Assessment is not a test, but a measure of whether a person has the skills and knowledge they need to do their job.
If you are being assessed, an assessor would collect evidence, then make a judgement on your skills and knowledge as measured against standards that apply across Australia.
What do assessments do?
Formal assessment of skills does a number of things:
It shows whether or not a person is a safe, competent and productive worker
It identifies whether skills are being applied consistently over time
It leads to a formal qualification or Statement of Attainment (see below)
It is an excellent way of checking on the quality of training.
Assessment allows the industry to maintain the highest standards of integrity and credibility. The process must be reliable and consistent across the Industry, ensuring that quality and safety are not compromised.
Qualifications and Statements of Attainment
Assessment is based on units of competency, such as operating a machine or driving a forklift. A qualification (e.g. ‘Forest Operator') groups together units of competency in a meaningful way for a particular job. Most training is done through Training Packages, and each Training Package has a ‘qualifications framework' that sets out what is needed to get a qualification. This framework will be used when you are being assessed for that qualification.
A Statement of Attainment is a step along the way to a qualification. It is a certificate awarded to a worker who has successfully completed a unit or units of competency from a qualification but has not yet completed the full qualification.
Who does the assessment?
Only qualified people working with an RTO (registered training organisation) can conduct formally recognised assessments that lead to a qualification or Statement of Attainment. Sometimes the collecting of evidence will be done by an experienced work colleague, but the final assessment will still be done by an RTO.
