Thank you to all our stakeholders who took part in ASQA’s 2021 Provider and Course Owner Survey. The independent survey conducted by ACIL Allen in July and August 2021, surveyed over 3,600 participants on their interactions and experiences of engagement and education with ASQA.
The highest rated responses related to the support and guidance ASQA publishes on distance learning, expansion of scope, work placement and practical assessments to assist in responding to challenges presented by COVID-19. We have made foundational changes to the design and structure of our agency to build our capability across a broader range of interactions with providers, publishing our Regulatory Risk Framework and refreshing our Regulatory Operating Model to provide for, among other things, a much greater focus on education as one of our key regulatory tools – this includes the introduction of our new ‘Spotlight On’ series, which has been well received by providers and was reflected in the consistently highly rated responses for our work in these areas.
We were pleased to see that most respondents (80 per cent) agreed that our regulatory approach promotes a culture of self-assurance and continuous quality improvement as these areas have been the focus area for our reform work. We are establishing a baseline to measure the improvement in provider self-assurance capability within our 4-year corporate plan reporting period and will continue to deliver provider guidance and support.
More than half of respondents (63 per cent) agreed with the transparency and accountability of ASQA’s regulatory approach, while 64 percent also either agreed or strongly agreed that ASQA’s regulatory decision making (both positive and negative decisions) is appropriate and proportionate. With these measures in mind, we have implemented a new performance framework to align with our strategic purpose and deliverables, which will not only support us to work with stakeholders to understand our performance and the impact and effectiveness of our regulation, but will also provide us with important insights into where we might need to adjust and improve our approach going forward – ensuring our commitment to continuous improvement mirrors what we look for in our providers.
The survey results also show an opportunity to improve our application processes, including to how we communicate with applicants throughout the process and to making evaluation reports clearer and easier to understand. Providers and course owners can expect to see changes being rolled out throughout 2022.
For the first time this year, the survey included questions around our recently formed 6 strategic deliverables. This provides an opportunity for the survey insights to help establish new benchmarks for reporting of ASQA’s performance, as we continue to progress through the next stage of our reform program as set out in our Corporate Plan 2021-22.
We will utilise the survey results to identify areas of focus for improvements as we maintain our focus on best-practice regulation across all aspects of our performance, capability and culture.
