Key Findings

Findings on completion

Completion matters - for returns to the individual, the employer and government. Non-completion involves a complex mix of factors, however there is scope to increase the qualification completion rates in industry training and many of the potentially effective interventions to do this are relatively simple.

Non-completers indicated they could benefit from:

• more on-the-job opportunities to learn and be assessed
• more time and a structured approach to training
• more engagement and encouragement from employers with training
• more understanding from employers about what it takes to learn at work
• experts to work alongside trainees
• closer supervision or mentoring.

Training organisations could benefit from:

• more support from the ITO
• more information about assessments, access to resources
• materials relevant to the job
• improved or more off-job provision.

Key Recommendations

Employment

• Give more on-the-job opportunities to learn and be assessed.
• Allow more time and a structured approach to training.
• Ask employers to engage in training and offer encouragement.
• Ask employers to demonstrate an understanding about what it takes to learn at work.
• Invite experts to work alongside trainees.
• Provide closer supervision or mentoring.

System

• Ask ITOs to offer more support.
• Provide trainees with more information about assessments and better access to resources.
• Provide more materials relevant to the job.
• Improve access to off-job provision.

ITO administrative engagement arrangements

• Make accessible information regarding the expectations, responsibilities and costs available to all parties so that trainees and employers understand the system.

Enrolment

• Ensure all parties are present when the training agreement is signed and make expectations, responsibilities and costs explicit before they are agreed to. Record the agreement, note the monitoring process and make both freely available to all parties.

Training delivery

• Where possible, off-job obligations, including dates and times, should be scheduled and signed-off as early as possible, to allow for planning. On-job requirements, including work organisation, the range of tasks required, and collection of evidence requirements should also be made explicit and monitored.

Assessment

• Fully communicate the assessment models to all parties involved. Ensure expectations and exemplars are freely available in a variety of formats.

Complaints or issues

• There should be a robust, accessible and well-publicised complaints process. Complaints should be acknowledged and resolved in a transparent and timely way.

Completion

• Inform trainees and employers when the trainee is near to completion and at the point of completion.
• Identify and overcome any barriers to completion proactively.

Follow-up

• Follow-up trainees to confirm the withdrawal and check in again within a reasonable period of time to see if reconnection with the programme is a possibility.
• Carry out an analysis of follow-up procedures and outcomes as standard practice.
• Make re-engagement with training as straightforward as possible.