The Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, on behalf of the National Quality Council (NQC) has commissioned KPMG to undertake a formative evaluation of the implementation of the revised Australian Quality Training Framework (AQTF 2007).

The Australian Quality Training Framework (AQTF 2007)

AQTF 2007 is the current version of the Australian Quality Training Framework. The framework is the national set of standards which assures nationally consistent, high-quality training and assessment services for the clients of Australia’s vocational education and training system.  AQTF 2007 came into effect on 1 July 2007. 

A revised framework with a commitment to simplified, streamlined and nationally consistent approaches to ensuring quality of VET by all involved

Why we revised the Australian Quality Training Framework

In February 2006, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) asked the Ministerial Council for Vocational and Technical Education (MCVTE) to review and amend the Australian Quality Training Framework to replace the emphasis on inputs and processes with a stronger focus on quality skills outcomes, and to accelerate the work on an outcomes based auditing model to support the new standards.  The focus of the review was on improving training quality.

To succeed in improving training quality, we set out to improve the ‘old’ AQTF system and bring it into line with an outcomes-based model that would best support a very diverse and evolving sector.

The changes are designed to promote training excellence and encourage RTOs to continually improve the quality of training and assessment. The changes also aim to achieve national consistency in the application of the new model and to ensure the confidence of stakeholders, including employers, industry regulators, and students, in the new quality arrangements. 

Modern regulation aims to find the right balance – a proportionate, risk based response that will drive improvements in quality, reward good performance, but still provide reassurance that tough action will be taken on those who fail to meet acceptable standards.

The NQC was tasked to do this work.  The goal was to streamline the regulatory system which had become complex and burdensome, and expensive for all parties involved.  The focus was to enhance the quality of outputs, rather than simply verifying the adequacy of administrative inputs.

The result is AQTF 2007. It shifts audit and assessment from measuring and monitoring processes and inputs towards measuring and monitoring skills outcomes. It also includes new sets of standards for both Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) and State and Territory Registering Bodies, a risk-based approach to managing the quality of training and assessment, nationally agreed quality indicators, a stronger emphasis on continuous improvement instead of just compliance, and the option of assessment against Excellence Criteria.

What’s different in AQTF 2007 is that, although RTOs are already used to collecting data on their performance, a set of instruments to measure outcomes will be made nationally consistent, and registering bodies will monitor the data to track the quality of outcomes.  Based on this monitoring, registering bodies will make decisions on frequency, scope and depth of audits.

The new system requested by COAG has been achieved through widespread consultation across Australia – consultations with training providers and their peak bodies, state and territory registering bodies, industry stakeholders, industry regulators and the Australian Government.

Ultimately, the success of this reform is dependent on stakeholders’ support and engagement with this new quality management system.

Individuals expect that they can use their skills from nationally endorsed qualifications across Australia, and employers expect that the staff they hire have the same skills no matter where they were trained.  State and territory registering bodies have worked together to develop and publish national guidelines to ensure consistent interpretation and implementation of the new system.

Why undertake an evaluation of the implementation?

The task of this formative evaluation is to find out how effective the implementation of AQTF 2007 has been so far, to ensure that the new arrangements are implemented smoothly, and to identify any early warning signals that suggest that we need to do more to help to implement the arrangements successfully.

The outcomes of the evaluation will be reported to the NQC in the second half of 2008.

The operation and effectiveness of AQTF 2007 will be subject to a separate review later in 2008, after it has been in operation for a full 12 months.  This will ensure that AQTF 2007 remains a streamlined, relevant, and national framework for ensuring quality in VET while continuing to reduce the amount and complexity of regulation.  This is important so that the VET sector can expand significantly in the next twenty years to support the kind of labour market essential to Australia’s future.

Why the evaluation now ?

The first months of implementation of AQTF 2007 offer an opportunity to get feedback from users and stakeholders about their experience with implementing the new arrangements.  We are committed to lessening the regulatory burden and want to see that this is actually happening.  We want to support stakeholders in successfully implementing the AQTF 2007 and we want to know if there is more we can do to help.

The new guidelines and materials to support AQTF 2007 have now been in use by all registering bodies and RTOs since 1 July 2007 and this evaluation will help find out how useful these have been.  The feedback will help review and refine the documents as the stakeholders gain experience in using them.

How the evaluation will be done

The evaluation team will be conducting face to face meetings and focus groups with stakeholders in each capital city and telephone interviews with stakeholders in regional areas during April and May 2008.  Evaluation team members will facilitate a discussion around a number of key areas and questions.

In addition, the evaluation team will use an online survey questionnaire to survey RTOs and thereby establish a broad database on their experiences that will feed into the overall analysis.

The project team will also be collecting and analysing existing quantitative and qualitative data and information pertaining to the implementation of AQTF 2007.