Vocational education and training (VET) data is used for a number of important purposes. It informs governments as to the extent and nature of training across Australia and consumers through initiatives such as the My Skills website. It provides a core data collection for the regulation of registered training organisations (RTOs) and enables jurisdictions to manage their training contracts. In response to concerns about the incomplete returns of the existing VET data collection, Commonwealth, state and territory governments have decided to mandate data collection from all RTOs from 1... [+] Show more
Vocational education and training (VET) data is used for a number of important purposes. It informs governments as to the extent and nature of training across Australia and consumers through initiatives such as the My Skills website. It provides a core data collection for the regulation of registered training organisations (RTOs) and enables jurisdictions to manage their training contracts. In response to concerns about the incomplete returns of the existing VET data collection, Commonwealth, state and territory governments have decided to mandate data collection from all RTOs from 1 January 2014 through changes to regulation. As part of [this] decision, Commonwealth, state and territory training ministers requested a review to consider opportunities to streamline and standardise existing VET data reporting requirements for RTOs.
The report makes 18 recommendations to streamline and standardise data reporting, including: (1) rationalising the number of separate collections around the National VET Provider Collection; (2) ensuring that [Australian Vocational Education and Training Management Information Statistical Standard] AVETMISS is utilised consistently in the collection as well as publication of data (through reviewing all non-AVETMISS data items to ensure they are necessary, and by making AVETMISS equivalent data fields compliant with AVETMISS); (3) standardising and consolidating submission systems for existing reporting requirements; (4) prepopulating data as much as possible for RTOs by drawing on existing data sources; (5) minimising the frequency of updates to reporting systems and requirements; and (6) considering further the best long-term approach to report and store data for program, funding and legislative administration.
Given the costs that data reporting requirements can place on businesses as outlined in chapter three, the report also proposes the adoption of a number of principles for VET data reporting to guide policy makers and the development of programs. In particular, the principle of ‘provide data once, use many times’, if adopted by policy makers, would lead to much greater simplification and standardisation of reporting requirements, i.e. using the National VET Provider Collection where possible and adopting AVETMISS data definitions where appropriate. This would significantly reduce the impact of data reporting requirements on RTOs.
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