VET Workforce Management — Practice Guide¶
ASQA Practice Guide · Quality Area 3 — VET Workforce · Standards 3.1 · Published 17 June 2025 · Version 1.0
Verbatim reproduction of the ASQA Practice Guide, extracted from the source PDF with layout preservation (via
pdftotext -layout). The body below preserves the original two-column table structure — performance indicators on the left, example activities and known risks on the right.Source: https://www.asqa.gov.au/for-providers/standards-for-RTOs/practice-guides
Companion docs: -
standards-outcome.md/standards-compliance.md— the underlying legislative text -standards-explanatory.md— the Explanatory Statement commentary -compliance-reference.md— RTOpacks module × standard mapping
Practice Guide
VET Workforce Management
(Standard 3.1)
Ver 1.0
S
Published 17 June 2025
Outcome Standards for NVR Registered Training Organisations
Quality Area 3 – VET Workforce
What are the key concepts?
The following key concepts are covered in this practice guide:
Standard 3.1
• Identifying appropriate staffing levels
• Professional development for staff
Achieving this Standard in practice
The following table lists examples of activities that may demonstrate compliance with the Standard, as
well as risks to mitigate or control. These examples are not a complete list of every activity or risk, nor do
all the activities listed need to be completed to achieve compliance. Rather, they are a guide and should
be considered within the context, size, scale and student cohorts of your RTO’s operations.
Standard 3.1: The workforce is effectively managed to ensure appropriate staffing to deliver
services.
Performance indicators Example activities and considerations for
compliance
An NVR registered training organisation • You can describe the system you use to
demonstrates: continuously assess and ensure that you have
a. how it ensures the number of trainers, an appropriate number of trainers, assessors
assessors and other staff are appropriate and other staff required to deliver your RTO’s
for the delivery of the services it offers; and services. Factors for consideration may
include:
b. it facilitates access to continuing professional
development opportunities to enable staff of o number of students
the organisation to effectively perform their o mode/s of delivery
role. o number and type of training products
offered
o volume of third parties you manage
o student cohort diversity and composition
o scheduled delivery hours
o assessment practices and dates.
• You can demonstrate how you define the
different roles within your RTO and the skills
and knowledge needed for each, including how
you engage with industry to ensure that the
skills and knowledge are current and
appropriate.
• You have documented systems, policies and
processes for attracting, recruiting, verifying
and retaining appropriately skilled and qualified
staff.
• You can demonstrate how your strategies are
effective in ensuring that third parties engaged
by your RTO are maintaining adequate levels of
appropriately skilled and qualified staff.
• You can demonstrate the plans you have in
place to respond to sudden or unexpected
personnel changes within your RTO.
• You can demonstrate how you invest in staff
professional development – for example by:
o using a professional development
framework
o ensuring trainers and assessors are
allocated time to complete professional
development
o providing resources to assist in staff
professional development, for example by
purchasing licences to industry journals
o conducting regular reviews of the industry
skills and knowledge required for trainers
and assessors with industry representatives
o supporting trainers and assessors to
participate in communities of practice,
industry exchanges or placements
o supporting staff to undertake professional
development in specific areas relating to
their role, such as VET reporting systems,
cultural awareness and promoting
wellbeing, or to obtain higher level VET
qualifications.
• You have systems in place to regularly monitor
and review staff performance to determine if
professional development offered is sufficient to
enable them to effectively perform their roles.
Known risks to quality outcomes
• Failing to determine the appropriate skills,
qualifications and workload for all roles,
including staff, contractors and third parties
• Not having a workforce plan in place to ensure
there are sufficient trainers, assessors and staff
available to deliver services to current and
future student cohorts.
• Failing to undertake due diligence or verify
credentials of applicants during the recruitment
of new staff.
• Having a staff to student ratio that does not
adequately support students through their
training and assessment pathway.
• Not having a systematic approach to assessing
and evaluating the performance of your staff
and addressing their professional development
needs.
• Not providing staff with the opportunity or time
to undertake professional development relevant
to their role in your RTO.
Self-assurance questions
1 What are the keys risks to your workforce over the next five years and what strategies do you have
in place to mitigate these risks?
2 How do you know that you have the right number and mix of staff to deliver quality training and
assessment?
3 How are you ensuring that your third parties are maintaining adequate staffing levels with the
necessary qualifications, skills and knowledge?
4 How do you monitor and review the performance of your staff to identify opportunities for
improvement / professional development?
5 How do you facilitate access to continuing professional development for your staff?
Source: ASQA Practice Guide — VET Workforce Management. Published 17 June 2025, Version 1.0. Authority: Australian Skills Quality Authority. These guides interpret the Standards for RTOs 2025 into practical compliance guidance. The PDF was extracted with pdftotext -layout to preserve the two-column table structure of the original document.