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Over the past three years, industry and government have collaborated on a series of reforms to the Australian vocational education and training system (VET). One of the key elements of these reforms is the establishment of organisations that provide skills recognition services. Through these organisations individuals are able to undertake an assessment against endorsed national competency standards and gain nationally recognised qualifications for skills obtained through work, informal training and life experience.

provide people with a simple means for having their existing skills recognised
let more people gain access to nationally recognised qualifications
provide enterprises with a straightforward way of assessing the skills of their workforce
increase the flexibility and responsiveness of the training system.

Skills Recognition Organisations have been made possible by the introduction of new national recognition arrangements within the VET sector. These arrangements are known as the Australian Recognition Framework (ARF). Through the ARF organisations may be registered to provide two broad categories of products and services. These are:

training and delivery and assessment
skills recognition services (assessment only)

Organisations registered under the first category can provide training and assessment services; this includes TAFE institutes and private providers. These are known as Registered Training Organisations (RTOs). Organisations registered under the second category can provide assessment services only. These are called RTOs of assessment only services or simply, Skills Recognition Organisations. Both types of organisations can issue nationally recognised qualifications and Statements of Attainment.

Skills Recognition Organisations can offer the full range of qualifications that are available in the VET sector under the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF). Individual organisations are registered to offer qualification within a specific Scope of Registration. This is defined by the highest level of qualification in the National Training Package(s) and/or accredited courses(s) which the organisation can issue.

Are qualifications issued by the Skills Recognition Organisations accepted throughout Australia?

The ARF is designed to ensure that national VET qualifications and the organisations that provide them are recognised throughout Australia. In summary this means that:

qualifications issued by one RTO must be accepted and recognised by all other RTOs
RTOs registered in one State or Territory can operate on a national basis.

This kit was produced by Vocational Education and Training Assessment Services (VETASSESS) and the Western Australian Department of Training. The kit consists of a CD-ROM that takes organisations through the steps involved in establishing a Skills Recognition Organisation and a guide to the best practice features of Skills Recognition Organisations.