School Based Apprenticeships and Traineeships

Glossary

AASN
Australian Apprenticeship Support Network is the Commonwealth scheme that supports apprenticeship stakeholders by providing recruitment, support and administrative services nationally.

ANP
Apprenticeships Network Providers are agencies contracted by the Australian Government to provide apprenticeship services to apprentices and employers.

Approved Training Schemes
Approved Training Schemes list which qualifications in a training package for a specific industry are available as apprenticeships and traineeships in Victoria.

AQF
Australian Qualifications Framework

AO
Authorised Officer

ASO
Apprenticeship Support Officer

ASQA
Australian Skills Quality Authority

Child Safe Standards
The Child Safe Standards are compulsory minimum standards for organisations, including Victorian schools, to ensure they are well prepared to keep children and young people safe and protect them from abuse.

Credit transfer
Credit given based on documentary evidence or statement of attainment/qualifications for a unit of competency previously achieved.

Direct employer
The individual or business that engages the apprentice or trainee

Employer
An employer may be the individual or business that engages the student (a direct employer) or a business that engages the student through a Group Training Organisation (a host employer). The GTO is the student’s legal employer but the student performs work duties with the host employer. The employer, not the host employer, GTO is responsible for signing the training contract.

GTO
Group Training Organisations provide apprenticeship and traineeship employment opportunities through hosting agreements in a broad range of industries. In Victoria, GTOs are regulated and recognised by the VRQA to provide quality training and employment pathways for apprentices and trainees in a supportive environment.

Head Start
Head Start is an apprenticeship and traineeship pathway available to all government secondary students from 2023 to spend more time working, while completing the necessary vocational training and a senior secondary qualification. Head Start school-based staff support the student throughout the apprenticeship or traineeship, and engage regularly with the employer, registered training organisation (RTO), school and other stakeholders.

LLEN
Local Learning and Employment Network

NSSP
Non-School Senior Secondary Provider

RCC
Recognition of Current Competence (RCC) is defined as the process of assessment and formal recognition by an assessor of competence currently held by a candidate which has been gained through any combination of formal, informal training and education, work experience or real life experience.

RPL
Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) is an assessment process that involves assessment of an individual’s relevant prior learning (including formal and informal) to determine the credit outcomes of an individual application for credit.

RTO
Registered Training Organisation

SBAT
School Based Apprenticeship or Traineeship (also referred to as ASbA, which stands for Australian School-based Apprenticeship, and includes traineeships).

School
For the purposes of these guidelines, a school is a registered provider of a senior secondary certificate, either the VCE or the VCAL. This includes Non-School Senior Secondary Providers.

Structured training — ‘off-the-job’
Structured training and assessment delivered by an RTO in a formal setting. It is often referred to as ‘trade school’ or ‘block release’. Timetables vary, but usually include a day a week and sometimes blocks of weeks at a training facility during holiday periods.

Structured training — ‘workplace-based’
This is the structured training (and assessment) organised to take place in the workplace by the RTO. It takes place when the apprentice or trainee is withdrawn from regular work duties.

Student
For the purposes of these guidelines, a student is someone aged 15 years and over, enrolled in a senior secondary certificate, and undertaking an SBAT or a part-time apprenticeship or traineeship.

Training contract
An agreement signed by the employer and the apprentice or trainee (and a parent or guardian if applicable) specifying the type of apprenticeship or traineeship to be undertaken. It details the training obligations of employers and apprentices or trainees. It contains details of the commencement date for training, the duration of the training and the workplace location at which the apprentice or trainee will receive practical experience. A training contract must be signed within 14 days of the apprentice or trainee being employed.

Training contract commencement date
The date on which the training contract between the employer and the apprentice or trainee comes into effect.

Training package qualification
Identifies the title of the training package qualification directly related to the training, as described at training.gov.au

Training plan
Employers and RTOs must discuss the business needs and the learning needs of the apprentice to develop a training plan. Records detailed information of training and assessment for a student whose training is funded under the training contract. This information ensures that both the RTO and the student make informed decisions about the services required and the respective obligations in the delivery of these services. The training plan developed by the RTO with the employer details these arrangements.

UOC
Unit of Competency are the nationally agreed statements of the skills and knowledge required for effective performance in a particular job or job function. They describe work outcomes as agreed by industry.

VASS
Victorian Assessment Software System

VCAA
Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority

VCAL
Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning

VCE
Victorian Certificate of Education

VET
Vocational Education and Training

VET for school students
Vocational Education and Training for senior secondary school students (formerly known as VETiS or VET in Schools).

VIT
Victorian Institute of Teaching

VRQA
Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority

VTAC
Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre

VTG
Victorian Training Guarantee (VTG) is an entitlement to a government-subsidised place in recognised training that can be accessed at a wide range of RTOs contracted to deliver training.