TAACMQ501A Develop training and/or assessment organisational policies & procedures

The Australian Qualifications Framework and the Australian Quality Training Framework

The Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF), implemented Australia wide in 1995, provides the nationally consistent framework for all qualifications in post-compulsory education and training. The national training framework was introduced by Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments to standardise the vocational education and training system and provide a regulatory framework in which training and assessment organisations may deliver qualifications under the AQF.

The Australian Quality Training Framework (AQTF), previously the Australian Recognition Framework, was implemented in 2002 and provides the basis for a nationally consistent, high-quality VET system. The AQTF specifies standards that organisations must meet if they wish to deliver training and assessment services for qualifications under the AQF.

Twelve standards combine to form the AQTF:

1. Systems for quality training and assessment;
2. Compliance with Commonwealth, State/Territory legislation and regulatory requirements;
3. Effective financial management procedures;
4. Effective administrative and records management procedures;
5. Recognition of qualifications issued by other RTOs;
6. Access and equity and client service;
7. The competence of RTO staff;
8. RTO assessments;
9. Learning and assessment strategies;
10. Issuing AQF qualifications and statements of attainment;
11. Use of national and State/Territory logos;
12. Ethical marketing and advertising.

Organisations undergoing audit and meeting the AQTF standards are registered, and can operate as registered training organisations (RTO) for the purposes of training, assessing and issuing nationally recognised qualifications. Organisations meeting the AQTF standards have stringent systems, policies and procedures in place that guide their operations and quality service provision to clients.

Figure 1 Operations of the standards for Registered Training Organisations under the Australian Quality Training Framework (ANTA, 2001)

Figure 1 outlines registration and ongoing compliance arrangements that organisations must undertake to operate as registered training organisations.

Reading 1

Access and review ANTA (2001), Australian Quality Training Framework Standards for Registered Training Organisations: Australian Quality Training Framework. Brisbane . Available at http://www.anta.gov.au/publication.asp?qsID=86

Activity 1

Review the AQTF standards, then research each of the twelve standards and their components that form the AQTF and develop a list of organisational policies and procedures that are directly mentioned in the standards as being a compulsory requirement for an organisation to achieve registration as a training organisation.

What is policy?

The development of comprehensive and effective policies and procedures is a critical responsibility in organisations wishing to register or maintain compliance with the AQTF standards. The AQTF standards address this responsibility within the first standard of compliance:

Standard 1 Systems for quality training and assessment

The RTO has systems in place to plan for and provide quality training and assessment across all of its operations.

1.1 a The RTO must keep written policies and procedures for ensuring quality training and assessment consistent with its scope of registration and scale of operations.

1.1 b The Chief Executive must ensure that the policies and procedures are circulated, understood and implemented consistently throughout the RTO.

Australian Quality Training Framework Standards for Registered Training Organisations, Australian National Training Authority (2001).

AQTF Standard 1 demonstrates that policies are interrelated with both the planning function and systemised operations. Policies are developed within RTOs to plan, provide for and ensure quality training and assessment across all operations. Policies are circulated within a registered training organisation to ensure that operations are implemented consistently across the whole organisation.

Generally a policy consists of a statement of purpose and one or more broad guidelines as to how the purpose is to be achieved, which, when taken together, provide a framework for the operation of a particular process. The guidelines specify in general terms the kind of action that will or may be taken; they imply an intention and a pattern for taking action.

A policy is established to achieve some purpose that reflects a set of beliefs, values or philosophy on the issue concerned. Not all issues require a policy; many routine matters can be dealt with by the formulation of simple procedures.

Policy matters are invariably associated with a combination of problems. A policy may be required where there is a diversity of interests and preferences that result in vague and conflicting objectives among those who are directly involved. Policy may allow discretion in its implementation and the basis of that discretion may be stated as part of the policy.

Procedures differ from policies in that they are a set of instructions that specify how to perform a set of tasks or actions that are required by a policy.

Examples

Policies and Procedures- Issuance of Qualifications Policy

Policy Statement:

Smartskills Training Company will issue certificates and statements of attainment only for those qualifications that are within its scope of registration.

Smartskills Training Company will issue certificates to all clients who are assessed as competent in courses within thirty working days of completion of their course.

Procedure Statement:

• The trainer will complete a request for certificate form.
• The trainer will forward the client's file onto student administration.
• The database administrator will update the student database to reflect competencies achieved.
• The certificate is then processed and produced using the student database.

Policy cycle

The key components in the management of an AQTF-compliant training and assessment system are emphasised by the Plan, Do, Check, and Act cycle; or the Deming and Shewhart Cycle as some call it after its developers.

Figure 2 Deming and Shewhart PDCA Cycle

The above model reflects the emphasis on continually seeking to improve current organisational policies and processes used to manage a training and assessment system, or any other quality-based system.

The PDCA process can be customised to a format that outlines the four key components in a policy cycle:

Figure 3 Policy Cycle

These four stages of policy development are described in detail in the following topic sections.