ASQA Annual Report 2021-22

The Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) has tabled its Annual Report 2021-22 in the Australian Parliament.

In 2021-22, ASQA continued to perform a significant role in ensuring the quality and integrity of vocational education and training (VET), in the context of broader efforts, to enable Australia’s ongoing recovery from the pandemic and support of the ambitious economic goals of government. ASQA’s Annual Report reflects our commitment to enhancing the transparency and accountability of our regulatory program and operations and building trust and confidence in our regulatory settings.

Chief Executive Officer, Ms Saxon Rice, said ASQA’s focus in 2021-22 was broadly in five key areas - supporting the shift in regulatory approach toward provider self-assurance and excellence in training outcomes; enhancing an educative approach and engagement with the sector; maturing the approach to identify regulatory risk and applying a mix of education, compliance and enforcement tools and approaches to prevent and manage risk, and building workforce capability and culture.

“ASQA responded to opportunities and anticipated risks, in partnership with others, to ensure the regulatory approach remained fit-for-purpose and effective.”

“The activities undertaken in 2021-22 established the beginning of ASQA’s maturity as an effective and modern regulator, enabling better responsiveness and adaptability to the changes experienced by both the agency and the VET sector,’ Ms Rice said.

Summary of 2021-22 key activities and achievements

• engaged with the sector to co-design a working model for a shared understanding of self-assurance
• further refined the risk-based and data-driven approach to identify and manage regulatory risk by clearly signalling to the sector the risk priorities that will see focused investment and regulatory effort, with treatments including education, monitoring, compliance and enforcement activities
• applied focus on education to encourage providers to examine and manage priority risks within their own business and supported them to self-assure that they are managing these risks and meeting their legislative obligations
• partnered with the sector to apply responsive regulation to the ongoing impact of the pandemic and Australia’s natural disasters, by implementing flexible and proportionate regulatory responses to reduce the burden on providers, while maintaining safeguards for quality VET
• responded to the findings of the VET in Schools strategic review by implementing a program of monitoring activities targeted at providers who deliver VET in Schools
• engaged widely with stakeholders on the cost recovery model, aligned with regulatory operations, to support the shift to full cost recovery from July 2022
• progressed our stewardship role using insights and the outcomes of regulatory operations to contribute to reforms, to strengthen quality standards and the review of the ESOS legislative framework
• established the National VET Regulator Advisory Council, contributing to the development of its forward program of work to support a continued focus on best practice regulation
• delivered on foundational digital capabilities as part of a multi-year Digital Transformation Program, including introducing new lean and agile ways of working and enhancing the customer experience
• focused on building organisational capability by progressing the early stages of a workforce strategy to attract, retain and further develop the workforce, supported by strong leadership and newly articulated values to enable delivery of purpose
• matured risk management capability by supporting all staff to manage risks within their roles, including by revising the risk management tools.