CHANGES TO RTO’s IN THE HAIR & BEAUTY INDUSTRY – WHAT SALON OWNERS NEED TO KNOW

Home / HABA Blog / CHANGES TO RTO’s IN THE HAIR & BEAUTY INDUSTRY – WHAT SALON OWNERS NEED TO KNOW

Posted July 2, 2018

RTO’s have become a bit of a dirty word throughout the Australian Vocational Education System. While HABA appreciates that this is really large and complex industry, we are seeing first-hand accounts of salon owners suffering due to poor training and education provided by the thousands of new RTO’s that have popped up since the deregulation of the VET FREE-HELP Scheme in 2012.

 

Recent announcements in the Federal Budget 2018 have allocated $18.6 million in additional funds organisations like ASQA, the auditory and regulatory body for RTO’s. ASQA have dedicated to increase the number of compliance audits it undertakes on RTO’s to ensure better compliance in key areas and a higher level of scrutiny over the education and training level being provided by RTO’s.

 

There have been over 83 RTO’s closed down in the 2017/2018 financial year, including those from the Hair and Beauty Sector such as Evocca, Avalon Beauty Academy and the Zen3 Beauty College. HABA Advises that if you are interviewing potential staff members with qualifications from any of these colleges or other RTO’s that have been de-registered, that you conduct a skills test prior to the offering of a contract. This is a demonstration of skills and therefore should not be on paid clients and should be undertaken on volunteers or models.

 

You can read more about skills tests vs. trial periods here.

If you are concerned about the quality of an RTO, review the currently available RTO’s here.

 

HABA are regularly receiving a number of complaints from salon owners who are simply unhappy with the education level and training provided to their newly-employed apprentices under these RTO’s. HABA advises salon owners to lodge a formal complaint with the National Training Complaints Hotline to ensure that your complaint is received by the appropriate people and can be investigated further by bodies like ASQA. The National Training Complaints Hotline is a joint initiative between the Commonwealth, state and territory governments, so that anyone with a complaint or query about the training sector now has one number to call, so they can report a complaint, and have it referred to the right authority for consideration. It is important to follow the formal grievance process of the training organisation to ensure that there are no legal ramifications of making such a complaint and to ensure that the complaint is made properly.

You can make your complaints via the National Training Complaints Hotline on 13 38 73 – Please select option 4.

Or by email: Please see the process for submitting an email complaint.

Please note that your call will be directed to Skilling Australia which covers many vocational education and training matters. For concerns and complaints regarding vocational education and training please select option 4.

HABA will continue to keep members informed as changes to this area of our industry continue to occur.