The New TAE40122 – what happens next?

Friday the 12th of August was the last date for those keen on contributing to the final version of the new TAE40122 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment to have their say. This date marked the end of the second Public Validation phase – and we know these contributions are reviewed and incorporated by the IRC/SSO working groups as the first Public Validation led to changes within both the unit content and overall TAE40122 packaging rules.

So, what happens next and what does this mean for the thousands of Trainers / Assessors happily working away within Registered Training Organisation around the country?

PwC’s Skills for Australia has published an official timeline of activity to now occur before their official final submission of the proposed new TAE Training Package is tabled to the Australian Industry and Skills Committee (AISC) meeting scheduled for 29 November. This activity will keenly focus on reviewing the second round of industry commentary plus a serious cycle of quality assurance via submissions to every State Training Authority and the Department of Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business (previously known as DESE). Wow! That’s a whole lot of eyes to review not just the new TAE40122, but also a new TAE Diploma (with the previous 2 versions now condensed into a single TAE50122 Diploma of VET) along with all other updated Training Package components comprising 4 new units of competency, 33 revised units, 4 newly created skill sets and 5 revised skill set.

So, provided this final timeline is achieved, we could receive the new TAE Training Package under the Xmas tree this year, ready for implementation in 2023. However, until this official endorsement, nothing discussed to date is set in concrete. For example, in PWC’s Summary of Issues Raised During Stakeholder Consultation table, concern was raised with the status of “equivalent” nominated for the draft TAE40122 given changes such as increasing the total unit number from 10 to 12. Why is this equivalence status important? Because if this status is not given, the 115 RTOs currently holding TAE40116 scope, will need to apply for scope extension (vs being granted an automatic scope update if equivalent) and the former could lead to delays for those wishing to either upgrade, or enrol in the latest version of the Cert IV in Training and Assessment. This same issues table has also raised a request for a 2-year transition from the TAE40116 to the TAE40122 – again yet to be finalised.

Any further changes to the TAE40122 packaging rules and unit content will also impact the upgrade pathway for those keen to use this Training Package change as a professional development opportunity in 2023. Once the training products are locked in, Blueprint Career Development will be able to announce an efficient pathway for this to occur for any interested VET professionals, however, the good news is that unless the pending changes to the Standards for RTOs 2015 require anything different for trainer/assessor accreditation, this upgrade step appears not to be a mandatory requirement – again proposed in the issues table where the TAE40122 is noted as a ‘successor’ qualification to the TAE40116 – but again yet to be locked in. Fingers crossed we see this occur to avoid any mandatory TAE40116 upgrading!

If you are keen to stay updated on TAE changes, please feel free to like, follow, share and subscribe to our blog so we can keep you informed and of course if you are needing to complete your TAE, come see us, this is our specialty.

We look forward to seeing you in a class sometime soon.

Kate Baring | Senior TAE Trainer and Assessor