Making training core business: Enterprise Registered Training Organisations in Australia

Abstract

This paper examines the Australian phenomenon of Enterprise Registered Training Organizations (RTOs). These are organizations that do not have training as their main business but that are accredited to deliver training and award qualifications, primarily to their own workers. Although Enterprise RTOs have been in existence in one form or another for around 15 years they have not been previously examined in the scholarly literature. The paper uses qualitative and quantitative data from two recent research projects to describe the nature and experiences of these RTOs and their workers. The findings are analysed using a framework recently used in an evaluation of the pilot of a similar English scheme: quality concerns, resource intensiveness, impact on the training market, and restriction to larger firms. The paper concludes that enterprise RTOs have been beneficial to workers and companies alike, although not without problems, and that the Australian system appears to present fewer risks than the proposed English system.