Goodstart Early Learning
About Goodstart Early Learning

Goodstart Early Learning is Australia's largest long day care provider, with over 640 centres across the country. Our 13,000 employees care for and education more than 73,000 children from 61,000 families every year. Goodstart is a not-for-profit organisation, with a vision for Australia's children to have the best possible start in life. 

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Credit and Recognition

Credit Transfer

Credit Transfer (CT) is the recognition by a registered training organisation (Goodstart Institute of Early Learning) of the qualifications, certificates and/or statements of attainment issued by other registered training organisations, universities and TAFEs.  While Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) recognises the knowledge and skills you have gained through previous informal training, and past work and life experience.

During the enrolment application students will be asked if they would like to apply for Credit Transfer or RPL.  To receive Credit Transfer students must complete this section witin the enrolment application and detail their relvent qualifications and supply a copy of their qualification or statement of attainment to be verified prior to receiving credit, where suitable. 

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)


“Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) is an assessment process that assesses the individual student’s formal, non-formal and informal learning to determine the extent to which that individual has achieved the competency standards.”

*Board of Studies Teaching and Educational Standards NSW. (2014). Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) and credit transfer within VET Courses. Retrieved from: http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/voc_ed/rpl.html


The RPL process requires each candidate be actively involved in the process, participating in the required steps and undertaking assessment. 
 
*In alignment to the RPL Toolkits, people undertaking RPL are referred to as ‘candidates’
 
During the RPL process, the candidate will be asked to:
  • Provide evidence of and samples of work experience/practice
  • Perform tasks
  • Talk about and explain how they perform and have performed specific tasks (competency conversation)
A qualified Trainer and Assessor will consider the evidence of skills and knowledge the candidate has provided, matching this evidence against the relevant qualification as per the RPL Toolkits requirements.
 
At Goodstart Institute of Early Learning, all RPL is conducted using RPL Toolkits.  These Toolkits help the candidate’s collect evidence to support their application for RPL.
 
Please note, RPL is not a quick process. A candidate is required to collate and coordinate evidence to show they have equivalent knowledge and skills to match the qualification they are enrolled in.

How to apply for RPL

If you are a current student enrolled in a qualification with Goodstart Institute of Early Learning, please contact your Trainer and Assessor directly to discuss your RPL options.
 
If you are new student to Goodstart Institute of Early Learning, please contact Student Services (1800 617 455) to discuss the RPL Process and your options prior to enrolment.

Fees

There are no additional fees (or discounts) to apply for Credit Transfers or Recognition of Prior Learning.  Fees are detailed within the relevant course's information page/guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

What evidence do I need to provide for RPL?
The candidate needs to collate evidence of:
  • workplace skills;
  • prior knowledge; and or
  • previous qualifications.
Your Lead Trainer will consider evidence in assessing your competence—evidence can be gathered from workplace documents, discussions with you and others, demonstrations of workplace tasks, testimonials, third party reports and structured assessment tasks. Your Lead Trainer will discuss this with you at the RPL Interview stage.
 
Your Lead Trainer must be sure that the evidence meets the rules of evidence—that is, it must be valid (related to the unit), sufficient (enough to make a decision), current (show that you hold the skills now) and authentic (your own work).
What is the RPL evidence supposed to look like?
Evidence can look like:
  • Certificate of Attainments;
  • Samples of your work (for example: a completed QIP, programming cycles, documentation/observations, completed checklists, evidence of coordinating and participating in emergency evacuations, menus created and implemented, completed incident reports, etc.)
  • A Position Description (job description) with evidence of a performance review from your manager, documenting that you are meeting the requirements of your position
  • Evidence of voluntary work
  • Awards for work performance
  • Evidence of participation in non-accredited learning opportunities
Once you have submitted your evidence as outlined within the RPL Toolkit, it will be reviewed by your Lead Trainer. Following the review of the evidence you will be contacted by your Lead Trainer where they will coordinate a time to catch up for a competency conversation/interview.
Another provider can give me a qualification in two days, can Goodstart Institute of Early Learning match this?
RPL will often require a number of interactions with your Lead Trainer to ensure the evidence provided meets the required rules of evidence to support the recognition process.
 
Your Lead Trainer will consider a variety of evidence to support making a judgement of competency. Evidence is likely to include:
  • work samples;
  • Statement of Attainments;
  • workplace observations;  and
  • competency conversations (interviews usually conducted in the workplace where a Trainer and Assessor may ask questions to supplement your written evidence).
 
At times, a candidate may be required to complete ‘gap assessment’ or undertake one or more workplace assessment tasks, to demonstrate their knowledge and skills.