan, must also be included with the tool. You must confirm that your financial statements are in order and up to date, and that you have considered the future of your RTO.

Self-assessment tool for change of ownership: Click here.

The self-assessment tool is a document that covers the standards and clauses as a brand-new RTO registration.

The tools are separated into Section A and Section B

• Section A is to be completed
• Section B of these tools is only to be completed if 100% of shareholdings have changed over 12 months and the provider has:
  • no ongoing students, or
  • has not had more than 10 students complete the training product in which they were enrolled within the previous 12 months.

Entity records required include:

• ASIC company certificate
• ASIC company historical extract
• ASIC business name registration
• ABN certificate
• ASIC company historical extract of parent entities (showing the change of ownership)

Notification requirements:

If your provider is a VET-only training provider, you may notify ASQA of the change after it occurs. As the new owner, notification is your responsibility.

If your training provider is CRICOS registered, you will need to inform ASQA of the change in shareholdings before it occurs. You must also make sure the current owner has also notified ASQA of the impending change of ownership. This is a requirement under s17A (3) of the Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000.

In line with Standard 8.1 of the Standards for Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) 2015, ASQA must receive this notification as soon as practicable, with 90 days after the event the latest it can be received.

Any of the above-mentioned changes should be reported to ASQA using the Notification of Material Change form. This form is available on ASQA’s online site, asqanet.

Audits for compliance monitoring

ASQA will perform a compliance audit to review factual information where substantial changes in ownership are subject to additional evidentiary criteria. The performance evaluation (audit) will look at the training provider’s compliance with:

• the applicable regulatory framework (VET Quality or ESOS legislative) the clauses and requirements in the Change of Ownership Self-Assessment Tool

This performance evaluation would look at whether or not the training company has enough resources to provide quality training and assessment, reliable information, and appropriate support to students.

If non-compliance is discovered during a compliance audit, regulatory action will be taken in a proportionate manner. For the next 12 months, there will be increased scrutiny.

Training providers that have undergone a substantial change of ownership may face increased scrutiny in the 12 months following the completion of the enforcement exercise.

This scrutiny will be extended to any proposals for changes to the scope of registration from training providers during this time, as well as during a provider review at the end of the period. Both of these actions can result in regulatory action, which may require further compliance audits.

New owners of a training provider are responsible for any existing and outstanding non-compliances, as well as any necessary rectification measures. New owners are also responsible for any potential disciplinary action taken by ASQA against the organisation in case of any non-compliance issues.

Charges

Notification of material change is free of charge; however, a compliance audit operation triggered by notification may result in compliance audit charges for any RTO operated under the NVR Act.

Obligations for RTOs

• Annual declaration on compliance
• Submit Total VET activity AVETMISS data
• Submit quality indicator data
• Annual registration charge
• Ensure compliance with the VET quality
• framework at all times
• Submit a renewal application at least 90 days prior to expiry

Obligations on CRICOS providers

• ASQA annual registration charge. Separate charges apply for RTO and CRICOS registration.
•  If registered as a CRICOS provider, you’ll also need to pay the Department of Education:
• an annual registration charge
• an annual Tuition Protection Service (TPS) Levy.
• Ensure compliance with the ESOS framework at all times
• Submit a renewal application at least 90 days prior to expiry

Note:

1. Once the application and supporting evidence are submitted, there is no other opportunity to include new or revised evidence. This is the same as when you first registered as a new training provider with ASQA.
2. If the audit shows noncompliance, the regulator can issue a written directive to correct the problem, impose conditions on the registration, issue a notice of intent to impose sanctions, or cancel the registration. In other words, the sale of the RTO can trigger a complete regulatory audit, exposing the organisation to regulatory risks. This means that the evidence provided in the self-assessment must be 100% compliant. The same as when you first registered as a new training provider with ASQA.
3. The regulator has also established that an RTO that has a change of ownership will face greater scrutiny in the twelve months following the completion of the compliance activity by the regulatory body.

In every workplace, the culture of the company is imperative to the organisation’s success. The company culture has an impact on nearly every aspect of the business.

So why is it so important for your RTO to have a positive workplace culture?

Having a positive workplace culture equals a happy workforce. A happy workforce means higher productivity and higher retention. It is an integral part of the organisation, as it creates your identity. Having values and goals that everyone understands and align with is an important first step to creating a positive culture.

It is important to also understand that you cannot enforce a strong workplace culture. It has to be something that everyone buys into and believes in. An organisation is a team and not a hierarchy. So how do we start? What do we need to do? What are the benefits?

Think of your workplace as a family. We spend a great deal of time together at work, several days a week. Sometimes these days can be long and busy and being part of a team that supports each other is a great way for everyone to love what they do and not feel like work.

‘The only way to do great work is to love what you do’ – Steve Jobs

And this stems from an organisation having a culture that supports this. Think why so many people loved working for Steve Jobs. He worked hard, respected everyone’s voices in the company, listened to everything (even if he didn’t want to hear it!), encouraged honesty and openness, and gave the same back.

So what are some tips for building a positive and strong workplace culture:

Grow off your current culture: Ask everyone what they like and, more importantly, what they do not like about their current workplace culture and workplace environment. Use these suggestions to help create a positive culture.

Emphasise employee wellness: This can be a foundation for a strong positive workplace culture. If employees are not at their best – mentally, emotionally, and physically – then it can be hard for them to contribute to a positive culture. Ensure you have the tools and resources required to enable them to have a healthy outlook, both at work and home.

Having meaning: Imagine coming to work, every day, and not having meaning to the work you do. You need to provide a purpose and meaning for employees to have job satisfaction. Have a positive mission statement. A set of values that are relatable and achievable. Ensure employees understand how their role contributes to the organisation and how they positively have an impact to the company and clients (or students).

Encourage positivity: Simple gestures can make a world of difference. Saying ‘thank you’ to an employee can go a long way. Having a positive attitude, even when situations are tough, can encourage others to stay with you throughout it. Smiling, positive body language and positive expression all play vital roles in encouraging positivity in the workplace.

Create goals: How can we achieve something if we do not know the end goal? How do we start if we do not know what we need to achieve? This is something that many leaders know but struggle to communicate. It can leave others feeling unsettled, unsure where to begin or end and the road they need to take to get there. Having clear goals and paths allow employees to feel confident and positive in achieving them.

Social connections: As we said earlier, we spend a considerable amount of time together at work. How do you grow a strong, positive workplace culture if there is no interaction between them? We need to provide opportunities for social interactions in the workplace. Simple things like having a team meal once a week, social get-togethers outside of work hours, or just encouraging communication in the workplace can all be simple ways to get things started.

Listen: And we mean really listen, not just hear what an employee has to say. You may not always like it but having an open and honest relationship with employees encourages a positive workplace. And who knows, even the negative can turn into a positive. If we listen to what our employees have to say, it provides us the opportunity to continue to mould and grow a workplace where everyone wants to come and work.

These are just some of the basic things we can do in our organisation to create a strong, more positive workplace culture. A place where everyone wants to come to work, and a place everyone wants to work.

With so many challenges thrown at us in this age, being an organisation that provides a strong and positive culture enables you to handle any situation thrown your way.

Raelene is the author of two best-selling books, CRICOS CPR: Top 5 Tips to Rescue Your RTO and Legal Decision-Making under the National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Act 2011 (Cth): An investigation into merits review. As one of Australia’s leading sanction management specialists in VET and international education, she is well known for her outspoken and informed contributions to discussion around VET reform, calling out negligence and keeping the sector accountable. As an ex-regulator, she was an integral to the CRICOS national re-registration project in 2009-2010 which saw the closure of a number of high-profile providers around the country. An outspoken advocate for the sector, Raelene often provides informed discussions on topics that are critical to the future of VET in Australia.

Q1: For those who do not know you, what is your background?
I completed a Bachelor of Education majoring in law and health, completed a Master of Education (Research) in youth suicide prevention, a Graduate Diploma in Adolescent Health and Welfare, as well as a range of VET qualifications in auditing and TAE. I started a Doctor of Philosophy at Monash University in Melbourne on international student safety several years ago but withdrew when I moved to WA. I completed a Graduate Diploma in Australian Migration Law and Practice last year and am currently completing a Bachelor of Laws (Graduate Entry).
From a career perspective, I’ve been a mainstream high school teacher, I worked in prison education, with non-mainstream youth at risk (homeless teens, pregnant teens, kids whose parents were in and out of jail, kids with dual diagnosis issues). I’ve been a VET Trainer and assessor (health and community services), set up health and community services portfolios in large RTOs, managed RTOs, been a regulator with the Department of Education Services in International and Higher Education Regulation and established RTO Doctor in February 2011.
I’ve always been involved in advocacy issues within the VET sector, probably my first real issue that I advocated heavily for in VET was a long time ago in Victoria with ACPET in relation to the issue of work based training for international students. The issues were two-fold. The first was around the requirement of some skills assessment bodies that required certain qualifications and work based training for successful completion or recognition. This really only impacted international students seeking permanent residency at the time because Australian employees did not (and still do not) have to meet the same criteria to be eligible to work in those industries. The second issue was related to how completing the mandatory work placement in these courses impacted international students and their right to work in Australia while their course was in session. There were many courses at the time which required a certain number of work placement hours for recognition of the qualification for international students (domestic students didn’t need to have their qualification recognised) but the training package didn’t require it so, under the National Code at the time, these work based training hours could not be registered n CRICOS causing conflict with the right of international students to work.
Q2: What motivated you to work in an industry which includes a lot of auditing, compliance and many regulations?
Initially, I was motivated by the work I was doing in my PhD. It was on international student safety and how the General Skilled Migration (GSM) Program victimises international students, also focussing on how their own desire to study in Australia contributed to their future victimisation (not so much focussing on the physical violence being experienced at the time ut how systems were exploiting international students and how they willingly engaged with those exploitative systems knowing the inherent risks). I was concerned that if these international students were coming to Australia to study in a country so far from home and where everything is foreign and unknown to them prior to their arrival, then I could at least contribute to the quality of that experience by ensuring that providers were consistently compliant and met their obligations. I’ve always been interested in victimology and supporting the weak, this was just another example.
One day I realised that I could only ever have a small impact by challenging the system in this manner and that if I was to have a bigger impact, I needed to come at it from a different perspective and so came my time as a regulator. The idea was that if I could show providers how to do the right thing, my impact would be greater. I realised though that there was a far greater impact that could be made by assisting providers to respond to allegations of non-compliant behaviour and that perhaps there were secondary victims of the GSM program – providers themselves. As time has gone by and the regulatory framework has changed, my passion for justice and the law has meant that I quite naturally came to specialise in AAT work, giving hope to providers who have risked everything to leave a legacy for our future generations and who, in this process, have become oppressed with very options for survival.
Q3: In the current environment what do you think are the main threats to training organisations?
I think there are a number of threats to RTOs including a lack of leadership and policy direction, financial viability, the inability to exist and operate as a viable long-term business, a rogue regulator, no real industry association that is truly representative of the private sector, the race to the bottom for survival, the lack of regulation around VET service providers (consultants, accountants, website developers, AVETMISS suppliers – there are more and more establishing themselves all the time, most who do not have the qualifications or experience to provide the services that they do; this is a consistent threat to providers in what has become one of the most poorly and highly regulated sectors in the international economy. Australian politics is also a major threat to not just training organisations but Australia’s education and training industry. Australian politics has for decades just put bandaids on a system that it has never understood and the bandaids just keep falling off. If the government is to truly reform Australia’s VET sector, it needs to have a better understanding of it and engage with experts who do.
Q4: What are your views on how we can improve the vocational education and training sector in Australia?
See the previous question, I could turn this into another book otherwise!
Q5: What is your message to organisations that do not spend money or time on improving their systems, processes and staff?
My views are a bit unconventional really. I think there are 2 categories of providers here. I think many providers do spend time and money on these things but they don’t know what they don’t know and are often misguided and exploited by unethical and/or unqualified or poor quality VET service providers. Some of these providers offer these services willingly and intentionally knowing they don’t meet the mark, others are just too naive (or ego-driven) to step aside when they are out of their depth. What makes it worse is the regulator is incredibly poor at providing any guidance on their expectations; it operates in a context of you are guilty until you prove yourself innocent. In this context, it’s impossible to pre-empt what the regulator expects, especially when they are so inconsistent and secondly, despite the many iterations of the legislative framework RTOs operate under, there is still so much grey. This leads me to my second group of providers who, understand that we operate in a legislative framework and sometimes, all you can do is meet the minimum requirements and do what you think. If you have the unfortunate experience of coming face to face with ASQA in its current state, you adjust your systems at that point in time to suit their expectations where it is reasonable. Ultimately, a provider can send themselves into bankruptcy these days trying to pre-empt what ASQA wants and still not get there. Given that they have to make legal decisions based on the legislative framework we all have to operate under, sometimes, it is more time and cost-effective to wait for the legal decision to be made and take action from there. With there being so much subjectivity that prevails in ASQA’s intentions, interpretations, poor quality and approaches to regulation that are not robust, accountable or transparent, it wouldn’t matter how much time or money a provider spent on improving their systems, processes and staff, it would, in today’s regulatory climate, still not be enough.
Q6: What are your views on the comparison between public and private training providers?
I think that if public providers were held to account as much or even close to private providers, there would be no public providers. Having been involved with numerous public providers over the years, I can honestly say that they have far more compliance issues than the majority of private RTOs. I’ve seen some truly horrific accounts of non-compliance in public RTOs that the public would be horrified about but it often gets swept under the carpet. Then there’s those public providers who have connections…
Ultimately, one government body will never shut down another government body – there’s a lot in that if you read between the lines.
Q7: What message would you like to convey to people who plan to work in the VET Sector or are in the industry but do not know where to find help and support?
When people come to me asking for assistance or advice on entering into the VET sector or becoming an RTO, I am ashamed to say that I often ask them ‘Are you mad’? ‘Are you really sure you want to do this’? I actually try to talk them out of it. When you see the horror stories that I have in this industry, the lives that ASQA has ruined, the number of people who have lost everything – their homes, their car, their family, their health, you really start to question the future of this industry and what lies ahead as long as we have the corruption, lack of leadership, transparency, honesty and lack of policy direction that we do. I am fearful for Australia’s VET sector; I’m fearful for the mess that these governments (both Labour and Liberal) have created, neglected and failed. I’m afraid for our future generations and their ability to access the skills that they need to survive in a world that is demanding more and more technical and vocational education. I’m afraid for Australia’s services, suffering immense skills shortages because it’s just too hard to train people to fill those roles or remuneration is not commensurate with what it takes to even graduate one person to fill that gap. As for finding help and support, I have always said ‘Buyer Beware’. There’s a lot of inexperience out there and you don’t know what you don’t know. Don’t be fooled, the mistakes are often life-changing but never in the way you expected.