Obtain an Australian Qualification

[JZT]

Hello

Would anybody be able to advise/ offer any information on whether it would be possible to obtain an Australian IV certificate from the UK?

This would be for the purpose of then applying for a skills assessment. 

We understand that UK qualifications can be comparable however it is difficult to confirm which UK qualification level would be comparable to the IV certificate. We have been advised that an NVQ level 3 should be sufficient however even then there are many different types, eg BTEC, City & Guilds etc.

The assessing authorities are unable to advise prior to assessment whether a UK qualification would be considered equivalent. TRA would be who we are hoping to apply to.

We have also read about RPL but again are unsure whether this is something that could be done from the UK.

Thanks
J

[Lavers]

17 hours ago, JZT said:

Hello

Would anybody be able to advise/ offer any information on whether it would be possible to obtain an Australian IV certificate from the UK?

This would be for the purpose of then applying for a skills assessment. 

We understand that UK qualifications can be comparable however it is difficult to confirm which UK qualification level would be comparable to the IV certificate. We have been advised that an NVQ level 3 should be sufficient however even then there are many different types, eg BTEC, City & Guilds etc.

The assessing authorities are unable to advise prior to assessment whether a UK qualification would be considered equivalent. TRA would be who we are hoping to apply to.

We have also read about RPL but again are unsure whether this is something that could be done from the UK.

Thanks
J

Hi

I had my modern apprenticeship and NVQ level 3, and I ended up with cert 3 so not sure if NVQ level 3 would do for a cert 4.

Have a look at TAFE in Australia and see if that could help.

[JZT]

22 hours ago, Lavers said:

Hi

I had my modern apprenticeship and NVQ level 3, and I ended up with cert 3 so not sure if NVQ level 3 would do for a cert 4.

Have a look at TAFE in Australia and see if that could help.

Thanks for the information Lavers. No I wasn’t sure if an NVQ level 3 would be comparable for the certificate 4 - you read conflicting information, though I guess it may be different with different assessing bodies.

[Rallyman]

What trade are you in ? 
 

I am a fully time served carpenter and joiner with indentured apprenticeship , city and guilds , advanced craft and Hnd . 40 plus years in the industry. 

I had to go back to Taffe to get my builders licence as they won’t issue you anything on overseas qualifications. 
 

Edited April 24, 2021 by Rallyman

[JZT]

18 hours ago, Rallyman said:

What trade are you in ? 
 

I am a fully time served carpenter and joiner with indentured apprenticeship , city and guilds , advanced craft and Hnd . 40 plus years in the industry. 

I had to go back to Taffe to get my builders licence as they won’t issue you anything on overseas qualifications. 
 

Hi Rallyman

Thanks very much for the info.

I’m in Telecoms which isn’t really considered a trade in the UK but can be assessed by TRA under one of the ANZSCO codes. 

Just difficult trying to work out what will be considered equivalent to the Oz cert IV!

[paulhand]

On 21/04/2021 at 15:40, JZT said:

We have been advised that an NVQ level 3 should be sufficient however even then there are many different types, eg BTEC, City & Guilds etc.

 

56 minutes ago, JZT said:

Just difficult trying to work out what will be considered equivalent to the Oz cert IV!

You are correct that NVQ level 3 is equivalent to a certificate IV. 

[Rallyman]

Just now, paulhand said:

 

You are correct that NVQ level 3 is equivalent to a certificate IV. 

Not in my trade.  They wouldn’t accept my uk qualifications to get licensed here in Oz 

[paulhand]

Just now, Rallyman said:

Not in my trade.  They wouldn’t accept my uk qualifications to get licensed here in Oz 

Not the same thing ... we are talking about education qualifications for skills assessment purposes, not local licensing.

[Lavers]

2 hours ago, paulhand said:

 

You are correct that NVQ level 3 is equivalent to a certificate IV. 

Interesting, I wonder why I was only given a cert 3 then. 

[Ken]

2 hours ago, Rallyman said:

Not in my trade.  They wouldn’t accept my uk qualifications to get licensed here in Oz 

For licensing you need to actually obtain the Australian qualification. That can be done by a system called RPL (Recognition of Prior Learning) which if the UK qualification is equivalent can potentially cover the entire course. Obviously some trades have aspects that are peculiarly Australian and so no UK qualification will cover those sections but it's always worth talking to an Australian college to see what you've already covered.

[Rallyman]

1 hour ago, Ken said:

For licensing you need to actually obtain the Australian qualification. That can be done by a system called RPL (Recognition of Prior Learning) which if the UK qualification is equivalent can potentially cover the entire course. Obviously some trades have aspects that are peculiarly Australian and so no UK qualification will cover those sections but it's always worth talking to an Australian college to see what you've already covered.

I have been  to taffe 18k later  and I have both uk and Australian qualifications thanks. 

 

[Ken]

1 hour ago, Rallyman said:

I have been  to taffe 18k later  and I have both uk and Australian qualifications thanks. 

 

Sorry, that was meant as general advice for someone still in the UK rather that for you.

[paulhand]

5 hours ago, Lavers said:

Interesting, I wonder why I was only given a cert 3 then. 

Yes interesting, I was quoting the qualification mapping provided by the Dept of Education in Australia, which shows their view of the equivalence of various qualifications. Are you talking about the VETASSESS outcome?

[Rallyman]

17 hours ago, paulhand said:

 

You are correct that NVQ level 3 is equivalent to a certificate IV. 

So immigration value a nvq3 obtained in uk as a higher qualification than a Australian cert IV ? 

 

 

 

Edited April 26, 2021 by Rallyman

[Lavers]

10 hours ago, paulhand said:

Yes interesting, I was quoting the qualification mapping provided by the Dept of Education in Australia, which shows their view of the equivalence of various qualifications. Are you talking about the VETASSESS outcome?

Yeah it was the Vetasses outcome.

I never looked in to it more as cert 3 was all I needed anyway.

[paulhand]

6 hours ago, Rallyman said:

So immigration value a nvq3 obtained in uk as a higher qualification than a Australian cert IV ? 

 

 

 

No ... the Department of Education consider them to be equivalent:

 

[Rallyman]

55 minutes ago, paulhand said:

No ... the Department of Education consider them to be equivalent:

 

That’s very confusing as even when I supplied all my documentation, city and guilds, craft and advanced craft , Hnd they still insisted I did the short course run by Master builders in association with Taffe in order to get a contractors licence , said at the time just a money grab. 
Australia does like its red tape 

Edited April 26, 2021 by Rallyman

[Ken]

On 26/04/2021 at 17:11, Rallyman said:

That’s very confusing as even when I supplied all my documentation, city and guilds, craft and advanced craft , Hnd they still insisted I did the short course run by Master builders in association with Taffe in order to get a contractors licence , said at the time just a money grab. 
Australia does like its red tape 

The problem is that despite the educational levels being equivalent the detailed regulations are different in the two countries so you often need the Australian course to know the Australian rules. Immigration understand that you aren't Australian and so don't expect you to know Australian building regs (for example) just that you are capable of learning them, but the licensing boards need to know that you've already learned them.

[Marisawright]

On 26/04/2021 at 17:11, Rallyman said:

That’s very confusing as even when I supplied all my documentation, city and guilds, craft and advanced craft , Hnd they still insisted I did the short course run by Master builders in association with Taffe in order to get a contractors licence , said at the time just a money grab. 
Australia does like its red tape 

Rallyman, you're talking about getting LICENSED, and you are right - most trades need to do the Australian course to get their licence. Other posts on this thread are talking about getting a qualification that meets the requirements for the visa.

As you know, they are two different things.  You need to have certain qualifications to get the visa, but that doesn't mean those qualifications are actually recognised by employers or licensing boards once you get here, for the reasons Ken gives.

[Rallyman]

1 hour ago, Marisawright said:

Rallyman, you're talking about getting LICENSED, and you are right - most trades need to do the Australian course to get their licence. Other posts on this thread are talking about getting a qualification that meets the requirements for the visa.

As you know, they are two different things.  You need to have certain qualifications to get the visa, but that doesn't mean those qualifications are actually recognised by employers or licensing boards once you get here, for the reasons Ken gives.

When I did my course even the lecturers questioned why I was made to attend . As said Australia does like its red tape. 

What is not made clear when you get your visa is the fact that non of your qualifications are recognised to get you working . 99% of adverts require you to be fully qualified and licensed even though you are employed, in nsw any work over 5k requires you to be licensed contractor, which is very easy to do in today’s market. You don’t get a lot for 5k today. 
any how 18k later I am all good 

 

Edited April 27, 2021 by Rallyman

[Ken]

3 hours ago, Rallyman said:

When I did my course even the lecturers questioned why I was made to attend . As said Australia does like its red tape. 

What is not made clear when you get your visa is the fact that non of your qualifications are recognised to get you working . 99% of adverts require you to be fully qualified and licensed even though you are employed, in nsw any work over 5k requires you to be licensed contractor, which is very easy to do in today’s market. You don’t get a lot for 5k today. 
any how 18k later I am all good 

 

Yes, it would be good to have some joined up thinking. The government talks about wanting "job ready" immigration. Perhaps they should stop using the current assessment boards for qualifications and use the licensing boards instead - although they'd have to require them to provide a route to registration or they'd just fail everybody!

[AnneR]

Thanks 
I begin to understand what I should do next and in what order !