Resumption planning: continuing delivery in a changed world

In recent months, providers have adapted how they deliver VET and ELICOS courses due to the COVID-19 pandemic. These changes may have resulted in adjustments to delivery modes, resequencing of training provided, delivering different units of competency, or resulted in changes to staff and resourcing levels. Providers may also have identified new opportunities based on current industry needs.

While some of these adaptations may be temporary, innovative changes have brought about new ways of operating on an ongoing basis while maintaining quality and achieving positive student outcomes. We encourage providers to reflect on their current and future delivery requirements and consider how any adapted practices used during the pandemic may be utilised going forward.

It remains important for a provider to continuously review how its operations have changed to ensure information is accurate. It is also important to use these review opportunities to evaluate the quality of training and assessment provided. In particular, where operations have changed, seek critical feedback from key stakeholders to understand how you (as a provider) are performing and to continue to improve training and assessment practices.

We have created the following resources to help providers find the information they need as they adapt to changes resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic—particularly where providers may have ceased training at some or all locations for a period of time.

Registration hold

If you informed ASQA that your registration was on hold (in hibernation), you must give us 21 days’ notice of the date the operations are to be resumed.

Contact u s to advise of your resumption of operations. It is important to consider all aspects of your operations on resumption and whether there are any other material changes or events you need to advise us of.

A provider that is, and remains, in hibernation:

✔	must update their website to reflect this status
✔	cannot accept any enrolments and/or fees from students
✔	will not deliver any training and assessment
✔	must ensure that all records are up to date in particular in relation to student records and ensuring all relevant certification such as qualifications and statements of attainment have been issued
✔	can transfer students to another RTO, on request of the student.

View webinar on resumption planning

Download the slides from this webinar.

Download/stream an audio (mp3) version of the webinar.

Beginning to return to normal operations—updating information

When you begin to return to normal operations, it is important that you check and update information in the following places.

ASQA

Did you notify ASQA of temporary changes during COVID-19?
Remember to contact ASQA if you are:

reopening your training locations
moving from distance learning back to face-to-face training
beginning to operate after being in hibernation

You can contact us to advise of these operational changes.

Training.gov.au

Check your information is correct on www.training.gov.au. Be sure to check:

head office address
name and contact information for your chief executive officer, registration enquiries contact and public enquiries contact
that your scope of registration only lists the training products you are able to deliver
that you have notified ASQA of the regions where you are operating.

If you need to make any changes, you can do this through our online portal, asqanet.

PRISMS

If you are a CRICOS provider, confirm that all information is correct on the Provider Registration and International Student Management System (PRISMS). Information to check includes:

the addresses of all locations
the capacity and number of studying Confirmation of Enrolments (CoEs) at each site
courses—if you are intending on delivering other courses to CRICOS students, you must apply to have these courses on scope
course information—e.g. the duration, tuition fee details and whether there are any work components
the names of all contacts for your provider
details of education agents—all listed and up to date.

Our website explains the process for making changes to your CRICOS scope of registration.

myskills

To update course information for potential learners about the price, duration, study mode and availability of your courses, head to myskills. Edit and add in any new training locations on this site as well.

Informing ASQA of permanent changes

When resuming your operations, you will need to let us know about any permanent changes that have occurred, including material changes or events, site change details and third party arrangements.

Material changes or events

You will need to notify ASQA of any major material changes or events impacting on:

registered trading names
key staff members or their contact details—this includes chief executive officers, principal executive officers, executive officers (including owners) or high managerial agents
principal place of business or delivery sites
financial administration status
legal name or type of legal entity
third-party agreements (entering into or cancelling)
ownership, directorship or control (including the sale or merger of an RTO)
organisation type
staff turnover (where significant or unexpected)
funding revenue sources (where significant).

You can notify us of these changes through asqanet. It is important to notify us as soon as practicable after the change occurs.

Site change details

Download the Update principal place of business or delivery site form to:

notify a change to the address of your RTO’s principal place of business (only if different to your head office)
amend the recorded details of one or more existing delivery sites.

The form should be submitted to notifications@asqa.gov.au.

Third party arrangements

If you have entered into (or cancelled) a third party arrangement for training and assessment, marketing and recruitment, or any related educational and support services, notify ASQA of this via the Third Party Service Arrangement notification form.

For more information on third party arrangements, see our FAQ—Third party arrangements and our Fact Sheet.
Access the General Direction on third party arrangements for training and/or assessment of VET courses.

Reviewing what and how you deliver

When resuming your operations, you will need to review how and what the training courses are that you are delivering.

Training and assessment strategies

If your training and assessment practices have changed in recent months, you may need to review and update your training and assessment strategies. Questions to consider include:

Are you still offering the same units of competencies? This is important to ensure you can properly plan for all delivery variables.
Do you understand the target group and student characteristics?
Is the mode of delivery correct? Do you deliver face-to-face, online or other forms of distance delivery, and is there components of workplace delivery and assessment? You may have mixed-mode delivery as well.
Are there any entry requirements to be aware of?
What is the duration and scheduling of the course and the amount of training? Analyse the nature of your student cohort. Use this analysis, and any specific requirements of the training package, to determine the amount of training for each cohort, the duration of the program and how you will schedule training and assessment activities. These are important to ensure students can fully develop the required skills and knowledge prior to being assessed.
Does your strategy describe the assessment methods, resources and timing that is actually being provided? Remember that training packages and VET accredited courses often specify resources that must be used in assessment at a unit of competency level. Include details of how you will ensure students have access to the resources that will give them the best chance of completing their study.
Have your learning resources—including physical resources—changed? In particular, if you have changed delivery modes the resources you used to use may now be complemented with other resources. Remember to keep your learning resources current and aligned to actual industry practice.
Have you continued to use the same trainers and assessors? If you have changed delivery modes, or have increased or decreased student numbers, your staff may have also changed. Record who your trainers and assessors are at a unit of competency level to ensure any specific requirements are met, and to allow your RTO to deploy staff efficiently.

A strategy for training and assessment doesn’t need to be contained in a single document. Your RTO may utilise multiple documents to describe your strategy.

Current industry operations

Confirm training and assessment are relevant to current industry operations. Engage with industry stakeholders to ensure your training and assessment strategies, practices and resources reflect current best practice. Also, use this engagement to check the industry skills of your trainers and assessors are current and relevant.

Assessment system

Verify your assessment system to be assured that assessment complies with the training package or VET accredited course requirements and is conducted in line with the principles of assessment and rules of evidence.

Learners must be assessed against all of the tasks identified in the elements of the unit or module and must demonstrate they are capable of performing these tasks to an acceptable level.
Consider how practical skills are demonstrated. Are workplace observations required and can you use simulated workplaces? Is there an opportunity to use third parties to collect evidence of competency? How is mandatory work placement being obtained?

Trainers and assessors

Do you have enough trainers and assessors, are they sufficiently qualified in VET and in industry, and are their skills current and relevant to the training product and delivery method? If you have changed to distance delivery, do your trainers and assessors need to undertake professional development in this delivery mode?

Student support

Are your students adequately supported in their delivery program and are they progressing as anticipated? You must understand individual support requirements and must provide access to services to help a learner. Maintaining regular (two-way) contact with learners—by telephone, email or face-to-face—can help maintain learner motivation and progression.

Support for providers

ASQA has published information on key areas of growth that have occurred during COVID-19. This information includes advice about possible issues and guidance to support providers as they change and review delivery practices.

Information about your provider performance during the pandemic, including where you have or have not made changes, can be used to review and ensure you’ve provided a quality service and to improve future training and assessment.

‘Evaluating information about performance and using such information to inform quality assurance of services and improve training and assessment is sound business and educational practice’.
—Standard 2, Standards for Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) 2015

Seek feedback from past and current students, trainers and assessors, employers and other industry representatives on your delivery practices. Feedback could be obtained through surveys, complaints, or informal conversations. Implementing practices that promote quality outcomes is beneficial for students, industry, employers, the community, and to the longevity of your RTO.

Safety in a training environment

The following table provides advice around ensuring safety for staff and students when resuming training.

Face-to-face training	Providers can deliver training and assessment in a face-to-face environment, unless your specific state or territory has advised otherwise. You should check what restrictions are in place in your state or territory and only operate based on what activities are permissible. Remember that the measures of practising good hygiene and keeping a physical distance between individuals are in place to fight this virus.
Practical delivery	For practical delivery, staff and students should maintain a suitable distance between them where possible, in accordance with general health advice. Safe Work Australia advises, where possible, provide each person (workers and students) with 4 square metres of space in a room when indoors in accordance with general health advice. Where it is safe to do so and where it maintains the integrity of the applicable training package, providers may review practical tasks that usually require close interaction and identify ways to modify these to increase physical distancing. Where it is not possible to modify practical training and assessment, providers can continue to deliver practical training that requires close interaction. However, providers must also implement other measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, including limiting the number of participants in any task and ensuring equipment is cleaned between each use.
Cleaning and hygiene	Providers should increase cleaning, particularly of classrooms, toilets, common areas, door handles and equipment. Safe Work Australia has released guidance on physical distancing and hygiene measures for training providers. This includes information about how to structure rooms to achieve the maximum space per person.
Signs of illness	Any student who is unwell, or who is required to self-isolate, must not attend class and must be sent home.
Delivery modes	Providers may also change delivery modes to deliver by distance, including online delivery. Visit ASQA’s webpage on distance learning for more information.
Flexible learning arrangements	For information offering flexible learning arrangements for international students, please read the Australian Government Department of Education, Skills and Employment Coronavirus regulatory information for universities, VET, ELICOS and higher education providers.
Resources	The Australian Government Department of Health has released resources for employers and others on how to reduce the risk of COVID-19, including posters that can be placed around your training environment. For advice on reducing exposure to COVID-19 and reducing disruption to the VET sector read the Australian Government Department of Education, Skills and Employment COVID-19 information for VET providers fact sheet.

Face-to-face training

Providers can deliver training and assessment in a face-to-face environment, unless your specific state or territory has advised otherwise. You should check what restrictions are in place in your state or territory and only operate based on what activities are permissible. Remember that the measures of practising good hygiene and keeping a physical distance between individuals are in place to fight this virus.

Practical delivery

For practical delivery, staff and students should maintain a suitable distance between them where possible, in accordance with general health advice.

Safe Work Australia advises, where possible, provide each person (workers and students) with 4 square metres of space in a room when indoors in accordance with general health advice.
Where it is safe to do so and where it maintains the integrity of the applicable training package, providers may review practical tasks that usually require close interaction and identify ways to modify these to increase physical distancing.
Where it is not possible to modify practical training and assessment, providers can continue to deliver practical training that requires close interaction. However, providers must also implement other measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, including limiting the number of participants in any task and ensuring equipment is cleaned between each use.

Cleaning and hygiene

Providers should increase cleaning, particularly of classrooms, toilets, common areas, door handles and equipment.
Safe Work Australia has released guidance on physical distancing and hygiene measures for training providers. This includes information about how to structure rooms to achieve the maximum space per person.

Signs of illness

Any student who is unwell, or who is required to self-isolate, must not attend class and must be sent home.

Delivery modes

Providers may also change delivery modes to deliver by distance, including online delivery. Visit ASQA’s webpage on distance learning for more information.

Flexible learning arrangements

For information offering flexible learning arrangements for international students, please read the Australian Government Department of Education, Skills and Employment Coronavirus regulatory information for universities, VET, ELICOS and higher education providers.

Resources

The Australian Government Department of Health has released resources for employers and others on how to reduce the risk of COVID-19, including posters that can be placed around your training environment.
For advice on reducing exposure to COVID-19 and reducing disruption to the VET sector read the Australian Government Department of Education, Skills and Employment COVID-19 information for VET providers fact sheet.