Is Churchill Education legit? It may sound like a strange title for a story on our own website, but it is a question many people type into google search. If you have been through the Recognition of Prior Learning process with us, you’ll already know the answer to this question!
If you are curious to find out who we are, here is some background intel on us, and the quality of qualifications issued by Churchill Education.
- People before you have asked the same question, so you can look at what other people who have chosen to work with Churchill Education say about the experience.
- Then if this feedback rings true, you can dig deeper on Churchill’s back story and ask yourself, is this a story that resonates with you?
- Then you identify: is Recognition of Prior Learning a legitimate assessment method in Australia?
- Finally, check if Churchill Education is an approved provider by the Australian Government and so, legit in the Vocational Education and Training sector?
What do other people have to say about whether Churchill Education is legit?
Currently, Churchill Education has 268 Google reviews and by the time this is published, that number will have grown. Our average rating is 5.0 stars and people who have used Churchill Education’s services have put their name and thoughts to the reviews.
You can also learn about people’s experiences with Churchill Education by reading their stories and even listening to their actual interviews on our podcast.
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It can also be useful to check out which organisations have partnered with Churchill Education when considering if Churchill is legit. For example, there are a range of not-for-profit organisations that have actively partnered with Churchill Education to help their members.
Fortem Australia
Fortem Australia has partnered with Churchill Education in helping first responders transition careers.
A client recommended to Fortem was kind enough to share his story of his career transition and experience with Churchill on our blog : “Bravery is admitting enough is enough.”
Soldier On Australia
Soldier On Australia, delivers a range of services to enable serving and ex-serving veterans and their families to thrive and has partnered with Churchill Education.
Sirens of Silence
As an organisation focused on mental health, Sirens of Silence has partnered with Churchill Education for Recognition of Prior Learning support.
What is Churchill Education’s Story?
Churchill Education was founded back in 2006 with one real purpose: to help people get the qualifications that their experience deserves.
It was a problem that Churchill Education’s Co-Founders, Randall Smith and Tricia Velthuizen, had encountered personally when Randall had medically retired from the Queensland Police Service.
With 16 years of policing service behind him, Randall didn’t hold qualifications that reflected that experience. It was a gap he felt keenly in facing the prospect of a new career, and negatively impacted his confidence.
Faced with the question of what to do, Randall made his way to a career counsellor who told him about this concept called Recognition of Prior Learning; a way of using career skills and knowledge instead of assignments and exams, to get qualified.
Randall was sent to a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) on the Gold Coast (effectively a private TAFE) that was run by a man, Chris Galway, who was ex-military and the career counsellor felt may understand Randall’s predicament.
It was at the meeting with Chris that Randall first got an understanding of Recognition of Prior Learning.
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He was presented with a technical kit and told he had to match his experience against all the requirements of a qualification. Then the RTO team would meet and consider if Randall’s experience was worth recognising as a qualification.
The process was complex.
To help you understand, in the Diploma of Leadership and Management, there are 12 Units of Competency. From there, just one Unit of Competency (course subject), breaks down to 4 elements, 19 performance criteria and 20 bullet points of performance evidence and required knowledge that all must be addressed to get a pass in that single Unit.
Most people gave up when confronted with the complexity of Recognition of Prior Learning kits – clients and the trainers.
For Randall, though, it was just like being a detective again. He knew how to find evidence and read legislation so that he could arrest someone. Tricia was a Crown Prosecutor with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in Queensland (you can still find stories online that Tricia was involved in prosecuting).
Randall set out to prove that he had sufficient experience to warrant being issued a qualification. When it came to presenting his full application, Chris was blown away and suggested a career change that would change Randall’s life: why not offer Recognition of Prior Learning assessment as a service to other people who also had the experience but lacked the qualification?
And so the idea for Churchill Education was born.
Is Churchill Education offering a Legitimate Assessment Method?
Churchill Education is here but is it offering a legitimate assessment method in Australia?
You can guarantee that the different government bodies in Australia are keen to make sure qualifications are issued legitimately using formal assessment strategies.
Let’s start with the leading government authority in Australia for Vocational Education and Training, the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) and what it says about recognition of prior learning.
Not only does ASQA stamp RPL as legitimate, but it also says all RTOs are required to offer RPL to learners.
The different State and Territory Governments agree.
What Churchill Education is doing in using RPL assessments is not just legit, it is essential.
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Are the Qualifications issued by Churchill Education through RPL legitimate?
Initially, Churchill Education partnered with a range of Registered Training Organisations to issue the qualifications. In that first year, Randall and Tricia worked hard to meet the Australian Government’s criteria to open their own Registered Training Organisation.
On 23 February, 2007, after completing an extensive in person audit process, they were given that approval by the Australian Government. You can see the approval dates and information on the Australian Government’s training website here: https://training.gov.au/Organisation/Details/31430 (click on Registration).
As a Registered Training Organisation, Churchill Education must abide by Standards set by the Australian Government’s Regulator, Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA). This also involves having its registration periodically reviewed and withstanding the scrutiny of audits where the Regulator visits the Churchill office and goes through actual client files.
Churchill Education can only issue the qualifications approved by ASQA and put on its scope of registration (which sets out the limits of the qualifications).
Churchill Education is currently endorsed as a legitimate RTO by its regulator until 10 February 2031. Leading up to that date, Churchill will apply to extend its registration for another 7 years (the maximum permitted).
Churchill Education is here to help you…
Once you are satisfied that Churchill Education is legit, we are here to help you.
If you would like to check your eligibility for qualifications through RPL we encourage you to get in touch via one of the below methods and book a free assessment…
hello@churchilleducation.edu.au or 1300 793 002
