Qualification reforms and RTO standards: will they be hand in glove? – comment by CEO Jenny Dodd

TDA has been very pleased that all the JSCs have accepted our invitation to participate in TDA member only events from July to September to receive an update on the pilot projects they are undertaking in qualification reform.

TDA members are looking forward to hearing about which of the three purposes each JSC is focusing on in their pilot projects. For more on the three purposes see Unlocking the Potential of VET, Advice from the Qualification Reform Design Group March 2024. 

Last month Minister O’Connor was in the media talking about the reforms to qualifications. On Wednesday 26 June he stated in The Australian “In some occupations there is a tight relationship between the qualifications and a particular job. … Where the relationship is tight VET qualifications generally work well. … But what works well for some qualifications doesn’t work for all. And yet we have a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach that doesn’t provide the flexibility industry needs to grow and take advantage of emerging markets. … We need to focus on designing qualifications that deliver the right skills to more employers from more industries and equip individuals with the capabilities to keep building on their existing skills to meet the demands of a rapidly changing economy.”

TDA has been advocating for this change away from a one-size-fits-all approach for many years, so we welcome these pilots. Whether a pilot can only be incorporated into just one purpose is a question. Take for example the Diploma of Nursing. It is a “tight” qualification leading to a specific role, but it also sits within purpose three in terms of the importance of tertiary pathways.

On page 12 of Unlocking the Potential of VET it states, “Ministers have directed that Units of Competency remain the building block for VET in Australia.” And Recommendation 2, section b, point iii (page 5) says “allow flexible training and assessment in high-quality training environments”. These two parameters are going to be hard to reconcile.

So, it will be interesting to see where the new RTO standards land. Will the promised flexibility of the new RTO standards work hand in glove with this principle of “allowing flexible training and assessment” while the commitment to units of competency as the “building block of VET” remains.

The challenge for our JSC colleagues is to ensure that in their pilot qualification reform projects, prescription is removed from units of competence to create flexibility while ensuring quality. If units of competence remain overly prescriptive then TDA predicts that ASQA will continue to focus on whether unit requirements are met. And so, flexibility, and importantly and the much-craved holistic learning approaches, will not be able to be achieved.

Thus, our JSCs must focus on outcomes. Training packages were once upon a time outcomes focused. It was only with time that prescriptive units of competence grew. It will be essential that holistic delivery from trusted providers such as TAFEs is top of mind in these pilots. Thanks again JSC colleagues for engaging with TAFEs to explore your pilots during the next couple of months.