How to tell a real recognition of prior learning offer from a shortcut

Ask who issues the paper

Only a registered training organisation can issue a nationally recognised qualification. The legal name and the RTO code should be on the quote. Look that code up on training.gov.au and read the scope. If the code you want is not on the scope, they cannot assess it, however friendly the website is. This website is not an RTO. The portfolio prepares the evidence. The RTO decides.

A facilitator who says they are not an RTO is allowed to say that. They are not allowed to imply that their invoice is the certificate. Ask which RTO will assess you, and whether you can contact that RTO yourself.

A guarantee is the wrong promise

Competent is a decision after the evidence is read. A page that promises the qualification before anyone has seen the work is promising an outcome the Standards do not let an assessor pre-sell. The same goes for “no gap training, ever” on a trade. If a unit is open, someone has to close it with work or with training. Hiding the gap is not the same as meeting it.

Very low prices deserve the same question as very fast ones. What is excluded? Issuance, gap training, a second language, a practical observation? ASQA’s public line is that quality recognition includes a real check of the evidence, and often a conversation or a practical assessment, not a résumé in and a certificate out.

1. Get the RTO’s legal name and code. Check scope on training.gov.au.
2. Get the fee in writing, split between the file and the RTO.
3. Ask what happens if a unit is not yet competent.
4. Ask whether the qualification, if issued, will be recorded against your USI.
5. If the offer will not survive those four questions, do not pay it.

Where to check

The National Training Register is training.gov.au. ASQA regulates providers and publishes how to report a suspicious one. Your Career explains how to spot a genuine provider. None of those pages are this product, and none of them are replaced by a progress ring in a portfolio.

If you already have the jobs, start the file. If you are unsure the code is even the right one, say what you do before you pay anyone. The pathway check on the front page matches words to a qualification we list. It does not enrol you.