News
The Foundation Skills Assessment Tool (FSAT) is now closed
The Australian Government Department of Education and Training (the department) advises that the Foundation Skills Assessment Tool (FSAT) has closed from 1 July 2018. To those organisations that registered for an account to use the 2016 version of FSAT, the department thanks you for this and appreciates your interest.
Further information regarding the closure, including answers to frequently asked questions, is available at the department’s website.
Registered Training Organisation status: Withdrawn
From March 2018, Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) that withdraw their registration will be listed on the national register, training.gov.au, with the status 'withdrawn'. Previously these RTOs were updated with the status, 'cancelled', and end reason, 'registration period was cancelled with consent of the organisation'.
This update aims to allow for a more accurate reflection of the type of closures and to better inform the public and relevant stakeholders.
The 'withdrawn' status will be applied retrospectively. Link to ASQA announcement: https://www.asqa.gov.au/news-publications/news/update-listing-format-providers-withdraw-registration-traininggovau.
Consultation on unduly short courses and training product reform
In December 2017, Assistant Minister for Vocational Education and Skills, the Hon Karen Andrews MP announced public consultations with vocational education and training (VET) stakeholders on both the implementation of the Australian Skills Quality Authority’s recommendations on unduly short courses and training product reform.
These consultations are taking place in the context of a number of reforms of VET focused on ensuring students and employers receive high quality training that is responsive to the needs of industry and translates into employment opportunities for individuals.
The Australian Government Department of Education and Training has released discussion papers on unduly short courses and training product reform at www.education.gov.au/VET-consultation. VET stakeholders are encouraged to provide submissions to the public consultation processes, which closes on 9 March 2018.
New National VET Data Policy
A new National VET Data Policy (the Policy) was agreed by Skills Ministers at the COAG Industry and Skills Council meeting on 24 November. The new Policy sets the framework for reforms to help students make better decisions, have a more complete official record of their training, and to simplify regulation for RTOs. It will enable reforms under the Performance Information for VET (PIVET) initiative, which will transform the data available to consumers, governments and regulators.
The Policy comes into effect on 1 January 2018, with a six-month transition period until 1 July 2018. A copy of the Policy is available on the Commonwealth Department of Education and Training’s website: www.education.gov.au/national-vet-data-policy-0
RTOs may have to take action to update student enrolment processes and the wording of their Privacy Notice and Student Declaration. RTOs delivering VET courses in a single day or less are reminded the temporary exemption allowing the issue of a VET qualification or statement of attainment to a student who has not provided their Unique Student Identifier will lapse on 31 December 2017, as scheduled.
The Policy is the result of a sector-wide public consultation process, and closes information gaps by reducing reporting exemptions. Key changes in the new policy can be summarised into three categories:
- consolidation of the policy to provide guidance on all national VET data collections in one document
- reduction of some reporting exemptions for community service organisations and RTOs delivering short courses, but exemptions on the basis of national security are largely retained
- more transparent and defined rules in relation to disclosure and use of data from the collections held by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research.
The provision of more accurate and comprehensive VET data by RTOs helps to build a stronger VET system in Australia. Closing information gaps on short courses as well as longer courses, improves the transparency of training delivery, which supports confidence in the VET sector and makes more information available to training consumers, industry, RTOs, regulators and governments.
Comprehensive information on students improves understanding of how different types of vocational training are used by different segments of the population, and this supports demographic analysis for workforce planning, policy development and consideration of potential market interventions.
The inclusion of USIs in all data submissions will give students more complete information about all the nationally recognised training they have undertaken since January 2015, regardless of where it occurred, which RTO delivered it, or the type of course.
More information on the Policy can be found in the Frequently Asked Questions document available on the Commonwealth Department of Education and Training’s website https://www.education.gov.au/national-vet-data-frequently-asked-questions
Updated trainer and assessor credential requirements
The Training and Education Training Package was updated in April 2016. The core units of the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment were updated to include the ‘Design and develop assessment tools’ and ‘Address adult language, literacy and numeracy (LLN) skills’ units of competency. The core units of the Assessor Skill Set were updated to include the ‘Design and develop assessment tools’ unit of competency.
To ensure the VET workforce has appropriate skills in designing and developing assessment tools and identifying and evaluating LLN requirements, Skills Ministers agreed to update the training and assessment credential requirements in line with the changes to the TAE Training Package. The changes are outlined in the Standards for Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) 2015.
Skills Ministers agreed that trainers and assessors who do not hold the relevant units will have until 1 April 2019 to meet the new credential requirements. Trainers and assessors may use this training to contribute towards meeting professional development requirements outlined in the Standards for RTOs 2015.
Further information is available on the Australian Government Department of Education and Training’s website at https://www.education.gov.au/trainer-and-assessor-credential-requirementsv.au/trainer-and-assessor-credential-requirements
New Deleted status in training.gov.au
Following feedback from users and an agreement from State and Territory Ministers, a new "Deleted" status has been introduced in training.gov.au (TGA). The implementation of the status occured in two phases.
The first phase marked legacy training packages and components (including Enterprise training packages) as Deleted. This was completed in late November.
The second phase saw the Deleted status expanded to all relevant training packages and their components. Any training packages or components that were marked as superseded with no replacement had their status updated to Deleted. Any training packages or components released following the implementation that meet this criteria will also be marked as Deleted.
The second phase was released on Tuesday 13 June 2017.
It should be noted that the marking of these components as Deleted reflects the fact that they are no longer able to be delivered as nationally recognised training. It does not go to the validity of qualifications previously awarded.
If you have any questions, please contact the TGA Help Desk: tgahelp@education.gov.au
The Foundation Skills Assessment Tool (FSAT) is ready for use
The Foundation Skills Assessment Tool (FSAT) is now available for use. Funded by the Department of Education and Training, FSAT is an interactive online tool designed to identify and measure an individual’s foundation skill levels (English language, literacy and numeracy skills as well as employability skills). FSAT assists in identifying any gaps in skills and knowledge that need to be addressed. This will enable trainers to target assistance to students at the areas where each individual may require additional support.
The department is currently working with the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) to finalise and validate the Tool. During the current phase of development, FSAT has been available for use by registered training organisations (RTOs) and senior secondary schools (for year 11 and 12 students).
While there has been strong interest to date, the department is keen for more RTOs and senior secondary schools to use the tool. By participating, you will be helping to ensure that a fully validated, final and free version of FSAT is available as quickly as possible.
Further information regarding FSAT, including answers to ‘Frequently Asked Questions’, and guidance on how to register, is available at: http://www.education.gov.au/foundation-skills-assessment-tool
Extension of transition period - training products endorsed between September 2015 and March 2016
As a result of the transition to the Standards for Training Packages there is a temporary surge in the number of revised training products endorsed by the Australian Industry and Skills Committee (AISC). The peak of activity for release of revised training packages is within the period September 2015 to March 2016.
To assist registered training providers (RTOs) prepare for and implement revised training packages, the Australian Government Minister for Vocational Education and Skills and state and territory Skills Ministers have agreed to temporarily increase the period allowed to transition students to the updated training package qualifications under Standard 1.26 (a) of the Standards for RTOs 2015.
RTOs will now have 18 months instead of 12 months from the date the superseding training product was released on the National Register (training.gov.au) to transition students to the updated training package qualifications or complete their studies and issue the appropriate certification.
This provision only applies for training products endorsed by the AISC from September 2015 until March 2016.
A list of the qualifications that the 18 month period applies to is available at https://www.education.gov.au/regulation-vet.
RTOs are able to enrol learners in and deliver the revised training products prior to the 18 month transition date once your RTO’s scope of registration has been updated by the VET Regulator and, if required, the purchasing arrangements are in place for the relevant state and territory for government funded delivery.
In relation to training where a qualification is superseded but not replaced by a new qualification (standard 1.26 (b) of the standards), the VET Regulator will continue to remove the qualification from the RTO’s scope of registration two years from the date the qualification was removed or deleted from the National Register.
RTOs delivering training funded by state government agencies should ensure that funding arrangements cover this extended period. The New South Wales government will be in contact directly with training market stakeholders about implementation of this in New South Wales.
For questions relating to the implementation of this, please contact your VET Regulator.
RTO Email Scam
It has been brought to our attention that RTO email addresses, potentially sourced from TGA are being used in an attempt to trick recipients into making a payment at the instruction of the sender.
These emails, referred to as “email spoofing”, appear to be sent from a particular account but have actually been sent by an untrustworthy source. This is a reminder that businesses and individuals need to take necessary precautions when it comes to online email, network and internet security.
If you believe you have been the recipient of such emails, we recommend that you verify the authenticity of the email with the sender through other mediums (e.g. telephone) first before replying. Secondly, report such emails to the appropriate authorities, such as the Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the information available on TGA, please contact us by clicking here.
September 2015
Changes to the display of Skill Sets on RTOs Scope
Following feedback from stakeholders, the way in which Skill Sets are displayed on RTOs scope has changed.
From 2 September, users will need to check the "Include Implicit Scope" box to view the Skill Sets that an RTO has the capacity to deliver based on the combination of their implicit and explicit scope items.
For more information about Skill Sets on scope, please visit the TGA news page.
If you have any questions please contact the TGA Help Desk by clicking here
June 2015
Changes to TGA notification system
The TGA Project team have released changes to the TGA change notification system. An overview of the changes are below.
Automatic RTO subscription
All RTOs have been automatically subscribed to receive change notification emails for their organisation and all of the training components that are on their scope. In the instance where the scope changes e.g. a new scope item is added or removed, the RTO’s subscription profile will be automatically updated to receive notifications for the item. By default, the RTO registration enquiries contact held on TGA will be used to create and receive the automatic subscription service.
All RTOs must ensure that their RTO contact details on TGA are up to date. If your organisation’s contact details are not correct in TGA, please contact your regulator.
Improvements to the notification management process
Following feedback received from TGA users, the way that users can subscribe and manage their notifications has been improved. Using a dedicated notification management screen, users will now be able to drill down into training packages and add their choice of components (e.g. qualifications & units of competency) at one time. In addition, users can add RTOs and all their scope items to their notification profile.
Improvements to the notification email content
The new notification emails now contain more detailed information about the nature of the changes and will provide links (where applicable) to TGA functions such as the Compare Text Tool.
Skill Sets on Scope
The new Standards for VET Regulators, requires Skill Sets form an official part of an RTOs scope. As a result all RTOs scopes have now been automatically updated to reflect their capacity to deliver Skill Sets. These Skill Sets scope items are based on their implicit and explicit scope items and will be updated through the regulatory management of an RTOs scope. Individuals will need to contact the RTO directly to determine whether they are actually delivering this Skill Set.
If you have any questions please contact the TGA Help Desk by clicking here
April 2015
Removal of reference to NSSC in endorsement date
Following the dissolution of the National Skills Standards Council (NSSC), Secretaries of Departments with responsibilities for skills are endorsing training packages through interim arrangements until the Australian Industry and Skills Committee commences. The interim arrangements are based on the current out of session endorsement process referred to in the Standards for Training Packages.
As a result, all references to the NSSC in relation to endorsement dates have been removed from training.gov.au.
For updates regarding the Australian Industry and Skills Committee, please visit the VET Reform Taskforce website.
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December 2014
Retitling of Vocational Graduate Diplomas and Vocational Graduate Certificates
Following agreement from all jurisdictions, Training.gov.au will remove the word ‘vocational’ from any existing qualifications so that existing Vocational Graduate Certificates and Vocational Graduate Diplomas can be retitled to Graduate Certificates and Graduate Diplomas respectively. This will mean that these qualifications remain available to new learners from 1 January 2015. However, retitling does not imply that the training packages have already transitioned to the new training package standards.
For Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) with VGC or VGD on scope, these courses will need to be renamed as simply Graduate Certificates or Graduate Diplomas. Once the relevant training packages have been transitioned to meet the new training package standards, RTOs will be required as per usual practice and teach-out period requirements, to teach the new training package. In the meantime, RTOs should remove the term ‘Vocational’ from any courses advertised and from any testamurs issued from 1 January 2015.
There will be no change to the qualification code or content
For existing learners and holders of qualifications, the AQF implementation arrangements state that ‘…holders of Vocational Graduate Certificates and Vocational Graduate Diplomas are considered to hold, respectively, a Graduate Certificate or Graduate Diploma’.
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July 2014
Launch of YouTube channel TrainingGovAu
The training.gov.au team is pleased to announce the launch of TrainingGovAu. The TrainingGovAu YouTube channel has been created to assist users with using the functions and tools available on training.gov.au by providing short tutorial videos.
Over the coming months, more tutorial videos will be released on the channel. Check out the channel and be sure to add it to your favourites.
The first video launched is the Using the compare content tool.
If you have any feedback about the videos, please contact us at tgahelp@industry.gov.au
Skill Sets released on My Skills
RTOs can now login to My Skills and identify what Training Package Skill Sets they deliver. VET consumers will then be able to search and filter for Skill Sets and see the providers offering them.
Select your RTO from the ‘My Profile’ menu item to nominate which Skill Sets on your implied scope are being offered.
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June 2014
New TGA Landing Page
The new training.gov.au (TGA) landing page has been launched. The landing page is to ensure that visitors are getting access to the information that best suits their needs by providing alternative options for accessing information about the VET Sector.
Regular users can bypass the new landing page and gain direct access to TGA by updating their bookmarks to http://training.gov.au/home/tga.
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March 2014
Looking for training?
My Skills lets you search for all the nationally recognised training available near you, providing campus details and delivery modes not available on training.gov.au. If you’re looking for training, make My Skills your first stop.
RTOs – Are your My Skills details up to date?
Find your My Skills listing and then login to My Skills to:
- Promote your RTO’s services and facilities;
- Update campus information and training options;
- Showcase which items on scope are currently being offered; and
- Add dates for upcoming courses.
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December 2013
VET Activity Reporting (TVA) Webinar Series
The Commonwealth and a representative of each State and Territory Training Department will be jointly hosting a series of interactive webinar sessions, providing an overview of the new VET Activity Reporting requirements, including transition arrangements and exemptions. It will also provide Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) and Student Management System (SMS) vendors with the opportunity to ask questions. These webinar sessions will be helpful in supporting the transition to AVETMISS reporting for RTOs.
The National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) and VET Regulators will attend to answer any queries you may have for them.
There are a total of 8 sessions to be held – one for each jurisdiction – and they will each run for an hour.
Webinar recordings and a copy of the presentation will be made available at the end of the webinar series.
Webinar sessions are free and you can register your place for the VET Activity Reporting Webinar session for your state or territory here
Please note spaces are limited for each session and registrations for NSW and QLD are currently at capacity. You are welcome to register for a session in a different state/territory or download a copy of the webinar recording after the webinar series.
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Visit the My Skills website
November 2013
My Skills is a Government initiative enabling prospective students to search for courses and training providers. My Skills was recently updated to allow Registered Training Organisations to log in and enter information relating to their Registered Training Organisation, campuses and courses. Some of this can even been done automatically via web services and, in future, through SMS vendors.
My Skills currently receives over 23,000 unique visitors per month. Have you updated your Registered Training Organisations information on My Skills? Go to My Skills now by clicking on this link www.myskills.gov.au.
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Enhancements to training.gov.au now live
August 2013
Enhancements to improve the functionality and usability of training.gov.au are now live. This means users can now:
- View the content of training components on training component web pages
- View information displayed on training component web pages more easily
- Increase the number of items displayed in search results and in tables
If you require further information about these enhancements please contact the training.gov.au help desk at tgahelp@innovation.gov.au.
Taxonomy information now available via web services
August 2013
Web services users can now download taxonomy information. Taxonomy information is avaliable for qualifications, in the categories of occupation and industry sector. If you require further information about web services please contact the training.gov.au help desk at tgahelp@innovation.gov.au.
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Enhancements to training.gov.au
August 2013
The training.gov.au team have been working to develop enhancements that will improve the functionality and usability of training.gov.au. Over the coming weeks these enhancements will be launched. Details of the enhancements are outlined below:
Display content of training components on web pages
Currently when viewing training components (Training Packages, qualifications, units, etc.), only the metadata for the training component is displayed on the web page. To view the actual content of the training component, the training component must be downloaded as PDF/Word documents. The content of training components will now be displayed on the web page, allowing content to be viewed without having to download PDF/Word documents.
Please note that this functionality does not extend to accredited courses or accredited course modules.
Redesigned layout of training component web pages
The web pages of training components (Training Packages, qualifications, units, skill sets and accredited courses) on the public website are being redesigned to make them more user-friendly.
The layout of information on the web pages is being reorganised to make the information easier to read and follow. In particular, the layout of the 'version history' and 'mapping information' sections will be made more intuitive.
Ability to increase the number of items displayed in search results and in tables
There are several areas in training.gov.au that list multiple rows within a table (such as the "Units of competency" table on the qualification web page). Currently these tables display 10 rows at a time.
You will be able to increase/decrease the number of rows in tables that are displayed at a time. You will be able to choose to display 10, 20, 50 or 100 items at a time.
Taxonomy information available via web services
Web services users will be able to download taxonomy information – occupations and industry sectors, associated with Qualifications.
If you require any further information about these enhancements please contact the training.gov.au helpdesk at tgahelp@innovation.gov.au.
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New reporting requirements for all RTOs
June 2013
On 7 June 2013, the Standing Council on Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment (SCOTESE) agreed to implementation arrangements for strengthening the national vocational education and training (VET) data collection through enhanced reporting of training activity by RTOs. Arrangements for the introduction of the student identifier scheme were also agreed, subject to the outcome of the Student Identifiers Bill that is currently before the Parliament of Australia.
These changes are part of a set of reforms that are being introduced to support better information about VET.
The initiatives are designed so employers and individuals can make more informed choices about training options, individuals can get records of training they undertake regardless of where it occurred, industry can know the skills being developed in the training sector, and governments can develop more targeted policies and better direct funding to training priorities.
In taking the decision, Ministers recognised this change will impact some training providers more than others and so a number of tailored transitional arrangements and exemptions have been agreed.
Further information is available online on the Department of Industry, Innovation, Climate Change, Science, Research and Tertiary Education website (www.innovation.gov.au/vetreporting and www.innovation.gov.au/usi).
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New Standards for Training packages on training.gov.au
March 2013
The new Standards for Training packages were officially endorsed on November 16 2012. These Standards define the structure and content of Training packages and their components and replace the former Training Package Development Handbook.
New Training packages that conform to the new Standards will begin to be endorsed and released onto TGA over the coming months.
These new packages can be identified by their three character code (e.g. “XYZ”) as opposed to the five character code of traditional Training packages (e.g. “XYZ13”).
The Training packages that have been endorsed under the new Standards will also have the following note on their details page:
“NOTE: is Training package conforms to the new Standards for Training packages”.
Accessing and downloading these new Training packages on TGA can be done in the same way as accessing and downloading traditional Training packages, by searching for the Training package Code or Title using the NRT search.
If you require further information about the new Standards for Training packages, please visit the National Skills Standards Council (NSSC) website at:
http://www.nssc.natese.gov.au/training_packages
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Taxonomy report now available
December 2012
The new taxonomy report allows users to export occupation and industry sector information relating to Training package Qualifications. The taxonomy report should not be confused with the already available classification report. The classification report allows users to export statistical classifications of Qualifications, Units of Competency and Accredited courses.
The taxonomy and classification reports can be found here http://training.gov.au/Reporting
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Updated RTO report now available
December 2012
The RTO report now allows users to search for RTOs by ‘Head office location state’ and by ‘Registration manager’.
The updated RTO report can be found here http://training.gov.au/Reporting/ReportInfo?reportName=RtoReport
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New Compare Text tool is now available
July 2012
The new Compare Text tool allows the content of a training product to be compared with the content of another training product, highlighting the differences between the two.
This tool is particularly useful when needing to see what has changed between:
- A superseded training product and the new training product that has superseded it.
- An old version of a training product and a newer version of the training product that has replaced it.
Please note the Compare Text tool can only be used to compare between two of the same type of training product (e.g. two Qualifications). The Compare Text tool is also not available for Accredited courses.
When viewing the details page of a training product, the Compare Text tool can be found immediately below the 'Release history' table.
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Improvements to Notification emails
July 2012
Recent improvements to the automated Notification emails will allow users to better understand what has been updated when subscribed to Nationally Recognised Training (NRT) and Registered Training Organisations (RTO). Notification emails now include a change summary report which details exactly what information in the NRT / RTO has changed, including ‘before’ and ‘after’ values.
If you would like to provide feedback on the improved automated Notification emails, please contact the tgahelp@innovation.gov.au inbox.
What are Notification emails?
Notification emails allow users to subscribe to Training Packages, Qualifications, Units, Skill sets and Accredited courses (Nationally Recognised Training) and be automatically notified via email when these are updated. For example, when a new version of the NRT becomes available or when the NRT is superseded. Similarly, users can also subscribe to RTOs and be notified when they are updated, for example when scope items or contact details are changed.
To sign up to Notifications for NRT and RTOs, you will need to:
- Create a Training.gov.au account and sign into the website. https://training.gov.au/Account/SignIn
- Use the search to navigate to the page of the RTO or NRT you want to subscribe to.
- In the top right hand corner of the RTO or NRT page, click ‘Notify me of changes’. You will then be prompted to select which changes for the NRT or RTO you would like to subscribe to.
To edit your Notification preferences and view which Notifications you have signed up for, you will need to:
- Sign into the website.
https://training.gov.au/Account/SignIn - Click the “Notifications” button located in the tab buttons at the top of the page.
