Can you get a refund for your TAE40116 upgrade training?
Do you feel let down by the professional development you did for your trainer and assessor upgrade to the equivalent TAE40116 standard?
Are you disappointed that you have been told by your employer that they don’t believe you have the skills and knowledge required to design and to develop assessment tools?
Are you worried about keeping your job, particularly if you must deliver the new BSB training package units?
Don’t worry, you are not alone, and there are a number of ways to get help. It doesn’t have to cost you extra to get what you have already paid for.
There was an estimated 10,000 trainer and assessors rushed through their upgrade at the last minute. The bottleneck seemed to centre around the unit TAEASS502 Design and develop assessment tools which were part of the trainer and assessor upgrade.
Why has trainer and assessor upgrade become a big problem (again)?…
The Wholesale changes and “streamlining” (or as digital marketers would say, “optimizing”) release of BSB Business Services Training Package 7.0 in October last year (and already Release 7.1 out with minor changes in Feb 2021).
I know what you are saying. There is a year until the teach-out period, but some RTOs need to reapply to get the qualification on scope now. For example, Most of the over 600 CRICOS have BSB qualifications on their scope. To get it on scope you need to have the resources to deliver it.
Yes, you can buy in “compliant” resources, but RTOs must contextualise and trial the assessment tools before delivery, and access industry benchmarks as outlined in TAEASS502 to provide advice to assessor as to valid and sufficient evidence for competency.
So because of the 147 RTO that already have the new BSB50120 Diploma of Business on scope. This means that there is high demand for trainers with high industry currency. Basically still working in the industry, or updated it since COVID-19 in the last 12 months. Some RTOs that have offered work say they have to update over 200 units.
If trainers can demonstrate “proficiency” in TAEASS502, they will be safe and secure in a job. The question you will be asked in your interview is who you wrote assessment tools for. And “explain the process you followed”… Do you remember what you learned in TAEASS502 that is required to pass an ASQA audit as part of your trainer and assessor upgrade?
There are over 3000 RTOs that have BSB courses on scope, so think of BSB 7.0 as the iceberg the titanic hit. And there are not enough lifeboats (by more than half!).
If you have taken a job with an RTO that has told you “you don’t have to do that”. Are you prepared to go down with that ship.
Who saved us last time?
The situation was so bad that on the 29th of March, 2019 ASQA released this: “The requirement for trainers and assessors to hold updated qualifications will now come into effect on 1 July 2019. The change was previously scheduled to come into effect on 1 April 2019.”
The assessors of RPL evidence for TAEASS502 for issuing RTOs complained that there was a surprising lack of evidence of competency being submitted, even from RTOs who had previously passed an ASQA Audit.
The amount of feedback and gap training required meant that an RTO who would routinely have a policy to get feedback to candidates in 2 to 3 days were struggling to get feedback to candidates in 2 to 4 weeks. As many of the candidates required multiple submissions, the 3-month extension was not a lot of time to clear the backlog. Pressure (and claim of abuse) was put onto the assessors to push candidates through.
The solution to this dilemma presented by some RTOs was to provide short courses. Covering the trainer and assessor upgrade requirement in a group simulated employment environment. That would not bring into question the compliance of the RTO that the trainer and assessor were working for. So no feedback to RTOs on compliance before audit, increasing rectification costs.
Did you get what you were told you needed from your trainer and assessor upgrade?
The question that is now coming up with the implementation of the new BSB units – “did you get what you paid for out of your TAE upgrade” now you need to use it?
We all know this story if you work for an RTO, and it is not even a discussion anymore. You judge if the TAE training package does provide what the training industry needs to improve what has been called (by the public) a broken system (and Dodgy by politicians).
It comes down to a simple breach of contract under Australian consumer law. Did you get what you paid for as a customer of the TAE issuing RTO?
The “application” of TAEASS502 Design and develop assessment tools states:
This unit describes the skills and knowledge required to design and to develop assessment tools used to guide the collection of quality evidence, including their application in formative, summative and recognition of prior learning (RPL) assessment.
It applies to experienced practitioners responsible for the development and/or delivery of training and assessment products and services.
TAEASS502 Design and develop assessment tools unit of competency – Application
You should know that in a Competency-Based Assessment system, you are either competent to do the job, or…
Can you do this job, or not (yet)?
What is a major problem?
It doesn’t matter if you were sold a product or a service, you have consumer guarantees to get what you paid for. If not, then you have a claim if you have a problem.
A product or good has a major problem when:
- it has a problem that would have stopped someone from buying it if they’d known about it
- it has multiple minor problems that, when taken as a whole, would have stopped someone from buying it if they’d known about them
- it is significantly different from the sample or description
- it is substantially unfit for its common purpose and can’t easily be fixed within a reasonable time
- it doesn’t do what you asked for and can’t easily be fixed within a reasonable time; or
- it is unsafe.
A service has a major problem when:
- it has a problem that would have stopped someone from buying it if they’d known about it – was TAEASS502 accepted as needed by the industry employers?
- it has multiple minor problems that, when taken as a whole, would have stopped someone from buying it if they’d known about them
- it is substantially unfit for its common purpose and can’t easily be fixed within a reasonable time
- it does not meet the specific purpose you asked for and cannot easily be fixed within a reasonable time
- it creates an unsafe situation – including bullying and harassment from training managers when you were told you didn’t need to do what you learned in your upgrade as “current knowledge and skills in vocational training and learning that informs their training and assessment”.
Who has a claim
Not all trainers will have a claim, and I personally got from my upgrade “the skills and knowledge required. And have written tools that have passed Audit before and after my upgrade. That is also how I know the difference between TAE RTOs that were seen as doing “too much” work. It seems now that it is those RTOs that were doing just enough to do the job. The trainers who upgraded with these RTOs are now in demand
I have also written tools that training managers have instructed me to make changes to the assessment tools or I would lose my job, and this tool was found non-compliant at audit. I do understand that not everyone is in a position to speak up. Given the lack of job security in the training industry and stand-downs due to COVID-19.
If you feel you have a claim, contact us via this form saying why you feel you didn’t get what you paid for your trainer and assessor upgrade, or what your RTO you paid, and an email address to send out more information if we can get you help. This is not a marketing list for a consultant. I’m just a trainer embarrassed by what RTO training has become and upset with the number of friends that have lost jobs.
We can’t refer you to RTOs to get PD at this stage as we don’t have a written agreement with any. Also we would like to know who you would like to get retraining from. We put together this list after that as you get a choice if you want a refund, repair, or replacement.
There are certainly options to get help in these uncertain times. This can be done in confidence and in most cases supported by your employer as the costs of rectifying it. Audit costs far out weight the cost involved to enforce your rights as a consumer under Australian laws.