In line with new standards that had been introduced for training packages, the RII09 training package was superseded by the RII training package in November 2013.
Following the revised training package’s release, SkillsDMC, the organisation operating the national industry skills council for the resources and infrastructure industry, received a large amount of feedback from training service providers on how the changes had impacted training and assessment.
According to SkillsDMC, the feedback revolved around four main areas:
- The use of simulation during assessment, and the requirement for units to be assessed using resources and infrastructure industry sector-specific policies, procedures, processes and operational manuals.
- The frequency of assessment prescribed in performance evidence where performance had to be demonstrated on “a minimum of three separate occasions”.
- The assessor experience and currency of experience requirements prescribed in the package’s assessment conditions.
- The possible re-inclusion of the “Range of conditions” – which is currently contained in a non-endorsed companion volume – into each individual endorsed unit of competency.
As a result of this feedback, SkillsDMC undertook a review of the RII training package’s assessment requirements between the end of June and October 2014.
“The aim of the review was to find a balance between the needs of industry and the ability of training and assessment providers to implement the requirements, without compromising the quality of assessment practice,” a SkillsDMC document stated.
Review outcomes
SkillsDMC received 44 written submissions for the review, including from quarry product and service providers Orica, Boral Asphalt, Hastings Deering and the Australian Training Alliance. The number of submissions was said to be “less than expected given the volume of discontent expressed by training service providers which prompted the review”, and the written feedback was found to largely be in support of the intent behind the changes that had been adopted in the RII training package.
The SkillsDMC document stated, however, that many training service providers had expressed concerns with how the intent had been implemented.
“For example, the vast majority of submissions supported the concept that assessors should be experienced in the areas they are assessing, and maintain currency of experience, yet strongly objected to the way assessor requirements had been prescribed in the training package,” the document explained.
Based on industry feedback, SkillsDMC developed nine recommendations that were used to inform 13 consultation workshops, which were held in a number of locations across Australia and attended by a total of 353 stakeholders. The additional feedback received at these workshops enabled SkillsDMC to finalise the outcomes of the review, which have been published on the organisation’s website.
Speaking with Quarry about the relevance of the revisions for the quarrying industry, a SkillsDMC spokesperson noted that the new updates would affect all units of competency within the RII training package.
Further information on the review and its outcomes is available at www.skillsdmc.com.au
More reading
VET reforms signal end of industry skills councils
National skills body approves new training initiative
Vocational training in the past three decades: 1984 to 2014
A win for vocational education and training and quarrying