Once the needs of the Registered Training and Assessment Organisation have been researched, clarified and confirmed, it will become clear what the field of action and the intended outcomes or outputs of the project will be.

Remember, the field of action is defined as the organisation or community that is hosting an action learning project (that is, the host organisation).

Formal or informal research needs to be carried out so you can define the needs of the host organisation.

Types of research include:

• Market research
• Learning/training needs analysis (often called a skills audit)
• Task and process analysis.

Research strategies include:

• Surveys and interviews of staff and potential action learning project participants
• Observation of work practices
• Evaluating the quality, efficiency and cost effectiveness of work outputs.

The research can be done by examining:

• Products
• Processes
• Client feedback
• Budgets.

The types of documentation that could assist in this research include:

• Policies
• Vision/mission statements
• Strategic plans
• Supervisor reports
• Employee records
• Professional development plans
• Performance reviews
• Registration information.

Importantly, research can also identify existing Registered Training and Assessment Organisations with contexts and cultures including the extent to which they value learning. This knowledge can help you define the expected outcomes and impact of the action learning projects. It can also enable you to identify expected barriers and create strategies to enable participants to work around these barriers during the Workplace Assessment and Training. Barriers in the fields of action may include resistance to new knowledge and information; blocks in the communication process; lack of interest in action learning; and lack of time. As an action learning facilitator, you will need to establish whether any of these barriers exist. If they do exist, you will need to overcome them. For example, you may encounter a barrier when you are negotiating for ongoing support and time release for participants to attend the action learning project sessions. You may need to find ways to convince managers that the time spent on the action learning project may cut down resources lost in current processes.

Brainstorm the ways you would overcome barriers in a field of action such as those listed above.

Action learning projects may be researched and initiated within organisations through a range of stakeholders, for example:

• A human resource department
• Strategic management department
• An employee within a department
• A manager, the senior management
• An external policy development and funding authority like the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR).
• Clients-for example, students or employers
• Private research consultants
• You as the appointed facilitator
• A mixture of the above.

When researching the needs of the Registered Training and Assessment Organisation, it is useful to find out about the policy framework and the regulatory environment of the host organisation. This includes the organisation’s policies and procedures and the legislation and regulation, codes of practice, and standards that govern the organisation. These may apply:

• Only for the particular organisation you are working in
• Across the state or territory you are working in
• Across the whole country.

Examples of policies, procedures, codes of practice, standards etc may include, but are not limited to:

• Competency standards
• Strategic documents designed to ensure fairness of learning opportunities
• The Australian Quality Training Framework (AQTF)
• Licensing rules
• Requirements that apply to a specific industry or workplace (e.g. an organisation’s policies and its operating procedures)
• Duty of care under common law
• Recording information and confidentiality requirements
• Anti-discrimination legislation including equal opportunity, racial vilification and disability discrimination
• Workplace Assessment and Training relations
• Industrial awards/enterprise agreements
• Nationa1Reporting System requirements
• OHS relating to the work role, including:

-          Reporting requirements for hazards

-          Safe use and maintenance of relevant equipment

-          Emergency procedures

-          Sources of OHS information

Action learning projects are linked to the development needs of the organisation and employees. They are tools for organisational and professional development practices such as:

• Change management
• Work-based learning
• Organisational learning
• Communities of practice
• Network development.

Action learning projects can assist people to:

• Develop skills, knowledge, qualities and attitudes
• Learn how to learn
• Promote networking and consistency in workplace practices across an organisation or partner organisations
• Share and test workplace challenges and solutions.

Participants can apply their learning through their action learning project to:

• Achieve a task
• Solve a problem
• Embrace an opportunity
• Adapt to new ways of working as a result of changed systems or processes
• Manage and cope with organisational change. For example, through mergers or when organisations are expanding into new areas of service delivery
• Abide by new legislation, policies, procedures
• Implement new Workplace Training and Assessment strategies.

Action learning is a method that enables stakeholders, participants and facilitators to acknowledge there are many ways to view or interpret a situation, issue or problem and fix or resolve it if necessary. The manner in which it is decided to deal with a situation, issue or problem does not necessarily ‘come from the top’.

Action learning projects are not appropriate when there is a crisis within a team environment regarding issues such as organisational downsizing, personality clashes or where formal work and/or team performance appraisals are being implemented. Further, issues involving formalised workplace relations that may result in legal action should not be referred to an action learning project.

Action learning is a technique also used by structured networks or by ‘communities of practice’.

Communities of practice can be defined as ‘groups of people informally bound together by shared expertise and passion for a joint enterprise’ (Wenger and Snyder, 2000, p. 139).

The terminology used in the context of communities of practice is:

• ‘Domain of knowledge-creating a sense of common knowledge in the community
• A community that creates a social fabric of learning which fosters interactions and relationships based on mutual trust and respect
• The practice is a set of frameworks, ideas, tools, information, styles, language, stories and documents that community members share.’

Source: Wenger and Snyder, 2000, pp. 27–29.

An important part of the community of practice is the knowledge that is shared, created, shared again, and kept. The sharing can be within the community or it can be wider. The process of creating, capturing, sharing and leveraging knowledge is known as ‘knowledge management’.

There are benefits for the host organisation, the community or network, and the individuals who are part of that group. For example:

• Employees can foster and manage change
• New knowledge can be gained and used
• Knowledge can be shared or disseminated
• A sense of trust and common purpose in the individual is fostered
• Innovation is encouraged
• Strategic direction is reinforced.

For an example of the application of communities of practice within the National Training Framework, including details of what communities of practice and knowledge management are, see the Reframing the Future document Communities of Practice and the National Training Framework: Core Ideas.

This, along with many other publications about communities of practice or action learning in a Vocational Education and Training (VET) context, can be accessed from the ‘Publications’ section of the Reframing the Future website

<http://www.reframingthefuture.net> accessed August 2008.

Also, refer to the other references in the resources section of this website and look at the communities of practice projects.

In the mid-1990s, ANTA produced a kit on action learning. This was developed as a staff training and development kit in collaboration with the National Staff Development Committee.

The kit includes:

• A Guide to Action Learning
• The Practice of Action Learning in Vocational Education and Training
• A video
• Four booklets on case studies of action learning groups:

-          Assessment, Recognition and Evaluation

-          Curriculum and Learning Resources Development

-          Flexible Delivery

-          Workplace Competencies and CBT Implementation.

These resources may be useful as you start to find out about action learning. In particular, read the case studies to see how others have gone through an action learning process.

Source: Wenger and Snyder, 2000, pp. 27-29.

In this Learning Topic, you will be introduced to action learning and action learning projects. You will find out why action learning projects are implemented and what their benefits are to participants, the group as a whole and the host organisation.

What is action learning?

Action learning involves a group of people resolving existing problems or opportunities in their separate work contexts (known as fields of action). Each participant applies their learning in their field of action through their own action learning plan. This feeds into group learning.

In an action learning group (sometimes called a set), there are typically four to twelve participants, including a facilitator. They meet regularly over an extended period, such as three to twelve months, on a face-to-face basis. They may also meet in subgroups, via the web or via email.

Participants should be able to use the knowledge and skills acquired to continue to learn and enhance skills after the action learning project has finished. They learn to change situations (action) and in tum are changed by that action (learning). Action learning is aligned with adult learning principles.

One of its key features is the use of continuous evaluation and reflection to inform learning.

Action learning is praxis: a combination of theory, practice and action like a Workplace  Assessment and Training

Action learning was first documented by Reg Revans in 1945, in a report about the future of the British coal industry. Small groups of managers worked together on their operational problems. They discussed and tried out new solutions to workplace issues and learnt how to predict future problems in the workplace. Ultimately, they learnt how to effectively use their collective wisdom.

More recently, action learning has evolved into sophisticated methodologies that support learning, both through and at work, such as ‘communities of practice’.

Depending on the purpose of the action learning project, the group might involve people from across an organisation or in one work area. This may include:

• Human resource managers
• Program coordinators
• Administration staff
• Industry trainers
• Classroom teachers
• Training consultants
• Departmental managers
• Departmental staff.

This unit will draw on examples mainly from Workplace Assessment and Training organisations, although it is recognised that action learning projects are implemented in every type of organisation such as health services, charities, local government, banks and manufacturing.

Action learning projects also operate across related organisations such as Registered Training and Assessment Organisations (RTOs), Skills Councils, Adult Community Education providers and disability/cultural diversity support organisations.

Action learning is often presented in the following equation:

L              =             P             +             Q

Learning (L) equals (=)

Programmed Knowledge (P) and (+) Questioning insight (Q)

Action learning is about:

• Questioning insight
• Reflection
• Review.

This means that learning occurs from reading texts, watching videos, searching the web, listening to experts and other sources, as well as questioning, reflecting, acting on and reviewing this knowledge with colleagues (Pedler:1991).

It is important that there is a balance between P and Q that meets the needs of the participants. Too much P can lead to traditional forms of knowledge transfer that does not lead to deep learning. Too much Q without P could lead to a pooling of ignorance as there could be little new knowledge input.

Have you been involved in some form of action learning, even if it was not formally called an action learning project?

Formative evaluations

A retail organisation of eight shops implemented competency-based training and assessment for their shop floor staff. The employer and senior education consultant decided to do formative evaluations by meeting on a regular basis with the shop floor supervisor from each shop. The shop floor supervisors were to provide reports and be the conduits of information from the shop floor staff and the Workplace Assessment and Training contractors.

Registered Training and Assessment Organisations will regularly review the apprentice/trainee arrangements. This will include analysing market and industry needs, and will form part of the strategic direction of the Registered Training and Assessment Organisation. As an apprentice coordinator, you may be required to participate in any review. The documentation of apprentice/trainee participation, completion and evaluation will be important tools in this evaluation.

You may be required by your Registered Training and Assessment Organisation to review and report on the effectiveness of:

• Communications with key parties and other stakeholders;
• The planning process;
• The monitoring process;
• Meeting legal requirements.

Any improvements identified in the review stage would form part of your Registered Training and Assessment Organisation’s continuous improvement process.

What reviews are apprentice and traineeship coordinators required to participate in at your practice environment?

Requirements for issuing qualifications differ between the states and territories.

Often, a Registered Training and Assessment Organisation can issue a Certificate IV Training and Assessment qualification to a trainee when all the requirements of the training plan have been met and the employer has confirmed in writing that the trainee has successfully completed the competencies in the workplace.

Requirements for issuing qualifications to apprentices can be quite different.

In some states they are issued by the STA.

Client surveys

In many States, Registered Training and Assessment Organisations need to collect client satisfaction information from their students and report on it to their State Training Authority. State Training Authorities often have guidelines on their websites for the surveys given to apprentices and trainees.

The information from client satisfaction surveys can be used to meet AQTF requirements for continuous improvement. If your State does not require client satisfaction surveys to be completed, it is still a good exercise to undertake and it will allow you to identify areas of improvement.

See an example of the guidelines for student surveys at:

<http://gftp.otte.vic.gov.au/gftp/petp/2003/Survey%20Guidelines.pdf> accessed August 2008.

Registered Training and Assessment Organisations apply to the State Training Authority for payment at various stages throughout the apprenticeship/traineeship.

It’s important to know the guidelines in your state or territory for claiming for apprentices and trainees.

Clarify the procedure by checking:

• The fees that the trainee and employer must pay;
• The documentation required for claims;
• Time limits on making claims;
• Activities that must take place before you can claim;
• Actual funds received for your qualification and the timeline for it being received;
• Who enters the electronic data for the claim;
• Who sends the claim and how is it sent;
• What the error rate is for your Registered Training and Assessment Organisation;
• What the linkage is between your financial systems and the electronic data and declaration documents;
• Who is responsible for scheduling claims;
• Who receives confirmation of payments.

A good thing would be to contact or visit a local Registered Training and Assessment website now!

This last week’s post is a short, quick but full of information!

Assessment results, including Statements of Attainment, are stored for a period of 30 years after completion of the training. Your Registered Training and Assessment Organisation will have a system for storage of assessment results.

How are assessment results stored in your practice environment?

Records of training delivered to apprentices/trainees must be kept in accordance with:

• The funding agreement for the New Apprenticeship Scheme with the respective State Training Authority;
• The Australian Quality Training Framework (AQTF);
• Any other requirements of the State Training Authority.

Registered Training and Assessment Organisations will be audited to check compliance against the frameworks and schemes listed above. Checklists for audits are often available from State Training Authority websites.

AQTF audits

Under the AQTF, Registered Training and Assessment Organisations are required to:

• Have systems in place to document quality training and assessment;
• Conduct an annual internal audit;
• Have documented agreements with other organisations when they provide training or assessment in partnership;
• Follow written-procedures for recruitment, induction and professional development of staff;
• Use trainers and assessors with competencies appropriate to the area in which they are training/assessing;
• Follow explicit requirements for quality assurance in assessment;
• Have a recognition process in place and offer to recognise the prior learning of all learners on enrolment;
• Follow specific requirements for developing, validating and implementing learning and assessment strategies.

Evidence of participation

Registered Training and Assessment Organisations must confirm the commencement and progression of the training and assessment of apprentices/trainees to the NAC.

When an apprentice/trainee commences training, it’s important to collect some evidence to show that this has happened-for example, a worksheet which is signed and dated, which shows active participation and would prove to an auditor that an apprentice/trainee has commenced the Certificate IV Training and Assessment training.