Which TAE qualification, and what it takes to deliver one.
The TAE Training and Education Training Package holds the qualifications and units for people who train, assess, design learning and lead in vocational education. Here is a plain-English map, for an RTO deciding what to add to scope or a person deciding what to study.
Start with the job, not the code
Ask what this person will be doing on Monday. Facilitating groups and assessing candidates points to the Certificate IV. Leading assessors, designing programs or running a training team points to the Diploma. Teaching adult literacy and numeracy, or leading that work, points to the graduate awards. Digital education has its own graduate certificate.
TAE40122 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment
The qualification has 12 units: 6 core and 6 electives, with at least 3 electives from Group A. The core units are:
- TAEASS412 Assess competence
- TAEASS413 Participate in assessment validation
- TAEDEL411 Facilitate vocational training
- TAEDES411 Use nationally recognised training products to meet vocational training needs
- TAEDES412 Design and develop plans for vocational training
- TAEPDD401 Work effectively in the VET sector
Read the Assessment Requirements of each unit early. They ask candidates to do real volumes of work. TAEASS412, for example, sets a number of assessments across several candidates, and one of them must be by recognition of prior learning. Your delivery plan has to make room for that.
TAE50122 Diploma of Vocational Education and Training
The Diploma has 3 core units (TAEDES511 Design and develop strategies for training and assessment, TAEDES515 Evaluate training, TAEPDD511 Maintain and enhance professional practice) and 9 electives. The store carries an RPL kit for each of its three specialisations: advanced training and assessment, design and development, and VET leadership. The specialisation shapes the electives, so settle that first. Some Diploma units have prerequisites from the Certificate IV. TAEASS513, for instance, asks for TAEASS413.
The graduate awards
TAE80113 is the Graduate Diploma of Adult Language, Literacy and Numeracy Practice. TAE80213 is the Graduate Diploma of Adult Language, Literacy and Numeracy Leadership. TAE80316 is the Graduate Certificate in Digital Education. These suit people already working in the field who want to deepen one area.
What an RTO needs before it delivers TAE
Resources are one line on a longer list. Before you enrol anyone, work through these:
- Scope. The qualification has to be on your scope of registration.
- People. The Standards for RTOs 2025 include a Credential Policy that sets out what trainers and assessors must hold, with specific rules for people who deliver TAE qualifications. Read it before you plan staffing.
- A strategy. Your training and assessment strategy has to fit your actual cohort. A template saves drafting time, and the thinking stays with you.
- Learner support. Language, literacy, numeracy and digital skills affect whether a candidate can cope with the writing and planning in these units. An LLND kit gives you tools to find out.
- Somewhere to practise. Candidates need learners to train and candidates to assess, or a simulated environment where the unit allows it. A vocational placement kit helps you assess those practical components.
- Validation. Your tools still go through your own validation, which sits at Standard 1.5 of the Outcome Standards.
RPL for people who already do the work
Plenty of people who come to TAE have been training informally for years. Recognition of prior learning should test that fairly, against the same rules of evidence as any other assessment: valid, sufficient, authentic and current. Authenticity and currency take the most care, because the evidence was produced out of the assessor's sight and often some time ago.
Candidates also tend to undersell themselves. A good conversation draws out the history by asking what they did, then tells them exactly what to gather next. The CAQA Resources RPL kits work through six stages, from the application to the mapping document.
Moderation and validation are different jobs
Candidates mix these up, and so do some RTOs. Moderation brings assessors together to check their judgements are consistent. Validation reviews assessment practices and judgements after assessment has taken place, and it leads to changes in the system. Under the Standards for RTOs 2025, the review of a tool before use sits at Standard 1.3, and validation at Standard 1.5. TAEASS413 has candidates take part in validation. TAEASS513 has them lead moderation and validation.
Check before you buy or enrol
Look up every code on training.gov.au, the national register, and read ASQA's page on the Standards for RTOs. Those two sources outrank anything on this site, including this guide.