- Thank you, everyone, and welcome to our Smart and Skilled update webinar for providers. I would like to acknowledge that I'm coming to you from the land of the Gomeroi, here in Northwest New South Wales, and pay my respects to elders past, present, and our Aboriginal friends and colleagues that we work with. There'll be a more formal acknowledgement to follow. Today's webinar explores the Smart and Skilled program contract and policy requirements in greater detail than what we had in webinar two. It also introduces providers to funding and operational processes, the quality framework, and finally, Training Services, communication methods regarding updates and information. If you've been with webinars in the past, you'll know that the Q&A function is available, so please lodge your questions there and we'll make every effort to get to that at the end. Also, ensure that these are general in nature. The recordings of these sessions will be available within a week on the Smart and Skilled application site, and there's a link to the webinars from that site. All right, so today we have two presenters, Belinda Cooper and Jackie Martinson, who will take you through the slides and then we'll come back and have an update with the FAQs and see how we go. All right, over to you, Belinda. Thank you.

- Thank you, Eleze. So welcome everybody this afternoon to our Smart and Skilled overview. I'd just like to, next slide please. I just present to you acknowledgement of country. We recognize the ongoing custodians of the land and the waterways where we work and live, and we pay our respects to elders past and present as ongoing teachers to us all. And we also, I'd just like to recognize that I'm on a Awabakal land today, and just recognize that all of you today are on very varying Aboriginal lands across at this wonderful country. So thank you for joining us today. And next slide please. Okay, so today what we'd like to go over is, this is just a general overview of the contents of the day. just like Eleze said, some of our session we have actually gone through previously, but today we'd like to give you a little bit more detail. And it's very important because you've accepted a Smart and Skilled contract and we'd like you to have full knowledge and understanding of the contract and what it entails for you and your organizations and what it can actually do for training and for our people of New South Wales. Next slide. Okay, so what we'll do today is we'll outline and recap the key parts of the Smart and Skilled contract to assist you, understand key funding approaches, operational processes and the implementation of contract and policy requirements. We'll also outline the Smart and Skilled New South Wales Quality Framework. We'll share key communication mechanisms of Training Services New South Wales uses to provide updates and information about Smart and Skilled programs, policies, processes and initiatives. So we want to make sure that we continually give you information as we go along during the period, the contract the period, to ensure that you're aware of varying processes and policies that change or actually are in progression as you move through the contract. And we'd also like to address any questions regarding Smart and Skilled. Next slide. So what is Smart and Skilled? Smart and Skilled '23-'24. So it provides eligible students with access to government subsidized training in New South Wales. The focus of Smart and Skilled is to help people get in training, in in demand skills and industries, and to gain more skills for their current jobs, and advance their careers and to choice and options. Smart and Skills gives eligible students subject to funding with an entitlement to government subsidized training up to and including Certificate III and entitlement to subsidized apprenticeship and some traineeship training. Government funding for higher-level courses that Certificate IV and above in targeted priority areas. Smart and Skilled also includes a part qualification program. So by application providers can apply through Training Needs Identification forms to provide training places within a skillset or certain units of competency. An approval for those or that funding is at the sole discretion of the department, and that's via a provider activity schedule called, we call it PAS. Thank you. So the Smart and Skilled contract. Every approved Smart and Skilled provider accepts a Smart and Skilled contract. So you have to actually go in and accept that contract. And the contract basically is made up of the Smart and Skilled contract terms and conditions. They set out the terms and conditions for payment of subsidies and loadings to the provider for training and assessment delivered by the provider. It also has the Smart and Skilled operating guidelines, and these are very important so that you understand what you should actually be doing in your organization to ensure that you meet those requirements of the operations. We also have part of the Smart and Skilled contract, the Approved Qualification Activity Schedules. And these list the programs, qualifications, regions and financial caps where provider may deliver subsidized training under Smart and Skilled for a defined activity period. And we use the financial year for those activity periods. While, it also contains the Smart and Skilled contract policies and supporting documents. So that would be the Smart and Skilled Fee Administration Policy, the Smart and Skilled Student Eligibility Policy, and various other policies that are within that document, and also STS Online support documents. And it's all published on the New South Wales government website. Next, please. Okay, the AQAS and the Market Management Policy. Approved Quality Activity Schedules. The department uses these activity schedules, commonly known as AQAS, to formally communicate to providers which qualifications the provider has been approved to deliver the required training and assessment and as well as other relevant details such as the regions and the financial caps of that particular region. The provider representative accepts the approved qualification activity schedule as part of the contract acceptance. But if a AQAS is not accepted, then the offer will actually expire. So it's really important that at various times during the period of the activity schedule, there may be variations to your activity schedule and you do need to actually be aware that you must go in and accept those. That's through STS Online. We've also got the Skills Delivery and Management Policy. Now, this is a document the Training Services will always refer back to when they're talking to you about your Smart and Skilled contract. Basically, it does say the department may, at the request of the provider, issue a replacement AQAS and follow the '23-'24 Smart and Skilled Delivery and Management Policy. And a lot of your providers out there will probably remember this as the Smart and Skilled Management Policy Part A previously, and that has changed for the next activity period. So you'll refer back to that when determining whether to issue a replacement as AQAS. The Smart and Skilled Delivery and Management Policy provides the framework for the management of New South Wales government subsidized training, and sets out your responsibilities as a provider and the department's approach to managing the supply of subsidized training and financial caps for the '23-'24 activity period. And during the time when you will be speaking to your strategic relationship manager, you'll often be referred back do that document. So it's really good for you to be aware of that at this time and start to get, you know, comfortable with referring back to that document. Next please. All right, so Smart and Skilled regions. You would be aware that in your activity schedule just mentioned that the regions for funded qualifications will be listed in your activity schedule. And there are 15 regions under Smart and Skilled and they are actually in your policy that you can refer back to. Providers may be approved to deliver full qualifications in one or more regions for the following programs. Now, these are the funded programs, Smart and Skilled Entitlement Full Qualifications, which now we call EFQ program, and the Smart and Skilled Targeted Priorities Full qualifications program. So they are actually in specific regions in your activity schedule. However, there are qualifications that are outside that do not really have a specific region. They're right across New South Wales. And providers are approved to deliver apprenticeships and traineeships and/or school-based apprenticeships and traineeships programs, and they can deliver in any Smart and Skilled region. So if you have a look at that little map that we have there, you can see all the regions. And we do suggest that you do consider having a look at the regions where you are delivering, and because part of our priorities of Training Services New South Wales is to ensure that all our people in New South Wales are able to access really good training and opportunities. Next one. So the New South Wales Skills List '23-'24. What does this do? The New South Wales Skills List, it actually identifies full qualifications and accredited courses that are eligible for government subsidy under Smart and Skilled. It's important that you are, as a provider, aware of the Skills List, and if you decide that you would like to deliver a qualification that you do refer back to that Skills List. And it is on our website. Training Services New South Wales have developed the New South Wales Skills List in consultation with industry, training providers and the community. And as an SRM often speak to our providers about varying opportunities that they see when they're working with industry that they may be able to identify. So as being as a need, and they may refer back to the New South Wales Skills List. The New South Wales Skills List covers all industry sectors in New South Wales and includes qualifications up to advanced diploma. The list identifies the type of Smart and Skilled program, the qualification or the accredited course is delivered under. And it's also regularly updated and reviewed twice a year to meet the changing needs of industry. So we do like to hear from you as providers. We do consultate with with industry. We talk about what's required. We often bring industry and providers together in our forums so that we can discuss varying needs of, particularly with the changing environment of New South Wales. So thank you very much, and I will now hand over to Jackie.

- Thanks, Belinda. Hi everyone, my name's Jackie Martinson. I'm coming to you today from the land of the Birpai People. I'd also like to pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging. I'd also like to welcome all our new providers to Smart and Skilled, and I'd also like to welcome back our existing providers. So the first slide I have here is about the Smart and Skilled programs for '23-'24. We have two Full Qualifications program, we have the Entitlement Full Qual program, we have the Targeted Priority Full Qualifications program, and I will provide a little more detail in a couple of slides further on. We also have two apprenticeship and traineeship programs. We have the Entitlement Apprenticeships and Traineeships as well as our School-Based program. And we have our Part Qualification program. We also have additional programs and those programs are based on strategic needs which are informed by economic requirements. For example, recently during the COVID period we rolled out an infection control program. And recently we've also implemented a Pacific Labor Workers Scheme, which was designed to support the meat industry in terms of attracting and retaining labor within that industry. In the pink box you'll notice that we have the Entitlement Foundation Skills Program and the Skilling for Recovery Priority Full Qualifications program. That is a program that was available under the '22-'23 Smart and Skilled contract. We're now transitioning out of that program. However, for existing providers who do have continuing students in their programs, they may receive a financial cap for those students. So that program will be changing for this activity period, and I'll talk about that in another slide. Thanks, Tony. So in relation to foundation skills and the Priority Qualifications program, existing providers with continuing students in those programs may be allocated a financial cap. What's actually going to happen is that for this activity period for foundation skills for new students, that will be included in the Entitlement Full Qualifications program. So this is a transition arrangement so that we can finalize off those continuing students. And you can see that there's two programs and we do use a lot of acronyms, sorry about that, but you will get used to them. So the EFS for the Entitlement Foundation Skills program and the Skilling for Recovery really only relates to existing providers who had those programs. Thanks, Tony. So the Full Qualifications program, the EFQ program or the Entitlement Full Qualifications program, that is where providers can deliver, where they're approved to government subsidized training for up to a Certificate III. And that program will also include foundation skills qualifications that are on the New South Wales Skills List for this activity period. And we have our Targeted Priorities Full Qualification program, which is government funding for higher-level courses, which is Certificate IV, diploma and associate diploma for targeted priority areas which appear on the New South Wales Skills List. Thanks, Tony. Apprenticeships and traineeships. Apprenticeships and traineeships are unique in New South Wales and they're slightly different. And that's based on the fact that what underpins the Apprenticeship and Traineeship program is a national training contract as well as the apprenticeship and traineeship at 2001 legislation. So it's important for providers who are new to the Apprenticeship and Traineeship program to be aware of that and that you have specific obligations under that legislation just as employers and learners have specific obligations under the training contract. There will be a webinar, I'm not too sure of the dates, but I think it may be early August, around then, specifically on the Apprenticeship and Traineeship program. And I highly recommend that providers do attend that. So for the Entitlement Apprenticeships and Traineeships program, all apprenticeship qualifications on the New South Wales Skills List are subsidized under Smart and Skilled, and most of them are eligible for fee free training. Most traineeship qualifications for new entrant trainees that commenced on or after January the first 2020 may be eligible for fee free training. The Smart and Skilled and skilled fee administration policy will provide a lot more detail on fee free apprenticeships and traineeships. As mentioned before, Training Services New South Wales regulates and administers the New South Wales Apprenticeship and Traineeship program through our apprenticeship and traineeship legislation. And providers who deliver that training do have specific obligations under the act. So it's quite unique in relation to other programs. It's important to be aware that employers, apprentices and trainees, that they have their own obligations under the legislation and under the training contract. And one of the critical components is that the work that they're undertaking as part of their qualification, it needs to be aligned to the work that they're undertaking on the job. And that's the fundamental difference between an apprenticeship and a traineeship and a full qualification pathway, that it really is about the alignment between the formal training as set out on the training plan, that it aligns with the work that the apprentice or trainee is undertaking in the workplace. Training Services also undertakes a process whereby we assess each contract against the current policies and regulations. And providers may be funded for apprentices and new entrant trainees under the Smart and Skilled and skilled contract. However, providers are not funded for any training that is delivered to a learner where the training contract hasn't been approved by Training Services. So it's also important to be aware of that. The signup and lodgement of a training contract in New South Wales does involve multiple stakeholders and there are obligations that need to be met by the various stakeholders. And as mentioned before, I highly recommend attending the next webinar in apprenticeships and traineeships where there'll be a lot more information provided about that program. Thanks, Tony. Okay, School-Based Apprenticeships and Traineeships, it's a wonderful program. And we really wanna grow that program, and we see that that's a fantastic opportunity for young people to move into real career pathways and opportunities to work in industry. So school-based apprenticeship and traineeships allow senior high school students to commence an apprenticeship or traineeship whilst they're at school, usually in year 11 and 12. It combines paid work, training and school, and it leads to a nationally recognized qualification. And in some cases that qualification can also contribute to their at ATAR as part of their HSC. For school-based trainees, they complete their traineeship by the end of the HSC year, which is usually the 31st of December, post HSC. For school-based trainees, year 11 and 12 is considered to be the first stage of their apprenticeship. And then post HSC, they then will transition into the full-time component of their apprenticeship. There are selected apprenticeships and traineeships that may be delivered under School-Based Apprenticeships or Traineeship program. Not every apprenticeship or traineeship is available. And the reason for that is that the department consults with industry around what is suitable for that pathway, and we certainly are able to guide you in the right direction to be able to access information about which apprenticeships and traineeships are available under that program. It's also important to be aware as a provider that the school-based apprenticeship and traineeship program also has a student eligibility policy. So if you are looking at moving into school-based apprenticeships and traineeships, and of course you would need to have that on your activity schedule, please make sure that you visit that policy and have a look at it, and also attend the apprenticeships and traineeships webinar in the future. Thanks, Tony. Okay, Part Qualifications program. If you have a look at the name Targeted Priorities Prevocational Part Qualifications program, you'll work out pretty quickly why we call it the Part Qual program, because it's certainly a long name. So throughout this presentation I'm just gonna refer to it as the Part Qual program. The primary aim of the Part Qual program is to fund skill sets or skills groups that help job seekers to get skills they need to gain employment. It's also about assisting job seekers to progress to further training. For example, through a pre-apprenticeship program where they undertake some units of competency, which can then lead to an apprenticeship with an employer who is already engaged as a partner within that particular program. Or for some job seekers, it may be about transitioning to a full qualification under Smart and Skilled, which is also a really good outcome. The other aim of the Part Qual program is also to support small businesses with job ready workers, particularly, in many regional areas, there are many small businesses that have the need for multi-skilled staff. So it's really good to be able to put together pre-employment programs that are really going to support the needs of small business. The other aim of the Part Qual program is to help job seekers obtain an apprenticeship or traineeship, which we talked about earlier, and to a lesser extent, to improve the capability of existing workers looking to up skill. There will be a webinar on the Part Qualification program. So for those providers who do have a Part Qual program under their activity schedule, I highly recommend that you go along to that. The other thing that you can also do, if you have a look in your support documents on STS Online, there's also the Part Qualification guidelines for '23-'24, and there's also the link to contracts and policies on our website and you can find the Park Qual policy there. It's a really great idea to have a look at that and go to the webinar prior to submitting applications to us. Now, providers can submit their applications through their STS Online portal. And the menu I think is training identification or training needs applications from memory, haven't been in there for a little while, but that's where you submit your applications, you answer some questions and put some detail and supporting documentation and so forth. It's really important to be aware that TNIs are assessed on a case by case basis and that the approval of TNI is at the sole discretion of the department. Thanks, Tony. Additional programs. We touched on those before. Additional programs may be developed from time to time to meet specific economic and labor market needs. The department may open that to providers and give them an opportunity to apply for approval to deliver the training and assessment that's required for those programs. I think it's also important to be aware that there may be separate eligibility criteria for those programs and we may have additional operating guidelines and policies as a requirement of those programs. Thanks, Tony. Smart and Skilled Student Eligibility, Smart and Skilled programs. You'll notice there's three boxes there, and the reason for that is that for School-Based Apprenticeships and Traineeships as well as the Apprenticeship and Traineeship program, there are some specific differences for those particular programs. But in general, to be eligible for subsidized training, a student must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident, humanitarian visa holder or New Zealand citizen. They must be 15 years or older, live or work in New South Wales and no longer be at school except for registered homeschool students, and be an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person who lives in a specific defined interstate border area within New South Wales. So there are certain areas in cross-border regions where if we do have Aboriginal people that live and reside in those areas and they meet the other eligibility criteria, they're able to undertake training under Smart and Skilled. So it's important to be aware of that. And also with apprenticeships and traineeships you'll see that we've put some of the eligibility criteria there. For example, a person who is eligible to receive subsidized training under the apprenticeship and traineeship program is a person who at the time of commencement of training is a New South Wales apprentice or new entrant training with improved training contract. It's also important to be aware that if providers want to deliver training to apprentices and trainees for a qualification that's not listed on the skills list, then Training Services, we don't fund that. Or if we have non-Smart and Skilled providers, we don't fund that as well. And we also don't fund existing workers under that program. The other eligibility criteria is that they need to be undertaking a qualification that is on the New South Wales Skills List. And the qualification undertaken needs to be shown on their training contract. And the provider who is approved to deliver the training in the qualification, they must have an EAT program and that qualification appearing on their activity schedule. But once again, I highly recommend to participate in the apprenticeships and traineeships webinar for more detail. Thanks, Tony. Smart and Skilled Student Fees, the Fee Administration Policy, this is a really critical policy that providers and their staff really need to be ok with. And it can be found in the STS support documents in STS Online. So the policy really provides some detailed guidance on fee arrangements and eligibility requirements for fee free training or for concessions. And providers are required to develop and implement their own policies and processes in relation to fees. And you'll notice, I think it might be in the operating guidelines or maybe it's the Smart and Skilled contract, students need to be able to access your fee policy so that they are fully informed prior to being enrolled into a qualification. So it is important to be aware of that. So under Smart and Skilled the student contributes towards the cost of training through the payment of a student fee. However, some students may be eligible for fee free training or a fee concession. The student fee and the subsidy from the government make up the qualification price. Student fees are set for the whole qualification. They're not annual or semester fees. Or students who are doing their first post-school qualification fees are lower. Student fees are set for the same student and the qualification and will be the same regardless of the choice of provider. And that provides fairness and equity across the training market in New South Wales. So there are different categories of student fees, so it's really important to become ok with the Fee Administration Policy. The schedule of fees for each qualification on the New South Wales Skills List can be accessed at the Smart and Skilled prices and fees, which is found on our website. And I think that's about all, Tony. Next one. Okay, funding approaches for Smart and Skilled programs. For the Entitlement Full Qualifications and Targeted Priority Full Qualifications program, providers may be allocated a financial cap for a specific region to be able to deliver qualifications under those particular programs. For Apprenticeships and Traineeships, those programs are not allocated financial caps. And for targeted priorities, we know that financial caps are not allocated. However, within the Smart and Skilled contract, there is a provision where we may be able to apply financial caps, but at this stage we are leaving the Part Qualification program as it is. However, there may be changes in that depending on the direction that we want to go with that. Part Qualification applications are assessed on a case by case basis. And once again, approval of Part Qualifications is at the absolute discretion of the department. So what is a financial cap? A financial cap is the maximum amount of standard subsidies a provider may receive for delivering training under the relevant Smart and Skilled program within an activity period for a specific region. It's for the qualifications that are listed on the provider's activity schedule. And importantly, it's for which training activity data unit of competency outcome codes are successfully submitted to the department within activity period. So for example, a provider in the Richmond Tweed area for their Entitlement Full Qualification program may receive a financial cap of $40,000. So as the provider starts to report data against those students in that program, that will start to draw down on their financial cap. And it's important that providers are aware that over utilization of cap certainly will not guarantee that the department will pay for the activity when caps have been over-utilized. So it's really important as a provider to manage your financial cap and also to ask questions about it so you can develop your own expertise around financial caps. Thanks, Tony. Okay, prices and fees. The qualification price. So in general, the price of a qualification, which can be found on the Smart and Skilled prices and fee schedule is made up of the student fee plus the standard subsidy that equals the qualification price. For RPL, Recognition of Prior Learning and Credit Transfer, prices will be adjusted based on the data that the training provider submits to Training Services. It's really important to, I think it's beneficial to try to, as a provider, to identify Credit Transfers and recognition of prior learning upfront because what it means is that there's adjustments that need to be made later on. And I think that it's a good model to try to do it upfront, particularly when you're developing training plans and so forth. So for students who are deemed concession eligible, fee free or fee exempt, this is really important for providers to be aware of this, the department pays an additional amount of subsidy, the subsidy gap, to cover the fee amount the student does not pay. Thanks, Tony. Okay. Prices and fees and loadings. There are two types of loadings: needs loadings and location loadings. So loadings are a top up payment to the standard subsidy paid to the provider under Smart and Skilled. It doesn't impact on financial caps, so please be aware of that. It definitely is a top up payment. There are three types of needs loadings. There is a needs loading for an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student, students with a disability and long-term unemployed. The great thing about loadings is that it compensates training providers for typical additional costs for training students in specific categories. It ensures there's no financial disincentive to providers to enroll these students. And importantly, when we put students at the center of the work that we all do, it ensures that students are receiving additional supports through loadings and they're more likely to successfully complete the training. So from July 1, 2023, all applicable needs loadings will be payable. So if you have a student that has a disability and is also long-term unemployed, then you'll be paid both of those loadings, or you may have a student who is eligible for the three loadings and you'll be paid those loadings. So that's been a really great change for this particular contract. For the regional and remote loadings, providers where the student is eligible for a regional loading, the provider will paid that or for the remote loading. And to identify the eligibility for the regional or remote loading, it is based on the Accessibility Remoteness Index of Australia or the ARIA categories and that's what determines whether or not a postcode is considered to be regional or remote. Thanks, Tony. Recognition of Prior Learning and Credit Transfer Qualification Price. As we mentioned before, Credit Transfer and RPL should be offered at the time of enrollment and included when using the provider calculation to determine the student fee. Where Credit Transfer and Recognition of Prior Learning are granted after enrollment or commencement in training, the provider should report this in their training activity data file submitted to the department. And then what we do, we'll adjust the subsidy and advise the provider of the new student fee. And providers then need to let the student know and amend their overall fee. So you can see one of the reasons why we encourage providers to try to do it upfront if possible. If it's not possible, then there is a few things that need to be done in terms of the department adjusting the subsidy and then the provider advising the student and amending the overall fee. Thanks, Tony. Key operational processes or requirements, an introduction. This is really a high level overview of what's involved in the operational component of Smart and Skilled. So it's really important that providers, well, it is a requirement of the contract that they have a consumer protection policy. And that's a great opportunity for providers to get feedback from their students. It's also needs to incorporate complaints handling policies, procedures and systems. And it's important that students have access and knowledge where to go to find the consumer protection policy. One of the things that we do is that we encourage students to talk to their providers first if there's any issues or concerns and try to really resolve that at that level. And we would hope that the consumer protection policy would guide those discussions and encourage students to be able to contact you if they think that something's not working the way that it they should be or they've got some questions or concerns. So that's really important, you must have a consumer protection policy. The next part of it is the marketing and information on Smart and Skilled, which is set out in the Smart and Skilled contract in operating guidelines. It is important that the source of subsidies is acknowledged that Training Services is the funding body. It's important that providers maintain a current and accurate website, and also within the STS online portal I'm sure some of you already seen that, where the website needs to be updated. So when you make changes in there, then that will reflect on the skills compare websites. So it is really important to have that up to date and be as accurate as possible, particularly since that's one of our key websites that prospective students are looking at to make decisions. The next part is the fee information. Really important that you have your fee administration policy developed and that students have access to that as well. The next step that providers need to undertake is the pre-enrollment and notification of enrollment processes. This is where the provider will be collecting the student's USI information and providing them with information on how to access it if they don't know it, or for some students they may not have a USI. It's important in that process that providers adhere to the relevant student eligibility policies and undertake the notification of enrollment process before any training is delivered to a student. That's a really critical piece of information that providers need to be aware of, that there must be a notification of enrollment process prior to any training commencing under the contract. If providers deliver training to a student and that process hasn't been undertaken, then that student is not considered to be a Smart and Skilled student. So please be aware of that and make sure that you share that with your staff around that. The other critical component is that providers need to make sure that they obtain a student's consent for the department's use of student information, that the provider calculator is used to validate the student's eligibility fees and to generate what's called a commitment ID. And it's important where possible to include Credit Transfers and RPL. So that's a really critical process. The next part is develop a training plan for all enrolled students. Providers are required to develop a training plan. And the operating guidelines will inform providers as to what needs to be included in the training plans for the Entitlement Full Qualification Targeted Priorities Full qualification and Part Qual programs. The training plans for apprentices and trainees. We have a template that providers are expected to use, whereas for the other programs we don't have a template as long as providers are including the requirements under the operating guidelines, that's fine. But for apprenticeships and traineeships, we do have a template that we use in New South Wales. We may have some interstate providers on the webinar today, and you may be used to using a template from your own state training authorities. It's just important to be aware that New South Wales does have a template. And training plans do need to be developed within 12 weeks of the training contract approval. And there are some requirements around that. For example, training providers need to negotiate the training plan with the employer and the learner. And that's a really important part of getting buy-in to that process. And it's also really important for the training provider to get a sense of that particular workplace, the learner and the employer and their expectations and needs. And you will hear more about training plans in the apprenticeships and traineeships webinar. School-based is a little bit different in New South Wales. Training plans for school-based apprentices and trainees are negotiated and developed prior to a training contract sign up being completed. And one of the reasons for that is because students are undertaking it as part of the HSC, we need to make sure that all those requirements have been met in terms of NESA and that it all meets the school's requirements around their pattern of study. The next critical component is commencing training and E-report training activity data. Really important that providers maintain accurate records and evidence of participation in training. And there is going to be a webinar around, more detail around that. I highly recommend that providers come along to that. It's really important that providers report accurate training activity every 28 days, and that's a contractual requirement. And there are a number of outcome codes that providers will use when reporting training activity data. It's also important to be aware that even if there's no change to a student's progress from the last time that you report it, you still need to report that data. Any training activity data that is not submitted correctly, that will be rejected. And all data that is submitted must comply with the AVETMISS Standards. And finally, the next process is the validation of the data. So when the data is submitted to Training Services, we need to go through a process of validating the data, ensure it meets the requirements under the contract and then the acceptance process and hopefully payment to the providers, which is, you know, the end goal after we've gone through these processes. Thanks, Tony. Okay, the Smart and Skilled New South Wales Quality Framework. This framework underpins the entire Smart and Skilled program and it really is about putting the student at the center of the work that we all do. The Quality Framework sets out the standards that are expected of providers under Smart and Skilled. It explains how quality of Smart and Skilled providers is measured. It also links provider performance on quality measures to funding and other Smart and Skilled management activities. And it also shares information on Training Services approach to quality assurance activities. It's important to know that the Quality Framework was developed in consultation with training providers in industry and it sets the benchmark for quality and Smart and Skilled training. And I think it's also important to be aware that there is an expectation that providers will engage in best practice. And we know that when we engage in best practice it can really improve our outcomes and particularly importantly student outcome measures. Thanks, Tony. So for people who like a visual, there's a visual on the slide which represents maximizing the student experience. And mentioned before, Smart and Skilled has a focus on best practice because we really wanna maximize the experience of students and also to assist with students meeting their expectations of undertaking training regardless of which pathway they choose to undertake. So the quality framework provides examples of best practice in a number of areas. For example, in striving for improvement in ways that providers can expand their connection with industry. And we really wanna use the Smart and Skilled framework so that we can encourage providers to work very closely with industry so that the training that we are delivering is based on industry needs and driven by industry. It is addressing skills gaps, it is addressing skill shortages. So that's really critical component of the Quality Framework. We also importantly want to make sure that we're providing a high level of individualized support for students. And that's one of the reasons where we've had the change in the loadings for this year around the needs loadings. You may recall that there's three needs loadings for students who are eligible and that also provides us with an opportunity to develop bespoke support programs, wraparound support programs, particularly for our disadvantaged cohorts who often will need that extra layer of support. The Quality Framework also provides some best practice examples about capability building of staff and systems. We know that it's important that for all of us in the VET sector that we are continually improving our knowledge and capability and practice so that we can deliver better outcomes for our students. The Quality Framework also sets out some examples about using external sources to validate assessment practices, which we know is a requirement in any case, but it certainly is important that external validation practices are being undertaken to ensure that our training meets the needs of industry. Providers are also encouraged to seek and explore their own innovative ways of improving in these areas and to develop best practice. And it would be great if providers, if they wanted to, you know, you could share some examples of best practice with Training Services and maybe also with other providers. Thanks, Tony. Smart and Skilled Quality Framework in relation to quality assurance. The framework also details how Training Services will conduct close monitoring of providers compliance with the Smart and Skilled contract, because it's really important that students are getting better information and clear avenues for complaint, but also that we are ensuring that the training market in New South Wales is delivering great quality training that provides a really high level of confidence with industry that when they use training under the Smart and Skilled program, that they're getting great training providers with great outcomes, great support practices. So really critical. So a couple of the things that we do under the framework is that we share information across jurisdictions. We work with ASQA, we also work with other governments agencies. We select the right training providers and for our new providers you've already been through the Smart and Skilled application process, which was really rigorous and providers had to meet stringent quality and performance criteria. We also undertake provider management and contract management and performance management process and we utilize risk and performance indicators. And importantly, we really want to ensure consumer protection. And we talked about that earlier on that providers need to have a complaints handling process and a consumer protection policy. So there is a number of mechanisms that we use to drive a quality assurance approach, which also underpins our Smart and Skilled program. Thanks, Tony. Communication with training providers. Okay, I think this might be the second last slide. So we use a number of ways to communicate important updates and information to our providers on Smart and Skilled skilled programs and initiatives. One of the key ways is through strategic relationship managers. Every provider will be allocated a strategic relationship manager, which is great. I've been a strategic relationship manager for a long time and it's a really great way to ensure that providers have a key point of contact if they have any questions, or they need some clarification or they want to run something past a strategic relationship manager. So look forward to finding out who your strategic relationship manager is and then might be some more information about this. I think Eleze may talk about that briefly at the end of the webinar. The other critical way that we engage with providers is around our Smart and Skilled update. They come out quite regularly and they generally have really important information that it's important that providers are aware of it. It's also important I think to disseminate that throughout your staff so that they can also have a look at it, ask questions, and also develop and build some knowledge and capability around the Smart and Skills program. The Smart and Skilled updates are emailed to the provider representative that is listed in STS Online and they're also posted in the support documents in STS Online. So they're a great resource. The other way that we communicate is via webinars. Webinars are held quite regularly. I don't know what the schedule is going to be for the next activity period, but I do know that webinars are held when there is some significant information that we want to share with providers. It's a great way to bring everybody together. Sometimes the webinars will include an open question time, sometimes we ask for questions prior to the webinar. It really depends on the topic and content, but they're really worth attending. And the details of schedule webinars are included in the Smart and Skilled updates. Thanks, Tony. For further support, we have a fabulous Customer Service and Operations team. They're really good on the technical backend inquiries around Smart and Skilled, you know, some of those real technical nuances, which for those providers where I've been their strategic relationship manager, it's probably not my forte. So it's been really good to have a fantastic customer service and operations team who's always there to help us with the technical information. So their details and contact phone number is on the slide deck. And as mentioned before, we have strategic relationship managers who are a fantastic support. And the good thing is that providers get their own SRM, which is great. Thanks, Tony.

- Fantastic. Thank you so much, Jackie and also to Belinda, and both members of our working group, the Onboarding Working Group, and you have done a fantastic job today. Really appreciate, firstly, your commitment, and also thank you to all the providers who have stayed on board. We are close to time. I do know there are two questions there, and I don't know whether Jackie or Belinda would like to have a shot at answering them. The first one is, "Is a notification of enrollment and commitment ID required for traineeships? Just wanting to clarify understanding. Is that correct?"

- [Jackie] Yes, that is correct.

- Correct, okay . And this one may need a little bit more detail so we might take it on notice. "But for EFQ and TPFQ programs, can the qualifications be achieved entirely by RPL? Or does it have to be RPL and Gap training? Or part-time or full-time study?" Is there any issues with RPL for a full time?

- [Jackie] Not that I'm aware of, but we can ask one of the technical experts.

- Right, we'll take that on notice then. Thank you both. All right. Next webinar we'll be on notification of enrollment, so encourage all new providers to join us next week. Reminder that all the recordings will be on the website. All notifications to providers regarding their regional provider support managers or SRMs as we know them as well are underway, so your organization will be receiving notification of who that is and then they will become your point of contact going forward. All right, wonderful. Thank you, everybody, for joining us. That's time. And thank you to all the teams supporting these webinars in the background as well. Really appreciate it. Have a great day. Bye.