In a letter to the federal Department of Industry today Steve Cooke, president of the Tasmanian Council for Adult Literacy (TCAL) requested Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane urgently address the issues around unethical practices being used by some brokers and Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) enticing adults to sign up to VET-FEE-HELP supported courses.

TCAL request that the Department of Industry:

• Urgently look into the issue of unscrupulous and unethical practices some brokers and RTOs are using to sign new learners into VET-FEE-HELP supported courses in Tasmania;
• Make training and employment pathway plans and assessments compulsory for each prospective learner, with the assessment benchmarked to the Australian Core Skills Framework (ACSF) and retained as evidence the new learner has the capacity to complete the course; and
• Require RTOs to set up any laptops and iPads being offered as incentives to the needs of individual learners, and this should be made clear at the time the person signs up.

TCAL are concerned at the lack of assessment provided by brokers and RTOs to determine a person’s best path into training and employment that can inform their training needs and capacity to complete a course being signed to. In the state with Australia’s lowest levels of literacy it is essential that foundation courses be offered where required to get people ready to succeed in the higher levels of training that are supported by VET-FEE-HELP scheme.

TCAL requests that such assessments be compulsory for each prospective learner, and benchmarked against the ACSF. The onus should be on brokers and RTOs to retain the assessments as evidence that those they sign up have the capacity to complete the training.

TCAL also believes that laptops and iPads offered to learners as enticements to sign up for courses need to be set up for individual learners. The devices should include all applications and bookmarked links the learner requires to complete the course they have signed for. Adults being targeted by brokers and RTOs are mainly from low socioeconomic areas, and possibly may not have the skills required to correctly set the devices up. A device that has not been set up for the individual learner is not fit for purpose and this is unacceptable.

Download: Letter to the Hon Ian Macfarlane MP, federal Minister for Industry:

TCAL-Letter-FedIndustryMinister-20141023.pdf
Steve Cooke President, Tasmanian Council for Adult Literacy