Upgrading your TAE40110 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment

There’s a lot of mixed advice out there about upgrading your TAE40110 to meet the new trainer and assessor credential requirements which came in on 1st July 2019. We have prepared this easy to follow information to help answer these questions:

• What’s the cheapest way to upgrade my TAE40110 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment?
• What’s the fastest way to upgrade?
• Should I get the whole new TAE40116 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment or just the one or two new units required to upgrade my TAE40110?
• What’s the bare minimum required to stay ‘current’?
• Do I have to upgrade?
• Should I even bother?

Let’s keep this as plain English as possible.

There are two main ways to get current

1. Keep your TAE40110 version of the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment and get the additional units required as a statement of attainment
2. Get credit transfer for your existing TAE40110 units and get the latest TAE40116 version of the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment.

We’ve detailed these options below.

Option 1: Keep your TAE40110 and get the additional units

This could be considered the “simplest” way to meet the minimum requirements. To do it this way, go through all of your existing certificates and transcripts for TAE (including the transcript that came with your TAE40110) and answer these questions:

1. Do I already hold either of the following units?

• TAELLN411 Address adult language, literacy and numeracy skills
• TAELLN401A Address adult language, literacy and numeracy skills

2. Do I already hold one of the following?

• TAEASS502 Design and develop assessment tools
• TAEASS502A Design and develop assessment tools
• TAEASS502B Design and develop assessment tools.

Answers:

• If you answered yes to both, you already meet the requirements. You might still want to get the latest TAE40116 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment, but at this stage you don’t have to.
• If you answered yes to the first question only, you need to get TAEASS502 Design and develop assessment tools
• If you answered yes to the second question only, you need to get TAELLN411 Address adult language, literacy and numeracy skills
• If you answered no to both, you need to get both TAEASS502 and TAELLN411.

What are all the letters at the end? What’s the difference between TAEASS502, 502A and 502B, and TAELLN401A and 411?

The As and Bs at the end of the codes signify older units. The new units don’t have any letter on the end. You can only do the new unit versions without any letter on the end now.

Option 2: Get the latest TAE40116 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment

Doing it this way will get you both TAELLN411 Address adult language, literacy and numeracy skills and TAEASS502 Design and develop assessment tools. It also updates two other superseded units and gives you the latest versions of everything, and a fresh new qualification, all together.

Which is the best option?

It depends on your motivations. The below comparison chart compares the most common factors people consider when making a decision (click to download as a PDF).

How long will it take me?

For an experienced trainer and assessor, we have the following guideline. Although you may take less time it’s better to over-estimate rather than give false hope.

Remember this is time purely for completing the assessment items as an experienced VET assessor and doesn’t take into account time for learning how to design and develop assessment tools.

TAEASS502 Design and develop assessment tools is the bulk of the work and it requires the full, top-down, start to finish design of three sets of assessment tools (not just rejigging existing ones). For an experienced designer we have found one assessment tool might take the following timeframe to develop (assuming a basic unit around AQF level 2 – 4, add more if designing for Diplomas and beyond):

1. Unit analysis and consultation: 2 hours
2. Drafting up plans and designs: 6 hours
3. Trialling drafts and gathering feedback: 3 hours (although this could depend on the unit’s complexity)
4. Approval and final revisions: 1 – 2 hours
5. Documenting final version: 2 hours

As there are three units to develop assessment tools for, it’s 3 x 15 so 45 hours of development work in the assessments.

TAELLN411 Address adult language, literacy and numeracy skills can really range depending on how you apply the unit but here’s an example:

1. Analysing a unit for LLN levels: 2 hours
2. Analysing a job role for LLN: 1 hour
3. Assessing the LLN needs of a learner: 1 – 3 hours
4. Adjusting lesson plans and assessments to incorporate LLN support: 1 hour
5. Providing the LLN support while assessing and teaching the learner: depends entirely on the level of support required and how complex the unit is, anywhere from 1 hour to ongoing over a whole semester!

This is to be applied to two learners so you’re looking at around 7 hours lead in time, then however long it takes to support the learner with their LLN needs.

Have another question? Let us know