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Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) in Australia are subject to strict regulatory requirements.

The legislation enforced by the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) is designed to ensure students are receiving high-quality, effective training. This affects student success and helps them become productive members of our workforce.

Navigating these requirements can be challenging, which is where RTO consulting services come in.

To help prevent penalties or deregistration, many RTOs work with RTO consultants when establishing their business, expanding their curriculum or negotiating ASQA audits.

In this article, we’ll see why RTOs should invest in RTO consulting services, and how the right consultant can streamline your business.

What is RTO Consulting?

RTO consultants provide specialised guidance and support to RTOs to help them comply with regulatory requirements, improve their operations and enhance the quality of training programs.

These services can cover a wide range of areas. Consultants tailor their advice to address your specific needs or challenges. For example, consultants often support businesses throughout the registration process. You could also hire a consultant if you want to measure the quality of your training, audit the business, prepare for an ASQA inquiry, or expand your curriculum.

Why do RTOs Need RTO Consulting Services?

1. Navigating Compliance Regulations

RTOs must comply with standards set by regulatory bodies, including State and Federal Governments, and ASQA.

Consultants help RTOs understand these standards, prepare for audits, and ensure their processes and documentation meet the necessary requirements.

This is crucial, because approximately 50% of all RTO applications are rejected by ASQA. When you consider the amount of time and preparation required for each application, a rejection represents a significant loss of income.

RTO consultants help to avoid this outcome. They help with preparing your organisation, managing documentation, sourcing high-quality training materials, training staff and more.

2. Ensuring the Quality of Training Products

ASQA’s major focus in recent years has been the quality of training products.

RTOs are responsible for training a significant portion of Australia’s workforce. This means it’s important that RTOs are preparing students for real-world workplaces.

To ensure students are learning the knowledge and skills they need to grow their careers, ASQA performs audits of the training materials used by new RTOs (and existing RTOs, in some situations).

RTO consultants help with this process by assisting to develop and implement high-quality training materials. They can also assist you in developing internal systems that maintain high standards for the delivery and assessment of training.

3. Course Development and Design

The training delivered by RTOs must meet minimum standards set by Australia’s State and Federal Governments. These standards list core competencies that must be achieved by students when undertaking training, but they do not provide material on how these competencies can be achieved.

It’s typically the role of each RTO to develop and update its course material in such a way that students are able to earn the required competencies.

However, the process of designing and developing courses is time consuming and costly. Most RTOs avoid this expense by purchasing materials from third-party suppliers.

Once purchased, these materials need to be validated for quality, and they must be integrated into your RTO’s curriculum. This involves formatting, branding, altering and distributing the content, which can be a large task.

RTO consultants can help with this process. Not only can your consultant help you locate high-quality materials, they can assist in you developing and implementing new courses.

If it’s required, a consultant can also help you apply to ASQA to expand the scope of your RTO, which allows you to offer additional training courses.

4. Strategic Planning

RTOs are broadly required to operate for the benefit of their students. To show this, ASQA requires RTOs to develop business plans that provide for the future of the organisation and its students.

Consultants can assist with this process and ensure your organisation is headed in the right direction. This often includes analysing the market, business development, planning for regulatory changes, and determining the long-term future of the business.

For example, recent regulatory changes mean that new RTOs will not be eligible to service international students. If this is a goal for your business, an RTO consultant can help you chart a pathway forwards.

5. Staff Training and Operational Readiness

The skills of RTO staff are a key factor in passing ASQA audits and delivering high quality training. RTO consultants can provide training and professional development for your staff. This is particularly useful in areas such as assessment, where RTOs often struggle to meet ASQA’s requirements.

6. Responding to Official Decisions

ASQA provides feedback and official decisions regarding new RTO applications, RTO audits, expansion of scope and other matters. The decisions ASQA makes can have a significant impact on your business’ viability.

As with other regulatory systems, ASQA allows RTOs to respond to decisions, which can alter the outcome in your matter.

RTO consultants provide invaluable support in dealing with ASQA and responding to these decisions. Through a consultant, you may be able to challenge or change an ASQA decision, or negotiate additional time to make changes that bring your RTO into compliance.

In some circumstances, disputes between RTOs and ASQA may advance to Australia’s court systems. Professional RTO consultants are a key part of this process, providing expert testimony that can help your business reach an appropriate settlement with ASQA.