What should a statement of attainment say?

From assessment to the statement

A statement of attainment follows an assessment: an NVR registered training organisation must not issue AQF certification documentation to any person unless the person is a student the organisation has assessed as meeting the requirements of the training product.

Then a deadline for the document: once the organisation has assessed the student as meeting the requirements of the training product, it must ensure the AQF certification documentation is issued within 30 calendar days from the completion of the assessment, provided the student has completed the qualification, or completed one or more of its units before withdrawing, and has paid the organisation all agreed fees for the training product.

So the line runs: assessment completed first, then the document, within 30 calendar days once those two conditions are met. The clock the guide names starts at the completion of the assessment.

What the document carries

It is issued by the training organisation, not by a third party. Where a third party is involved in a student's training and assessment, the student must be made aware of that involvement, including that their AQF certification documentation will be issued by the RTO.

To issue qualifications and statements of attainment, an organisation must follow the Compliance Requirements and the Australian Qualifications Framework.

The AQF defines a testamur as an official certification document that confirms a qualification has been awarded to an individual, and the record of results can appear on the back of the testamur or in a separate document.

A student identifier runs through it. Subject to limited exceptions, an organisation must not issue a VET qualification or a VET statement of attainment unless the student has been assigned a student identifier, and, unless an exemption is in place, its systems must ensure documents go only to students who hold their own student identifier, verified by the Registrar. All RTOs must follow clause 12 of the Compliance Requirements for the USI Scheme, and must not enter a USI on these documents. A student with a USI can get an online record and transcript of their VET results from 1 January 2015 onwards.

The Nationally Recognised Training logo is part of the document set: it must be depicted on all AQF certification documentation an NVR registered training organisation issues, and must not be depicted on other testamurs or transcripts of results.

If you leave part-way

When a student leaves a training program, RTOs must issue a statement of attainment.

That applies whether the student completes the program or not, and it is not issued as a progress statement for students continuing the same program.

Where a student has not completed a full AQF qualification, an organisation's system should allow a statement of attainment to be issued on the student's exit from a training program, completed or not.

For a course taken unit by unit, a statement of attainment is issued when a student leaves a program, and no AQF certification document is issued until the student has been assessed as meeting the requirements of the training product.

For a student who leaves part-way, the 30-day duty above applies where they have completed one or more units before withdrawing and have paid the organisation all agreed fees for the training product.

How to check it

The checks are the ones a course offer gets, run again on the document and the organisation behind it. First, the organisation: registered, with the training product inside its scope of registration.

Second, the product: not expired, removed or deleted from the register.

Third, the organisation's own record-keeping, which is where the document lives on after it is issued: the regulator's practice guide expects safeguards so that records of all AQF certification documentation stay accessible for thirty years, and expects an organisation that ceases to be an RTO to give ASQA a copy of all the AQF certification documentation it issued, in the form and timeframe required.

And the evidence behind the document is kept too: the practice guide expects an organisation's systems to allow the retention of all assessments a student submits for at least two years after the student has completed the training product, unless a longer period is required under other regulatory or legislative requirements. The practice guide lists the other side of that rule among known risks to compliance: disposing of assessment evidence before those two years have elapsed.

Students have their own standard to lean on. The Outcome Standards require that students have access to clear and accurate information about the organisation and the relevant training product, and that they are made aware of any changes that may affect them; and that, before enrolment, they are advised about the suitability of the training product for them, taking into account their skills and competencies.