VET News - 27th August 2020 • Newbery Consulting

Newbery Consulting VET News – 27th August 2020

Hello and welcome to VET News,

Happy National Skills Week. If you were not aware, it is currently skills week which extends through to 30 August with a focus on raising the profile of vocational education. There are some interesting news items this addition including some important updates to training packages relating to Cyber Security, Arboriculture, Landscaping, and Horticulture. There are also some excellent articles to take note of from the NCVER and the Labour Market Information Portal (LMIP). Each addition we will try and keep an eye on information coming out of the LMIP and share anything we think is worth noting for your consideration.
ASQA seem to be hard at work implementing its reforms. We experienced the effect of this in the past week with a client that had an initial registration audit in Melbourne for their new RTO/CRICOS approval. The audit went very smoothly (of course) but inevitably there were some minor issues in some documents that the client could quite easily amend. The auditor was quite proactive in identifying these items and coming to an agreement with the client to rectify these either on the spot or directly following the audit. Very refreshing and totally sensible. If you did not catch it in previous editions these changes to audit practices are outlined following page (click).

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Good training,

Joe Newbery
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Compliance & Regulatory News

ASQA releases 2020–21 Corporate Plan

ASQA has released the 2020-21 Corporate Plan which contains ASQA’s planned activities and key strategies both for this year and years ahead. ASQA will use the performance framework and standards outlined in the corporate plan to measure their performance in achieving this purpose.

Changes to the NVR Regulations

Over the next 12 months, changes to legislation will come into effect to support recent amendments to the National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Act (NVR Act). From 1 September 2020, ASQA is required to publish a broader range of information about an RTO on the National Register and historical regulatory decisions about an RTO on the National Register.

ASQA will also have the option to issue infringement notices if an RTO issues a testamur to a student without ensuring that student holds a Unique Student Identifier (USI), unless the student is exempt or if an RTO fails to comply with a direction by ASQA to cancel a VET qualification or VET statement of attainment.From 1 March 2021:

ASQA approves extended transition period for superseded MEM training products

ASQA has agreed to extend the transition period of 10 superseded MEM qualifications further until 31 December 2021. This transition period is also extended to all superseded MEM units of competency named within the qualifications.

Other VET News

Release of new Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Training Package Products, Release 6.0

New skill sets have been endorsed to help address critical knowledge and skill needs in the areas of cyber incident threat detection and prevention, cyber incident response, and cyber security strategy and governance, as well as in the areas of cloud computing, and data analytics. The skill sets will support the delivery of cyber security and digital technologies training across multiple industries within the ICT sector.

View.

Changes to Training package – AHC – Agriculture, Horticulture and Conservation and Land Management Training Package, Release 5.0

There have been significant changes made to the training package requiring re-endorsement. New components have been added and some existing components have been superseded by new components. These include new qualifications in Arboriculture and updated qualifications in Landscaping, Seed Production, Horticulture and Landscape Design.

View.

Annual Declaration

The Annual Declaration on Compliance for RTOs registered with TAC is due by 30 September 2020 for the 2019/2020 financial year.

Creating a USI for students impacted by COVID-19

Registered training organisations and VET Admission Bodies may create a USI on a student’s behalf if the student has been impacted by Coronavirus (COVID-19) and is unable to enter Australia or create their own USI. If the student does not have a Document Verification Service (DVS) verifiable form of identification, the USI can be created using the ‘DVS override function’.

ACT Skilled Capital Skill Set

Skills Canberra has added the recently endorsed BSBSS00095 Cross-Sector Infection Control Skill Set to the list of Skill Sets fully funded under the National Infection Control Training Fund. There are now fee-free training places available for customer-facing workers across six infection control Skill Sets in the ACT.

View.

Articles and Papers

Government-funded students and courses 2019

This publication provides a summary of data relating to students, programs, subjects and training providers in Australia’s government-funded vocational education and training (VET) system. It shows in 2019, compared with 2018, student numbers increased by 1.2 million. However from 2015 to 2019, student numbers have decreased by 3.1%.

Labour Market Trend Updates

COVID-19 Resources

The Department of Education, Skills and Employment’s website provides information to support those affected by COVID-19. The information includes:

A Jobs Hub which provides an up to date list of some of the businesses and organisations that are currently hiring, as well as the latest information on jobs by location
Support for apprentices and trainees
Information for job seekers, and participants
Support for Australian businesses to manage cash flow challenges and retain employees.

Support & Assistance

Mature age job seekers build skills with Career Transition Assistance

The Career Transition Assistance (CTA) program is designed to help mature-age job seekers to build their confidence and skills to become more competitive in their local labour market.

CTA is for people aged 45 years and older to increase their job readiness by identifying their transferable skills and better targeting their job search to local industries and available jobs. This program provides practical assistance to develop technology and digital skills to build their confidence to use different types of technology.

Online Resources

As remote learning continues in Victoria and the changing circumstances across many states, ESA has updated the online resources section of their website. ESA offers digital resources, as well as professional learning materials. Aligned to the Australian Curriculum and the Australian Student Wellbeing Framework, these resources are quality assured and freely available to all Australian teachers, students and parents or carers.

Visit here.

Upcoming Events

National Skills Week
August 24th – 30th
Online

National Skills Week focuses on raising the awareness and profile of vocational education and training (VET) and the wide range of opportunities it offers to those entering the workforce or those switching careers or looking for work.

For further information, click here.

Professional Development Calendar

Training Accreditation Council’s (TAC) educative strategies aim to provide specialised professional development opportunities that deliver practical information to support business improvement and compliance practices.

View the calendar here.

Rationalising VET qualifications
Webinar: 7th October 2020
1:30PM – 2:10PM (ACDT)

This webinar will provide an overview of the different approaches used by other countries to reduce their number of VET qualifications. It will also discuss the lessons that can be learnt for the Australian VET system.

Opportunities

RTO Support

RTO Support offers one day consulting support provided by Joe Newbery, and may include providing general or specific advice, reviewing a clients documents or other arrangements or advising on assessment or course development.

Some examples in how client use this service:

participation via teleconference in management meetings
educating staff on compliance issues
assisting with addition to scope applications
advising on responding to non-compliance
preparation of ASQA rectification response/appeals
advising on assessment or course development

RTO Data Cloud

Newbery Consulting has been supplying student management software for over 10 years. A cloud based RTO student management system that provides RTOs the capability to manage their training operation and meet all national and State reporting and compliance obligations. It would be our pleasure to offer you access as a trial user and you can evaluate the system capabilities for yourself.

Don’t continue to pay too much for cloud based AVETMISS software. Have the flexibility to only paying for your additional users as you need them on a flat daily cost of only $2.00 per day. Set up your online enrolments and customise your certificates at no extra cost. Need to manage your CRICOS and State funded enrolments, no problems. Get in contact with the team at Newbery Consulting today and request to be set up as a trial user.

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