Current industry skills for your trainers and assessors.
To provide training that reflects current industry practice and valid assessment, your RTO’s trainers and assessors must maintain the currency of their skills and knowledge in their industry area and in vocational education and training. It is also acceptable for an appropriately qualified trainer and assessor to work with an industry expert to conduct assessment together.
By engaging with industry, you can be sure that your training and assessment practices and resources continue to meet the needs of industry, particularly in areas where technology and/or techniques change rapidly. There is no specific method or approach you must use to engage with industry. However, you should document your RTO’s engagement strategies and activities to demonstrate the alignment between industry needs and your strategies, resources and practices.
Your RTO must ensure that all trainers and assessors undertake professional development in VET, and specifically in competency-based training and assessment. (This includes trainers and assessors employed or contracted by your RTO and those engaged by a third party delivering training and assessment on behalf of your RTO. However, arrangements about how this is paid for are a matter of negotiation between your RTO and the people concerned.)
The Standards do not prescribe how often professional development must occur, but it must be sufficient to ensure they have current knowledge and skills in vocational training, learning and assessment. Simply delivering training and assessment does not constitute professional development.
To confirm trainers and assessors have current industry skills, and all training and assessment is delivered by people who are themselves competent practitioners, RTOs should ideally ensure that trainers and assessors are regularly exposed to industry workplaces and participate in workplace tasks. Training and assessment should only be provided by those who have current industry skills and knowledge and is best provided by those who can undertake all of the tasks defined in the elements of units of competency and modules to industry standards.
