VET Professional Development (PD) Obligations and Strategies

We recently had the pleasure of running a professional development session on, well, professional development!

We offer these sessions complimentary to our community of VET practitioners.

(Want to join? Sign up here.)

This article is a summary of the session but if you just want to get straight to the goodies, links and resources, we’ve included them below.

Must Trainers and Assessors in RTOs or TAFE engage in Professional Development?

Yes. Vocational Education and Training (VET) professionals have certain obligations for professional development. These are set out under the Standards for RTOs 2015.

Simply put, trainers and assessors must develop professionally in two areas:

• Their industry (what they teach and assess)
• Their teaching and assessment skills

Is there a better reason?

Speaking for myself and our team at Accellier, we engage in Professional Development not because we have to, but because we want to.

There are many benefits to professional development, including staying current with industry skills and knowledge, improving teaching techniques, and staying up to date with the latest technology.

In the live session over 160 participants shared their rationale for engaging in PD beyond “because I have to.” Some of their fantastic responses included:

• Refreshing my enthusiasm
• Gaining confidence
• Being a better leader and mentor for my students
• Greater satisfaction
• Job and career progression
• Better graduate outcomes
• Students having more confidence in my teaching and what I’m teaching

How do I know what to do for Professional Development?

Some strategies discussed in the session include:

• Review competency and other standards including Job Description
• Seek feedback from students and peers
• Active reflection including looking at current pain points
• IBSA’s VET Practitioner Capability Framework

“I don’t know what I don’t know.”

This is something we all need to accept as professionals. There is so much we don’t know. And almost all of the stuff we don’t know, we have no idea that it will be beneficial to us!

Therefore being part of professional networks and groups will push you into new territory and introduce you to new concepts you weren’t aware of.

How do I engage in Professional Development?

There are so many ways to engage in Professional Development in Vocational Education and Training (VET). Some are formal, some are informal.

Formalising Informal Professional Development

Informal PD opportunities are still valuable if you make them so, and are combined with more formal opportunities.

If you’re trying to demonstrate to your Registered Training Organisation (RTO) or the regulator, such as the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA), you’re going to need to prove that you did the PD activity, and how it actually helped you develop in a relevant way.

You can’t just tell an auditor you read a book and hope that ticks the compliance boxes!

Instead, here’s a strategy and free template for documenting and formalising non-formal professional development activities:

Example 1 – Book

Example 2 – TED Talk

In the example you will see how the trainer set out to address a specific issue, set objectives, and then described how it benefited them. This can then be used as evidence that the Professional Development was relevant and useful to the trainer’s practice.

Planning and Documenting Professional Development

Feel free to use and adapt our template which allows for both planning and keeping a record of your professional development.

Professional development should be planned and recorded, with a focus on specific areas of development. VET professionals should set goals for the next 12 months and get an accountability partner to help them achieve those goals. They should also develop habits for reflection, networking, and review.

Professional development is an important part of being a VET professional. It allows individuals to stay current with industry skills and knowledge, reflect on their own performance, and network with other professionals.

By setting goals and reflecting on their own practices, VET professionals can make 2023 their strongest year yet!

Find out more

Want to do PD for free with us? We offer that here or send us an enquiry below.