Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)

You can easily get a nationally-recognised qualification to reflect your experience, knowledge and skills – via RPL!

RPL stands for ‘Recognition of Prior Learning’ and is an assessment only process that lets people with substantial existing skills and knowledge demonstrate their competence without first having to be trained.

RPL benefits

There are many benefits in undertaking our RPL process:

smartRPL

Our simple self-assessment RPL kits take only a few minutes to complete, and you will know almost immediately whether you are a good RPL candidate.  After that, our streamlined RPL process ensures you obtain your qualification in the quickest time possible.

Start by downloading and reading our Instructions to RPL Candidates. This document will tell you about our RPL process and types of evidence* we may ask for, the Rules of Evidence, and how we authenticate your identity.

*All evidence submitted must be current. This generally means it needs to be from the past 2-3 years.  

Our promise

It’s all about making RPL simple! We are so confident that our smartRPL process is the best around that we offer this promise:

We currently offer smartRPL kits for the qualifications listed on the right of this page.
* Terms and conditions apply to our money-back guarantee promise.  View our Student Guide for more information.

Qualification levels

The qualification level most appropriate to you will generally depend on the roles in which you’ve worked:

RPL FAQs

1. Are qualifications achieved through RPL of a similar standing to those achieved through training?  Yes. Under the National Skills Framework, it does not matter how the qualification was obtained.  It is still a nationally recognised qualification.

2. Are qualifications obtained via RPL recognised by everyone?  All Australian universities, TAFEs and registered training organisations recognise our qualifications under the National Standards for RTOs 2015.

3. Can I really obtain university credit exemptions?  Yes, many universities will provide credit / exemptions from their courses based upon the qualifications you already hold. For example, many students have obtained a year off their Bachelor’s degree studies based on holding a Diploma in a related course area.

4. Is RPL a long and complicated process?  Not with us!  We use automated, streamlined tools that help automate the collection of evidence, and structure most of the assessment of your knowledge around a one-to-two hour telephone conference.

5. What types of evidence are required for RPL? Evidence for RPL includes questioning (where your assessor holds a one-to-two hour telephone interview with you and ask questions verbally), finished products (you may have items you have produced in your work), third party reports (including references and citing examples of your work ability relating to the standards), documents (such as relevant qualifications/transcripts, project plans and reports, minutes of meetings, correspondence, resources developed), or anything else that you or your assessor can think of that is relevant and proves your competence.

6. What happens after the evidence is gathered?  Once you have submitted your evidence that was agreed upon during your interview, your assessor reviews it against the units of competency and makes an assessment decision based on your evidence being:

• Valid: Our assessor must be assured that you have the skills, knowledge and attributes described in the unit of competency and associated assessment requirements.
• Sufficient: Our assessor must be assured that the quality, quantity and relevance of your evidence enables a judgement to be made of your competency.
• Authentic: Our assessor must be assured that the presented evidence is your own work.
• Current: Our assessor must be assured that the assessment evidence demonstrates current competency. This requires the assessment evidence to be from the present or the very recent past, i.e. within the past 2-3 years.

7. I have started my RPL and after speaking with the assessor, realise that the evidence I have would not be applicable? If you are unable to provide the required evidence for a specific unit, you will be permitted to complete that unit via an assessment workbook delivered through our Virtual+ training option. This will be FREE of charge. If there is more than one unit for which you are unable to provide the required evidence, there will be a fee payable of $345 per unit for you to complete these units via our Virtual+ training option.

8. How long can I expect the RPL process will take? The expected time frame to complete the RPL process will differ for each individual depending on a range of factors. As a Plenty Training full RPL student, you will have up to 12 months to complete the RPL process. A breakdown of the expected time frames for each RPL stages are described below: