Please click here to view the full colour Staying Connected in VET eZine Volume 13

With the updated 1 July 2019 deadline approaching for trainers and assessors to obtain the updated TAE credentials, Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) need to consider if they have any practitioners who won’t ‘get over the line’ in time. Even with the three month deadline extension from 1 April to 1 July, the amount of training and rigour that is involved in obtaining the units TAEASS502 and TAELLN411 is quite extensive. For some fitting in the time to undertake these units on top of a full-time workload can be difficult.

What do we do with those who won’t meet the deadline?

Options for trainers and assessors who don’t meet the deadline include:

•   Move them to other duties until they update their qualifications, such

as reviewing training materials or updating assessments

•   Discontinue their employment or contracts [this is the option we  don’t want to see used!]

•   Have them work under the supervision of another trainer who meets  the requirements for supervising other trainers

In order for a trainer to work under supervision, they need to meet the requirements outlined in Clauses 1.171.20 of the Standards for RTOs 2015. Specifically, this means that they will need to hold (no equivalence) one of the skill sets specified in Item 6 of Schedule 1.

 The catch is, there is a unit across all accepted skill sets that many trainers would not hold – TAEDEL301 Provide work skill instruction. This means that RTOs will need to think very carefully about the credentials held by staff and prioritise and plan who can supervise, who can be supervised and who cannot do either.

The initial steps to follow when determining your supervision arrangements:

1. Conduct a review of staff qualifications and determine which staff fully meet the requirements from 1 July 2019. This should be done at the training product level as these staff members will be qualified to supervise other trainers in their area of expertise. For example, if you have staff delivering SIT31016 Certificate III in Patisserie, identify the staff who are fully qualified to deliver and assess independently for that qualification.

2. Identify which staff delivering that training product (for example, SIT31016) who have the skill set to deliver under supervision, holding one of the accepted TAE skill sets outlined in Item 6 of Schedule 1. These trainers will be able to work under supervision of one of the trainers identified in Step 1 above.

3. Identify any of the trainers who do not fi t into the above two categories. These trainers will not be able to deliver training, independently or under supervision, until they either obtain one of the TAE skills sets or update to meet the trainer credential requirements.

Once you have identified what role your trainers are able to undertake in alignment with the requirements of the standards, you are then able to move forwards with a plan of teaming people up for supervision arrangements and determining needs for professional development and upskilling of trainers.

Kerri Buttery, Director of VETNexus, has over two decades experience in the Vocational Education and Training sector along with experience in eLearning as a Partner with Instructure, the provider of the Canvas LMS. VETNexus also partners with John Price, John Price & Associates, and Angela McGregor, RTO Consultant, to deliver a wider range of services through The VET Gurus.

Twitter:@kerributtery
Website: VETNexus
LinkedIn:Kerri Buttery