Is your course ready for VET accreditation?
With careers rapidly changing and the needs for skills evolving it isn’t possible for Training Packages to cater to the needs of each and every employment or vocational outcome. Recent employment opportunities that come to mind that the skills and knowledge have not (yet) been captured in training packages include Cyber Security, Social Media and Gaming. These are just a couple that immediately spring to mind and you can probably think of another five.
Training Packages have been developed to provide national consistency with qualifications offered by Registered Training Organisations (RTOs). Only courses that are not addressed by existing nationally recognized training products and meet an industry, enterprise, legislative or community need can be accredited. The burden to demonstrate that there is a need is on the course owner. Courses that don’t have a vocational outcome will not be accredited. Anyone can apply to get a course accredited, however once the course is accredited it can only be delivered by an RTO.
In the event that an accredited course has been already developed, approved and listed on training.gov.au the first thing to do is contact the copyright owner and discuss the possibility of licencing their course. What this licence looks like and the fees involved will vary as there is no legislation around this. If the copyright owner refuses to licence the course or the course does do not meet your requirements you may consider developing your own course for accreditation.
It is important to note that the copyright owner has no obligation to allow the RTO to licence the accredited course. Under the circumstances that a course is accredited and the copyright owner doesn’t allow others to use their course it does not stop someone applying for a similar course.
The process for getting a course accredited requires developing a course concept proposal, once the concept is approved develop the course in consultation with a range of industry representatives and submit to ASQA for consideration. Developing the accredited course involves identifying any existing national units for inclusion, documenting the enterprise units (units not currently available) and course structure. Training material and assessments are not a part of the course accreditation process and it is important to note that course accreditation is for a period of 5 years, with renewal required before the expiry date.
Course accreditation requires a different approval process than training packages. Training Packages are developed with the input of the relevant Industry Reference Committees (IRC) and overseen by the relevant Skills Service Organisation (SSO). While accredited courses require the course copyright owner to consult with the relevant SSO to confirm the course doesn’t duplicate an existing training package course or one to be developed. The copyright owner is also responsible for coordinating and documenting the industry consultation undertaken and submitting it with the course documents to ASQA for assessment.
It is not essential for training to be accredited. RTOs and non RTOs can deliver non accredited training. Examples include software training, conflict resolution and courses for dog trainers as long as they don’t advertise or suggest that a course is accredited.
For more information on course accreditation dos and don’ts to help you get there faster, watch this video interview with VET Expert Angela McGregor.
