As we are sure you are aware, The revised Standards for Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) have now been released and we wanted to break them down for you so you, as a trainer and assessor can understand what this means for you and your role and responsibilities.
We are not going to break down the nitty gritty details of every outcome or look at the compliance requirements but rather outline the key changes that impact the job will do when working in an RTO.
Key changes to the Revised Standards
The revised Standards for Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) (the revised
Standards) were released on Oct 1st, 2024, and to help facilitate clear and outcome-focussed. Standards that go to the heart of quality training delivery, the revised Standards for RTOs comprises of three elements – these are linked below so you can access and download them if you choose to:
When will these new Revised Standards take effect?
The revised Standards will come into full regulatory effect from 1 July 2025. The Standards for Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) 2015 will apply until then.
What is the biggest change for trainers and assessors?
The biggest change for trainers and assessor to be aware is the introduction of the Credential Policy. This policy allows for a better understanding of the actual qualifications people must hold if they want to train and assess units of competency.
These credentials ONLY apply to people who are actively delivering and/or assessing Qualifications/ Skillsets or units of competency from training packages or accredited courses. These credentials do not apply to people delivering/assessing non accredited courses.
The Credential Policy includes the required qualifications that Trainers and Assessors need to meet to be able to work either unsupervised or supervised in an RTO. These are sequenced into clear sections to assist trainers and RTO’s employing trainers to understand their requirements
A breakdown of the key sections in the Credential Policy
1A. Training and assessment credentials – Training AND assessing without supervision
To deliver training and assessment, including making assessment judgements, the person must hold one of the following credentials:
- TAE40122 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment or its successor,
- TAE40116 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment,
- TAE40110 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment,
- A secondary teaching qualification and one of the following credentials:some text
- TAESS00011 Assessor Skill Set, or
- TAESS00019 Assessor Skill Set or its successor, or
- TAESS00024 VET Delivered to School Students Teacher Enhancement Skill Set or its successor, or
- A diploma or higher-level qualification in adult education or vocational education and training.
As you will see, the need to hold the TAE40110 + TAEASS502 + TAELLN411 (which was enforced back in 2019) has been removed meaning that if you currently only hold the TAE40110, you can still train and assess. Be mindful however that a lot of RTO’s will not employ people who only hold the TAE40110 so please make sure you also talk with the person employing to make sure that their understanding of the changes are the same as those outlined by the regulators.
1B. Assessment only credentials - To assess only without any delivery
To conduct assessment only, including making assessment judgements, the person must hold any of the credentials listed in 1B above or
- TAESS00019 Assessor Skill Set or its successor
- TAESS00011 Assessor Skill Set
- TAESS00001 Assessor Skill Set
1C. Actively working towards a training and assessment credential – Delivery and contribution to assessment under direction/supervision
A person who is actively working towards a training and assessment credential can deliver training and contribute to assessment (including conducting assessment and collecting assessment evidence but not making an overall judgment of competency), provided they work under the direction of a trainer or assessor. Working towards these qualifications does not qualify the person to make assessment judgments unless they also hold one of the qualifications listed in Section 1b.
To be actively working towards a credential, the person must:
be enrolled in and have commenced training in one of the following training and assessment credentials:
- TAE40122 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment or its successor, or
- TAE50122 Diploma of Vocational Education and Training or its successor, and
The Trainer must also be making satisfactory progress to enable the credential to be completed within two years of commencement. This means that the RTO you are employed by must collaborate with your TAE provider to ensure you are making progress at a sufficient rate of completion of units across the enrolment period of your course.
1D. Training and assessment under direction – this is when you tare not enrolled or commenced in the qualifications listed in Section 1C but are instead working only under supervision.
To deliver training and conduct assessment under direction, a person must hold one of the following credentials:
- TAESS00021 Facilitation Skill Set or its successor,
- TAESS00024 VET Delivered to School Students Teacher Enhancement Skill Set or its successor,
- TAESS00030 Volunteer Trainer Delivery and Assessment Contribution Skill Set or its successor,
- TAESS00029 Volunteer Trainer Delivery Skill Set or its successor,
- TAESS00020 Workplace Trainer Skill Set or its successor,
- TAESS00028 Work Skill Instructor Skill Set or its successor,
- TAESS00022 Young Learner Delivery Skill Set or its successor,
- TAESS00015 Enterprise Trainer and Assessor Skill Set
- TAESS00003 Enterprise Trainer and Assessor Skill Set,
- TAESS00008 Enterprise Trainer – Mentoring Skill Set,
- TAESS00013 Enterprise Trainer – Mentoring Skill Set,
- TAESS00007 Enterprise Trainer – Presenting Skill Set,
- TAESS00014 Enterprise Trainer – Presenting Skill Set, or
- A secondary teaching qualification.
The RTO must also be able to justify the relevance of the person’s credential to the VET student cohort being delivered to. This means that if (for example) you are training young adults in apprenticeships under supervision, you should hold the TAESS00022 Young Learner Delivery Skill Set or its successor or a similar skillset that demonstrates you have the necessary skills to teach young people.
Is there anything else I need to be aware of?
Please also note that that the additional industry currency, skills and requirements for undertaking and undertaking continuing professional development to maintain current skills and knowledge in training and assessment, including engaging and supporting VET students. still apply and the new requirements for these can be accessed from the Outcome Standards (Outcome 3. VET Workforce - Clause 3.2 and 3.3 of Trainer and assessor competencies)
All in all, here at Fortress Learning, we believe that The revised Standards for Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) (the revised Standards) are much clearer in regard to interpretation and implementation for RTO’s and will really help to improve the regulatory requirements for RTO’s and ensure RTO’s are always on top of their compliance requirements. They have been written to promote a better experience for VET students and we look forward to implementing these changes in our practices very soon.
We hope this article clarifies any questions you have but if not, reach out to our support team on 1300 141 994 to find out what this means for you.
