23 Jul Your TAE Upgrade program… did it improve performance?

This is my first post of 2019.

It is long overdue, but the fact is, I simply haven’t had the time to write before now.  This is because, since January, much of my time has been spent training and assessing TAE upgrades.

The deadline for completing the upgrade was 01 July, which has come and gone.  Since then I have caught up on sleep and am now re-energised.  So now, it’s time to:

1. take stock
2. catch up, and
3. move on!

1. Take stock

With the 01 July deadline behind us, we can now ask ourselves, ‘Did the TAE Upgrades achieve what we hoped they would?’

What did we hope to achieve with these upgrades?

I believe these upgrades aimed to achieve more consistent, high-quality trainer and assessor performance throughout Australia’s VET system.

In 2016, the AISC endorsed the new version of the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment.  Its national code (and common nickname) is TAE40116.  TAE40116 replaced the 2010 version of the qualification, TAE40110.

In the years leading up to the introduction of TAE40116, two key skill needs for vocational trainers and assessors emerged.  These were:

1. Issues “…widely associated with doing assessment properly.”
   Chris Robinson, the former Chief Commissioner of ASQA, made this statement in his presentation at Velg Training’s 2015 National VET Conference.  Robinson named poor assessment practice as one of three key issues that ASQA auditors identified among non-compliant registered training organisations (RTOs).  Click here to listen to his 2015 keynote.
2. Ability to address LLN and foundation skill needs
   By the early 2010s, survey data revealed a need to help adult Australians attain the foundation skills necessary to thrive in community, education and work settings.  In 2012, the government produced the National Foundation Skills Strategy for Adults (NFSS).  The aim of the ten-year strategy is that by 2022, “… at least two-thirds of working-age Australians will have the literacy and numeracy skills needed to take full advantage of opportunities afforded by the new economy” (NFSS, Ministerial Forward).

It is not surprising, then, that TAE40116 differs from TAE40110 in two key ways.  First, TAE40116 places far stronger emphasis on assessment skills than TAE40110 did.  Second, the unit, TAELLN411 Address adult language, literacy and numeracy skills, has been added as a core (required) unit in TAE40116.

With these enhanced requirements, it is hoped that TAE40116 graduates will have the skills and knowledge to:

• practice valid, reliable, flexible and fair assessment
• identify and address the foundation skill needs of adult learners.

But what about trainers and assessors who were already qualified with TAE40110?

In 2017, the government announced that trainers and assessors who hold TAE40110 would need to upgrade their skills by attaining at least the two new core units in the TAE40116 qualification.

The deadline for completing these upgrades was 01 July.

So did your TAE Upgrade experience lead to improved performance?

If you are a trainer or assessor who holds TAE40110 and who completed a TAE Upgrade program, Fortress Learning* invites you to complete a two-minute survey.  The survey asks questions about your upgrade experience and the impact it has had on your training and assessment practice.  You may remain anonymous if you prefer.

* I have no formal relationship with Fortress Learning.

2. Catch up

Now that the rush of the TAE Upgrade process is over, I am turning my attention to ongoing updates and improvements to the TAE40116 materials I have written:

• I have recently updated the TAELLN411 materials
• I will soon update the Design cluster materials
• Next, I’ll update the TAEASS502 materials
• Finally, I will look at the Assessment cluster materials.

If your RTO uses TAE materials I have written, please contact me with any requests for the new versions.

3. Move on

Within the field of training and assessment, my main interest continues to be, what best practice ‘looks like’—that is, how we, as adult learning professionals, can best help adults build the skills and knowledge they’ll need to meet performance expectations of today’s world of work.  I continue to attend conferences, undertake personal research and engage in other forms of professional development to help me stay on top of the latest research in the field.

So to return to the question I began this post with.  That is:

Your TAE Upgrade… has it changed your performance?

To put this question another way, have the recent TAE Upgrade programs been effective in helping us trainers attain the skills we need to help people build the skills and knowledge they need to perform as required in today’s world of work?

I look forward to the survey results and to continuing discussion about both ‘best practice’ training and assessment, and a ‘best practice’ Certificate IV in Training and Assessment.