~ Slide: 2025 Standards – ASQA Information Webinar – 27 June 2025 ~
Fiona O’Brien: Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Fiona O'Brien. I'm the Executive Director, Policy and Engagement with the Australian Skills Quality Authority. I'd really like to welcome all of you today and thank you for joining our session this afternoon on the 2025 Standards, and what a great turnout for today. We've certainly had a lot of interest in joining our session, which as you'll hear about today, is one of quite a few activities we will be delivering across the next 12 months as we all transition into the 2025 Standards. Joining me today for this live stream is Melinda Cox, our Director of Regulatory Policy and Standards, Sharayne Given, our Senior Director, Quality and Program Support, and Kai Rottmann, our Director, Sector Education and Engagement.
~ Slide: Acknowledgement of Country ~
So before we commence, I'd like to do an Acknowledgement of Country. I'd like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the many lands on which we are all dialling in from today. For me, I am joining you from Canberra, the Land of the Ngunnawal people. I would also like to pay my respects to the people, the cultures and elders past, present and emerging and extend that respect to any First Nations people joining our session today. Next slide, please.
~ Slide: Webinar overview ~
Ok so over the next hour, we are going to look at the 2025 Standards, including how you should prepare now that the legislation is about to come into effect, that's the 1 st of July everyone, how ASQA's Practice Guides can support you, and a frequently asked question package, which we have developed based on key themes that are emerging out of the feedback and questions we’re getting more generally to date, but also key themes that have emerged out of our workshops that we held during May and June, and Melinda will be taking you through these a bit later today. Sharayne will then explain ASQA's revised assessment approach and what to expect during regulatory activity under the 2025 Standards, and then lastly, Kai will cover what's next and how ASQA can support you through this period of transition. We'll also have some time for questions before we wrap up.
~ Slide: Ask Us…. ~
Ok. Speaking of questions, we've already had a fantastic number of questions lodged for the online, sorry, with online registrations for today's session and our team has been really busy collating these questions and we will answer several of them today. Unfortunately, we won't have time given the number of questions to answer them all, but we want to encourage you to continue asking any questions you might have throughout the session, and there's 2 options for you to do this. You can either use that QR code that's on your screen at the moment, that means your question will be anonymous, or you can use the question function in the webinar chat. Both options will definitely reach us, and if we can't cover them today, they'll form part of our broader frequently asked questions package that we've been building for you, and more on that a little later. Please though, if your question is specific to your RTO and you would like a direct answer, don't forget to include your contact details so that we can get back to you directly. We can move to that next slide now.
~ Slide: Today’s slides will be available ~
Ok. The other thing is we will actually have the slide pack from today available on our website early next week. We know that today's session is of great interest and really important to the sector, so we're really keen to share today's content and a recording of today's webinar will be available with a link on our website within the next fortnight. So, for those of you who have colleagues that may not have been able to join today, that will be available for them. I'm now going to hand over to Melinda Cox who will take you through an overview of the 2025 Standards. Thank you, Melinda.
~ Slide: How will the 2025 Standards benefit your RTO? ~
Melinda Cox: Thanks Fiona. Yeah, I'm pleased also to be here with you for this session today to take you through this first section. Ok. So let's start with the benefits. How will these revised Standards benefit you as RTOs? Well, they will allow you to innovate and differentiate your business from other RTOs because you'll have less prescription and checklists dictating the way that you do things. They'll enable you to have greater flexibility to choose how you will demonstrate your compliance, quality and continuous improvement, and they'll empower you to use your judgement in designing and delivering the best training and assessment approach for your student cohort in your specific context. You'll hear us say that a lot.
We understand that it is going to take some time to adjust to this new way of doing things and to build confidence in how you will demonstrate your compliance in your own way. ASQA too will be adjusting. The move away from heavy prescription is a journey we’ll all be on together. So now is the ideal opportunity for you to step back and consider compliance in your context. You should consider how your operations are meeting the outcomes outlined by each of the new standards and to consider how you currently assure yourself that you are achieving quality outcomes in your business setting. Next please.
~ Slide: 2025 Standards for RTOs ~
There's a fair bit on this slide, so don't worry if you can't absorb it all. When you get the slide deck, you'll be able to look at it a bit more closely, but what it does is it summarises the 3 elements that comprise what we're calling the 2025 Standards. So, there's 2 instruments, the Outcome Standards instrument and Compliance Requirements instrument, and a Credential Policy. The Outcome Standards describe the outcomes providers must achieve to deliver quality VET. These are structured around 4 quality areas – training and assessment, VET student support, VET workforce and governance. In the middle column, we've got the Compliance Requirements. This instrument outlines the more administrative or binary requirements that are important to upholding the integrity of VET.
There's 5 parts to this particular instrument, 3 divisions, which is Information and Transparency, Integrity of Nationally Recognised Training Products, and Accountability, plus 2 schedules, the Fit and Proper Person Requirements, and the NRT Logo Conditions of Use Policy. Both of those instruments, as you can see at the very bottom of the slide, are found on the Federal Register of Legislation. Then we've got in the third column the Credential Policy. It sets out the credentials for our VET workforce. It must be read in conjunction with the Outcome Standards for it to make sense as they do cross-reference each other. The 2 legislative instruments and Credential Policy are all equally important and the Credential Policy, albeit not on the Federal Register of Legislation, is actually enforceable because it is linked through to the Outcome Standards. Ok. Next slide please.
~ Slide: 2025 Standards Documents Hierarchy ~
Something we like to highlight with you all is that there is a change to our document hierarchy in this transition to the 2025 Standards. So, we've been working with the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, who are the owners of the policy and the instruments, to come up with this fresh hierarchy, which is here on the screen. As always, at the top, you'll have the legislation. Ok. This is what underpins the 2025 Standards, and as I said before, you'll find this on the Federal Register of Legislation. It's also where you'll find explanatory statements for each of the instruments. These are really useful for explaining the government's rationale behind each of the standards. At the next layer down is DEWR's Policy Guidance. This is a document which outlines the policy intent behind each of the Outcome Standards. It too is really useful for understanding the intent and what is trying to be achieved with each standard
The next layer down where you've got Practice Guides in yellow, that's where ASQA steps in with its suite of resources. So our Practice Guides, they're going to replace the Users’ guide. The User's guide will be retired into an archive folder on the website overnight on the 30th of June. The library of Practice Guides we're hoping, which we'll show you in a moment, will be the beginning of making it easier for you to navigate and find information on our website in a more digestible format. The final layer at the very bottom of the hierarchy encapsulates all the other resources we produce, such as our ASQA IQ, our podcasts, our case studies. These sorts of resources will continue to be drip fed out to the sector over the coming months. Ok. Next slide please.
~ Slide: Practice Guides ~
Hopefully, by now, you have had the chance to have a look at our Practice Guides. It's really important to note that they are not a standalone document, and that's where it really does differ from our 150- page Users’ guide. These Practice Guides are short and succinct because they don't duplicate information that is housed in the instruments themselves or in the Credential Policy. So, they are meant to be read as a group of documents. The Practice Guides avoid prescription by listing examples of ways in which providers might demonstrate compliance. When you read the dot points under the columns in the Practice Guides, please don't think of those sets of dot points as a checklist where you need to tick every single one of those things off to be compliant because they aren't designed that way. They are designed to be examples. You may demonstrate your compliance in a different way. Ok.
The second section in each Practice Guide is a section on risks. This section is designed to help you recognise what is not acceptable in terms of compliance. Ok, so this is a list of commonly found issues and non-compliances or risks that our auditors see in the field, and we've housed them there to try and give you insights into what not to do, if you like. The third section of each Practice Guide is our self-assurance questions, and much like you're used to now, the journey of self-assurance continues into the revised Standards. These will help you think about and reflect upon your compliance across each element, each performance indicator under each standard.
Now, the Practice Guides will be complemented by case studies to further illustrate how the various standards and Compliance Requirements can be achieved in practice. These will come over time, and at the end of this slide deck, we're actually going to put a prompt out to you all. We love real-life case studies of best practice because they're better than ones we can make up. Just lastly, to note, the language used in the Practice Guides is deliberately action orientated. It intentionally uses the word ‘how’ throughout. This helps to actually drive home the outcomes focus we seek with the revised Standards. So, what this means is that instead of us now just looking for a policy and procedure on X, we're keen to see how the policy and procedure on X achieves Y and Z when it's applied at the coalface, ok. Ok, next slide please.
~ Slide: Practice Guide library ~
This is the library. I apologise to any rugby league supporters for the lack of blue and the predominance of maroon. It was not deliberate in any way, I promise, but this is the library of 19 Practice Guides covering all of the main topics that make up the Outcome Standards, which is shown in maroon, the ASQA Revised Standards Live Stream Webinar | Transcript Page 4 Compliance Requirements shown in blue, and the Credential Policy in green. All 19 Practice Guides are now final.
In case you haven't accessed them yet or you're having trouble finding them, the QR code on the screen now, you can scan that and it will take you directly there. You will notice some changes in movements on our website come next Tuesday on the 1st, but the Practice Guides link will remain, it will still work. Ok. Down the track, we may even move into a world where we have Practice Guides on other topics beyond just the standards, such as some of our ESOS requirements and the like, and this will become a format that you can become familiar with for getting your tried and true information from ASQA. Ok, next slide please.
~ Slide: FAQs ~
If you have heard from or you were lucky enough to come to one of our face-to-face workshops, you'll know that we gathered lots and lots of questions. In all, over 450 questions actually across all of those workshops. Naturally, some of these were on repeat and they have now become frequently asked questions that we're working through, developing responses to so that we can publish them for the benefit of all. We will be releasing these FAQs in tranches. Today, I'm giving you on this screen another QR code. This is the early access to the first tranche of FAQs. At the moment, it is a little tricky to find these FAQs on the website. They are there on the website, but they're a little tricky to find. They're a little bit hidden until we launch our 2025 landing page on Tuesday. Ok, but rest assured this link will take you directly to them. So, make sure that you do download these. We have found that quite a few of the questions pre-loaded to today's webinar also touch on some of these FAQs so you will find them useful.
If beyond today, into the future, you have a policy, particularly a policy-related question, something that just seems ambiguous or you're not clear on in the guidance that we've issued around the 2025 Standards, you can email standards@asqa.gov.au. That is my team's mailbox. It's there permanently, so you can email that as well if you have other questions and you don't want to do it through the QR code. Ok, next slide please.
~ Slide: How should you prepare? ~
So how should you prepare? If you haven't already done so, I would really highly recommend that you familiarise yourself and your teams not only with the instruments, but also the definitions contained within them. We are getting some technical questions, which is perfectly fine and natural at this point, that can be answered simply by reading the defined terms. A great example of this is assessment and assessment judgement. They're not interchangeable terms. They actually have their own definitions under the instruments, and by knowing the difference between the 2, you'll be able to answer quite a few of your own questions along the way.
Now, this little pictorial here layers in the various documents I've just covered in the hierarchy, ok, so both instruments, including those definitions and explanatory statements, the Credential Policy, our library of Practice Guides, DEWR's Policy Guidance document. Ok, they will set you in good stead for next week and beyond. We'd also say that some of the things to be doing now, review your policies, practices and resources and support your staff, of course, around preparing for their adaptation to the 2025 Standards. Next slide please.
~ Slide: ASQA’s Standards Information Workshop Serries – What we learnt… ~
So, I'm just going to spend just a couple of minutes sharing with you what we did learn from our face-to-face and online workshops in recent weeks. Next slide please.
~ Slide: Key themes shared at the workshops ~
Ok. Some of the key things we really emphasised at the workshops were, there is definitely a move towards less prescription under the outcomes focus standards. This means that the way providers achieve compliance and demonstrate that to us as a regulator will definitely differ between you all. We spend time at each workshop working through the introduction of the wellbeing standard and the diversity and inclusion standard. Some reminders here are diversity isn't limited to just First Nations students. It extends to other underrepresented groups. You will know these best because they're your student cohorts in your communities where you’re delivering. So, we're talking about cultural safety and welcoming and inclusive environments, training environments, for all of the diverse groups and every student who is in the classroom with you.
Student wellbeing, this does not mean that we expect providers to become professional counsellors. Ok, in fact, Standard 2.6 says that an RTO should demonstrate that it advises its VET student cohort of the availability of wellbeing support services and any organisation that students might contact or additional actions students might take to support their wellbeing. We have had multiple questions at the workshops seeking clarity on the Credential Policy around requirements for your trainers and assessors. One of the FAQs you'll see in the pack is just clarifying, for example, that there is no such thing as a team approach to assessment. In other words, you can't have an assessor who holds TAE but not the qualification being assessed, buddy up with an industry expert to co-assess, and as a combo as a team, they then are the assessor and make the assessment judgement. That's not how the Credential Policy is intended. So we do clarify that in the Practice Guide.
Also, at the workshops, we were asked if providers will need to demonstrate compliance against each standard down to the performance indicator level. The answer is yes, compliance and non-compliance are recorded against the standard or the performance indicator level. And lastly, we covered ASQA's revised approach to our regulatory assessments. My colleague, Sharayne, is going to talk to you all about this in another section of this presentation. Next slide, please.
~ Slide: What were you most interested in? ~
Of the 1,500-odd people who came to one of our face-to-face workshops, this is the top 12, the themes if you like, of the top 12 things that they were curious and asked the most about. Interestingly, quite a few of the things on this list actually belong within the Compliance Requirements and those requirements in the main aren't new. So it was useful for us to be able to myth bust and set the record straight on a number of requirements that perhaps have been questions that you've held for quite some time. As I said before, there was also that natural interest and enquiry into how ASQA is adapting and going to change its approach as well under the revised Standards. Next slide please.
~ Slide: Your preparedness, what you told us... ~
Ok, I think there should be a pink box with that slide perhaps there. Thank you very much. So at the end of the workshops, we asked our participants if they'd be kind enough to do a little survey on their phones. That is more of a sentiment survey and the results are here on the screen. What we took from these results and these responses is that in general, participants had a strong awareness of the 2025 Standards and were generally highly motivated to support the changes.
Many participants felt prepared, which was great, and there was a really high rating overall about the value of the sessions, which is also fantastic because those of you who've been in the sector for a while know that we don't always get out as often as we'd probably like in ASQA. So it's really great to see that people felt it was worth the investment of their time, and I know some of you also travelled quite long distances and we thank you for that because we got as rich an experience out of these sessions as providers did. They were fantastic. So on that note, I'm now going to hand over to Sharayne Given, who's going to host the next section about ASQA's revised assessment approach.
~ Slide: ASQA’s revised assessment approach… ~
Sharayne Given: Thank you, Melinda, and hello, everybody. It's my pleasure to take you through the next section today. I'll be covering ASQA's revised assessment approach.
~ Slide: ASQA is maturing too… ~
And as you can see on this slide, when we're talking about our maturity, there are 2 main aspects. The first is maturity of our regulatory approach, and by that, we are meaning ASQA is heading down the pathway where you can expect us to undertake more regulatory activities and a wider variety of regulatory activities, and I'll cover those in just a moment. You will certainly see more from us in terms of education and engagement, particularly around Standards implementation, especially across the next 12 months.
When we're talking about maturity of our assessment approach, you can expect more clarity and transparency on us conducting our assessment activities. We are looking to become more efficient in the way we conduct those activities and that supports us, but it also supports you. There's an opportunity for us to do things better to create those efficiencies. You can also expect us to become more consistent with our assessment activities. We have a number of individuals and a number of teams conducting assessments in any given week across ASQA, and we're really looking to strengthen our consistency here.
As you've heard from Melinda, the approach to the 2025 Standards are outcome-based, and simply put, our current approach to assessment just doesn't fit that approach. The revised approach allows more opportunity for you to supply different forms of evidence to demonstrate how you're meeting or exceeding those standards, and our revised approach captures that. Lastly, we have taken on board a number of sources of feedback from the sector more widely about opportunities for improvement. So they've informed the design of our revised approach. Thank you.
~ Slide: Examples of ASQA’s Assessment and Monitoring Activities… ~
So this slide really details the number of variety and different types of assessment and monitoring activities that ASQA can undertake. The first one, no surprises, an assessment against the Standards, assessment of performance, as you may know it, and you may also know it under the terminology of an audit. No change, we will still continue to undertake assessments of performance against the Standards. You may also be familiar with assessments against the legislation itself. Again, no change, we’ll continue to do those. However, there are many other types of activities that you may not have been involved in, in the past, or that you may certainly see come up by an ASQA staff member across the next 12 months. Examples of those include conducting a site visit, so coming out and engaging with you on your premises, but not necessarily through an assessment of performance. That could be us organising a visit with you to come out, have a look around and have a chat.
We may also engage with you to request information and there are a number of different ways that we can request information from you. I haven't covered all of them here, but these are some samples. That could be a person from ASQA reaching out to ask you to conduct a self-assessment and return it to us next month. It could be to submit some data to us for us to have a little bit of a look at some information. It could be for us to ask you to complete a survey and return the survey to us. Many of these different ASQA Revised Standards Live Stream Webinar | Transcript Page 7 sources of monitoring activities could be done alone, as in we approach you and you complete and send it back to us, or could be done as large-scale activities, if you like, a bit more in line with a campaign activity. By saying that, it could be a survey that is sent to 500 providers or 1,000 providers or all providers in the scheme.
We can also undertake phone interviews with you. That again would be separate from the assessment of performance that you're very familiar with. You can imagine it would be much simpler and faster if we had particular concerns about whatever topic it might be that we would reach out to you, pick up the phone, organise a phone interview and have a discussion about how you're going on that particular topic, might be RPL, might be online learning, might be wellbeing – much simpler, faster and allows that opportunity to be more efficient. And lastly, of course, we conduct investigations where we have significant concerns about a particular provider. Thank you, next slide.
~ Slide: Revised Assessment Approach ~
Just a few notes around our revised assessment approach and what you can expect in this frame. The first is being risk led. We have always been a risk-based regulator, but you will see risk being strengthened across the next 12 months. By being risk led, we may be following concerns raised by a various number of sources about a particular provider alone. We may be concerned about an industry issue or pattern. We may be concerned about broader issues affecting the entire sector. You can learn more about our regulatory risk priorities on our website. They're currently available for 24-25, and our revised risk priorities for 25-26 will be available on our website shortly.
There are also different ways that you can demonstrate your compliance with the revised Standards. As Melinda mentioned briefly, there are opportunities for that to be scalable. That could be in terms of what you deliver, how many courses, how many students, and what the profile looks like for your provider. The evidence to demonstrate your compliance would look very different if you're a very large provider operating in multiple states, delivering online and face-to-face, compared to another provider, very small, perhaps 10 students per year. As I've mentioned, consistency is really important to us and we're making the commitment to you all to be more consistent in our activities, and lastly, improved reporting. We are taking advantage of improvements in our reporting on our activities, particularly around assessment of performance, not just in terms of the template that we use, but also in terms of how we formulate our findings and communicate those with you.
Thank you. Just one extra box on this slide. It is really, really important to understand that our activities are not only driven by an application that you submit to us. That application might be an application for renewal of registration, maybe an application to add to scope. That's okay. You submit your application, but I want to make sure that we’re decoupling the process of expecting that you won't hear from ASQA unless you put an application in and then we'll reach out. We can conduct activities at any time, and as I mentioned before, you will see and hear from us a fair bit more across this next year. An application can lead to an assessment, but does not have to lead to an assessment. Thank you.
~ Slide: Regulatory Assessment Approach ~
Just a few quick words on the actual assessment process. These are the main steps involved when ASQA undertakes an assessment activity. There's always a trigger. There's always a reason why we are conducting an activity with you. That may be in relation to concerns raised. Maybe we have received a number of tip-offs. That may be in relation to concerns raised by other parties and referred into ASQA. That may be in relation to broader issues affecting particular industry types, emerging risks and issues, or concerns affecting the broader sector of VET. There's always a reason why we start an activity and we'll certainly be able to share that with you.
Then we go through a range of planning steps. In planning, those are those standard things like which staff member, when will we do it, what timeframe, who would we involve, what activities will we include on scope for that assessment and so forth. You will hear from us 9 times out of 10, probably 9.9 times out of 10 unless it's an unannounced activity.
The next box, the pinky-coloured box is to assess, and this is where most of the work occurs in the assessment process. Some of the steps involved there are to notify you and engage with you on the activity starting up to give you information on the areas that we're looking at in the assessment and to seek evidence from you or information that you're submitting. There are a number of steps involved in the assessment process and that includes discussion with you if there are missing pieces of evidence, and also to be able to communicate with you how our findings are shaping up. It doesn't leave the door open for a continuous cycle of more and more and more and more evidence, but we will make an effort to engage with you, particularly with the implementation of the 2025 Standards. If there are gaps, we will let you know and you will have an opportunity to submit more information to us. The assessment process is also an opportunity for you to share with us if you disagree with the findings being formulated and to supply additional evidence or supplementary material to advise otherwise.
The last step is to complete the assessment. In the completion, obviously, we have formed views and we are communicating those views. A report will be prepared, and also, there's an opportunity to make decisions on the outcome if there are pending decisions needed. If there is an application submitted, that decision may relate to a decision that an ASQA delegate makes on the renewal or add to scope or whichever pending applications there may be. There's also an opportunity to make decisions around non-compliance. The vast majority of providers that have non-compliance are able to resolve that non - compliance rather quickly and in a short period of time. However, in some cases, ASQA may work with you on an extended timeframe around resolution of the non-compliance. Thank you.
~ Slide: ASQA’s Regulatory Assessment Approach is coming ~
I am very pleased to share with you, much of the content covered in my last few slides will form part of a document that we are preparing and we'll have available on our website in the coming weeks. This is called the Regulatory Assessment Approach and will detail for you a number of those steps involved in conducting an assessment. Again, it will be available publicly to increase our transparency in our assessment approach.
~ Slide: Transition Principles ~
Lastly, I wanted to cover some general principles around transition. Transition is obviously reduced down to just a few short days now with implementation of revised Standards on Tuesday next week. A number of you may have activities underway with ASQA at the moment, and that's ok. We are transitioning and the simplest way to describe that is, for any activities underway that span that period across the 1st of July, we will be making decisions in relation to the new standards, 2025 Standards. It may be that we require some extra information from you, and if that's the case, we will reach out and inform you of that. It certainly won't be in all cases.
If you have an application for renewal submitted to ASQA or if your renewal is due in the next 6 to 12 months, you would be heavily focused on learning and understanding the 2025 Standards and what is required of you to meet the requirements for renewal. Lastly, ASQA's compliance and enforcement powers have not changed.
Thank you. I am now going to hand over to my colleague, Kai Rottmann, who's going to take you through the next section. Thank you.
~ Slide: Share your approach with us.. ~
Kai Rottmann: Wonderful. Thank you so much, Sharayne, and great to be here, everyone. So firstly, I'm going to draw your attention to an opportunity to contribute to the broader learnings across the sector. So look, I'm lucky enough to go out and engage with many people in the sector and when I do, there's always so much passion and pride in what you all do, even to the point where some providers want a performance assessment conducted to show off their amazing work. So what we want to do here is we want you to share your examples of best practice on how you're implementing the 2025 Standards., and with your permission, we would love to include these in our educative materials and we'll de-identify them in a case study, or if you're particularly proud of what your team has done or achieved, we're happy to quote your RTO name. So, just email us at standards@asqa.gov.au, so standards@asqa.gov.au, and tell us your story. Alright, next slide please.
~ Slide: ASQA’s Implementation Plan Jul-Dec 2025 ~
So, what's next and how will we support you? So the team here at ASQA are passionate about supporting the sector and we have a full calendar of support across the different channels over the next 12 months and beyond. So this will include further engagement with the sector so we can continue to build capability and support the sector to fully embed the Standards. We have also heard from the sector that there's a strong desire for case studies, as I just mentioned, to be added and we will continue to work with you to build these real case studies. We'll also monitor the implementation of the Standards closely. We'll evaluate and advise you on how the sector is tracking and we'll be adding or adjusting educative materials to continue to support the sector accordingly. And lastly, we will be looking to conduct an evaluation of our work in the broader implementation piece. Alright, next slide please.
~ Slide: ASQA’s Education and Engagement Pipeline ~
Alright, so what is actually in our education and engagement pipeline? So, we have heaps of things coming up. We will continue to publish ASQA IQ each month. So, for those who have never heard of ASQA IQ or have never read ASQA IQ, I strongly encourage you to do so. You can head on over to our website and search ASQA IQ. It's produced monthly and it's designed to be a learning and development publication to support the many roles in an RTO. In 2025-26, you should certainly expect many articles and content to support your implementation of the 2025 Standards. So again, to complement this, we will also be hosting more webinars, which I think is great. We've got a great attendance today. We will be publishing the hundreds of frequently asked questions we've received from our workshops, and as Melinda mentioned earlier this afternoon, we're giving you early access to the frequently asked package, which will be live on our website from Tuesday.
We'll also be updating our web content. We'll also be creating new video content, I know that's quite popular, and we will be producing quarterly online presentations. So again, it could be used for some L&D with your teams. And of course, we've had success in delivering the national workshop series across May and June this year and we hope to be able to deliver another series in 25-26 to keep you updated on our progress. Very soon, we'll also have 2 informative animations coming with a focus on both provider and student audiences, so keep an eye out for those. But wait, there's more. Also, we'll be doing more podcasts. So again, I've had lots of requests for more podcasts where we will dive deeper into hot topics and risk areas and bring in special guests as well.
With the podcast, I like to think of our website as a library, and then we go and take a book out of the library and have a bit of a coffee shop style conversation to give greater insights about that particular book. So we have a nice pipeline of podcasts lined up. However, we are always keen to hear what's important to you and from the sector and what topics you would like to hear more about. So, if you have any particular topics you're keen to hear more on, please let us know via the podcasts@asqa.gov.au mailbox. Really importantly, don't forget to follow us on our socials on LinkedIn and X. We put a lot of information and content on there. So, I'll now hand back to Fiona. Thank you, Fiona.
~ Slide: Your Questions Answered ~
Fiona O'Brien: Thank you, Kai. Well, as I mentioned earlier, we were overwhelmed with over 120 pre-registration questions, so we unfortunately are not going to get to all of them here, but our team have collated the most frequently asked questions and our panel is now going to answer as many as we can in our remaining time. So, any that we don't get to, will form part of that FAQ package coming onto the website. So, the first question I've got here is for you, Mel.
~ Slide: Q&A – Q1 ~
Is there a checklist we can use to ensure we have covered off everything we need to do before 1 July 2025?
Melinda Cox: Thanks, Fiona. Look no, there's not a checklist per se. In fact, probably something that you really are going to notice moving forward is us moving away from checklists as a general theme. So, that doesn't mean you're high and dry though. What I would say is the best thing you can do is get into those 19 Practice Guides. So read the materials, but get then into the 19 Practice Guides, and hone in on the self-assurance questions attached to each of those. If you work through those fairly methodically, you'll cover most things. What you'll find is that for the broad majority of the Standards, be they the Outcome Standards or the Compliance Requirements, you'll already be all over it. This will be part, this will be embedded already in your practice and a continuation of same. Those newer standards, and when we say, ‘what are the new ones?’, well, when we talk new ones, we generally are looking at student wellbeing, diversity and inclusion, and the strengthened elements under governance. Ok, so you'll see things around the enshrinement of continuous improvement, for example. So have a look at those in particular.
Fiona O’Brien: Thanks for that. Thanks for that, Mel. Okay. I think this one might be best for you, Kai, if you could do this one for us, please.
~ Slide: Q&A – Q2 ~
Does ASQA expect that all RTOs will have completed a revision of their policies and procedures against the 2025 Standards by that 1 July date?
Kai Rottmann: Yeah, thank you, Fiona. It's not far away now. Similar to what Mel said, the fundamentals like the clauses and the Compliance Requirements and Credential Policy should already be embedded in RTO practices as they largely exist now. So, providers should demonstrate that they have systems in place for all aspects of the 2025 Standards, but it is noted that the new Outcome Standards such as wellbeing and diversity inclusion will naturally take some time for providers to become fully proficient in.
Fiona O’Brien: Great. Thanks for that, Kai. I've got another question here which I might throw to you for Sharayne. If we could put up the slide for question 3.
~ Slide: Q&A – Q3 ~
Thank you. This question has come through from a provider that has heard that from 1 July RTOs will need to comply with both the 2015 and the 2025 Standards. Is that correct?
Sharayne Given: Thanks, Fiona. The short answer, the one-word answer is no, but the extended answer is obviously from 1 July, providers must comply with the 2025 Standards. So, there is no overlap in our scheme under ASQA. The 2025 Standards apply from first thing on the first day of July. Thank you.
~ Slide: Q&A – Q4 ~
Fiona O’Brien: Thanks, Sharayne. Look, the next question we've got is a really common question we're actually getting and it's around how you can ensure that you're meeting those cultural respect and safety and the student wellbeing expectations. Kai, can you give our audience today a bit more information on this question, please?
Kai Rottmann: Yeah, absolutely Fiona. And those who attended the workshops, we did some activities in relation to this and it provided some really strong conversations. So essentially, there are 2 parts to this question, so I'll answer each part separately. So, creating a culturally safe learning environment falls under the new diversity and inclusion standard. So for some RTOs, this will be something that they're already familiar with, and for others, there'll need to be an investment of effort and professional development for your staff and things like cultural competency training and unconscious bias. Providers should reflect on how inclusive their organisation currently is for students of all cultural backgrounds and what changes they might implement to make it, I guess, more welcoming and supportive for all learners.
And the second part to that is in regard to student wellbeing. So providers are expected to be aware of potential risks to students’ wellbeing and put strategies in place to protect and uphold the safety and wellbeing of the student cohort. So providers are not required to deliver all wellbeing support services directly, but they must advise students of available supports and guide them on how to access these supports as appropriate. The extent of wellbeing support a provider gives students will vary according to the nature of the training product, duration of the student's enrolment, characteristics of the student cohort, and the size of the provider.
Fiona O’Brien: Fabulous. Thanks. Thanks, Kai. And look, we've still got plenty of time for some more questions, so we'll move to the next one, please.
~ Slide: Q&A – Q5 ~
And this is in relation to trainers and assessors. So Mel, I think I might get you to answer this one for us, please. Do trainers and assessors working under direction still require a supervision plan?
Melinda Cox: Ok so look, providers must continue to be able to demonstrate that they have determined an appropriate level of direction for each person they have who's working under direction. So again, this is an example of really, it's on a case-by-case basis. So for example, if you've got an industry expert, the level of direction may be consistent over their entire time working with you, but for a person maybe who's working towards their TAE, their level of direction or supervision will most likely decrease over time as they themselves work towards being a fully qualified trainer and assessor. So look, the way in which you demonstrate this and evidence this, again, this is where you'll hear us say, you know, that is open to you to think about the best way you want to evidence this. But, if you have supervision plans and a supervision plan works for you, then absolutely, you know, keep doing that, but don't feel constrained. It's certainly not mandated that you have a supervision plan per se.
Fiona O’Brien: Thanks. Thanks, Mel.
~ Slide: Q&A – Q6 ~
So we've actually received a question too on the hours of professional development per year that would be considered appropriate to maintain relevant and current industry competencies. Mel, are you able to help our audience out today with an answer to this question, please?
Melinda Cox: I'm sorry to sound like a bit of a broken record and perhaps potentially unhelpful, but there's no cut-and dried numerical answer we can give to this question and that's because every industry has its own requirements, certainly in some cases might have licensing requirements. So, it really does vary industry to industry, training product to training product. So again, determining actual hours of professional development per year is a decision for yourself. This might be where you actually engage with stakeholders to help guide you in this space, so who are those industry stakeholders that you're interacting with, to get an idea of what level of professional development will maintain currency for that particular trainer and assessor.
~ No Slides ~
Thanks. Thanks for that, Mel. So Sharayne, I do have a question here that's coming in relation to our own workforce at ASQA. What would the qualifications of the ASQA auditors be?
Sharayne Given: Thank you, Fiona. So the standards for VET regulators haven't changed in relation to our own requirements. So that is for our auditors to hold an auditing qualification. That bit definitely has not changed. And if I can also add, we have spent quite an amount of time with our own staff, training, learning and preparing for the revised Standards and the implementation next week, not just in terms of understanding the 2025 Standards, but also learning our new regulatory approach and assessment approach. Thank you.
Fiona O’Brien: Thanks Sharayne. Thanks. Look, I'm just mindful of time, but I do think we've probably got time for, you know, maybe 2 or 3 more questions, so if I could ask you to address the next one, Mel. Do providers need to review all their assessment tools even if they have conducted and validated and reviewed them in, say, the last 12 months?
Melinda Cox: Yeah, this is actually a really good question because it sort of goes to transition, which can be a little bit tricky when we move from one set of standards so bluntly to another. So look, we would certainly say that good practice would be to confirm that your existing assessment tools remain fit for purpose. Ok and in the majority of cases, they likely will. Ok, but as you do introduce new assessment tools after the 1st of July, just progressively as part of your normal business operations, then absolutely, then you must ensure that they are reviewed prior to use as per the new Standard 1.3. What we have been saying at the workshops though is, you know, you definitely don't need to spend between now and Tuesday morning, sort of, turning yourselves inside out doing fresh reviews of already validated assessment tools, ok. Do it as you go and have a plan for it in the next few months.
Fiona O’Brien: Thanks a lot. Thanks Mel. And we've certainly had a lot of questions on the retention of assessments for 2 years. So Kai, I do have a specific question on this one. Do we have to retain assessments for 2 years? Can we do so as scanned, or if we have to, sorry, if we have to retain assessment for 2 years, can we do so as scanned copies and the hard copies securely shredded?
Kai Rottmann: Yeah. Thank you Fiona. Yeah, we definitely get this question quite a bit. So, records may be in hard copy or electronic format. So digital copies can be made and retained in circumstances where it's impractical to keep the original documents unless there are additional requirements to store original copies attached to training product by other regulators or licensing bodies. And any evidence held in electronic form, this is really important, must be of sufficient readability and usability to be considered a genuine and complete copy of the original.
Fiona O’Brien: Fantastic, thanks. Thanks Kai. And look, I do think we've probably got time for one more. So Mel, I'm going to throw this one to you. How do you test digital capabilities before students enrol? I know it was a common question that came up at the workshops as well.
Melinda Cox: Yeah, it was. Look, LLN, so language, literacy and numeracy, and digital literacy are together under the Standards as needing to be assessed for prospective students for the training product that they're intending to enrol in. This does not mean that you are mandated to go and buy a particular LLN tool and digital literacy tool and you know, sort of, robotically put every single person through it. Again, you can consider the sensible ways in which you might evidence that you've done this pre-enrolment assessment. Ok, so in some cases, you might want to use a digital literacy assessment tool. That's perfectly fine because if for the product, you really need to have really strong, at a particular level, the digital literacy of students and you want to test that up front in a structured way.
However, for other courses, the level of digital literacy might be fairly minor or inconsequential, so you might just review this at a surface level through some other usual processes. So, for example, in the workshops, we had enterprise RTOs who made it clear that by virtue of being the employer and having their HR files and knowing the competencies and earlier qualifications of their staff who are going to be the students, they know that they have literacy, certain literacy levels or digital literacy capabilities, and that's fine. So, they don't need to go through some other additional tests necessarily. Hopefully, that makes sense. Determine the best way to do these assessments, I guess, is what the standard is asking.
Fiona O’Brien: That's great. Certainly makes sense, Mel, so I hope it does to our audience too.
~ Slide: Key takeaways ~
So alright, look, I think we might move to our key takeaways now as we’re nearing the close of our webinar. So really, our key takeaways for today are clearly around engaging with you all as much as possible with the Standards and what is expected of you. There really are so many materials available to you and as you've heard today, ASQA will continue to develop further case studies and materials for you, particularly over the next 12 months. We will also continue to focus on areas requiring additional clarity. So in case you missed it, 1 July is not a few weeks away anymore. It is next Tuesday.
You've heard from Sharayne about our revised approach particularly changes in the way that we’re going to be conducting our assessments and that we are really committed to transparency and sharing details on this approach on our website in the near future. And if ASQA is currently conducting an activity with your RTO and additional information is required, we will be in touch, so don't be concerned. Don't forget that our first FAQ package has been prepared and you have early access to this through that QR code. So please make sure you access the link provided in today's session. Otherwise, it will be available for all from next Tuesday.
~ Slide: We want to hear from you ~
Ok. We'd really, really appreciate it if you could just take a couple of minutes to complete our survey on today's live stream. So while you get your phones out and complete this survey, I want to thank everyone for your attendance today. It's been wonderful to see the interest that we've had in our education series to date, and we hope this interest will continue as we in ASQA transition with you all to the 2025 Standards. Your participation today has shown how committed you are to implementing the 2025 Standards and providing that really high quality training to your students.
~ No Slides ~
So hopefully, you've all had time to get that code into your phones. As we head off today, we'd encourage you to review the finalised Practice Guides, share key guidance with your staff, and remember to focus on your systems for self-assurance and continuous improvement as part of your transition to the 2025 Standards. Thank you for your attendance today, and please be reassured that we do recognise the pace, scale and complexity of reforms in the sector. There's a lot of work ahead, but ASQA is really committed to continuing to work with you as we all transition. And don't worry if you think of a question this afternoon after the webinar, you can still reach out to us afterwards through our many channels. Thanks again for being here today and have a great afternoon and a great weekend.
~ Slide: Thank you ~