Closure of the Foundation Skills Assessment Tool (FSAT)

The Australian Government Department of education and Training (the department) advises that the Foundation Skills Assessment Tool (FSAT) will close down from 1 July 2018.

The tool will remain completely functional for organisations already registered to use FSAT (and their students to sit assessments) until 30 June 2018 but effectively immediately, no new registrations will be accepted. The department is working with the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) to transition FSAT to closure.

For information on the closure generally and what it specifically means for organisations already registered to use FSAT, please refer to the department's website.

The ACER FSAT Helpdesk will continue to provide technical assistance and support for using FSAT through to 30 June 2018. Further information is available on 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Registered Training Organisation status: Withdrawn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(RTOs) that withdraw their registration will be listed on the national register, training.gov.au, with the status 'withdrawn'.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The 'withdrawn' status will be applied retrospectively.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-requirements