What to do if you think someone is infringing on your copyright? – Margaret Ryan (lawyer and trademarks attorney)

Category: RTO

What to do if you think someone is infringing on your copyright? – Margaret Ryan (lawyer and trademarks attorney)

Posted on by academia-admin

The short answer is to speak to a lawyer. But make sure that they are the right lawyer. Copyright law (or, more generally, intellectual property law) is a specialisation. The law is complex, and your lawyer needs to be familiar with it.
A copyright lawyer will guide you through the process, but it typically involves:

  1. Gathering evidence of the infringement. You may have done this already. Keep any photos or screenshots of websites or purchases of the infringing product that you have made (with the receipt). If anyone has told you that they saw what they thought was your material somewhere else, keep a note of who said this to you, what they said and when. Show it all to your lawyer.
  2. Trap purchase – Your lawyer may want to obtain further evidence, such as a trap purchase, although this is usually not necessary if the copying can be seen on a website. A trap purchase involves, usually, a private investigator buying a copy of the allegedly infringing material. This can show the identity of the business that sold the material and the date of purchase and, if it becomes necessary, the investigator can give evidence in a Court case.
  3. Is there an infringement? – Your lawyer can then advise you whether or not there is an infringement in Australia. Reasons, why there may not be an infringement, include:
    • If the alleged infringer has permission to use the copyrighted material – you may need to check within your organisation to see whether there has been a grant of permission.
    • Is the material sufficiently close to be a copy? It is not necessary that the whole of your material has been taken, but it is necessary that the part taken is similar to your material.
    • Is there a possible defence to copyright infringement? There are quite a number of defences in Australian copyright law, but these usually do not allow copying for commercial use.
  4. Do you own the copyright? – The only persons who can threaten copyright infringement in Australia are the owner or the exclusive licensee of the copyright. Normally the copyright owner of written and artistic works is the author, or, if the work was created in the course of their employment, the employer. If you commissioned written resources or artwork and the contract says nothing about copyright, normally the author (or their employer) will own the copyright – not you. You need to work out who the author or authors of your material were (if it was not you) and check whether or not you own the copyright. Your lawyer may suggest that you seek an assignment of copyright, to transfer outstanding rights to you. It is possible that you cannot find the author, or they may wish to charge for assigning the rights to you. This is why it is best to get a copyright assignment at the time you engage the author.
  5. Letter to alleged infringer – This can either be from your organisation or on your lawyer’s letterhead. Some businesses may send a letter first and only consult a lawyer if these overtures are rejected. However, DIY enforcement is risky, in part because, if it turns out that there was no copyright infringement, or you did not own the copyright, you or your organisation may be liable for your “unjustified threats” of infringement to anyone who suffers loss because of your letter.
    A copyright lawyer can “ghost write” a letter to the infringer that is sent on your organisation’s letterhead which may be softer than a legal “letter of demand” (also called a “cease and desist” letter). Alternatively, the lawyer can write a stern letter of demand, requiring the infringement to stop, infringing materials be handed over and may ask for information designed to uncover the amount of profits made by the alleged infringer from its copyright infringement.
  6. After the letter of demand – hopefully the alleged infringer is willing to compromise, and there will usually be settlement negotiations and an agreement signed. Some parties may be prepared to stop but not pay any money. Others may deny infringement altogether. In these last two cases, if after further correspondence from your lawyer, they will not budge, you may consider suing them.
  7. Litigation (or going to Court) – This can be a very expensive undertaking and you will need to weigh up the pros and cons of litigation with your lawyer. Factors to consider are how much loss you have suffered e.g. from lost sales, has there been damage to your reputation or the exclusivity of your copyright material, how strong is your case legally and how reasonable is any offer from the alleged infringer.

The main remedy that is sought in copyright cases is a Court order to stop the infringement. Most cases settle along the way, but if the case goes to trial and you win, your legal costs may be greater than any compensation that you may receive. If you are successful, the Court will usually order the other side to pay a proportion of your legal costs – but the flipside is that, if you are unsuccessful, you may well have to pay the alleged infringer’s costs. This means that you need to think carefully before you press the litigation button. But, if the stakes are high enough, litigation may be recommended.
Margaret Ryan is a lawyer and trade marks attorney with over 30 years’ experience in intellectual property, including copyright, and consumer protection law, working with organisations to find solutions, maximise the value of their IP and protect their business. IP by Margaret® – www.ipbymargaret.com.au

Strategies to complete the Financial Viability Risk Assessment tool

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When you apply to become an RTO or your financial condition is a source of concern, or when you are in the process of a post-initial audit scenario, ASQA may require you to submit the Financial Viability Risk Assessment tool to demonstrate your financial viability. The fact that this obligation only applies in specific circumstances has already been discussed.
The Financial Viability Risk Assessment tool helps organisations to assess the risks associated with their current financial situation. It is also a tool that is used to evaluate the viability of a business in the present and in the future. The purpose of this tool is to help managers understand whether a training organisation can continue operating in an environment that will return enough revenue.
The financial viability risk assessment pack should be completed by an accountant who is registered with ASIC for your training organisation.
The financial viability of your organisation, including your financial history and projections, must be provided in order for you to be able to demonstrate compliance with these requirements.
This article discusses some of the strategies to ensure that you complete the financial viability risk assessment in a competent manner.
Find a qualified and experienced RTO accountant
Accounting professionals with prior experience performing financial viability risk assessments and those who do not have such prior experience and knowledge have a significant gap in their knowledge and skills. Always choose accountants who have a lot of experience in order to have these tasks professionally and competently completed.
Consider all the information you will need
One of the most important steps is to establish what information, data, records are required from you in order for an accountant to complete your financial viability risk assessment and what information is not required. So take some time to understand what information an accountant will require from you in order to complete the financial viability risk assessment and how you should supply this information e.g format, medium, process and so on.
Important information includes the following:

  • Name and code of each course
  • Duration of the course
  • Frequency of intakes
  • Expected student numbers
  • Course fee details
  • And other direct and indirect costs to run the courses

Make sure your accountant has prepared the profit and loss statements, balance sheet, cash flow for the two years projections and the student numbers and course information for the submission to the regulatory body.
Plan everything logically, systematically and comprehensively
Whatever you do, be sure it is thought out logically, systematically, and thoroughly. For example, how many trainers and assessors will you require in relation to your student numbers, how many admin support people will you expect according to your student numbers, how many intakes you can run in a logical manner, what should be your fees, how do these fees and charges compare to your competitors, and so on, all of these things must be carefully considered and planned out in advance.
All information should align with your business plans, timetable and capacity calculations
All information, including student numbers, frequency of sessions, trainers and assessors, fees, and any other information you have included, must be consistent with all documents, including but not limited to your business plans, timetables, and capacity calculations.
Ensuring the organisation has resources to cover short term cash flow gaps
Organisations should consider the implications of cash-flow shortages in advance to avoid risks. The first step is to take a look at the company’s cash flow. This includes looking at the company’s assets, liabilities, and short-term assets. The next step is to examine the organisation’s ability to generate revenue. For example, are there any projects that are likely to generate revenue sooner than expected? Organisations should be aware that if they have too much debt then their business will be more vulnerable to shocks in cash flow that could happen in the short term. The organisation should ensure that it has enough liquidity to cover short term cash flow gaps.
Identifying potential risks such as unfavourable economic conditions or changes in consumer preferences
The major risks that need to be identified are economic conditions and changes in consumer preferences. These two factors are the most important because they affect the company’s performance, profitability and sustainability.
Economic conditions refer to the macroeconomic environment that affects the company’s financial performance. This includes inflation, unemployment rates, interest rates, exchange rates, etc. If these conditions are unfavourable to the company then this will have a negative impact on their financial performance. Changes in consumer preferences refer to changes in what consumers buy or want to buy which can have a great effect on sales revenue for example if there is a change in technology that could replace the current product being sold then sales could be adversely affected. In order to avoid the risks, a company needs to identify them in detail and decide whether it is worth it to take them on.
Successful RTO launches and expansions of existing training products are usually the results of taking into account potential risks, including changes in consumer preferences or economic conditions.

Posted in RTO

New job opportunities!

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JOIN THE RECRUITMENT REVOLUTION
Operations Manager (Mullumbimby, NSW)
Sales Representative (Surry Hills, NSW)
Compliance Manager (Wollongong, NSW)
RTO Senior Office Administrator (Morayfield, QLD)
Barber Trainers (Chermside, Brisbane West, Ipswich, Toowoomba)
CHC Trainers (Melbourne, VIC)
BSB Trainers (Melbourne, VIC)
FNS Trainers (Melbourne, VIC)
ICT Trainers (Melbourne, VIC)
Looking for a new opportunity?
Whether you are a jobseeker, seeking additional hours, or not satisfied with your current job, you can find a new opportunity that suits your skills and experience through CAQA Recruitment. New vacancies are posted regularly. The process is simple! Register with us, upload your resume and begin your search.You decide how much or how little information you want to display. So what are you waiting for? Register today and let employers find you.
For more information:
Are you looking for staff?
At CAQA Recruitment we help employers find the best talent for their organisation. We understand that hiring is a complex and sometimes costly process. However, it can be simplified and made easy on a budget by opting for our services. Our recruitment platform receives a huge number of interest from applicants who are seeking new opportunities in the VET sector.
Best of all your first ad is FREE.
For more information:



Various phases of the assessment and validation processes (Part 4)

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This is Part 4 of the article, where we are discussing the different phases of the validation processes an RTO should be following to ensure they meet regulatory requirements and industry expectations.

In the previous articles, we discussed the following regarding the validation of assessment resources:

  • Explanation of assessment validation
  • Typical benchmarks used during the validation processes
  • Stages of validation (before, during and after the assessment judgements)
  • Regulatory requirements for conducting validation
  • Assessment systems
  • Who conducts validation?
  • How is validation different from moderation?
  • How external consultants can help you with validation of assessment and learner resources?
  • The regulatory requirements around validation of learner resources.

In this month’s article, we will explore the following:

  • Why do you need to keep validators information
  • Why validation of assessment and learner resources should be systematic and ongoing
  • How you can schedule validation
  • What is statistically valid sampling
  • Validation outcomes

Why do you need to keep validators information?

You need to keep for validators information for the following reasons:

  • To demonstrate that the RTO’s assessment system can consistently produce valid assessment judgements.
  • Validation is undertaken by one person or by a team of people. The RTO must ensure the review process is completed by people who collectively hold:
    • vocational competencies and current industry skills relevant to the assessment being validated
    • current knowledge and skills in vocational teaching and learning, and
    • the TAE40110 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment (or its successor) or the TAESS00001 Assessor Skills Set (or its successor).
  • A regulatory body such as Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) may request evidence of it during audit activity.

Reasons why validation of assessment and learner resources should be systematic and ongoing.

A unit of competency needs to be regularly reviewed to ensure that  it meets current industry and regulatory requirements, therefore, you must have a systematic and ongoing mechanism to track any changes and to ensure all your resources are up-to-date and current.

How to schedule validation

The first step is to  develop a “validation schedule” used to validate each training product (AQF qualification, skill set, unit of competency, accredited short course and module) on your scope of registration.

A validation schedule is a five year plan and each training product must be reviewed at least once in that five-year period, and at least 50% of your training products must be validated in the first three years of the schedule. Your RTO might choose to validate its training products more often, for example, if risk indicators demonstrate that more frequent validation is required. Indicators of risk might include:

  • the use of new assessment tools
  • delivery of training products where safety is a concern
  • the level and experience of the assessor, or
  • changes in technology, workplace processes, legislation, and licensing requirements.

Once you have your validation schedule you need to complete a validation plan with dates and timelines. The more detailed your plan is with regards to the who (needs to be included), when (what date and for how long), and what (which units is being validate, what information will be needed, from where are we getting it) the better your outcomes for your validation will be.

What is statistically valid sampling?

A statistically valid sample is one that is:

  • large enough that the validation outcomes of the sample can be applied to the entire set of judgements, and
  • taken randomly from the set of assessment judgements being considered.

Use ASQA’s validation sample size calculator for more information. It can be found here:

https://www.asqa.gov.au/news-publications/publications/fact-sheets/conducting-validation#validation-sample-size-calculator

Validation outcomes

You must keep all records as a soft-copy/scanned format or in hard-copy. The records must include all the tools used to conduct validation such as assessment resources, validation forms and checklists, profiles of validators etc.

The validation outcomes should identify recommendations for improvement to the assessment tool, assessment process or assessment outcome.

Sometimes the validation outcome can identify critical issues in the collection of valid evidence.

When this occurs, you may:

  • increase the validation sample size to assist in identifying patterns of issue
  • validate completed assessments from other units of competency to see if the issue is spread across the whole of the qualification, and
  • look for patterns of error (for example, consider if it is one assessor making invalid judgements—this could indicate the assessor requires further training in competency-based assessment).

Your validation plan must clarify how you will document and act on validation outcomes. For example, an assessment validation checklist addressing the principles of assessment and rules of evidence may be utilised to document the validation outcomes. Outcomes of validation may be acted upon through your RTO’s continuous improvement processes.

Your RTO must have a records management process to retain the evidence of the validation. You should retain evidence of:

  • the person/people leading and participating in the validation activities (including their qualifications, skills and knowledge)
  • the sample pool
  • the validation tools used
  • all assessment samples considered, and
  • the validation outcomes.

If the validation outcomes recommend improvements to the assessment tool, you should implement these recommendations across all training products, not only those included in the sample. If you make changes to the assessment tool, complete quality checks and review the revised tool prior to implementation.

Skills First – the Victorian 2022 Funding Contract

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A short explanation

The Department of Education and Training Victoria has opened a limited expression of interest (EOI) process for non-contracted training providers (new training providers) to deliver Skills First training for specific programs.

  • What does this mean to your RTO?
  • What are the matters the Department will consider during the evaluation process?
  • Is your RTO eligible?

To ease these and similar questions, we have simplified a complex document for you.
What is a call for expression of interest, and why is it different from the last three years?
The call is an invitation to Training Providers to submit an Expression of Interest for a Draft 2022 Standard VET Funding Contract to deliver accredited training in areas of demand as specified in the 2022 list of Specific Programs through the Victorian Government’s Skills First Program. Unlike the last three years, the Department will accept non-.contracted training providers
What if my RTO had a 2021 contract?
If your RTO is a currently contracted training provider, the 2022 Contracts will be offered without the need to participate in a full expression of interest process. However, please note that The Department of Education and Training (the Department) is seeking information from all Training Providers holding a 2021 VET Funding Contract, your anticipated training delivery in 2022 in the form of Program Delivery Plans(PDPs).
The Department will use this information to review forecasted training delivery in the context of anticipated employment and training demand, delivery in Government priority areas, and regional coverage.
On the basis of this analysis, determinations will be made as to individual Training Providers’ Funded Scope, Commencement Allocations and Program Allocations, if required.
It is therefore important that you submit PDPs that reflect as accurately as possible the nature and quantity of training they plan to deliver in 2022.
What does the list of Specific Programs include?
The Courses are divided into two categories,

  1. Non-foundation skills programs.
  2. Foundation skills programs

The Department of Education Victoria will only accept expressions of interest from training providers who can deliver these specific programs.
If you did not have these specific programs on your scope of registration on the 31 August 2021 and are a currently contracted training provider you are deemed ineligible to participate in the limited EOI process to deliver Skills First training.
The list of the specific programs is available here (link).
What makes my RTO eligible?
There are a number of Eligibility Criteria, your RTO must meet all and will be assessed by the Department.
Some of them include:

  • Be registered as a registered training organisation with the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority (VRQA) or the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA);
  • The RTO’s principal place of business is in Victoria
  • The RTO must pass the Probability of Default Assessment to be undertaken by the Corporate Scorecard – Financial Assessment Process
  • The Department will assess your RTO and you must have a satisfactory history of delivering training – Compliance and Quality
  • The RTO must have delivered training (in the course that you seek to deliver under the contract) in one or more Programs of the 2022 List of Specific Programs to:
    • a minimum of 20 students in the 2020 calendar year; and
    • a minimum of 10 in the 2021 calendar year (between 1 January – 30 June 2021)

For example: if you are applying for CHC43115 Certificate IV in Disability in your expression of interest, then you have to provide evidence through AVETMISS that you have delivered this course to a minimum of 20 students in the 2020 calendar year; and a minimum of 10 in the 2021 calendar year (between 1 January – 30 June 2021)
What are the materials and resources I need to familiarise myself with?
You must familiarise yourself with the following full suite of documents that are available at: https://www.education.vic.gov.au/svts > Submit Applications
Significant documents include:

  • Draft 2022 Standard VET Funding Contract Skills First Program;
  • Draft 2022 Guidelines About Eligibility
  • Draft 2022 Guidelines About Fees
  • Draft 2022 Guidelines About Apprenticeship/Traineeship Training Delivery
  • Draft 2022 Skills First Quality Charter
  • 2022 Specific Programs List
  • Guide to Program Delivery Plans Process for Training Providers apply to the 2022 Limited Expression of Interest: Skills First training for Specific Programs
  • Guide to 2022 Financial Assessments
  • Due Diligence Request Form
  • 2022 Specific Program List
  • Limited Expression of Interest: Skills First Training for Specific Programs – Questions and Answers
  • Guide to submitting an Expression of Interest (EOI) in SVTS (Skills Victoria Training System)

How do I submit my EOI?
EOIs must be submitted electronically through SVTS. If you do not have a user profile and log on, you need to create one.
When is the due date?
The EOI process closes at 5:00 pm on Friday, 1 October 2021.
CAQA’s Webinar
We appreciate that these days the Skill First topic is of high importance to training providers. To support you, we organised a free webinar with CAQA Skill First experts. You can watch the webinar recording by clicking this link. SKills First Recording
For more information, please call CAQA or email us at info@caqa.com.au.

Posted in RTO

Quality training and assessment resources from CAQA Resources

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While operating as a registered training organisation, you will be required to make a range of decisions, with obtaining high-quality training and assessment resources being among the most significant.
To ensure that your students receive the learning experience necessary to function competently in their chosen vocation, you need to invest in quality assessment and learner resources. It is only through the use of high-quality training staff as well as good training and assessment materials that a Registered Training Organisation can achieve this.
The quality of education and training that you deliver may suffer if you employ individuals who are not experts in their profession, accordingly, not having compliant assessment and learner resources means the quality of training you offer or promise will also suffer. You must spend time reviewing the quality of your assessment and learner resources against the following criteria:

Investing in high-quality training materials is therefore vital for the survival and eventual success of a training organisation. When you provide quality, it will have a significant impact on the reputation of the RTO, its legal requirements, and the quality of the outcomes. According to ASQA audit analysis published in 2017, over 80% of RTOs failed to comply with Standard One during the audit process and one of the major non-compliance has been the quality of assessment and learner resources.
Consider the following two scenarios:

Scenario 1
You are an industry leader and well-known in the RTO sector for what you know and what you do, but if your training and assessment resources are non-compliant, or worse, if a regulatory body audits you and determines that this is the case and makes decisions based on the findings, your training organisation’s reputation will be questioned. The regulatory body has suggested that students be reassessed for a period of 12 or 24 months in a number of instances. As a result, if you lack compliant training and assessment resources or do not adhere to compliant regulatory practices, you may experience significant challenges.
Scenario 2
Your RTO is unable to contextualise and customise or even worse know the requirements set around the assessment and learner resources because you assume that simply purchasing them from a resource provider qualifies you as compliant. Without acknowledging and comprehending reality, there are a number of resource providers that sell substandard quality resources, and if you purchase these materials, you may risk losing your RTO registration.
The question arises as to what to do when evaluating assessment and learner materials? How can you determine their quality? How can you make informed decisions and avoid wasting your hard-earned money?
This advice may help:
1. Maintain current knowledge and skills in compliance with legislative and regulatory standards.
You must spend time updating your knowledge and skills in relation to legislative and regulatory requirements. This includes contacting industry leaders who know what is compliant and what is non-compliant, attending professional development sessions, subscribing to and attending all regulatory body-sponsored webinars and conferences, subscribing to and reading VET and RTO newsletters, and also asking external auditors to conduct audits on your training and assessment systems on regular intervals.
2. Begin with a compliant copy of the learner and assessment resources that will serve as the foundation for the entire unit of competency:

Some publishers and developers are prone to displaying only a small number of their best samples and claiming that these samples reflect all of their qualifications. This is both incredibly distracting and misleading for the buyer who will assume that all material will be of the same quality. In order to avoid making such a mistake, you should request a complete sample, even if the sample is provided through an online platform to safeguard the copyright.
3. Ensure that all your assessment and learner resources have been pre-validated.

Poor quality of assessment tools is a contributing factor in the majority of RTO non-compliance problems. As an RTO resource provider, we receive a steady stream of calls from RTOs who have already spent money on substandard materials only to realise that fixing them will cost more than buying new resources. You can avoid this by following the steps below:
a. Pre-validate before use: By rigorously and thoroughly validating your new resources before putting them to use, you effectively protect your RTO. Fixing non-compliant resources is an expensive and time-consuming exercise that takes a long time to complete.
c. Make sure that all action verbs and action words are covered in the training package when you are pre-validating. For example, if the performance criteria is “consult with stakeholders,” a plural form is used, which means consultation with more than one stakeholder is required. Consult is a verb that means to seek advice or information from someone i.e. involves open-ended questions and communication.
d. Everything is addressed at least twice if it is not clearly stated in the training package that once is sufficient.
e. It is a must to assess performance criteria, foundation skills, and performance evidence using practical, workplace-based, or scenario-based methods and strategies.
f. Check the footer and header of the documents to ensure that all version control, unit name and code, and other pertinent information is accurate and up to date.
g. All equipment, resources, and materials specified in the assessment conditions must be made available in order for the assessment to take place.
4. Verify that mapping documentation for the assessment tools and learner resources are available.

The mapping materials associated with the assessment tools and learner resources should be available. Check this before you purchase the training and assessment resources. Ensure that the training and assessment resources have met all of the unit requirements.
5. Verify that the correct assessment method has been used.
Many assessment instruments use non-compliant techniques for determining learner competency. If the assessment assignment asks a student, “How would you do this?” or something along these lines, you must be extremely cautious, especially if there is a mapping to performance criteria (PCs) or performance evidence (PEs), as such a question has no wrong answer. The student may provide an answer that shows incorrect understanding, but because the question is not asking for the correct way of doing something, there is no wrong answer.
In order to establish competency in performing a task or job, evidence must be provided in the form of an observation that properly identifies the specific performance level for each practical skill performed. Many observation checklists are simply copied and pasted versions of PEs and PCs from the unit, found on the national register. It has the potential to cause complications during an audit and result in non-compliance.
6. Determine whether there are sufficient learner resources to meet the training requirements.

Choose among those learning resources that will allow you to demonstrate that you have satisfied the learning criteria for the delivery of the qualification. ASQA will audit your RTO to establish whether or not there are sufficient training and assessment resources for the students to be able to implement the theory learnt into practice in the workplace.
The training resources you choose are important as they can determine whether or not you will be able to demonstrate compliance during an audit. One suggestion that you might find really useful is to review the content and ensure it meets the compliance requirements. For example, when you look at materials you may find that they have double spacing between lines and a large number of photos. The material of these types of resources is typically lacking in depth. You will also observe that the use of this type of formatting will result in a two-fold increase in the number of pages. Some publishers employ this technique to give the appearance that their content is more extensive than it actually is. Therefore, look at each of the performance criteria and make an informed judgement if the information is adequately covered or not.
7. Check to determine if the information is accurate, up to date, and thorough.

Finally, but certainly not least, you should check the clarity of the content you are considering purchasing. One method of obtaining legitimate, reliable, and up-to-date training materials is to select learning resource publishers and developers who appoint subject matter experts in order to obtain the proper and comprehensive material. Assessment activities, session plans, assessment workbooks, and learning guides, among other instructional methods, should be included in the training material to ensure that students receive sufficient learning material.
Student assessment workbooks should be a comprehensive collection of assessment assignments used to gain an understanding of a student’s level of knowledge.
Trainer/Assessor evaluation resources are items that are intended for use by trainers in the assessment process.
Trainers employ a variety of assessment tools, such as benchmark answers and assessor instructions, to gather the information that is necessary for providing training.
Self-study guides are available to students to assist them in developing an enthusiastic approach to learning.
Mapping documents, learner manuals, and PowerPoint presentations should be included in the training tools to help make the training complete and user-friendly.
8. The resources are plagiarism-free
Use applications such as Grammarly and/or Turnitin to confirm that the resources are free of copyright and plagiarism issues before using them. If it is general information that is freely available on the internet, you should not be concerned; but, if it is information from a different publisher or from copyrighted websites or other materials, you should be concerned and should refrain from using these products.
CAQA Resources
CAQA Resources delivers high-quality solutions in the form of compliant RTO resources that are comprehensive and totally adaptable to meet your specific requirements as well as the needs and requirements of students.
When it comes to learning and assessment for your learners, CAQA Resources is your go-to for staying compliant. Our RTO resources, training and learning materials, assessment tools, as well as learning kits, provide a comprehensive selection of resources for a wide range of qualifications.
Visit our website www.caqaresources.com.au and look through our comprehensive list.
Contact us on 1800 266 160 or email info@caqa.com.au for more information on how to obtain the best training resources for your RTO.

Training Packages: CAQA Resources can deliver resources from the following training packages:
List of all training packages CAQA Resources have available or are currently writing:

  • AHC – Agriculture, Horticulture and Conservation and Land Management Training Package
  • AUR – Automotive Retail, Service and Repair Training Package
  • BSB – Business Services Training Package
  • CHC – Community Services Training Package
  • CPC – Construction, Plumbing and Services Training Package
  • CUA – Creative Arts and Culture Training Package
  • EAL – English as an Additional Language Training Package
  • FBP – Food, Beverage and Pharmaceutical Training Package
  • FNS – Financial Services Training Package
  • FSK – Foundation Skills Training Package
  • FWP – Forest and Wood Products Training Package
  • HLT – Health Training Package
  • ICP – Printing and Graphic Arts Training Package
  • ICT – Information and Communications Technology Training Package
  • MEM – Manufacturing and Engineering Training Package
  • MSF – Furnishing Training Package
  • MSM – Manufacturing Training Package
  • MSS – Sustainability Training Package
  • NUR – Nursing Training Package
  • PMA – Chemical, Hydrocarbons and Refining Training Package
  • PSP – Public Sector Training Package
  • RII – Resources and Infrastructure Industry Training Package
  • SHB – Hairdressing and Beauty Services Training Package
  • SIR – Retail Services Training Package
  • SIS – Sport, Fitness and Recreation Training Package
  • SIT – Tourism, Travel and Hospitality Training Package
  • TAE – Training and Education Training Package

Part 1- The trainer and assessor files

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Compliance of your trainer records is a must for any Registered Training Organisation. If you do not know what you are looking for, you will always have difficulty finding it. The purpose of this article is to provide you with the required information and resources to ensure you can audit and review your trainer and assessor files to be compliant with the current regulatory requirements and standards.
Legislative and regulatory requirements:
Trainers and assessors must comply with the following SRTOs 2015 requirements:

  • Clauses 1.13 – 1.16
  • Trainers and assessors who deliver any Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) qualification or skill set from the Training and Education Training Package (TAE10, TAE or its successor) are also required to meet additional requirements, outlined in Clauses 1.21 – 1.24.

Requirements for all trainers and assessors:
Trainers and assessors must meet the following criteria and guidelines:

  • the vocational competencies at least to the level being delivered and assessed
  • current industry skills directly relevant to the training and assessment being provided, and
  • current knowledge and skills in vocational training and learning that informs their training and assessment.

In addition, training and assessment may only be delivered by persons who have:

  • Certificate IV in Training and Assessment (TAE40110 or TAE40116), or its successor*, or
  • A diploma or higher level qualification in adult education.

Your RTO must also ensure that all trainers and assessors undertake professional development in the fields of:

  • knowledge and practice of vocational training, and
  • learning and assessment, including competency-based training and assessment.

Trainer’s CV
An RTO must hold valid files for all Trainers and Assessors (this includes files for contractors and employees). A valid file includes the following information:

  • A current copy of the trainer/assessor’s CV (usually updated on an annual basis)
  • The RTO’s name, the position title and a description of the job-role
  • Details about the vocational competencies that the trainer/assessor holds
  • Details about the vocational competencies that the trainer/assessor is delivering/assessing.
  • Information about industry currency and skills
  • List of VET professional development activities
  • Confirmation that it is a true and up-to-date copy of the CV (usually means the trainer/assessor initialling each page of the CV to confirm the accuracy of the information provided)
  • Signature and date of last update of the CV

It is also recommended that all resumes/CVs are verified for currency and authenticity through the undertaking of reference checks.
Reference:
Fact sheet—Meeting trainer and assessor requirements, published by ASQA https://www.asqa.gov.au/sites/g/files/net3521/f/FACT_SHEET_Meeting_trainer_and_assessor_requirements.pdf
(To be continued in the upcoming newsletter and blogs)

Part 1- The importance of internal audits

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This is our first article in the series regarding “Internal audits”. Our main intention is to provide you with the required knowledge and skills, and equip you with the necessary resources to ensure you can audit your organisation against quality frameworks and standards effectively and efficiently.
What are Internal audits?
Internal audits are an independent, collaborative, impartial, objective assurance and consulting activity formulated to add value and improve operations of an organisation. It assists the organisation to bring a systematic, disciplined approach to effectively evaluate, monitor and improve the effectiveness of risk management, internal control and governance processes. Internal audits act as a catalyst for a strong risk and compliance culture within an organisation.
What are the benefits of conducting internal audits?
Internal audits act as a catalyst for enhancing an organisation’s governance, risk management and controls by presenting insight and recommendations based on interpretation and examination of data and business practices and processes. There are a number of other benefits, such as:

  • Audits assess an organisation’s performance and practices against the regulatory framework, guidelines and legislative/statutory instruments.
  • Audits provide management of an organisation with information on the effectiveness of risk management, control and governance processes.
  • Audits evaluate achievement of organisation objectives
  • Audits ensure assets are safeguarded and secure.
  • Audits assess efficiency, effectiveness and the economy of business activities.
  • Audits review operations and processes to ensure they are protected from any fraud, malpractice or corruption
  • Audits increase financial reliability and integrity
  • Audits help to improve the “control environment” of the organisation
  • Audits are great learning lessons for all parties involved
  • Audits identify the business areas that require urgent attention
  • Audits identify opportunities, accountabilities and risks
  • Audits help management understand what it needs to know, when it needs to know it and how it needs to be done or implemented.
  • Audits identify better ways of doing things by recommending how to improve internal controls and governance processes

What is an audit scope?
The scope of audit refers to the focus, extent, boundaries and range of the activities covered by an internal audit. It includes:

  • The objectives for conducting an audit
  • Nature and extent of auditing procedures and activities performed
  • The organisational units that will be examined
  • Location of the audit
  • Time-period that will be covered
  • Related activities not audited in order to define the boundaries of the audit.

The audit scope, ultimately, establishes how deeply an audit is required to be performed.
What is usually included in an RTO internal audit?
The internal audit is usually a documented process that includes the evaluation of the following:

  • Quality framework and standards and legislative guidelines
  • Training packages and the companion volume (including the implementation guides)
  • Assessment and learner resources
  • Training and assessment strategies
  • Trainers and assessors
  • Industry consultation and engagement and how improvements are made from them
  • Recognition of prior learning and credit-transfers
  • Transitioning planning, processes and procedures
  • Student certification and completion processes and procedures
  • Third-party agreements and monitoring processes and procedures
  • Student support, progression and welfare processes and procedures
  • Student and staff Interviews and questionnaires
  • Student records, student files and student data analysis
  • Enrolment and pre-enrolment processes and procedures
  • Marketing and advertising practices and procedures
  • Regulatory compliance and governance practice
  • Policies and procedures an organisation uses
  • Other organisational practices and systems

Who can be an internal auditor?
An Internal auditor can be anyone who has the required knowledge, skills and experience to objectively, professionally and unbiasedly evaluate your organisation’s processes and procedures to identify opportunities for improvements.
It can be an internal staff member or an external person such as a compliance consultant.
The required knowledge, skills and experience of internal auditors will be discussed in our next edition.
(To be continued in the upcoming newsletter and blogs)

Check if you have an authorised copy of the training and assessment resources

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Training organisations should double-check that they have an authorised copy of the training and assessment resources from the publisher of the resource before using them for training purposes.
In a number of audits, the regulatory body has requested proof of purchase because a number of stakeholders are aware that there are some offenders in the sector who do not purchase the actual copies of the resources, resell when they do not have authority, or obtain materials in other illegal ways.
The benefits of confirming the authorised copy
There are a number of advantages to confirming the licence of your training and assessment materials, including the fact that licensed resources are usually linked to a quality assurance guarantee and are usually eligible for free updates, which you do not receive if you obtain the resources in an illegal manner, as well as the fact that making and distributing resources that you are not licenced for is likely to infringe copyright and may be a criminal offence. This can also affect your reputation and registration under the governance and copyright clauses (Clause 8.5, particularly of Standards for Registered Training Organisations 2015, provides: “The RTO complies with Commonwealth, State and Territory legislation and regulatory requirements relevant to its operations.”)
In addition, when applying for accreditation of a VET course, the national template requires that the applicant must:

Provide evidence that the applicant for accreditation either owns, or is licensed to exploit the copyright in any units of competency or modules. Include the name of the legal entity or individuals who own the copyright.

Copyright legislation in Australia
Training and assessment resources will generally be protected by copyright in Australia under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). Copying and distributing these resources without the appropriate licence will usually be an infringement of copyright.
You may be aware of the Statutory Education Licence that is administered by the Copyright Agency. You need to pay the Copyright Agency an annual fee to obtain this licence. However, the Statutory Education Licence does not permit copying or transmitting an electronic copy of 100% of a resource if it is commercially available, but only allows use of a reasonable portion (eg 10%). Copying or transmitting an amount of the resource that would unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the copyright owner is outside this licence. If you want to use more than a reasonable portion of someone else’s training and assessment resources, you will need to obtain a licence from the copyright owner or you will infringe copyright.
The consequences of copyright infringement can be significant. A court can order you to stop infringing and you could be liable for compensatory damages or have to pay the amount of your profits from using the unauthorised resource as well as handing over infringing copies to the copyright owner. You may even have to pay “additional damages”. These are a form of punitive damages that can often be more than the compensation payable. Plus, if the matter goes to court, there can be adverse publicity as well having your business tied up in litigation for a significant period of time. All this just to try and avoid a fee. Copyright infringement is not worth it.
For more information see the ASQA web page on RTOs and copyright: asqa.gov.au

By Sukh Sandhu and Margaret Ryan
Margaret Ryan is a lawyer and trade marks attorney with over 30 years’ experience in intellectual property, including copyright, and consumer protection law, working with organisations to find solutions, maximise the value of their IP and protect their business. IP by Margaret® – www.ipbymargaret.com.au

Staying on top of compliance

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Introduction
RTOs are required to comply with an increasing number of constantly changing regulations and reporting and there is a heavy price to pay if found non-compliant.
With ASQA’s emphasis on RTOs self-management of ongoing compliance through systemic monitoring, what is the best way to stay on top of and adapt to the journey of compliance in an ever-changing landscape whilst remaining cost-effective?
The answer is often ‘why not hire a compliance manager’? Sounds easy? Not really.
The compliance requirements that RTOs face are complex. Having a compliance officer focused on managing risk is an essential piece of the puzzle but not the complete answer.
It requires more than one person to develop systematic processes to compliance. It requires more than an internal team to manage risk and maintain a positive reputation. It requires experts to decipher confusing or abstract standards and determine how to establish and integrate best practices.
What does ASQA’s data indicate?
ASQA, in their 2018 Course Owner Report, identified that:

  • 67% of RTOs were non-compliant in their development of enterprise units
  • 58% of RTOs were non-compliant in AQF qualification type and level Volume of learning
  • 56% of RTOs do not have sufficient evidence of consultation/validation activities, industry need and support.

One of the reasons for these findings could be because an RTOs compliance culture suffers from the ‘comfort with status quo’ syndrome. RTOs who depend mainly on an internal process find it difficult to accept change due to their lack of confidence in the unknown new system and culture. They fail to redesign, rethink, and reorganise new compliance policies, procedures, and processes as they struggle to disengage from the existing culture.
Many compliance officers have tried to set the tone of compliance to protect the organisation, hold employees accountable, and lead a culture of compliance. However, they are often seen as the bearers of bad news and often not supported.
Why are compliance services becoming increasingly important?
Today more than ever, RTO executives and owners seek out unbiased and impartial subject matter experts and consultants to look into all areas of their organisation. External consultancy like the services CAQA provide are engaged for registrations, internal audits, validations, etc.
In light of all this, CAQA has designed its Ongoing Retainer Agreement. The objective is to provide ongoing consultancy services to RTOs with a compliance program that institutes a system of checks and balances at every level.
Seven (7) benefits an ongoing Retainer Agreement can provide.
As an external consultant, we have the advantage of a bird’s-eye view of the RTO to spot compliance issues, hear about trends, and identify new risks before they become findings that result in the consequences of suspension or de-registration etc.
Our approach is a holistic perspective with proactive rectification. Our culture is solution-oriented, ensuring RTO’s self-assurance.
Bringing our professionals to you will have the following benefits.

  1. Proactive action. We will identify your areas of improvement before they become non-compliant and create significant problems. All we need from you is a commitment to an effective compliance program.
  2. Independence. Our reporting is unbiased and that can assure you the information in our report is entirely objective.
  3. We bring a wealth of audit experience. We work with many RTOs. Our experts are engaged in auditing daily, and their expertise adds more value. We use this knowledge to recommend improvements and provide you with a systematic solution to your quality management system.
  4. Exceptional success record. Our consultants have been providing compliance and regulatory assistance to training and education organisations for over 25 years. They are a team of dedicated and seasoned professionals trained in ISO quality management standards with an exceptional success record.
  5. No data smog. In this era of over-information, many RTOs suffer from 21st century’s syndrome of data smog that is characterised by the velocity of over-information along multiple channels that often results in the collapse of healthy business cycles. We provide you with the correct information required, no less no more.
  6. Consistency. By signing an agreement with CAQA to conduct internal periodical audits, you will offload that responsibility and simultaneously ensure that you will get consistent results through scheduled visits.
  7. Cost-effective resourcing. We understand that not all organisations have the resources to hire the audit professionals they need to excel within their chosen field. Our service allows you to utilise high caliber resources for a fraction of a price of what it would cost to employ a compliance person.

What you will get from an Ongoing Retainer Agreement.

  • One hundred (100) hours of consultancy services delivered over a ninety (90) day period.
  • Three (3) professional development sessions for staff and management on topics nominated by the Training Organisation over a ninety (90) day period.
  • Five (5) recruitment advertisements/month on CAQA Recruitment (over the period in which the Agreement remains in effect)
  • Five (5) advertisement in Career Callings Social media marketing (over the period in which the Agreement remains in effect)
  • Assistance with compliance and training organisation related queries
  • Validation of units of competency (maximum 2x per qualification/month)
  • Provision of industry consultation support (1x per qualification/month)
  • Updated information from the VET industry
  • Exceptional consultancy on Systematic Self-Quality Assurance and Continuous Improvement
  • Regular news and updated information about the VET industry

Call us on 1800 266 160 or email info@caqa.com.au to find out more. Let us bring CAQAs professional team to you – don’t wait until your next audit is due.

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