Standards, guidelines and reporting for Western Australian vocational education and training providers

The Vocational Education and Training Act 1996 

This Act governs the WA state training system for the effective and efficient provision of VET to meet the immediate and future needs of industry and the community. 

View the VET Act online 

Vocational Education and Training (General) Regulations 2009 Vocational Education and Training (Colleges) Regulations 1996 

These VET Regulations dictate how the provisions of the VET Act are applied in WA. 

View the Vocational education and training (General) Regulations 2009 online 

View the Vocational education and training (Colleges) Regulations 1996 online

Collecting and reporting data on all nationally recognised training is now mandatory. Data must be collected and reported into the national VET provider collection, either: 

• in accordance with existing reporting arrangements with the Department; or 
• directly to the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER); or 
• a combination of both. 

Although a limited number of exemptions for some short courses and eligible RTOs are in place, if you are delivering training under a funding agreement with the Department of Training and Workforce Development you must continue to report all of your contracted delivery to the Department.

Additional requirements for private providers 

Private registered training providers need to report the non-contracted remainder of activity (including fee-for-service) directly to NCVER. This is in accordance with the national Australian VET Management Information Statistical Standard. 

These changes are part of a set of reforms that were introduced to improve the comprehensiveness and quality of data available about nationally recognised training including the implementation of a unique student identifier. 

All payments to providers in relation to publicly subsidised training are now conditional upon the provision of a valid national student identifier.

The Standards for registered training organisations 2015 set out the requirements that an organisation must meet in order to be an RTO and maintain registration. They aim to ensure the training delivered by RTOs meet employer needs and provide mechanisms to protect the interests of the student.

The WA Training Accreditation Council (TAC) can provide advice and assistance regarding the Standards. Find out more on their website.

Visit the TAC website

This Act establishes and sets out the role of the National Vocational Education and Training Regulator, the Australian Skills Quality Authority.

View the Act

These standards set out the requirements for VET regulators regulating RTOs and accrediting VET courses, to ensure the integrity of nationally recognised training.

Their aim is to ensure VET regulators are consistent in implementing and interpreting the Standards for RTOs and the Standards for VET Accredited Courses, and are accountable and transparent in undertaking regulatory functions.

View the Standards here

This framework covers regulation and quality of training and assessment by RTOs. Managed by the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA), it aims to achieve greater national consistency in the way RTOs are registered and monitored. RTOs must be able to meet all the requirements of the framework through registration and audit conducted by the VET regulator. It comprises:

• Standards for Registered Training Organisations — Ensuring nationally consistent, high-quality training and assessment across Australia's VET system;
• Fit and proper person requirements — Specify the suitability requirements of individuals involved in the operation of a registered training organisation;
• Financial viability risk assessment requirements — Relating to training organisations' ability to meet financial viability requirements;
• Data provision requirements — Set out the requirement for providers to supply ASQA with data upon request, and to submit quality indicator data annually; and
• the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) — The national policy for regulated qualifications in Australian education and training.

Find out more here on the ASQA website

The AQF describes qualification levels and their learning outcomes for all regulated and nationally recognised qualifications in Australia.

It covers qualifications provided by schools, registered training organisations (RTOs) and higher education providers, including universities, and assures qualification outcomes are consistent. It also covers recognition of prior learning (RPL). 

Find out more here on the AQF website

All new and continuing students undertaking nationally recognised vocational education and training courses are required to have a Unique Student Identifier (USI). A USI is an account (or reference number) made up of numbers and letters that allows students online access to their training records and results through a transcript service.

As outlined in the Standards for RTOs, there are a number of requirements in relation to the USI. In particular; RTOs must ensure that they have a valid USI for an individual, prior to issuing them with a qualification or statement of attainment. 

Importantly, in WA all payments to providers in relation to publicly subsidised training are conditional upon the provision of a valid national student identifier.

How is the USI linked to reporting and payments?

The USI is a mandatory data field for reporting nationally recognised training. All payments to providers in relation to publicly subsidised training will be conditional upon the provision of a valid national student identifier.

For further information on these reporting requirements, visit the Commonwealth Government website pages on VET activity reporting.

The VET Student Loans program assists eligible students to pay tuition fees for approved higher level (diploma and above) vocational education and training (VET) courses, when studying at VSL-approved course providers. 

Training providers may apply to become a VSL provider. 

You can find out about eligibility, application information and requirements and how to become a provider at the Commonwealth Government website.

These standards ensure that training packages are of high quality and meet the workforce development needs of industry, enterprises and individuals. They apply to the design and development of training packages which are then endorsed nationally.

The Standards for Training Packages is one of three documents that form the Training Package Organising Framework that supports the development of industry training packages.

Find out more here on the DEWR website

Training packages specify the knowledge and skills required by individuals to perform effectively in the workplace, expressed in units of competency. They also detail how units of competency can be packaged into nationally recognised and portable qualifications and accredited courses that comply with the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF).

Training packages, and related information, are available from the training.gov.au (TGA) website – the national register for training packages.

Go to the TGA website