How do we stay in the race?
Step 1: Understanding the requirements
It's been a long time in the making - over two years - but now it's here what do we know about Smart and Skilled?
A few easy to grasp facts are:
- It provides subsidised training for eligible participants in NSW
- There is a one year funding period
- Success in obtaining future contracts will be dependent on performance in 2015
And
- It is complicated.
Step 1: Understanding the requirements
It's been a long time in the making - over two years - but now it's here what do we know about Smart and Skilled?
A few easy to grasp facts are:
- It provides subsidised training for eligible participants in NSW
- There is a one year funding period
- Success in obtaining future contracts will be dependent on performance in 2015
And
- It is complicated.
Smart and Skilled at the starting gate
Basically, the pressure is on for Smart and Skilled Providers to produce the goods - quality training that expends, some would say, a fairly arbitrary allocation of fairly arbitrary amounts of funding . However, for most of us delivery is not a problem; quality training is what we do. The problem for many is in understanding exactly what the contractual requirements are; we know we have to clear the hurdles to stay in the race but what are they exactly and where do we find them?
Basically, the pressure is on for Smart and Skilled Providers to produce the goods - quality training that expends, some would say, a fairly arbitrary allocation of fairly arbitrary amounts of funding . However, for most of us delivery is not a problem; quality training is what we do. The problem for many is in understanding exactly what the contractual requirements are; we know we have to clear the hurdles to stay in the race but what are they exactly and where do we find them?
During the two years that the DEC was developing Smart and Skilled it does not appear that at any time the focus was on making it simple. I have spent the last two and a half months coming to terms with all aspects of the program by immersing myself in the documents and last week in a reply to a question I posted to STS I was referred to a Fact Sheet I had never sighted before!
To confound matters Training Matters put out a newsletter in the same week with new information and new requirements that had not, to my knowledge, been included in any previous document (to be discussed in next blog).
Smart and Skilled Documents
Concerned that I could be overlooking important information I decided to list all the Smart and Skilled Reference Sources relevant to current delivery of the program. This is what I came up with:
To confound matters Training Matters put out a newsletter in the same week with new information and new requirements that had not, to my knowledge, been included in any previous document (to be discussed in next blog).
Smart and Skilled Documents
Concerned that I could be overlooking important information I decided to list all the Smart and Skilled Reference Sources relevant to current delivery of the program. This is what I came up with:
| - 2 Frameworks (Quality and Recognition) - 2 Management Documents (Operational Guidelines and Contract 2015) - 3 Policies - 1 Strategy - 5 Administrative Guides - 2 Fact Sheets (and there may be more!) and - 2 webpage Bulletins (Training Matters and Smart and Skilled Updates) - 1 FAQs webpage |
That brings us to a stupendous total of over 200 pages of information and contractual requirements, not including the continually updated web pages and information relevant to Apprenticeships and Trainees. Realising that if I was finding it confusing it must be worse for others led me to develop a Smart and Skilled Document List. In it I have listed all the documents, their relevance to the delivery of the program and the weblinks; basically, it is a mind map of what to look for and where to find it.
Our Blog
Realising that the complexity of the program will challenge not only those, like myself, who have past experience of Government programs but also the Private Providers entering the arena for the first time was the impetus to develop this Blog. Over the weeks I will be deconstructing various aspects of the program and the documents and offering some hopefully helpful supporting information, facts and figures.
Our Blog
Realising that the complexity of the program will challenge not only those, like myself, who have past experience of Government programs but also the Private Providers entering the arena for the first time was the impetus to develop this Blog. Over the weeks I will be deconstructing various aspects of the program and the documents and offering some hopefully helpful supporting information, facts and figures.
To conclude, here is just one example of a the Smart and Skilled paperwork making requitements clear:
To be clear, the Department may issue more than one of the same type of Approved Qualifications Activity Schedules. If more than one of the same type of Approved Qualifications Activity Schedules are issued, the Department will specify if one Approved Qualifications Activity Schedule replaces, or is additional to another Approved Qualifications Activity Schedule. (Page2, Contract Terms and Conditions 2015)
Confusing? I rest my case!
To be clear, the Department may issue more than one of the same type of Approved Qualifications Activity Schedules. If more than one of the same type of Approved Qualifications Activity Schedules are issued, the Department will specify if one Approved Qualifications Activity Schedule replaces, or is additional to another Approved Qualifications Activity Schedule. (Page2, Contract Terms and Conditions 2015)
Confusing? I rest my case!
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