Our Story: January 2023 -

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Demand for our niche writing, assessment tool review and validation services, saw us with a strong finish to 2022. Already, the team is booked into the first quarter of 2023 for these services, and together with specialised support for TAE delivery and bespoke corporate professional development programs, are busy with new projects into the coming year.

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2022 saw the introduction of the Education Matters product from Skills Education. 

 

Education Matters is Skills Education's learning and resources hub, filled with created and curated content to support educators (teachers, trainers, tutors etc) on all matters related to VET, training, learning and education. Access is via annual subscription and already, the value within the hub surpasses the cost with PD videos, sectors updates and information, and links, tools and content to explore and apply in day-to-day teaching practice.

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Skills Education continued hosting live webinars in 2022 and toward the end of the year, introduced how-to sessions and short courses. The how-to sessions are shorter than a webinar (at 30 mins) and show step-by-step approaches to specific activities. 

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Into 2023, Skills Education will be partnering with another major industry provider to present a targeted week of PD specifically linked to student support issues. Keep an eye out for that event in March!

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A number of complimentary events were hosted throughout 2022 - both as PD webinars and sector-relevant Trainer Chats - and we're proud to have facilitated added awareness of vital stakeholder feedback and consultation periods linked to VET sector reform.

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We've had feedback from our audiences that:

• We have a reputation for well-run sessions with quality content

• Attendees trust the presenters we select

• Trainer Chats are a valuable source of currency information

 

As Skills Education continues to mature we will make changes to ensure sustainable, viable operations. We believe in quality over quantity and will be working to maintain the value in attending a Skills Education PD event. We will also be moving toward provision of content and services exclusive for engaged, active Skills Education audience members.

 

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Our Story: July 2021 - December 2022

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Growth of our business for niche writing, and assessment validation services completely booked the team until the end of 2021 and up to the end of 2022. To manage the workload and maintain quality of outputs, for the moment, we are accepting future contracts from existing clients or referrals only.

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As the VET Sector continues on its path of change amidst numerous reform efforts and Australia starts to re-open in an adjusted COVID-19 world, the changes to the ways business is conducted and the products and services required by RTOs means Specialised VET Services continues to be responsive and flexible in ever-changing markets.​ Behind the scenes, we are focusing our efforts on a number of internal projects due for release late 2021/early 2022.

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With the increased regulatory focus on self-assurance of operations by RTOs, Training Tools has become an even more popular option for best-practice guidance through templates and tools for use in the RTO's Quality System.

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Into 2022, the Skills Education platform will continue to offer ongoing professional development opportunities for educators and to showcase the expertise of numerous presenters on topics relevant to VET, RTO operations and compliance issues, and education and learning. The introduction of our Trainer Chat sessions has been especially popular in 2021.

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Our story: May 2016 - June 2021

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Specialised VET Services is comprised of a number of well-known and trusted brands to the Australian vocational education and training sector.

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Headed by Michelle Charlton, Specialised VET Services has grown in response to client enquiry and demand. Each section of the business has a team of people with different skills specific to the products or services offered.

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Michelle founded Write On Resources which quickly established itself as a niche provider of customised and bespoke resource development. Write On Resources is trusted to support some of Australia's largest RTOs - whether through design and development of 'to order' assessment materials, or via specialised project support services like assessment review, validation and marking activities.

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VET PD Group was established to support VET practitioners to: connect with others, new and existing ideas; grow perspectives and professional performance; and to strengthen practice, student and sector outcomes. Originally, VET PD Group offered workshops and webinars but has since morphed to become a provider of complimentary information to the VET sector. 

 

Each week, the team curated mentions of VET from around Australia and collated the information into a one-stop-news service known as the VET PD Reading Round Up.  We emailed notification of the weekly updates to people on our mailing list and published the links via social media channels for all interested parties.

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On the VET PD Group website, we also curated listings of upcoming professional development events within the VET sector, including any free PD offerings we came across. Now, we focus our free service to LinkedIn updates and the Skills Education emails.

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The VET PD Group brand is an active contributor on social media with regular updates and announcements related to vocational education and training.  Follow us on LinkedIn to be in the loop with these.

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VET Assessment Validation Services (Validations) was introduced to offer specialised assessment review and validation services to RTOs who need to confirm the quality of their tools and materials.  The team for this service are hand-selected using an evidence-based decision making process, and have specific skills linked to analysis and unit interpretation.  Majority of Validations' clients are seeking confirmation that tools (developed by their own organisation or purchased 'off the shelf') are fit for purpose.

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Validations continues to be an in-demand part of our business with private and public RTOs trusting our expertise in this area to support their compliance and quality approach.

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Training Tools was originally introduced to address a gap in the market for high-quality and comprehensive 'off-the-shelf' assessment tools. We've since fine-tuned this offering by focusing on the provision of compliance templates and guides.

 

Training Tools products give RTOs the best possible starting point by providing templates and materials that can be customised to suit specific business needs. Our range of templates and tools is sold into RTOs across Australia with Australia's largest member-serving organisation electing to stock our range for on-sale to its members.

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One of Training Tools' best selling products is the Big Book of kNOw, which has been purchased by other instructional designers as a valuable resource to support best practice validation and assessment design.

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Skills Education has become the professional development arm of the business. Our original mission was to support success in VET, but now we aim to support educators with education matters. This means anything related to learning, teaching, training, TAE, technology, VET, RTO operations, foundation skills, compliance issues and tips, student support, business and professional growth is on our radar and in our program.  

 

In its first eight months of operation in 2020, Skills Education hosted 54 webinars for attendee audiences in the 1000s!  The 2021 program filled with topics relevant to educators and people working in Australia's VET sector and 2022 followed with more of the same - webinars, how-to sessions, Trainer Chats, short courses and of course, the Education Matters annual subscription learning and resources hub.

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See the Skills Education website to register for a live event and view the comprehensive PD Library for on-demand options to watch now.

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As Specialised VET Services expanded its own footprint supporting Australia's VET sector, it became apparent that just as we hunted for skilled workers and partners, so too, were RTOs searching for and seeking recommendations on where to find suppliers of products and services needed to run their business.  Specialised RTO Services was a VET Directory that Registered Training Organisations could search to find the materials, resources and advice they need. 

 

We ceased Specialised RTO Services during COVID-19 - there are no plans to reinstate this service at this time.

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More about Michelle:

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Michelle is regularly commissioned by Australia's leading professional development organisations to design and deliver training sessions on learning and development, compliance, and instructional design issues. She loves learning things, problem-solving and enjoys sharing what she knows with others. One of her favourite annual contracts is to perform the QA function on presenter slides for the National VET Conference.

 

Michelle has tertiary qualifications in psychology, adult and vocational education, digital learning, and a Masters in Training and Development. She is currently undertaking more post-graduate learning - this time, studies in education studies and learning science.

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Michelle first entered workplace training in 1993 when she was appointed Retail Training Coordinator for an international luxury goods brand. Her responsibilities included sales skills and product knowledge training for staff. At the time, one of her training activities was circulated world-wide to staff in all stores.  

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Since then, Michelle has worked for a variety of organisations of various sizes, in both the public and private sector; VET and non-VET related. Her work experience and vocational qualifications include those in workshop facilitation and presentation, business operations, leadership and management, project management and retail skills. Additionally, Michelle has experience owning and operating award-winning businesses so she understands the complexities of employing others, growing a business, and driving a culture of continuous improvement and quality customer service.

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Over the last decade, Michelle has built her reputation as a trusted provider in Australia's VET sector. Michelle and her team are well-known for specialised VET and RTO support services including:

• Writing and resource development

• Assessment and document review

• Assessment validation

• QA services

• Professional Development information and activities - including the Education Matters learning and resources hub
   

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Connect with Michelle on LinkedIn.