On this page
Achieving the Credential Policy in practice
The following provides guidance on achieving compliance with sections 1A - 1E of the Credential Policy as well as important considerations, and risks to mitigate or avoid. Further to the credentialling requirements set out below, the Outcome Standards set out additional requirements relating to individuals undertaking VET training and assessment activities and as such, this Practice Guide should be read in conjunction with the Instrument and the Practice Guides relating to VET Workforce.
To help determine whether you have achieved this Standard refer to the self-assurance questions below.
Section 1: Credentials for the delivery of training and assessment
This section specifies credential requirements for individuals delivering training and assessment for all training products other than AQF qualifications or skill sets from the Training and Education (TAE) Training Package. Standard 3.2 also sets out additional requirements for individuals delivering training and assessment for training products from the TAE Training Package.
Subject to Section 2 of this policy, all people delivering training and/or assessment must either:
- have one of the training and assessment credentials outlined at section 1A, or
- be actively working towards one of the training and assessment credentials at section 1C, and work under the direction of a trainer or assessor with one of the relevant training and assessment credentials at section 1E, or
- have one of the training and assessment credentials outlined at section 1D, and work under the direction of a trainer or assessor with one of the relevant training and assessment credentials at section 1E.
Requirement
1A. Training and assessment credentials
To deliver training and assessment without direction, including making assessment judgements, the person must hold one of the following credentials:
- TAE40122 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment or its successor,
- TAE40116 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment
- TAE40110 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment1
- A diploma or higher-level qualification in adult education or vocational education and training
- A secondary teaching qualification and one of the following credentials:
- TAESS00011 Assessor Skill Set, or
- TAESS00019 Assessor Skill Set or its successor, or
- TAESS00024 VET Delivered to School Students Teacher Enhancement Skill Set or its successor.
1Note: The Credential Policy does not require people who hold TAE40110 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment to hold the two additional units of competency in addressing adult language, literacy and numeracy skills and designing and developing assessment tools.
- You can demonstrate how you authenticate (and retain evidence of) the credentials of those undertaking training and assessment for your RTO
- You can demonstrate the systems and processes you have in place for the recruitment and training of your RTO’s trainers and assessors to ensure they are appropriately credentialled and skilled for their role.
- You can demonstrate your system for reviewing trainer and assessor performance and industry currency, and how this system helps to identify opportunities for professional development.
- You ensure that, where a fully qualified trainer and assessor is supervising a person working under direction (such as an industry expert), they do not allow the person working under direction to make assessment judgements.
- You can demonstrate that your RTO meets the other requirements imposed on trainers and assessors under the Standards, including that they hold the relevant vocational competencies and current industry skills, regardless of whether they are working alongside an industry expert or not.
- Not having a system in place to authenticate the training and assessment credentials held by those undertaking training and assessment for your RTO.
- Not identifying or addressing gaps in trainer and assessor skills, knowledge and industry currency.
- Not recognising higher level qualifications in adult vocational education and training.
- Failing to ensure that secondary teachers delivering training and assessment and making assessment judgements without supervision hold one of a required Assessor Skill Set as listed in in the Credential Policy.
Requirement
1B. Assessment only credentials
To conduct assessment only, including making assessment judgements, the person must hold one of the following credentials:
- TAE40122 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment or its successor
- TAE40116 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment
- TAE40110 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment2
- TAESS00019 Assessor Skill Set or its successor
- TAESS00011 Assessor Skill Set
- TAESS00001 Assessor Skill Set
- A diploma or higher-level qualification in adult education or vocational education and training
- A secondary teaching qualification and one of the following credentials:
- TAESS00011 Assessor Skill Set, or
- TAESS00019 Assessor Skill Set or its successor, or
- TAESS00024 VET Delivered to School Students Teacher Enhancement Skill Set or its successor.
2Note: The Credential Policy does not require people who hold TAE40110 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment to hold the two additional units of competency in addressing adult language, literacy and numeracy skills and designing and developing assessment tools.
- You can demonstrate your mechanisms for ensuring people do not perform tasks beyond the scope of their assessment-only credentials.
- You can demonstrate how you authenticate (and retain evidence of that authentication) the relevant credentials held by assessors.
- You can demonstrate your system for reviewing assessor performance and how this system helps to identify opportunities for professional development.
- Not having a system in place to authenticate the assessment credentials held by assessors.
- Failing to prevent people with assessment-only credentials from performing tasks beyond the scope of their credentials.
- Failing to ensure that secondary teachers hold one of the required additional credentials listed in 1B.
Requirement
1C. Actively working towards a training and assessment credential
A person who is actively working towards a training and assessment credential can deliver training and contribute to assessment (including collecting assessment evidence), provided they work under the direction of a trainer or assessor. Working towards these qualifications does not qualify the person to make assessment judgements.
Those who are actively working towards a relevant credential are still required to meet other requirements imposed on trainers and assessors under the Standards, including holding relevant vocational competencies and current industry skills.
To be actively working towards a credential, the person must:
- be enrolled in and have commenced training in one of the following training and assessment credentials:
- TAE40122 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment or its successor, or
- TAE50122 Diploma of Vocational Education and Training or its successor, and
- be making satisfactory progress to enable the credential to be completed within two years of commencement.
- Where a person is working towards a training and assessment credential, you can demonstrate:
- that they hold relevant and current industry knowledge
- that the supervision and guidance arrangements are reflective of the skills and knowledge of the person
- how you ensure the person is only contributing to assessments not making assessment judgements.
- You ensure that adequate time and support is given to the individual supervising the person who is working towards a training and assessment credential.
- You have systems in place to ensure that the person’s progress towards completing the credential remains on-track for completion within two (2) years of commencing the course.
- Allowing a person working under direction to make assessment judgements prior to obtaining the appropriate credentials.
- Not providing sufficient time and resources to supervisors to adequately oversee the work of a person working under direction.
- Failing to appropriately monitor course progression of the person to ensure completion within the designated timeframe of two years.
Requirement
1D. Training and assessment under direction
A person who holds any of the credentials listed in this section can deliver training and contribute to assessment (including collecting assessment evidence), provided they work under the direction of a trainer or assessor but is not permitted to make assessment judgements.
This section applies if a person does not hold the credentials listed under 1A, which would permit them to deliver training and assessment without direction.
RTOs must ensure that the credential held by trainers and assessors in accordance with this section is relevant to their role, taking into account the nature of the VET student cohort and the delivery context.
To deliver training and conduct assessment under direction, a person must hold one of the following credentials:
- TAESS00021 Facilitation Skill Set or its successor
- TAESS00024 VET Delivered to School Students Teacher Enhancement Skill Set or its successor
- TAESS00030 Volunteer Trainer Delivery and Assessment Contribution Skill Set or its successor
- TAESS00029 Volunteer Trainer Delivery Skill Set or its successor
- TAESS00020 Workplace Trainer Skill Set or its successor
- TAESS00028 Work Skill Instructor Skill Set or its successor
- TAESS00022 Young Learner Delivery Skill Set or its successor
- TAESS00015 Enterprise Trainer and Assessor Skill Set
- TAESS00003 Enterprise Trainer and Assessor Skill Set
- TAESS00008 Enterprise Trainer – Mentoring Skill Set
- TAESS00013 Enterprise Trainer – Mentoring Skill Set
- TAESS00007 Enterprise Trainer – Presenting Skill Set
- TAESS00014 Enterprise Trainer – Presenting Skill Set
- A secondary teaching qualification3.
The RTO must be able to justify the relevance of the person’s credential to the VET student cohort being delivered to.
3A person who holds only a secondary teaching qualification must deliver training and conduct assessment under direction per section 1D. To deliver training and conduct assessment without direction, the requirements under section 1A apply.
- Where a person is working under direction, you can demonstrate:
- that they hold relevant and current industry knowledge
- that the supervision and guidance arrangements are reflective of the skills and knowledge of the person working under direction
- how you ensure the person is not making assessment judgements.
- Your assessment materials clearly show that the supervising trainer and assessor has made the assessment judgements.
- You can demonstrate that where an industry expert is engaged to support trainers and assessors, this is based on a specific need for expertise related to the training product or VET student cohort, and there is a system for ensuring:
- the expert has relevant industry competencies, skills and knowledge and specialised industry or subject matter expertise
- the expert works under the direction of a person with the credentials specified in the Credential Policy and, where the expert is supporting the assessment judgement, they work alongside the trainer or assessor to conduct the assessment
- sufficient oversight of the expert to ensure the quality of the training and assessment.
- Not regularly reviewing the skills and knowledge of the persons working under direction to determine if their level of supervisory arrangements and guidance require adjustment.
- Not systematically reviewing the quality of work produced by persons working under direction.
- Not ensuring the relevance of the credentials held by a person working under direction to the VET student cohort being delivered to.
Requirement
1E. Providing direction on the delivery of training and assessment
A trainer and assessor who satisfies the requirements of this section is permitted to provide direction to others delivering training and assessment in accordance with Sections 1C and 1D of this policy, or to experts engaged in accordance with Standard 3.3.
Where a trainer or assessor is providing direction, they are responsible for providing oversight, guidance and quality assurance in respect of a person who does not have the full training and assessment credential to ensure the quality of training and assessment delivered by that person.
The requirements below apply to all trainers or assessors giving direction regardless of whether the person receiving direction is an industry expert, holds a relevant skill set, or is actively working towards a credential.
A person providing direction must hold one of the following credentials:
- TAE40122 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment or its successor,
- TAE40116 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment
- TAE40110 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment4
- A diploma or higher-level qualification in adult education or vocational education and training.
- A secondary teaching qualification and one of the following credentials:
- TAESS00011 Assessor Skill Set, or
- TAESS00019 Assessor Skill Set or its successor, or
- A diploma or higher-level qualification in adult education or vocational education and training.
4Note: The Credential Policy does not require people who hold TAE40110 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment to hold the two additional units of competency in addressing adult language, literacy and numeracy skills and designing and developing assessment tools.
- You can demonstrate how your systems ensure that all persons providing direction in training and assessment always meet the requirements of the Credential Policy.
- You can demonstrate how you ensure that a qualified trainer and assessor monitors the training delivered including providing feedback to the person being supervised.
- You can demonstrate your systems for recording the guidance and quality assurance provided by the supervising trainer and assessor.
- You ensure that adequate time and resources are allocated to the supervising trainer and assessor for them to perform their role adequately.
- Not supervising or providing direction to a person working under direction.
- Not allocating sufficient time to a supervisor to be able to supervise the delivery of training and assessment.
Self-assurance questions
- How do you assure yourself that each person delivering training and assessment is appropriately credentialled?
- How do you know that the people working under direction are not making assessment judgements?
- What systems do you have in place to ensure that trainers and assessors remain appropriately credentialled?
- How do you determine the composition of the validation team and ensure the validation team fulfils the credential requirements?