Building effective RTO-employer partnerships

About the research

Effective partnerships between registered training organisations (RTOs) and employers are important in ensuring a robust vocational education and training (VET) sector. RTO—employer partnerships act as channels through which industry skill needs are met, with the provision of relevant training, while simultaneously building the capacity and resilience of both providers and employers. This project investigated the drivers for RTO—employer partnerships and the benefits and the challenges related to building and sustaining partnerships, along with strategies that foster the development of quality RTO—employer partnerships.

A series of case studies of partnerships between RTOs and employers, covering a range of industry areas, geographical locations and employer sizes, highlighted that four key elements underpin the building and sustaining of effective partnerships: quality training and service delivery; customer focus through agile and flexible delivery of training and customisation on demand; strong communication and collaboration when working together; and long-term, trust-based relationships. While these elements are described here as separate entities, in practice there is a degree of overlap and often they build on each other.

A companion Good Practice Guide provides detailed insights from the case studies of strategies. It is hoped that these insights will encourage the development of effective partnerships between RTOs and employers.

Key messages

• Closely listening to an employer and gaining a clear understanding of the nature of their business means RTOs can better support current and future training needs.
• Being flexible about where and when training is delivered is important for employers, with delivery in the workplace preferred by employers. Having trainers on site helps to foster meaningful relationships with the employer and their workers.
• Earnest communication and collaboration build a dynamic relationship, transforming a simple transactional arrangement of training delivery into a longer-term partnership with deeper benefits for all involved.