Your organization: Managing work and work relationships

Effective relationships are the core of VET work. You need to believe that students are really important and take a student-centred approach. You also need to build collegial relations with colleagues. You also need to actively demonstrate and improve the quality of work and teaching relationships of the people around you.

Plan your own work, make your own priorities and organize yourself. You should be able to show that you achieve agreed and expected outcomes.

Don’t burn out. Evaluate your workload so that you keep up with what you have to do. If you need advice or help, ask your supervisor or a colleague. You’ll face such difficulties as time pressures, overload, competing demands, unexpected contingencies, technology problems, relations with other staff, and student issues.

Work collaboratively with colleagues. Share information and ideas, and work together to achieve goals. You'll need to be able to get feedback and advice from them (as well as your clients) on the quality of your work.

You will be expected to have relevant technological skills to do your job effectively. You’re probably cheating if you avoid using particular skills. None of these in the list below is obligatory, but you need enough skill to do your job yourself.

• Using word-processing software to produce documents, reports, learning materials, etc.
• Using PowerPoint software to produce presentations.
• Using data processing software to produce statistical information.
• Support on-line learning
• Conducting Internet searches.
• Participating in internet/video conferencing.
• Using chat rooms.
• Managing email.
• Operating computer projection equipment.
• Operating overhead projectors.
• Operating other equipment e.g. fax machines, photocopiers, telephone systems.

Your organization: About forms and paperwork

The current best practice is to leave a very strong paper trail of all that you do.

Much of this is expressed in forms, and examples are included in this resource. Forms must be filled in and signed at the time to act as a contemporaneous record.

Too much paper becomes counterproductive, and so check first what is necessary. Many forms and templates are available in the training sector. You do not need to generate copies of every possible form for every student for every unit. Too many records becomes unmanageable and difficult to store satisfactorily.

The reasons for the forms are:

• Well thought out forms can make it easier for you to collect evidence of students’ competence.
• Records are more uniform.
• Accountability will be easier, especially at audit time.
• You might need them to handle appeals from students.
• Other people can later more easily teach your units or develop them in different ways.

You may also computerize all your records, as long as:

• your organization has adequate safeguards against falsification.
• you have a reliable backup system with backups kept off-site or in a safe.

For these two reasons, it is preferable that you keep paper forms with original signatures stored in a secure location.

Keep forms continually under review; check the forms you use at the beginning of each unit.

Your RTO can keep forms as template files that you can modify appropriately before you fill in and print out.

If you need to change forms to suit individual needs or according to review results, the following applies to you:

• Good general suggestions may suit all assessment forms and be posted on your RTO's website or through e-mail for use in all new forms.
• In principle, keep forms to one page only. One-page forms are easier to use and read, and will save the frustration of sometimes having only one page of a two-page form.
• RTOs should monitor their forms by using a version system. The point of monitoring versions is to be able to identify which versions are up to date and which are not. If you need to create a new version of a form, it must have a version number (e.g. 1st Edition, 23Feb11) and be lodged with the your RTO office.

Save your RTO administrator a headache. Get your forms to the administrator correctly filled in and on time. (Sounds easy and obvious, but not everybody always does it.)

My cartoon, Sarah

Professional development

Participate in professional development (PD). It often includes adaptation to new policies, and is a good forum for discussing trends. Good PD will stimulate you to reflect on what you do.

Your RTO might make it compulsory for staff to attend its in-house PD or might simply provide it for you. RTOs are not obliged to provide PD, and in the end it is your responsibility to keep yourself up to date and to put into practice what you learn.

You may also choose other PD options. If you are the only one in your organization with a particular field of expertise, then you will certainly need outside help. Opportunities may arise through:

• outside seminars (such as those provided by the states),
• participation in trainer/assessor networks,
• private reading,
• your organization's internal PD programs,
• writing textbooks and articles,
• research groups,
• further formal study,
• meetings with visiting experts or practitioners and professional associations.

If you are teaching a unit for the first time, preparing and writing it up might be your main professional development.