NCVER News #344

When it comes to the development, approval, maintenance, and quality assurance of qualifications; Australia can learn from its international counterparts. This new research provides a useful reference for agencies developing and reviewing qualifications, and includes findings that can inform the VET sector on:

• The broad range of stakeholders that are consulted in the development of qualifications
• Systematic processes for the review of qualifications, and its importance to the industries they serve
• The application of risk-based approaches to quality assurance.  

The research considers the approaches used in the United Kingdom; Germany; Finland; Sweden; New Zealand; Singapore; and South Korea; along with the processes used in Ontario, Canada; and selected Accreditation Agencies in the United States.

http://www.ncver.edu.au/publications/2775.html 

The collection of total VET activity data is now underway and the 27 February 2015 deadline for reporting your 2014 accredited training activity to NCVER is rapidly approaching. If you haven’t already submitted your activity to NCVER then now is the time to start validating your data in preparation for submission.

You will need to register to use the AVETMISS validation software (AVS) if you haven’t already done so. If you're unsure how to validate and submit your data, NCVER has developed a fact sheet that sets out where, when and how to report AVETMISS data.

Or why not join our many satisfied customers by contacting our Client Support team on 08 8230 8400, 1800 649 452 or support@ncver.edu.au for further assistance?  Our support team reports that most calls are due to:

• New AVS users unaware that they need to assign user roles in addition to their organisation administrator roles.
• RTOs trying to submit government funded data to NCVER when they should be sending their submissions to the state or territory training authority that funded the activity.
• RTOs including final outcomes for activity that finished in 2015. The current collection is for 2014 activity and the activity outcomes need to reflect the student’s outcome status at the end of 2014.
• RTOs trying to submit the Client Postal (NAT00085) details when reporting data directly to NCVER. This file is only required for activity funded by state or territory training authorities.

See our fact sheet, Hot Topics: Most popular calls to the AVETMISS support team for solutions.

You can also visit the AVETMISS Support page on our Portal for a range of additional fact sheets and other useful information.

We are on the lookout for presenters who are keen to showcase their research to a national audience of educators, researchers, policy-makers and industry representatives at NCVER's 24th National Vocational Education and Training Research Conference ‘No Frills’.

The 2015 conference will be held in Sydney from 6-8 July and will focus on three key themes.

• Youth: engaging, inspiring and supporting students to realise their potential.
• Pathways: transitioning through education and training into the workforce.
• Skills: working with industry and employers to improve education and training.

NCVER also welcomes submissions on tertiary education research which extends beyond these key themes. A refereed papers stream will also be offered again this year, with the opportunity for papers to be published in a book of conference proceedings.

Submissions close Monday 16 February 2015.

For more information and details about how to submit an abstract

The ‘Equity in Australia’ collection brings together key Australian policy and research documents on tertiary education and the labour market that relate to the following equity groups:

• Gender
• Indigenous Australians
• Older workers
• People in correctional institutions
• People living in remote or regional areas
• People of low socioeconomic status
• People with disabilities or special needs
• People with low literacy skills
• People from non-English speaking backgrounds (NESB)
• Youth