Self-assessment tool

Introduction

ASQA’s self-assessment tool is designed to support providers to focus on quality, continuous improvement and ongoing compliance with the Standards. This is in line with our regulatory approach. We will be revising this as part of our work to align our regulatory tools and practices and provider support and guidance with the revised Standards.

This approach to regulation emphasises RTOs’ responsibility for assessing their own performance and practices against the Standards for RTOs 2015.

We have provided this self-assessment tool to assist providers in assessing their own governance systems and operations against regulatory requirements. Through this, supporting support continuous improvement as this is one of the ways to detect and address any deficiencies or potential non-compliances at an early stage.

Why should you complete a self-assessment?

The National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Act 2011 (NVR Act) requires providers to comply with the Standards at all times as a condition of registration. This self-assessment tool provides support to providers in how to undertake a performance assessment of their own compliance with the Standards.

Self assessment is the act or process of analyzing and evaluating the RTO’s performance agaist the RTO Standards. It involves gathering evidence of the training and assessment outputs and outcomes of their activities, systems and processes and critically evaluating how well you are performing against the Standards.

Self assessment is a mechanism to manage risk in your organisation so that you can identify and fix issues as they arise, while continuing to improve training quality and outcomes.

Using this tool will help you to identify and assess evidence of practice and outcomes for each phase of the student experience. You can use this tool to identify areas for improvement in your RTOs’ practices, systems and processes and to determine the actions that need to be taken to ensure quality outcomes for students, employers and the wider community.

The student experience

This self-assessment tool is a companion to ASQA’s Users' guide to the Standards for RTOs 2015 and aligns with the five phases of the student experience:

• Marketing and recruitment
• Enrolment
• Fee protection arrangements
• Support and progression
• Training and assessment
• Completion

To be fully compliant, RTOs also need to ensure their governance arrangements meet the requirements in the Standards.

We will be revising this as part of our work to align our regulatory tools and practices and provider support and guidance with the revised Standards.

Does my RTO need to complete a self-assessment?

It is not a requirement of registration to use this tool to assess your RTO’s compliance against the Standards. ASQA provides this tool to support RTOs to understand their own performance (state of ongoing compliance) and the extent to which they are providing and continuously improving quality outcomes for students and employers.

The tool does not form part of the Standards and has no legal authority. The tool does not prescribe what evidence you should collect to demonstrate your compliance with the Standards however it may provide evidence of your capability and commitment to delivering quality VET through ongoing review and continuous improvement.

Using this self-assessment tool

The tool follows the five phases of the student’s experience with an additional stage relating to your RTO’s governance arrangements, grouping the relevant Standards (and clauses) against each stage.

For each Standard, clause or group of related clauses the tool includes:

• Links to the relevant standards/clauses in the users’ guide
• A set of questions
  • These questions are designed to help review and consider your RTO’s performance in relation to the three core questions when assessing performance against the standards:
    • Does your practice align with the requirements of the Clause?
    • Do you have a system appropriate for ensuring ongoing compliance with the Clauses?
    • Do you monitor, review and continuously improve (self-assure) to ensure compliance with the requirements of the Clauses?
    • A table template that can assist with recording of self-assessment activities.
• A table template that can assist with recording of self-assessment activities.

Some RTOs may have their own systemic monitoring and evaluation programs in place to drive continuous improvement of training outcomes. This tool can be incorporated within customised self-assessment practice, used to inform the development of your own self-assessment practice or be sufficient to drive continuous improvement in your specific operating context.

After you complete the self-assessment

• You can choose to print the self-assessment from the ‘preview’ page.
• You will also receive an email with a copy of your responses that you can use as a starting point for developing an action plan (with timelines, actions assigned and so on).

Start the self-assessment