20170108 - Trainsafe Australia still claiming WIA RTO status

I am unsure of whether I am the latest Amateur to have become a WIA assessor in VK6 or not.

Assessors are referred to by code and number so I am 6-020, a bit impersonal but educational institutions often are. There are a few hurdles to be jumped to become a facilitator or assessor for the WIA.

To be an assessor one must have an advanced licence, fair call, and this is one of the principal reasons that I studied for mine, as I have a professional interest in education. It took forever to get the attention of Silverdale aka Trainsafe aka Mr Fred Swainston. Eventually the on line learning material arrived.

It was shambolic, inaccurate, out of date and poorly delivered. I completed the course, including constructive criticism with my answers, for example of links to web sites that didn’t work and other issues.

I am not sure that this was ever written as the only response was that “I was approved to be an assessor”.

Since then at Ham College I have been busy with both instruction and assessment and have learned so much from the team there.

I am confident that we deliver programs and assessments of the highest quality. So, what irks me.

Any attempt to change Silverdale/Trainsafe’s outdated assessment management system is resisted.

WIA costs are reduced by sending examination papers in normal mail, so we now have a ten-day delivery time to VK6, without consistency or guarantee.

The form filling is onerous and repetitive and is seen by both assessors and candidates as a joke.

Why is the data required and what is done with it?

Not a lot as I observed, occupation, “cat herder” went through without comment. These issues can be fixed but there is a fundamental problem, Trainsafe/Silverdale is not a Registered Training organisation with ASQA and so is not scrutinised under the AQTF.

The deed between the WIA and the ACMA demands this to be the case, but somehow WIA negotiators have got the ACMA to verbally agree to allow this reduction in accreditation and audit. This is unlawful and puts our certificates of proficiency at risk of not being valid.

How do I know this, well it was a significant part of my professional life to deal with educational accreditation?

I am not a scaremonger.

The WIA must stop hiding and accept the reality and the ACMA must enforce the Deed or legally vary it, but not rely on a verbal agreement. Concurrently with this the ASQA has issued Silverdale/Trainsafe with instructions on at least two occasions to remove all reference to being “Registered”. Indeed, the ASQA has responded that Mr Swainston has complied. One of the duties of an assessor is to log into the assessor’s website on a regular basis.

Despite Mr Swainston’s inability to manage other matters, I was informed that I had failed to log in by the due date, so being a responsible assessor, I did so, got through the levels of security, only to find that the current message is that Trainsafe is the “WIA’s Registered Training Organisation”.

A screen capture of this is shown here. For me to report all this, is seen to be, and I quote from official WIA sources, “misinformation”.

The facts are that the WIA does not have a Registered Training Organisation as it is required to do in the contract.

In addition, the WIA has no written variation to the Deed between the WIA and the ACMA to legitimise any alternative arrangement.

Both the ACMA and the WIA are required to provide a response. So much for the untruthful statements from the WIA and from Silverdale/Trainsafe to the ASQA.

What about the circumstance of the offensive note distributed about my suitability to be a Board member because of a work place issue, kangaroo court dealings relating to my election and the distribution of letters with a white feather and obscene comments. The President’s response to me, personally, is that the WIA is above this, yet people close to him, indeed known to him are most likely involved, maybe some on the current Board are implicated?

Someone, somewhere, knows the perpetrator(s) and when he/they are found they will be prosecuted.

Can you continue to support a Board and its Directors who are not just untruthful but are in breach of multiple laws?Consider very carefully your vote in the upcoming election.

Support for any current Board member will ensure the rapid demise of the WIA.

This is Andrew VK6AS.