Ian's blog

Tonight we are off to the Victoria Training Awards. Once a year Skills Victoria hold a gala evening which recognises the innovators and best practice providers of training and assessment. I've been going to them for many years now and while they are good networking opportunities, I must confess to being a bit cynical about who actually wins any particular award.
But tonight is different.  Tonight we are one of the finalists.

Sometimes the words "I can't" can be depressing. When we've given things our best, but the goal seems out of reach. "I can't" hangs as a sign of defeat and resignation.
But sometimes there is nothing easier than saying "I can't". It is so much easier than saying "I won't". It's hard to tell a client that you won't do what they want, it's so much easier to say "I can't".
This happens to much in VET. The training system is complex and regulated, most of the punters don't know what is possible or not. Increasingly the punters know what they want, but are being told by RTOs, "Sorry, I can't".
God knows there is a lot wrong with the system, but I am heartily sick of hearing how employers legitimate request for an innovative training and assessment response is met with an "I can't" response. Mostly this means "I won't", and the system gets the blame. "RPL a whole qualification?, Sorry I can't." What rubbish! My advice to employers and others when given this response is to ask "Why not?" and take your business elsewhere, remember under the current contestable funding, the money goes to whichever RTO you sign up with.

One of the problems of asking staff do do a self-assessment against some competency standards is expressed in the old conundrum, "If I don't know that I know, I'll think I don't know". We've been involved recently in undertaking job profiling for a client and while we translated the technical language of the competency standards into more everyday workplace language, we were not getting the results we expected. Skilled workers underestimated their level of skill and assumed that what they knew was common sense, not the "high faluting" skills described in the competencies.
There is always a need for professional judgement based on OUR understanding of the competencies. If you can do THAT, then you must be able to do THIS.
To do this effectively you need a good understanding of the workplace, the competency standards, AQF assessment requirements and the psychology of the experiential learner. Easy really!

TDT Victoria is sponsoring some RPL workshops "Breathing Life into RPL" which is being run by Brian Spencer, from Optin Solutions on the 25th and 26th August. Find our more by clicking here

The current review of Skills For Growth gives providers the opportunity to reflect on the good and not so good aspects of the program. Certainly, any program which offers the range of services SFG does, and does so for free to SMEs, has to have merit. While it is often easy to criticise the short comings of  Skills For Growth there are a number of real positives than can be highlighted as well.
From TDT Victoria's point of view, it has enabled us to further expand and build upon already established relationships with businesses.

 In the rush to take advantage of the opportunities presented by financial incentives available through The Victorian Training Guarantee businesses and RTOs need to take shared responsibility to ensure that the individual learner are protected. The VTG creates new possibilities for customised, onsite training that is aligned to the business enterprise's needs. Delivering onsite saves on the considerable hidden costs incurred through off site delivery. Work-based training increases the relevance and can minimise needless classroom activities and simulations.

The Victorian Training Guarantee is making vocational education and training more accessible to people who do not hold a post-school qualification, or who want to gain a higher level qualification than they already hold. But what about those who fail this criteria? Careers don't always go upwards and onwards. Among the many career changes that they always tell us about, some are the result of personal crisis, some are the result of business failures, some because whole industries are declining.