New benchmarks for aqtf trainer and assessor competencies

Concerns have been raised by many colleagues amongst the RTO community regarding the AQTF2010 requirements for trainer and assessor qualification.

IBSA would like to bring to your attention the bulletin below from our website, published in conjunction with the release of the NQC bulletin.
The NQC secretariat notified stakeholders on July 7th the NQC determination on benchmarks for AQTF trainer and assessor competencies.

Full details of the announcement may be downlaoded from here.

RTOs and VET practitioners should note in particular that the NQC guidance outlines that “the Council has agreed to a transition period of two years to allow providers time to adopt a planned approach to ensuring all their trainers/assessors meet the new requirements”. Organisations and individuals should feel no immediate need to change practice to meet AQTF requirements.

IBSA would further like to draw the attention of all RTOs and current holders of TAA04 and BSZ98 qualifications to the guidance provided in the bulletin:
It is important to note that the new policy includes provision for trainers and assessors to ‘demonstrate equivalent competencies’. In other words, it is not the NQC’s intention to require trainers and assessors to upgrade their formal qualifications if they are able to demonstrate they have gained the required competencies through continued professional practice.

The Industry Skills Council would like to draw the attention of stakeholders to the emphasis in the guidance shown above. The promotion of requirements for current holders of a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment to ‘upgrade’ qualifications is firstly not a requirement of the NQC determination and secondly not in the interest of either the VET sector at large or individual VET practitioners. ISC encourage practitioners considering upgrading qualifications to consider undertaking a Diploma in Training and Assessment or some other suitable professional development intended to advance their professional skill set rather than needlessly updating existing qualifications.

It is IBSA's intention to develop a freely available self-assessment tool to aid RTOs and VET practitioners in establishing conformance with this NQC requirement.

In the interim, and by way of example, were you to have a part-time carpentry trainer and assessor on staff who also worked three days a week as a carpenter, would there be any question in your mind that they met the ‘demonstrate equivalent competence' test when the Certificate III in General Construction (Carpentry - Framework, Formwork, Finishing) is reviewed? You certainly wouldn’t for a moment suggest that they return to ‘upgrade’ their Certificate III!