October 2008

1. From the Chair
2. NQC Member Profile
3. Quality Standing Committee Report
4. Training Packages Standing Committee Report
5. Migration of Training Packages to training.gov
6. CPC08 - Construction, Plumbing & Services Integrated Framework Training Package
7. VET Workforce Development Standing Committee
8. Equity Project Update
9. Joint NQC/COAG Project
10. NARA Update
11. Standards Australia Presentation
12. 2008 Future NQC Meeting Dates

 

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From the Chair

 Since my report in the August edition of the Quality Council Focus, I have been actively engaged in purposeful meetings with key stakeholders across the national training system to ensure that the NQC’s views are represented and its work plan and priorities are widely understood and communicated. I have also represented the NQC at a number of major national VET conferences and events.

On Monday, 25 August, I travelled to Canberra for a meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister; and Minister for Education, the Hon Julia Gillard MP. During the meeting, the DPM expressed her enthusiasm and encouragement for the work of the National Quality Council and acknowledged the vital role of the Council in assuring and enhancing “quality” within Australia’s national VET system.  

Unfortunately, a series of unforeseen business matters arose in August which prevented me from attending and speaking at the ACPET Conference in Hobart. I extend my thanks to Malcolm Goff and Cheryll Meade, who both did a marvelous job standing in for me.

On Wednesday, 10 September, I was very pleased to be involved in the launch of the National Audit and Registration Agency (NARA) in Melbourne. The Deputy Prime Minister; Minister for Education, the Hon Julia Gillard MP, officially launched NARA, while acknowledging, in her launch speech, the tremendous value and benefit NARA brings to the Australia’ national VET system. The launch was also attended by Victorian Minister for Skills and Workforce Participation, the Hon Jacinta Allan MP. Minister Allan spoke on the benefits of NARA for those Victorian RTOs that deliver training in multi-jurisdictions.

On Monday, 16 September, I travelled to Canberra to support TAFE Directors’ Australia (TDA) major event for 2008, TAFE Meets Parliament. The two-day conference was held across two venues; Parliament House and the Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT).

On 25 September, I represented the NQC at the Agri-Foods ISC Conference in Melbourne, where I presented as an opening speaker. The following day, I presented a keynote address at the Mining Industry Skills Centre Conference in Brisbane.

As Chair of the NQC, I look forward to continuing to represent the Council and highlight its valuable role in the national training system.

Regards,


 
Patrick McKendry
NQC Chair
 

 

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NQC Member Profile

Michelle Bissett
Senior Industrial Officer
Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU)

Since early 2001, Michelle has held the position of Senior Industrial Officer with the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), the peak Australian union organisation which represents over two million members and their families. As a Senior Industrial Officer, Michelle contributes to the work of the ACTU in campaigning to improve workplace rights and social policy in Australia.

 

 Michelle’s portfolio covers policy issues on matters including vocational education and training (VET), temporary skilled migration and industrial regulation. Michelle also plays an advocacy role on major industrial cases before the Australian Industrial Relations Commission.

Among the many achievements and successful reforms Michelle has worked on in her role with the ACTU, she lists as her highlights the Modernisation of Awards, the 2004 Redundancy Case, and the Working Hours Case. She also has an active role in developing written submissions and appearing before federal parliamentary inquiries on matters as diverse as industrial relations, contractors, VET, and temporary skilled migration.

Before working with the ACTU, Michelle held a number of professional positions in the trade union movement since 1983. This followed a period of employment with the Community and Public Sector Union, where she was an Industrial Officer and an elected official.  

Michelle currently represents the ACTU on a number of boards and committees including the National Industry Skills Committee (NISC), the National Quality Council (NQC), the TVET Australia Board of Directors, and the Hornery Institute Skilling and Employment Advisory Committee.

Michelle holds a Bachelor of Science and a Masters of Industrial & Employee Relations.

 

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Quality Standing Committee Report

AQTF Excellence Criteria project

The NQC noted that the AQTF Excellence Criteria trial is now complete and that the business case has confirmed that the scheme can be sustainably implemented in the long term provided that the cost of operation is carefully managed, requiring fees to be payable by RTOs and public funds to be allocated in the first two years of its operation to offset administrative and establishment costs.

The Excellence Criteria will support continuous improvement of quality and delivery within the national training system.The NQC has agreed that external evaluations against the criteria should be open to all RTOs.  External evaluation may result in recognition at one of two levels of excellence: Training Excellence – Gold, and Training Excellence – Silver, with a period of recognition is for three years subject to conditions.

The NQC has the role of custodian of the Excellence Criteria scheme, including monitoring policy implementation and administration as part of the AQTF on behalf of MCVTE.  Once MCVTE has made a decision regarding appropriate arrangements of ownership and administration of the scheme, it was agreed that implementation of the Excellence Criteria scheme should proceed as soon as possible in order to complete the implementation of this component of the AQTF.

2008 Quality Standing Committee Work Plan projects

The Quality Standing Committee is overseeing continuing work in 2008 on components of the AQTF to further increase its effectiveness and provide opportunities for continuous improvement.

This ongoing work relates to the following projects:

Quality Indicators Resources Package
The Quality Indicators Resources Package project involves the integration of the three quality indicators (Employer Satisfaction, Learner Satisfaction, and Competency Completion) into a single resource package.  The Resources Package will include data collection tools and supporting software, advice on how to use the tools as well as advice on how RTOs may use the data collected for continuous improvement.

The three Quality Indicators were endorsed by the NQC in 2007.  The QSC is currently reviewing the Resource Package designed to support the use of the three Quality Indicators.  The NQC agreed that the deployment of the Quality Indicators Resources Package be delayed to enable this to be done as a priority, prior to further consideration by the NQC.


Development of Quality Indicators for Registering Bodies
This project will develop stakeholder survey tools to collect data against the Registering and Accrediting Body Quality Indicators.  Having nationally consistent survey tools will allow registering and accrediting bodies to fulfil their data collection, continuous improvement and reporting obligations in accordance with the AQTF requirements

Dissemination of publications for AQTF 2007 implementation
This project supports the continuing distribution of printed versions of AQTF 2007 Essential Standards for Registration and AQTF 2007 Users’ Guide to the Essential Standards for Registration in response to RTO demand.

Note: AQTF 2007 Users’ Guide to Standards for Accredited Courses has been published and may be downloaded from http://www.training.com.au


National Registration and Accreditation Technical Committee (NRATC) projects
NRATC is a technical committee of the Quality Standing Committee. It supports the operation of a nationally consistent regulatory system administered through state and territory registering and course accrediting bodies. The Committee’s work focuses on the implementation of national standards, guidelines and resources. It identifies opportunities for improvement, conducts moderation activities and supports national consistency through review and information sharing.  The Committee’s 2008 Work Plan projects include:

• providing annual recommendations to the QSC which specifies the qualitative and quantitive data that will form the basis for state and territory reporting against the quality indicators for registering and accrediting bodies
• reporting annually on key quality assurance outcomes and issues
• identifying and acting on opportunities to streamline regulatory activities.  This includes consideration for the streamlining of complaints handling procedures in 2008
• supporting continuous improvement of registering and accrediting functions through benchmarking and moderation activities
• building the capacity of auditors and course accreditation officers through professional development and moderation activities.

Review of AQTF 2007
The National Quality Council remains committed to an external review of the AQTF 2007, but agreed that it would be more appropriate to postpone the review until 2009 to allow more time to fully implement the new arrangements, including the quality indicators.

 

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Training Packages Standing Committee Report

The role of this Committee is to ensure that improved and more timely processes are in place for the development, review and endorsement of Training Packages; and to guide work on improving the design of Training Packages, qualifications and units of competency.

This includes ensuring the quality of processes leading to endorsement of Training Packages as well as initiatives relating to ensuring Training Packages are flexible and responsive to changing industry and client needs and workplace practices.

 

Two key projects are due for completion in the coming months.

Stakeholder consultation around the next generation of Training Packages
A significant priority for the NQC in 2008, in keeping with the COAG skills formation agenda, is to build on work begun in 2007 and determine what, if anything, needs to happen with VET qualifications, Training Packages, accredited courses, units of competency and assessment guidelines to ensure that the VET system is able to deliver high quality outcomes against future demand.

During the rest of the year, wide consultation will be undertaken, seeking feedback from a broad range of stakeholders on a number of options.

Improving industry confidence in VET assessment
A 2007 NQC project to investigate industry expectations of VET assessment processes in non-regulated industries has recently been completed. The aim of the research was to provide a firm evidence basis for future NQC work to improve industry confidence in the outcomes of VET assessments.

As part of the research, a range of possible strategies for improving industry confidence in the outcomes of VET assessment were identified and then tested with industry participants. A number of potential points of intervention emerged as likely to increase industry confidence included those relating to Training Package development; training and ongoing professional development of assessors; validation and/or moderation processes; and relationships between enterprises and RTOs (for current employees undertaking training).

Both the Training Package Standing Committee and the VET Workforce Development Standing Committee are currently considering further work for 2008 in line with the recommendations of the report.

It is expected that the final report Investigation into industry expectations of Vocational Education and Training assessment will be published on http://training.com.au following endorsement by the Council at its next meeting in September. 

 

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Migration of Training Packages to training.gov

DEEWR has been leading the redevelopment of a new integrated system to replace the National Training Information System (NTIS) and the existing training.com website. The new system, to be known as training.gov.au, will incorporate a number of components including:

• The National Training Information Service - a high-quality, nationally consistent database of Registered Training Organisations and nationally recognised training data that supports the operation of the AQTF and national reporting arrangements;
• The Training Package Content Repository – a system that will support a new approach to the management of Training Package content. Under the new approach users will be able to retrieve the endorsed content they want, in the format that best supports their specific business needs, immediately following endorsement.
• The Contextual Content Repository - a database of content describing National Training System arrangements, including information about the AQTF
• The WebServices Consumer Interface - will allow third-parties, including RTOs, to download data from Training.gov.au for use in their own systems.  Will support more effective use of technology, such as learning/student management systems, to support implementation.

The system also presents a number of audience-specific web-sites, each of which is designed to support the particular information discovery needs of the target audience by combining data with contextual content.  These include:

• YourRTO.gov.au designed for the needs of training professionals
• TrainYourPeople.gov.au designed for the needs of employers and industry
• YourTraining.gov.au designed for the needs of individuals and their proxies.

The new system is scheduled to be launched on 29 May 2009 and the DEEWR project team are currently conducting consultations with key stakeholders to ensure a smooth transition.

 

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CPC08 - Construction, Plumbing & Services Integrated Framework Training Package

The CPC08 Construction, Plumbing and Services Integrated Framework Training Package was considered in session by the National Quality Council and endorsed.  Ministerial approval of the endorsement decision will now be sought as the final step in the endorsement process.

The Package includes a small number of intermediate and specialist qualifications originally developed at the direction of the Council of Australian Governments.  NQC members agreed on the need to seek advice and clarification from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet on the processes that industry may follow to amend these specific qualifications.

 

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VET Workforce Development Standing Committee

This NQC Standing Committee has two major roles: to oversee NQC Work Plan projects to develop the professional capability of the VET workforce; and to provide advice on strategic priorities for the National VET Professional Capability Building Program (currently  ‘Reframing the Future ‘).

2008 VWDSC  Standing Committee Work Plan projects
Work is underway on the following projects in the 2008 Work Plan:

Development of a National VET Workforce Development Strategy
The objective of this project is to develop a national strategy, building on existing strategies at the state and local level, to ensure the national VET workforce has the capacity (including the necessary set of professional capabilities) for responding to changing industry and national priorities and meeting future demands for skills and skills training. As part of this project, strategic priorities for the National VET Professional Capability Building Program for 2009 will be identified.

Three projects for developing the capability of the VET workforce in order to increase industry confidence in the outcomes of VET assessment processes have been identified. All three projects will build on the outcomes of the 2007   ‘Investigation into industry expectations of VET assessment’ report.

Quality of assessment practices
This project will review what constitutes and contributes to quality assessment and identify key issues which impact on the integrity and quality of assessment outcomes from the perception of key stakeholders, including industry.  It will develop a strategy and review existing materials to address gaps in quality assessment and provide a plan for dissemination and implementation of the outcomes  

Industry/ enterprise and RTO partnerships
This project aims to improve the responsiveness of training to industry and employer needs by identifying, documenting and disseminating best practice examples of partnerships and new ways of working between RTOs and industry/ enterprises to adopt more innovative, flexible approaches to training and skills development.

National approach to moderation to improve consistency of assessment
This project aims to improve national consistency within the operation of the national skills framework through the development of a national approach to moderation of assessment within the VET sector which includes the involvement of industry.  Work to be undertaken includes: a literature search and commentary of approaches used to undertake moderation in differing sectors, both within Australia and internationally; and the development, trial and evaluation of moderation models suitable for the Australian VET context.

 

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Equity Project Update

Miles Morgan Australia have been appointed as consultants for a project which will provide clear direction to the Council on how to ensure equity issues are systematically considered in all aspects of the NQC’s business practices. A final report is expected to be completed by mid December and considered by the Council at its first meeting in 2009.

 

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Joint NQC/COAG Project

The NQC and the COAG Skills and Workforce Development Subgroup have established a joint project with the aim of ensuring that nationally recognized training products within the VET sector are flexible and responsive to changing industry, business and individual needs and workplace practices. The scope of the joint project will include work on improving the design of units of competency, Training Packages, VET qualifications, accredited courses, credit systems and recognition arrangements. Previously planned NQC work to identify enhancements to the design of Training Packages will be completed as part of this project.  The Council has approved a two stage approach with the first stage, involving the development of a draft policy framework covering all of the above areas to be completed by the end of 2008. Consultation with stakeholders on the draft policy framework is scheduled to occur in the first half of 2009.

 

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NARA Update

The National Audit and Registration Agency (NARA) has been established within TVET Australia Ltd to provide audit and registration services for multi-jurisdictional Registered Training Organisations - those that operate in more than one Australian State or Territory.   NARA has advised the NQC that it now has delegations in place from South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT for AQTF and CRICOS (Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students) registrations, and from Queensland for the AQTF.  Legislative change is required in Victoria, Western Australia and the Northern Territory before delegations can be enacted, and NARA has been advised that work on the required changes is underway.  

At 8 September 2008, NARA had four training organisations registered with it and a further five approved by their home state Registering Body as eligible to apply for initial registration with NARA, and with initial registration audits underway.  Fourteen more RTOs have advised NARA that they have submitted, or are preparing to submit applications to their home Registering Bodies for approval to transfer

Auditing offshore delivery to international students

NARA has also advised the NQC of steps it is taking to monitor the quality of offshore training when auditing RTOs for re-registration or other purposes.

The TVET Australia Board has approved a fee structure for NARA to enable it to meet the costs of auditing offshore delivery by all of its registered RTOs.  NARA will conduct a site audit of each RTO registered with it at least once during the five year period of the RTO’s registration, as required under the National Guideline for Risk Management.  

Over the next twelve months NARA will liaise with relevant officials within Australia and overseas to design and implement the most appropriate audit models and quality assurance frameworks for different offshore jurisdictions.  Arrangements could include partnerships with the vocational training authorities of other countries through to sending NARA auditors offshore (with arrangements in place with local officials to have them participate as members of the audit team).  The TVET CEO, Mr Malcolm Goff advised the NQC that NARA will share information with other Registering Bodies about the development of arrangements for off-shore auditing of RTOs.

 

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Standards Australia Presentation

Standards Australia provided a brief presentation on their work to develop a new national Standard for Learning Services and Learning Service Providers to the Council at its September meeting. 

 

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2008 Future NQC Meeting Dates

4 Dec - NQC meeting (all day)