HOW WE ASSESS - RPL, CREDIT & STUDY

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) is a term used to explain how an individual who has existing skills and knowledge in a certain area can be assessed against the criteria for nationally recognised qualifications to measure their learning. This is an important assessment process to ensure that individuals are not undertaking learning for subject matter for which they are already competent.

Under the Standards for Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) 2015, a RTO, such as CLET, is required to consider and recognise existing workplace skills and knowledge when assessing clients against the criteria of a nationally recognised qualification. 

The easiest way to explain this is everything you do every minute of every day you are in the workplace, you are learning something new and stacking new skills on top of current skills, building your experience. Most workplaces are not RTO's and even those who are RTO's do not have every qualification on their scope and cannot offer you the recognition needed to showcase all your knowledge and skills when you leave that employment or service.

This is where the CLET RPL process is invaluable for our clients as we understand how to convert all this workplace learning and experience into our carefully selected scope of qualifications we have available for our clients.

CLET provides a comprehensive RPL process that minimises the amount of paperwork done by the individual and instead explores the individual's skills and knowledge from their workplace (current and former) to measure and assess against the relevant criteria. This process can be applied to all qualifications held on scope by CLET.

CLET provides a two-step RPL assessment process. The first step is to identify all possible qualifications from CLET's scope that may be a RPL option for an individual. This is termed the initial RPL review. This takes approximately 14 days for the CLET RPL Team to complete, depending on access to information and successful verification when required.

The second step is the final assessment which is conducted when an individual identifies which qualifications from the initial review list are of interest. The CLET RPL Team conducts a detailed assessment of the individuals existing skills and knowledge against the criteria from the requested qualifications and confirms the eligibility for full or partial RPL. No RPL may sometimes be the outcome.

Often the most challenging part of a RPL assessment is gathering sufficient evidence to support the comprehensive criteria of the nationally recognised qualifications. Below is a list of the types of things that can be considered evidence. CLET has a detailed and well researched evidence vault that supports individual assessments, particularly when individuals hail from confidential workplaces such as police, military, intelligence, defence security, and the like.

Suggested RPL Evidence

The suggested evidence set out below is informed by the client groups that CLET most commonly works with. A selection of the following list of evidence may be provided to support a RPL application. The CLET RPL team will review all evidence, including documents relevant to your experience from our own evidence vault and role mapping. If additional evidence is required the RPL team will advise. All evidence is secure and confidential and can be destroyed after sighting upon request.

Level 1 Evidence

Level 2 Evidence

Some examples include:

Level 3 Evidence

Some examples include:

Similar to RPL, under the Standards for Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) 2015, a RTO, such as CLET, is also required to recognise prior study and provide credit for equivalent units of competency.

To do this, CLET will examine transcripts or records of results from an individual's prior study with a RTO or similar issuing agency, and map it against existing units of competency. This may be in pursuit of credit for some study already done, or when pursuing an upgrade or update of a changed qualification. When the industry bodies change qualifications, they decide whether units of competency are equivalent to the old ones, or whether sufficient change in the newer version renders it non-equivalent to the old one. 

Equivalent units will be given credit and an individual will not need to study that unit of competency again, or can be given direct credit for it without further assessment as part of a RPL process.

Non-equivalent units will usually shift to the RPL process to see if existing skills and knowledge from both the prior study and the workplace will contribute to credit for the unit being assessed. 

What is the difference between RPL and Credit for Prior Study

Credit for prior study requires previous study at vocational level (so with a RTO, a Tafe, or a University that is delivering vocational qualifications) and is evident on a record of results or transcript. The credit process must be applied by any RTO but only equivalent units of competency have to be credited.

Different to this, RPL assesses existing skills and knowledge that have been acquired from a working environment and is evidenced by workplace records rather than any official transcript.

An individual may undergo a combined process of credit for prior study and RPL if this is the best assessment pathway to correctly identify and measure past study and experience.