Quality Indicators

What are the Quality Indictors? As part of the AQTF Essential Standards for Registration, RTOs are required to collect data on three Quality Indicators: Learner Engagement Employers Satisfaction Competency Completion This data will be collected through learner and employee surveys and from enrolment and completion data held by the RTO. This data will be used by RTOs to continuously improve their operations and by Registering Bodies to inform an RTO’s risk rating RTOs are required to report this data to their Registering Body annually (by 30 June each year) Survey tools and software have been developed nationally for RTOs to use. These can be downloaded from www.acer.edu.au/aqtf

What are the reporting requirements? The requirement to collect and report data in relation to the Quality Indicators is being implemented as a two phase process: Phase 1 – Data collection period 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2008 Mandatory submission of ‘competency completion’ data only Voluntary collection and submission of ‘learner engagement’ and ‘employer satisfaction’ data This data needs to be provided to the Registering Body by 30 June 2009 Phase 2 – Data collection period 1 January 2009 to 31 December 2009 Mandatory collection of data for all three Quality Indicators This data needs to be provided to the registering body by 30 June 2010.

What software is available? Quality Indicator Software Report(s) required Competency Completion Completion Online System Number of enrolments and completions per qualification Number of enrolments and completions per unit of competency/module Learner Engagement & Employer Satisfaction Survey Management, Analysis and Reporting Tool (SMART) Registering body report

Competency Completion Online system The Competency Completion Online System (CCOS) is used for collating competency completion data. This system can be accessed at http://rto.ncver.edu.au/. RTOs will need to enter enrolments and completions by qualification and unit of competency. If an RTO delivers in more than one state, this data will need to be entered by state. The report provided to the registering body includes space to provide comments/context of your RTOs completion data.

Competency Completion Online system The options for entering this data are: Manually entering data Importing data from your current student management system or excel spreadsheet Submit data to your State Training Authority using AVETMISS compliant software – this will then be pre-populated into the CCOS in May every year RTOs will need to generate two reports for submission to their Registering Body for this Quality Indicator: Number of enrolments and completions per qualification Number of enrolments and completions per unit of competency/module.

Competency Completion Sample Report Example of data required by CCOS for qualifications when delivering in one state only

Competency Completion Sample Report Example of data required by CCOS for units of competency when delivering in more than one state

Survey Management, Analysis and Reporting Tool (SMART) The Survey Management, Analysis and Reporting Tool (SMART) is used for collating learner engagement and employer satisfaction data. The SMART Software produces a ‘Registering Body Report’ that summarises data collected There are two different survey tools: Learner Questionnaire Employer Questionnaire Questions in surveys cannot be changed or re-worded The SMART software, questionnaires and guide books can all be downloaded for free from http://www.acer.edu.au/aqtf. The ‘Registering Body Report’ contains space for explanation if the Employer Questionnaire has not been used or to explain context of the results

Are there any exemptions? If the student does not have an employer OR the employer is not a party to the training, you do not need to administer the Employer Questionnaire The ‘Registering Body Report’ contains space for explanation if the Employer Questionnaire has not been used or to explain context of the results If an RTO did not enrol, train or assess any students in the data collection period, they are exempt from providing data. These RTOs will need to provide a Statutory Declaration to the department. There are no other exemptions

Administering the surveys The Employer Survey Guide and Learner Survey Guide provide guidance on how to sample and minimum numbers required for the surveys to be accurate, In brief: If conducting census (i.e. questionnaires are sent to every employer and student): Obtain feedback from at least 50% If conducting a survey (i.e. a sample of students and employers): Select groups of different learners that are representative of your RTO (by Qualification, campus, delivery mode etc.) Get responses from at least 50 people per group If a group/RTO has less than 50 students, the RTO should survey them all

Administering the surveys Surveys can be administered in several ways: By phone In paper form Online Surveys should be administered towards the end of study or on completion of study Surveys can be administered several times throughout the study period e.g. for a three year course, once a year Phone/paper surveys then need to be coded and entered into the smart software Data from online surveys can be populated into the SMART software without the need to code the data

Submitting data to the department The relevant reports are to be provided (faxed/emailed) by 30 June each year… check with your registering body for specific details The data will be analysed and every RTO’s risk rating reviewed Competency completion rates outside of 50-90% range that are satisfactorily explained will not affect and RTOs risk rating Data from learner and employer surveys will contribute as follows: 65 and above = high performance 31-64 = marginal performance 30 and below = poor performance