Vocational Education and Training (VET) provides students with practical skills and knowledge that lead to further study pathways and employment in workplaces. VET in Schools programs allow students to include vocational courses within their school setting, working towards achieving partial or full VET qualifications as they complete their secondary school studies. The delivery of VET qualifications is done through an Registered Training Organisation (RTO), and whilst some schools hold registration as a RTO, most VET in Schools programs are undertaken in partnership with another provider as part of a third-party RTO arrangement.

ReadCloudVET is built on the philosophy of support. When you partner with a ReadCloudVET RTO you are assigned a dedicated School Partnership Consultant. Trainers and VET Coordinators have access to twice-weekly drop-in support session throughout the school year at no cost and with no bookings needed. Your School Partnership Consultant can be booked in for meetings to suit your availability, responds to emails and phone calls efficiently. You are able to communicate directly with a member of our Learning & Assessment Team who can answer questions about delivery and assessment.

A member of our onboarding team will be allocated to you. They will support you to make decisions about delivery of your program, including which elective units to choose, how to complete your trainer documentation, navigating our VETHub platform, accessing learning and assessment materials and all initial steps to help get you started. Your School Partnership Consultants will then support you throughout the year to access what you need, complete administrative requirements, and finalise resulting.

Our platform has been designed by us specifically for VET in Schools programs. It is easy to navigate, and uses a single login that allows a student access to their assessment tasks as well as learning materials, websites simulating workplaces, templates and samples and additional resources. Students can access their learning material, find their assessment tasks and submit completed work. The platform is designed for teachers and students to be able to track progress, including completion of individual tasks, completion of full units, feedback provided, requirements of any resubmission. It is a simple, intuitive platform, created using inclusive design principles such as the use of plain fonts, colours to enhance navigation and monitoring of progress, clean simple lines to ensure a tidy look that is not confusing or overwhelming, relevant visuals and simple language and instructions appropriate to the needs of the secondary school cohort. All students, whether studying a trades qualification through AIET, a Business program with Ripponlea Institute or a Creative Industries course at COSAMP use the same platform and can see all of their VET programs in the same place. Importantly, students can view a progress bar at all times to easily see their current status of tasks and how much they have left to complete. A colour-coded system and notifications tell them if they have feedback or have been marked satisfactory. Teachers can see a list of all submissions of work - this can be filtered by submission date, unit, task or individual student.

Each Unit of Competency covers a range of skills and knowledge. Students must satisfactorily complete assessment tasks to demonstrate competency in all areas of the unit. Methods for assessing and gathering evidence may include observations, written or verbal questions, portfolios, projects, videos, photos, production of documents or items. Assessment Tasks are designed using a simple and consistent format across all units in all qualifications at ReadCloudVET. This supports students to understand the steps towards completion, even if moving between qualifications or changing elective units. Most units contain only three or four Assessment Tasks, moving from knowledge questions (which can be completed through writing or verbal responses), to practical application of skills and understanding through to the final tasks of demonstrating skills while a teacher observes. Instructions are worded carefully to ensure simplicity and clarity, using language that speaks directly to the students and empowers them to understand the requirements easily and independently. Templates and samples are provided where relevant so that scaffolding to support completion of tasks is provided and so that students understand exactly what is expected of them. All Assessment Tasks, templates, samples and additional resources can be downloaded and printed at any time, to support individual student needs and learning preferences.

A Learner Resource booklet is provided to students for every unit that they complete. This is found in the same place as their assessment tasks and, with a single click not requiring any additional logins, takes them to the ReadCloud e-reader. Our e-reader looks like a book, but allows students to increase size of text, turn pages, choose between vertical and horizontal layout, adjust brightness and font, bookmark and annotate with their own notes. Students are also able to click on words to access definitions, highlight passages to have these read aloud, and can even highlight passages to have these translated to another language, and read aloud in that language. Learner Resources enhance student learning by including discussion activities, links to video content, chapter review questions and points throughout that encourage students to stop and reflect on their learning. Learner Resources, like assessment materials, can be downloaded and kept on a student’s computer to ensure access even when offline, and printed at any time by students or teachers.

Vocational competency: teachers need to have skills in their area of teaching at least to the level of the qualification being delivered, or higher. Industry currency: VET trainers need to have recent experience in the industry of their subject. This means that they have worked (in a paid or voluntary capacity) outside the school / the classroom and can bring expertise and up-to-date knowledge of current industry practices into their classrooms to share with students and ensure that they are ready for today’s workplaces. Teachers must complete documentation to demonstrate recent experience in workplace environments (not only teaching). TAE Certificate Iv in Training and Assessment: usually an individual hoping to be a VET trainer needs the full TAE40122 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment, however, since March 2024, qualified secondary school teachers have reduced requirements in order to be able to teach VET. Secondary school teachers have the option to hold the following: TAESS00019 Assessor Skill Set (3 units) or; TAESS00024 VET Delivered to School Students Teacher Enhancement (5 units) Skill Set or; TAE40122 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment (12 units) While qualified secondary school teachers may complete only a Skill Set in order to be fully qualified to deliver VET, those on Permission to Teach / technicians / primary school teachers will need to enrol in a full TAE40122. As you prepare for delivery, our team will review the documentation provided by each teacher to ensure they meet the requirements and, if required, provide advice around what they need to do to be approved. Some qualifications have specific requirements of the VET trainer - we can support you to understand these before decisions are made or new teachers employed.

In order to engage in a partnership with a ReadCloudVET RTO, you will need: A VET-qualified trainer, as outlined above Equipment and facilities required for the course Teaching resources to support delivery Adequate weekly classroom hours allocated to the program To get a copy of Equipment Checklists for qualifications that interest you, please contact us. To see recommended duration of courses and suggested weekly classroom hours, see our Course Guide.

The Curriculum, Assessment and Certification Authority in each state or territory recognises VET in the context of its own curriculum framework. Students can undertake VET as part of a Senior Secondary Certificate with its completion providing credit towards both a recognised VET qualification and a senior secondary school certificate. For more information visit the ACACA website.

At the completion of a program, VET trainers request that results be approved and finalised, and the RTO issues a Certificate if the student has achieved a competent outcome in all of the required units for the qualification. Where a student has not completed all required units, they are issued a Statement of Attainment for the units they have successfully completed.

If you are moving from another RTO to a ReadCloudVET RTO, make sure you have received a ‘Statement of Attainment’ from your previous RTO for all transferring students. Once we have received the Statements of Attainment, we will recognise previous study through credit transfer where applicable.

We charge one annual fee per qualification (irrespective of number of classes, year levels or streams), and an annual per student fee. For schools that deliver multiple qualifications through ReadCloudVET, the qualification fee is only charged for the first five. The qualification fee is generally invoiced in the November or December prior to delivery), while the per student enrolment fee is invoiced in March following final enrolments. A one-off onboarding fee allows schools early access to materials, and support for planning and preparation. Contact us at enquires@readcloudvet.com for specific pricing structures for full qualifications, taster programs, and varying delivery models.

Partnerships in the VET sector involve a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) entering into a partnership arrangement with a secondary school. This is termed ‘auspicing’. Training is delivered and assessment conducted by VET-qualified teachers within the school, and endorsed by the RTO so that a nationally recognised qualification can be issued by the RTO. As the RTO, at ReadCloudVET, we support the school to deliver the VET program. We provide your students with learning resources and your teachers with assessment materials within our VETHub platform. We work with you to ensure that delivery and assessment takes place within your planned timeframe and that you and your students are supported to reach the goals of your VET program.

Contact us at enquiries@readcloudvet.com and we will email through information and arrange a meeting (via phone, in person or online) to answer your questions.