With new TAE50122 Diploma of Training and Assessment on the horizon, it’s fair to wonder whether you should hold out until the new ones are available or go ahead with the current courses.
When people approach us with this predicament, we always try to ensure that each student is provided with clear, transparent information related to their individual needs at the time of inquiry. This may be encouraging them to wait for the new ones or encouraging them to enrol now for the current Diplomas.
The following items outline why we think enrolling now for the Diplomas is the best option.
The new TAE50122 Diploma of Training and Assessment will require a lot of developmental work from Registered Training Organisations seeking to add it to their scope, which may be reflected in the cost of the qualification. The new diploma also has additional units (12 instead of 10) and a number of the units while similar to their predecessors are not equivalent, which means that RTO’s will be seeking to cover the additional developmental costs of these extra units with price increases.
As mentioned, the upcoming TAE50122 Diploma of Training and Assessment has 12 units of competency for each specialisation within its packaging rules. The upside of this is that you can learn lots of new skills and you can also tailor your Qualification to your own area of vocational practice. However, you should also prepare for a higher volume of learning and assessment.
If you are looking for a less time-intensive option, then opt for the current Diplomas (not withholding the fact that the current Diplomas do require a high level of commitment to gain the depth and breadth of skills and knowledge required) as the new Diploma will require a higher level of time commitment whereas the current Diplomas, while still providing you with all the learning and skills you need, can be completed in less time, simply because there are fewer units to cover.
Each specialisation of the new diplomas has at least one prerequisite for holding a particular unit from the TAE40122 Cert IV TAE. Some of the specialisations also have more than one unit within them with prerequisite entry requirements. (See our blog What is the new TAE50122 Diploma of Training and Assessment all about? for the other prerequisites.)
To give you an example, TAEDES411 Using nationally recognised training products for accredited vocational training and assessment (or its previous version) is a prerequisite unit for the new core unit: TAEDES511 Design and develop strategies for training and assessment. This means that when you enrol for the new Diplomas, you’ll first need to obtain the new TAE40122 (or some units from it) to be able to enter into the corresponding Diploma unit. In the current Diploma, there are no pre-requisite entry requirements.
The transition from the old to the new diplomas is expected to take two years so if you are in a position where your work requires you to hold AQF level 5 Qualifications in adult education, the current Diplomas are still a very worthy qualification to complete. Even though the current Diplomas are being superseded by the new Diploma, this does not mean that the skills and knowledge you learn now will be any less worthy or any less relevant in the coming months and years.
The current Diplomas offer a varied and diverse range of skills and knowledge that can be of great benefit right now, to you, in your professional career pathways moving forwards.
Upgrading from the TAE50116/TAE50216 is a possibility (maybe not an easy one, but a possibility) and as soon as the new qualification has been endorsed and added to our scope of registration, we’ll be in a much better position to outline what each individual would need to do to gain their chosen TAE50122 Diploma of Training and Assessment specialisation.
Fortress Learning will work with each student depending on the specialisation/s they want to enrol in. We’ll map any competencies you already hold and pave the smoothest, most efficient educational pathway based on your industry needs and work requirements.
When it comes to the cost of upgrading from the old to new diplomas, we don’t have that information just yet as the product is yet to be endorsed. This means that while we can confirm some of the information that PWC skills have released so far in their Draft 2 versions, we can’t offer conclusive costings or prices until we know exactly what the changes will be.
As we said in the introduction, the decision is yours. We support you to make your own choice in which Diplomas you wish to undertake and we will be here to offer support and advice every step of the way.
For more information about our TAE diplomas or to discuss the new Diplomas with one of our team, head here or speak with one of our experts on 1300 141 994.
study@fortresslearning.edu.au
