What would you say if I used to be to tell you that you would be able to get a nationally acknowledged training qualification without spending at some point in a school or university?

Excited? Thought so! Well, if you have worked in an trade for a time frame, it’s possible you’ll very well be eligible for skills recognition or Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL).

These phrases are generally used in the education sector and relate to a process of conducting a easy yet environment friendly assessment to overview skills, knowledge and experience a person has developed ‘on the job’. RPL Assessment is an efficient process which makes use of checklists to overview and ‘match’ the tasks, duties and responsibilities towards the requirements of a qualification. And yes, these are doubtlessly tasks that you have performed in varied jobs all through your career.

In Australia, every nationally acknowledged qualification is contained within a ‘Training Package’ which clearly defines the ‘Units of Competency’ necessities that must be achieved to be issued a qualification.

So how do you truly get a certain qualification?

Easy, by submitting evidence to match each ‘Unit of Competency’ required for that specific qualification. You’ll be deemed ‘competent’ if the evidence you submit is reviewed and adequately determines that you have the mandatory stage of experience to work at the usual expected by the industry.

This isn’t a new concept and was originally developed in the USA within the mid 1970’s. It’s now widely accepted as a legitimate means of evaluation in the Australian vocational training and training sector. Through the use of skills recognition and RPL to evaluate trade skills and expertise, you can be issued with a formal qualification without any want to finish any additional examine, exams, assignments or testing.

Your work expertise and skills are verified by proof you submit to show your competency and ability to perform tasks assigned to your qualification units.

What evidence should you provide?

Varied types of evidence can be used for completing skills recognition and RPL assessments. To confirm your trade skills and career experience you can submit:

employment contracts;

job descriptions;

references from employers and colleagues;

appraisals and efficiency critiques; and

records of any ‘in-house’ training and/or industry programs you’ve got completed.

This is generally for what we call “Green Qualifications” which in flip means office work related qualifications that aren’t based on actual ‘arms on’ skills. A great instance of a green qualification might be administration or accounting.

As for the practical ‘hands on’ skills and expertise, skills recognition is utilized by the assessor to check that you’re competent in key tasks regarding the qualification. Proof to confirm this includes:

work checklists;

plans;

task sheets;

briefings and reports;

pictures of completed work; and

samples and movies that tasks being completed or items being prepared, produced, assembled or built.

What in case your skills aren’t sufficient to cover the entire required units of a qualification?

If that was the case, then you will only have to study those remaining units to achieve your qualification utilizing any conventional means (classroom based mostly or on-line). You will nonetheless save time, effort and money by getting your present skills and knowledge recognized.

Upon getting been deemed competent and issued with a nationwide accredited qualification, this can be used to obtain credit exemptions on any further Australian qualification or study you wish to complete. This is “quick tracking” education as the RPL and skills recognition process is fairly quick and easy provided that no precise study time is needed.

So whether you’re looking for career development, career change, personal development, or higher schooling, you need to be considering skills recognition and RPL to get qualified if you already have skills, knowledge and expertise, however no qualifications to prove it.

RPL and skills recognition provide many benefits, together with:

Your current industry standards are checked in opposition to the anticipated levels in that area, any skills that want development are identified.

In case you already understand key elements of a qualification, there isn’t a have to waste time completing additional study.

You save heaps of time through the use of an efficient evaluation process.

Cash is saved by reducing time with evaluation or study.

Qualifications you obtain in Australia are recognized in all states and territories.

Flexible and personalized assessment matches the necessities of every individual.

If you’re based mostly in Australia or overseas, RPL and skills recognition process provides a easy method to acquire Australian qualifications primarily based in your present skills, knowledge and experience.