Student – Centred Auditing – what does it mean for RTOs?

ASQA has recently introduced a new audit model that focuses on the student journey with their RTO. This new audit model is a big shake up in the audit approach, but from the RTO point of view, there is nothing really that you need change in order to be ready for the new audit model. It is really business as usual for RTOs, maintaining quality training and assessment and compliance with all standards at all times.

The main impacts for the RTO of the new audit model are:

  • You will be asked to supply student contact details so ASQA can conduct Student Surveys prior to the audit. Surveys are administered in a written format, online, and the results of the surveys will be used to inform the scope of the audit
  • The auditor will be keen to speak to students during the audit process (at the site audit and possibly after the audit)
  • If non-compliances are identified, the RTO is required to assess the impact of the non-compliance on current and past students, explain how you will redress or fix the impact and carry out the remedial action.

The requirement for RTO to assess the impact of non-compliance and carry out remedial action is arguably the biggest change to the regulatory environment for RTOs that we have seen for many years. This change may see you re-assessing past students or offering refunds to students who were not fully informed during the enrolment process. See ASQA’s Fact Sheet on Addressing Non-Compliances Following Audit for more information.

The clauses from the Standards for RTOs 2015 that ASQA will review as part of your re-registration audit have changed under the Student –Centred Model. This does not mean that those clauses that are not automatically included such as, clauses 1.09-1.11 (Validation) and 1.5-1.6 (industry engagement), are no longer important. They are! The audit process samples only some clauses, but RTOs are always expected to be compliant with ALL clauses ALL the time.

The Student-Centred Model puts the focus right back where it should be by asking: is the student getting quality education, making informed choices, being supported in their learning, getting the skills and knowledge they need to support their vocational ambitions and meet industry needs?

Will the new Standards for RTOs 2015 improve validation practices?

The VET industry continues to be plagued by concerns about poor assessment practices. The root cause of poor assessment practice is attributed to a variety of causes including: lack of adequate systems to ensure consistency across providers (Misko 2015); unacceptably low levels of assessment literacy (Gillies et al 2010); inadequacy of the TAE40110 (Misko 2015); low level skills of candidates (Halliday-Wynes and Misko 2013); pressure of fast-track qualifications and lack of systematic and regular moderation and validation (Misko et al 2014).

My personal experience and observation as an ASQA auditor is that it is common for RTOs to have abundant evidence of validation activities, and yet present assessment materials that are critically non-compliant. This suggests a curious disconnect between validation activities and the development of quality assessment materials, and indicates that while validation may be happening it is far from “systematic”. This disconnect lends weight to calls for a shift in focus from validation for compliance purposes to validation for continuous improvement purposes (Gillis et al 2010).

The definition and understanding of the concept of “systematic validation” as required by the Standards for Nationally Regulated RTOs 2012 (SNR) was clearly an elusive concept. The Standards for Registered Training Organisations 2015 (SRTOs 2015) detail more proscriptive requirements for RTOs with regard to planning and managing validation. What is yet to be determined is whether these more proscriptive requirements will have any impact on the quality of validation activities occurring in RTOs.

I will be conducting research in 2016 to determine whether the new standards have changed the perceptions of trainers and assessors with regard to validation. I will be blogging regularly regarding the research process and findings so stay tuned!