Professional Training and Assessment

The focus of formal learning in the vocational education and training sector (VET) has traditionally been on providing core skills and knowledge to those on the frontline of delivery—trainers and assessors. The growth of the sector has brought with it a level of maturity that recognises the need to deliver more than the mere basics of training and assessment to trainers and assessors and to other personnel who contribute to the training process in the variety of training environments across Australia. This need is recognised by the relatively recent development of a range of higher level qualifications, aimed squarely at providing skills of a higher order to these professionals.

The qualifications, ranging from diploma to graduate diploma in terms of their place within the Australian Qualifications Framework, recognise the critical role played by personnel in training organisations who have a range of leadership responsibilities, whether in directly supporting and managing trainers and assessors or providing essential support services.

Training organisations are now presented with the opportunity to capitalise on the structured approach these qualifications provide and to up-skill their key personnel with a view to not only maintaining compliance with the relevant regulatory frameworks but also building the organisation’s resilience in an increasingly competitive and sophisticated training market.

Qualifications provide the framework describing the skills and knowledge of a graduate, with the true value of the qualification depending heavily on the availability of quality resources to support delivery. Written by VET practitioners for VET practitioners, this text supports the delivery of the Diploma of Training and Assessment by offering timely and contemporary content. Recognising that practitioners can arrive in the VET sector via a variety of pathways, this book speaks to a range of audiences, not least of all to those keen to fulfil a desire to pass their industry-specific skills and knowledge onto a new generation of ‘job ready’ graduates. The accessibility of the content supports the development of candidates into well-rounded, highly skilled and confident VET practitioners.

The text presents a view that is familiar while providing intellectual challenges to assist people in grappling with the intricacies of the Australian vocational education and training sector.

David Garner*

*David Garner has worked in the VET sector for more than two decades, holding a diverse range of roles within providers, including training and administrative, marketing and management positions. In more recent years, he has worked in VET regulatory agencies, including the Queensland Department of Education, Training and Employment and, in his current role with the Australian Skills Quality Authority. David is also an active volunteer in sports administration and sits on the board of the Queensland Fitness, Sport and Recreation Skills Alliance.

Vocational Training and Assessment

It is no secret that human behaviour and the nature of human interaction have always been the prime cause of good and evil. From interpersonal relationships to organisational performance, or even broader international diplomatic interactions, all depend on the qualitative competence and knowledge of the respective decision makers and their mentors in order to achieve their respective objectives.

The provision of relevant knowledge, appropriate proven procedures, and techniques that can be used to improve the performance, efficiency, productivity and satisfaction of any organisation and its members is the paramount responsibility of today’s educators. If you don’t train the trainer properly, you are sure to miss your objectives, goals and destination.

Developing your individual or organisational potential by way of accredited training and assessment methods is bound to improve efficiency, productivity and confidence, often resulting in increased performance levels and social harmony.

To quote Eric Burns’ wisdom; “Greatness is more than potential. It is the execution of that potential. Beyond the raw talent, you need the appropriate training. You need the discipline. You need the inspiration. You need the drive.”

Lee Perlitz, Dan Hill and Terry Hill meticulously demonstrate the critical association between education, training development, organisational development, performance improvement, and training techniques. In this useful book the authors pave the way on how to enhance and execute both individual and collective potential. They have dissected and demonstrated the facilitation, implementation and organisational planning processes in a practical but thoroughly reliable manner, to guide the trainers towards higher levels of competence and professional recognition to become effective, accredited training and assessment mentors.

Not only do the trainees and trainers have to harness the power of training techniques and behavioural science variables, but also the businesses, industries and the public sector, which are all in need of such knowledge and techniques for the improvement of individual and organisational efficiency.

Dr Jay Alparslan*

*Jay Alparslan is a member of the executive boards of various international organisations and was also the first head of Commonwealth and State Government Relations in Australia. Jay has been the main initiator and the architect of now multi-billion dollar industry, “Export of Australian Education Services”.
His diverse professional background includes his activities as the Senior Australian Trade Commissioner, Senior Australian Diplomat / Envoy in Europe and Middle East, Senior Adviser to the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, Senior Adviser to the Australian Trade Minister, and Consultant to New South Wales Government Industry and Development Ministers.
As a senior academic, Jay was also the Course Director at the University of New South Wales Institute of Administration in Australia, running postgraduate training programs for practicing public and private sector executives in behavioural sciences, “Human Behaviour at Workplace”.