Note, this article was written some years ago. We keep them for information purposes. More information is available here: https://www.education.gov.au/trainer-and-assessor-credential-requirements

As some of you may be aware, the unit TAELLN401A Address adult language, literacy and numeracy skills is going to become a core unit of the TAE40110 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment as of July 2014.  EDIT: TAELLN411 is now a core unit of the TAE40116, along with TAEASS501.

As of July 2015 all VET practitioners will need to undertake or the unit or demonstrate equivalent competence. While changes can be frustrating for some, there's nothing wrong with ongoing professional development and the change makes a great contribution in giving our trainers and assessors the skills to best meet learner needs and improve the quality of training and assessment over all.

The AQF Second Edition has been released and available to use from 1 January 2013. This is a follow up to their first edition which was released July 2011.

I'm just glad they kept the rainbow colour scheme! Grammar police technically known as prescriptive linguists will be also happy to know minor grammatical errors have been corrected. Of course, a number of more important changes have been also been made, for the full list visit: http://www.aqf.edu.au

Ever thought about allowing your employees to bring their pets to work? The idea may seem absurd to some but many successful companies have a pets in the workplace policy such as Google and Amazon.

There are a few considerations to be made before allowing pets into the office environment but first we'll take a look at what are the pros of having pets in the workplace:
1. They can reduce work related stress
2. Encourage office workers to take regular breaks
3. Boost morale
4. Improves interoffice relationships

The National Skills Standard Council has released new Training Package Standards & Policies.

You can take a look here (nssc.natese.gov.au).

The National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) have just announced that they have given out five research grants to tackle various issues in the VET sector. The full details can be found at http://www.ncver.edu.au/newsevents/mediareleases/mr_172.html

It will be interesting to see the results once these are done and hopefully it will result in improvements in the overall quality in the VET sector. That is one of the great things about our sector of education, we are always striving towards making continuous improvements. Imagine what we'll be like in 30 years!

Have you heard of Worldskills Australia? "WSA aims to encourage Australians to celebrate vocational education and training, to shift perceptions and create the understanding that to learn a skill, to choose a skill-based career, is one of the most important decisions a young person and their family will ever make."

WorldSkills.org.au

The new Unique Student Identifier (USI) will be be implemented into the Australian VET sector from the 1st of January 2014. The USI will be the first of a range of VET reforms that will help to provide a more accurate and comprehensive system of student training achievements.

According to the Department of Industry, Innovation, Climate Change, Science, Research and Tertiary Education “Students, training organisations, employers, and governments will all benefit from the USI in some way. The USI is a component of the VET Reform Agenda and will assist the continued development of transparency in the VET sector. It will build a consistent, national system for the storage of training information and will assist in quality assurance and future growth.”

I was recently invited to look at the new Training.gov.au website which is due for release this year. While it won't win any beauty contests it will certainly be a welcome change from the aging National Training Information Service (NTIS.gov.au) website.