- Video Insight
What Does Practical Self Assurance Actually Mean?
- 1 min
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Phil Bevan (vetr Community Advisor)
Practical self assurance. What are we talking about with assurance? We’re talking about being confident. Assurance is confidence, literally by definition. So we’re confident in something, and what we need to be confident in — obviously, if we come back to that question from the auditor — we need to be confident in what we’re doing. So that self assurance is really pushing it internal to: what are we doing as providers to make sure that we are going to deliver those quality outcomes?
And then when you take that first word, there’s such a challenge there. How do we make it practical? How do we practically show — how do we demonstrate? How do we prove — because we’re in a highly regulated environment — that we are confident in what we’re doing?
If we’re saying that we’re confident in what we’re doing, we can practically demonstrate that what we’re doing is quality. How can we prove that? Where’s our rationale or justification for what we’re going about doing?
So only three words there, Miles, but there’s a lot in those three words.
Key Points
- Assurance = Confidence: The word "assurance" is literally defined as confidence. RTOs must be confident in what they are doing and in how they deliver quality outcomes.
- Self = Internal first: The "self" in self assurance means the responsibility starts with the organisation — not ASQA, clients, or any other external stakeholder.
- Practical = Demonstration and proof: Making assurance practical means being able to show, demonstrate, and prove that confidence with rationale and evidence in a highly regulated environment.
- Auditor readiness: The framework is anchored around being able to confidently answer an auditor's questions about what you are doing and why.
- Three words, significant depth: Despite being only three words, "practical self assurance" carries substantial meaning and obligation for providers, requiring ongoing internal reflection and evidence-gathering.