The move to have Courses of Concern is in itself concerning and makes the playing field anything but level.

What is a Course of Concern?

The Regulator tells us:

At the time of writing this article, Schedule 1 included the following:

The Problems with TAE40116 being a “Course of Concern”

• The Cert IV TAE40116 has become a “monolith” of obscure assessment requirements
• Trainers now have to spend a lot of time in class and post-course explaining to their poor learners what they have to do to be deemed competent
• Instructional Designers have to continually redo their assessment tools as different ASQA auditors “find” different non-compliance issues in the same assessment tool
• Learners spend a lot of time in class doing actual assessments because the assessment requirements of some units (TAEDEL401, for example) require a minimum number of people in the audience
• Delivery time (where most real learning takes place) has been slashed as a result of the additional time spent on assessment in class
• Completion rates for TAE40116 have plummeted (at least anecdotally) as people give up out of sheer frustration with both the workload and the nonsensical requirements of the course
• The worse thing is that the course in its current format does not make people better trainers and assessors

The Solutions to TAE40116 being a “Course of Concern”

• Once a suite of assessment tools has passed ASQA audit they should be given a tick of health (like the heart tick) which could last a year or 2. If another RTO uses the same assessment tools during that period the ASQA tick of health would mean that the assessment tools don’t have to be re-audited
• Scrap the minimum 8 people in the assessment requirements for TAEDEL401
• Remove one of the core assessment units and replace it with BSBCMM401 Make a presentation to allow much more emphasis on delivery
• Allow for more flexibility in the online version of the TAE40116 qualification
• Allow RTOs with TAE40116 on scope to partner with other RTOs to deliver the qualification. There are only 105 RTOs with this qual on scope – there is not nearly enough coverage, despite what ASQA says.

Published 9 December 2019

What do you think?

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About the Author:

The author of this piece wishes to remain anonymous. Their identity has been confirmed prior to publication.

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