National training plan principles policy

The training plan should clearly define all signatories.

Purpose

To ensure each signatory to the training plan is clearly identified and acknowledges their involvement in, and agreement to the training plan.

The training plan should clearly and concisely set out the rights and responsibilities of all parties in regards to training and assessment.

Purpose

To ensure each signatory to the training plan understands the role they have in the provision of, or participation in, the on and off the job training and assessment.

This should include:

• how and when training is to occur
• the employer's responsibility to ensure the development of the apprentice's skills and knowledge through appropriate on-the-job work and training, and ensuring access to structured off-the-job training and assessment
• the apprentice's responsibility to develop their skills and knowledge through participating in on and off the job training and assessment
• how training related issues and disputes will be identified, actioned and resolved
• relevant legislative, state training authority policy or RTO compliance requirements that may need to be considered
• details relating to the achievement of competency based milestones within the qualification that enable competency based progression and completion.

The training plan should clearly set out the qualification, including the units of competency to be achieved and the agreed methodology for achieving the qualification.

Purpose

To ensure the qualification, including the units of competency to be achieved is clearly identified and meets the qualification packaging rules in the training package.

The training plan should identify the methods for training delivery and assessment and how, when and where these are to occur including any recognition of prior learning or credit transfer.

The identified qualification must support the occupational outcome for the apprenticeship.

The training plan should support competency-based progression and completion of the qualification.

Purpose

To ensure the training plan includes clearly identified milestones to support competency based progression and completion of the qualification.

To achieve this, the process to be employed by the RTO and the role of the employer in confirming the on-the-job competence of the apprentice needs to be clearly defined and understood by the employer and apprentice.

The training plan should include agreed methods of monitoring and assessing competencies including the mechanisms and evidence required for confirming the attainment of competence by the apprentice and the process for notifying the state training authority of the completion.

The training plan should also clearly set out the agreed processes to resolve disputes in regarding the attainment of competence.

The training plan should be able to be updated according to changes mutually agreed by the parties to the contract of training.

Purpose

To ensure the training plan does not become a static document by accurately reflecting the training and assessment being provided to the apprentice.

This requires the RTO, employer and apprentice to regularly review the training plan to ensure milestones are being achieved and that identified competencies continue to meet the needs of the employer and apprentice. The RTO should also ensure the training plan is monitored to ensure the qualification is current.

This principle also ensures that when changes to the training plan are identified, they are understood and agreed to by all the signatories prior to being implemented. Changes to the training plan must not disadvantage the apprentice in being able to achieve a successful completion of their apprenticeship within a reasonable time frame.

This principle is intended to apply only to changes to the training plan that impact on the training and assessment.

The training plan should be relevant to and supportive of industry standards and in the workplace setting.

Purpose

To ensure the training being undertaken by the apprentice meets current industry standards and is supported by appropriate work within the workplace.

The RTO is to ensure that in developing the training plan the workplace requirements are taken into consideration and the employer and apprentice understand the relationship between work tasks to be performed and the units of competency to be achieved.

The training plan should also identify any units of competency that are required in achievement of the qualification but cannot be achieved in the workplace due to the work of the organisation and how these will be delivered and assessed by the RTO. Conversely the RTO should also identify any units of competency that are required to be delivered fully on the job and how these are to be monitored and assessed.

The training plan should be straightforward, easy to follow and written in plain English.

Purpose

To ensure the training plan provides sufficient detail to clearly inform the signatories of what is expected of them, to enable the successful completion of the apprenticeship within a reasonable time frame.

Although the training plan is a document to support the training delivery and assessment of the apprenticeship, the majority of the signatories are not professionally engaged in the vocational education and training system. For this reason the training plan is to contain as little training related jargon as possible and should use terminology that relates to and is easily understood by the industry, employer and apprentice.

The Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade has a number of policies that relate to this policy. These include:

• Apprenticeship and traineeship policy
• Apprenticeship and trainee hosting policy
• User choice funding policy
• School based apprenticeships and traineeships policy
• Group training organisations policy.

The responsibility for developing and maintaining this policy rests with the director of Training Services.

The responsibility for approving this policy rests with the executive director of Workforce NT.

These principles will be reviewed annually.

Signed on 6 August 2016 by:

Wendi Masters
Executive Director
Workforce NT