I want to voice my opinion – your letters and emails to us

In this newsletter, we have selected this email received from one of our subscribers genuinely questioning the current regulatory environment of Registered Training Organisations:

“It has been my experience as an RTO Manager that everyone except the RTO is protected in the current environment.  Students and staff can complain to ASQA and Smart and Skilled about an RTO but there is no recourse for RTOs which find themselves placed in a compliance risk scenario caused by incompetent trainers.

Don’t get me wrong, I think it is very important that students and staff are protected, but there is no protection for RTOs from unscrupulous staff that are potentially harmful to the business.

We have employed staff who look great on paper, interview well, but in reality cannot do the job required and in some cases, place the RTO at compliance risk due to their lack of skills or knowledge.  The students are the ones who end up suffering and these trainers move on and inflict the same level of training and compliance risk on the next RTO.

I would love to see a review tool that all RTOs could access to share their experiences before they employ staff.”

The names and details have been removed to protect the confidentiality of the person/s involved. 

Do you have views or thoughts on this topic? How do you review a trainer’s performance and how do you know what goes on between the trainer and the students? Have you got any tips and hints that you are willing to share with this RTO Manager?

Why not write to us and discuss how we all as VET stakeholders can voice our opinions and views and help create a better vocational education and training system.