In this special reflection episode, Angela Connell-Richards shares an honest and insightful look at what the first month under the new 2025 Standards has really been like. From wins and breakthroughs to unexpected challenges, Angela takes you behind the scenes of her work with RTOs over the past month—revealing what’s working, what’s still settling, and what everyone should be paying attention to as the sector adjusts.

Key points discussed:
✅ How RTOs are adapting to the 2025 Standards in practice
✅ The biggest lessons learned (so far) from the first month
✅ Surprising trends and common roadblocks emerging across the sector
✅ What Angela and the Vivacity team have changed in their approach after working with clients under the new framework

Angela’s candid reflections will help you benchmark your own progress and get ahead of potential pitfalls. Whether you’re feeling confident or still finding your feet, this episode offers reassurance, clarity, and guidance for staying strong in the months ahead.

🎧 Call to action: Listen now and join Angela’s free online session, One Month On: Your RTO Check-In, at Vivacity to connect, reflect, and map out your next steps.

Send us a text

Join host Angela Connell-Richards as she opens each episode with a burst of insight and inspiration. Discover why compliance is your launchpad to success, not a limitation.

Wrap up with gratitude and guidance. Subscribe, leave a review, and join our community as we continue supporting your compliance journey in vocational education.

Support the show

Thank you for tuning in to the RTO Superhero Podcast!

We’re excited to have you join us as we focus on the Revised Standards for RTOs in 2025. Together, we’ll explore key changes, compliance strategies, and actionable insights to help your RTO thrive under the new standards.

Stay connected with the RTO Community:

• RTO Job Board Facebook
• RTO Job Board LinkedIn
• RTO Community Facebook

📌 Don’t forget to:
✔ Subscribe to the RTO Superhero Podcast so you never miss an episode!
✔ Share this episode with your RTO network—compliance is a team effort!

🎙 Listen now and get ahead of the compliance changes before it’s too late!

📢 Want even more compliance insights? Subscribe to our EduStream YouTube Channel for our FAQ series on the New Standards for RTOs 2025! 🎥

🔗 Subscribe now: EduStream by Vivacity Coaching

✉️ Email us at hello@vivacity.com.au
📞 Call us on 1300 729 455
🖥️ Visit us at vivacity.com.au

In this crucial episode, Angela Connell-Richards sheds light on one of the fastest-growing audit triggers under the 2025 Standards: complaints. Even one unresolved student complaint can lead to a full ASQA investigation—so how you respond matters more than ever.

Key points discussed:
✅ How ASQA uses complaints to trigger audits
✅ What makes a compliant, defensible response process
✅ How to train your team to handle feedback and escalation
✅ What documentation you must retain to protect your RTO

Angela provides a framework to turn complaints into opportunities for improvement—and a shield against unexpected audits.

Listen now and download Angela’s free Complaint Response Template to strengthen your process today.

Send us a text

Join host Angela Connell-Richards as she opens each episode with a burst of insight and inspiration. Discover why compliance is your launchpad to success, not a limitation.

Wrap up with gratitude and guidance. Subscribe, leave a review, and join our community as we continue supporting your compliance journey in vocational education.

Support the show

Thank you for tuning in to the RTO Superhero Podcast!

We’re excited to have you join us as we focus on the Revised Standards for RTOs in 2025. Together, we’ll explore key changes, compliance strategies, and actionable insights to help your RTO thrive under the new standards.

Stay connected with the RTO Community:

• RTO Job Board Facebook
• RTO Job Board LinkedIn
• RTO Community Facebook

📌 Don’t forget to:
✔ Subscribe to the RTO Superhero Podcast so you never miss an episode!
✔ Share this episode with your RTO network—compliance is a team effort!

🎙 Listen now and get ahead of the compliance changes before it’s too late!

📢 Want even more compliance insights? Subscribe to our EduStream YouTube Channel for our FAQ series on the New Standards for RTOs 2025! 🎥

🔗 Subscribe now: EduStream by Vivacity Coaching

✉️ Email us at hello@vivacity.com.au
📞 Call us on 1300 729 455
🖥️ Visit us at vivacity.com.au

In this high-stakes episode, Angela Connell-Richards breaks down the reality of delivering high-risk training products in the VET sector. From early childhood to cookery, some qualifications are magnets for ASQA scrutiny—and Angela shows you how to stay protected.

Key points discussed:
✅ What defines a “high-risk” qualification or unit
✅ How to assess and strengthen your delivery of risky products
✅ Common pitfalls in assessment, placement, and validation
✅ Evidence strategies to demonstrate quality and improvement

Angela gives you the tools to handle high-risk delivery areas with confidence and audit-readiness.

Listen now and download Angela’s free High-Risk Product Watchlist to assess and manage your most vulnerable qualifications.

Send us a text

Join host Angela Connell-Richards as she opens each episode with a burst of insight and inspiration. Discover why compliance is your launchpad to success, not a limitation.

Wrap up with gratitude and guidance. Subscribe, leave a review, and join our community as we continue supporting your compliance journey in vocational education.

Support the show

Thank you for tuning in to the RTO Superhero Podcast!

We’re excited to have you join us as we focus on the Revised Standards for RTOs in 2025. Together, we’ll explore key changes, compliance strategies, and actionable insights to help your RTO thrive under the new standards.

Stay connected with the RTO Community:

• RTO Job Board Facebook
• RTO Job Board LinkedIn
• RTO Community Facebook

📌 Don’t forget to:
✔ Subscribe to the RTO Superhero Podcast so you never miss an episode!
✔ Share this episode with your RTO network—compliance is a team effort!

🎙 Listen now and get ahead of the compliance changes before it’s too late!

📢 Want even more compliance insights? Subscribe to our EduStream YouTube Channel for our FAQ series on the New Standards for RTOs 2025! 🎥

🔗 Subscribe now: EduStream by Vivacity Coaching

✉️ Email us at hello@vivacity.com.au
📞 Call us on 1300 729 455
🖥️ Visit us at vivacity.com.au

We've crossed the 1 July 2025 compliance deadline, but the real work for RTOs starts now. Having updated policies alone doesn't make you audit-ready, especially as ASQA adopts a more vigilant, risk-based approach to monitoring.

• Top three post-deadline compliance traps: assuming document updates equal compliance, underestimating audit triggers, and failing to implement self-assurance
• ASQA can now trigger audits through scope additions, student complaints, high-risk delivery, or routine risk assessments
• Self-assurance requires demonstrating continuous improvement, feedback collection, and staff training on new standards
• Three immediate actions: conduct a compliance health check, brief your entire team, and track evidence weekly
• Download our free 30-day compliance health check to identify gaps before ASQA does

Next week we'll dive into the biggest audit blind spots: scope changes and the compliance traps they trigger. Be sure to subscribe, share and download your compliance health check now.

Send us a text

Join host Angela Connell-Richards as she opens each episode with a burst of insight and inspiration. Discover why compliance is your launchpad to success, not a limitation.

Wrap up with gratitude and guidance. Subscribe, leave a review, and join our community as we continue supporting your compliance journey in vocational education.

Support the show

Thank you for tuning in to the RTO Superhero Podcast!

We’re excited to have you join us as we focus on the Revised Standards for RTOs in 2025. Together, we’ll explore key changes, compliance strategies, and actionable insights to help your RTO thrive under the new standards.

Stay connected with the RTO Community:

• RTO Job Board Facebook
• RTO Job Board LinkedIn
• RTO Community Facebook

📌 Don’t forget to:
✔ Subscribe to the RTO Superhero Podcast so you never miss an episode!
✔ Share this episode with your RTO network—compliance is a team effort!

🎙 Listen now and get ahead of the compliance changes before it’s too late!

📢 Want even more compliance insights? Subscribe to our EduStream YouTube Channel for our FAQ series on the New Standards for RTOs 2025! 🎥

🔗 Subscribe now: EduStream by Vivacity Coaching

✉️ Email us at hello@vivacity.com.au
📞 Call us on 1300 729 455
🖥️ Visit us at vivacity.com.au

In this timely episode, Angela Connell-Richards explores the compliance risks that come with adding courses to your RTO’s scope—especially under the 2025 Standards. What seems like growth can quickly turn into an audit nightmare without the right preparation.

Key points discussed:
✅ The audit risks tied to scope additions and amendments
✅ How to pre-assess your readiness before submitting a scope application
✅ The evidence ASQA looks for when reviewing new course delivery
✅ How to align your TAS, trainers, and resources before expansion

Angela helps you build a proactive process for safe, strategic scope growth—without putting your registration at risk.

Listen now and download Angela’s free Scope Expansion Readiness Tool to audit-proof your next course launch.

Send us a text

Join host Angela Connell-Richards as she opens each episode with a burst of insight and inspiration. Discover why compliance is your launchpad to success, not a limitation.

Wrap up with gratitude and guidance. Subscribe, leave a review, and join our community as we continue supporting your compliance journey in vocational education.

Support the show

Thank you for tuning in to the RTO Superhero Podcast!

We’re excited to have you join us as we focus on the Revised Standards for RTOs in 2025. Together, we’ll explore key changes, compliance strategies, and actionable insights to help your RTO thrive under the new standards.

Stay connected with the RTO Community:

• RTO Job Board Facebook
• RTO Job Board LinkedIn
• RTO Community Facebook

📌 Don’t forget to:
✔ Subscribe to the RTO Superhero Podcast so you never miss an episode!
✔ Share this episode with your RTO network—compliance is a team effort!

🎙 Listen now and get ahead of the compliance changes before it’s too late!

📢 Want even more compliance insights? Subscribe to our EduStream YouTube Channel for our FAQ series on the New Standards for RTOs 2025! 🎥

🔗 Subscribe now: EduStream by Vivacity Coaching

✉️ Email us at hello@vivacity.com.au
📞 Call us on 1300 729 455
🖥️ Visit us at vivacity.com.au

🎙 In this episode of the RTO Superhero Podcast, Angela Connell-Richards and co-host Lauren Hollows tackle a confronting reality in Australia’s VET sector—how arbitrary funding decisions are crippling high-performing private RTOs.

Despite delivering 80% of Australia’s training, private RTOs receive just 30% of government funding. Even worse? RTOs with exceptional outcomes are being denied funding simply because their success happened in the “wrong” state.

🚨 What’s happening behind the scenes:

• 📉 Outstanding RTOs excluded from funding programs due to postcode politics
• 📊 “Mom and pop” RTOs pushed out by skyrocketing compliance costs
• 📈 One RTO slashed unit completion times from 400 to 84 days—just by using their own data better

Angela and Lauren unpack how this imbalance is reshaping Australia’s training landscape—and why it’s time to stop pitting TAFE vs. private RTOs and start building collaborative solutions.

✅ What you’ll learn in this episode:

• The real cost of underfunding private RTOs—and who’s paying for it
• Why compliance pressure is forcing quality providers out of the sector
• How data-driven management can dramatically improve performance
• What it will take to create a sustainable, student-focused training system

🎧 Tune in to hear what’s really happening—and how you can help fix it.

✍️ Support the cause: change.org/save_private_rtos

Send us a text

Join host Angela Connell-Richards as she opens each episode with a burst of insight and inspiration. Discover why compliance is your launchpad to success, not a limitation.

Connect with fellow RTO professionals in our free Facebook groups: the RTO Community and RTO Job Board. Visit rtosuperhero.au/groups to join today.

Ready to elevate your RTO? Join our Superhero Membership community and gain access to expert resources, training, and personalised support to help you thrive.

Wrap up with gratitude and guidance. Subscribe, leave a review, and join our community as we continue supporting your compliance journey in vocational education.

Support the show

Thank you for tuning in to the RTO Superhero Podcast!

We’re excited to have you join us as we focus on the Revised Standards for RTOs in 2025. Together, we’ll explore key changes, compliance strategies, and actionable insights to help your RTO thrive under the new standards.

Stay connected with the RTO Community:

• RTO Job Board Facebook
• RTO Job Board LinkedIn
• RTO Community Facebook

📌 Don’t forget to:
✔ Subscribe to the RTO Superhero Podcast so you never miss an episode!
✔ Share this episode with your RTO network—compliance is a team effort!

🎙 Listen now and get ahead of the compliance changes before it’s too late!

📢 Want even more compliance insights? Subscribe to our EduStream YouTube Channel for our FAQ series on the New Standards for RTOs 2025! 🎥

🔗 Subscribe now: EduStream by Vivacity Coaching

✉️ Email us at hello@vivacity.com.au
📞 Call us on 1300 729 455
🖥️ Visit us at vivacity.com.au

In this forward-looking episode, Angela Connell-Richards explores what it takes for RTOs to move beyond the 1 July 2025 Standards deadline and embrace a culture of continuous self-assurance. Rather than treating compliance as a checklist, Angela invites you to reframe it as an ongoing journey of quality, improvement, and organisational excellence.

Key points discussed:
✅ What “self-assurance” really means under the 2025 Standards
✅ How to embed continuous improvement across all Quality Areas
✅ The role of leadership, team culture, and systems in sustaining compliance
✅ Tools and strategies to help your RTO thrive—not just survive—beyond audit day

Angela shares her practical wisdom on how RTOs can future-proof their operations and transform compliance from a burden into a genuine business advantage. This episode will inspire leaders ready to elevate their organisation’s mindset and impact.

🎧 Call to action: Listen now and download Angela’s free Self-Assurance Starter Guide at Vivacity to start building a culture of excellence in your RTO today.

Send us a text

Join host Angela Connell-Richards as she opens each episode with a burst of insight and inspiration. Discover why compliance is your launchpad to success, not a limitation.

Wrap up with gratitude and guidance. Subscribe, leave a review, and join our community as we continue supporting your compliance journey in vocational education.

Support the show

Thank you for tuning in to the RTO Superhero Podcast!

We’re excited to have you join us as we focus on the Revised Standards for RTOs in 2025. Together, we’ll explore key changes, compliance strategies, and actionable insights to help your RTO thrive under the new standards.

Stay connected with the RTO Community:

• RTO Job Board Facebook
• RTO Job Board LinkedIn
• RTO Community Facebook

📌 Don’t forget to:
✔ Subscribe to the RTO Superhero Podcast so you never miss an episode!
✔ Share this episode with your RTO network—compliance is a team effort!

🎙 Listen now and get ahead of the compliance changes before it’s too late!

📢 Want even more compliance insights? Subscribe to our EduStream YouTube Channel for our FAQ series on the New Standards for RTOs 2025! 🎥

🔗 Subscribe now: EduStream by Vivacity Coaching

✉️ Email us at hello@vivacity.com.au
📞 Call us on 1300 729 455
🖥️ Visit us at vivacity.com.au

🎙 In this episode of the RTO Superhero Podcast, Angela Connell-Richards, with Lauren Hollows, dives into one of the biggest funding battles in Australia’s VET sector—the growing inequality between TAFE NSW and private RTOs.

Private RTOs are under increasing pressure as TAFE NSW now receives 80% of all Smart and Skilled funding—despite data showing private providers deliver better outcomes at lower costs.

🚨 Here’s what’s at stake:

• 📊 Private RTOs boast higher completion rates (54%) vs. TAFE’s 43%
• 💰 For every $1 spent on a private RTO, $3.34 is spent on TAFE
• ✅ Student and employer satisfaction consistently favours private providers

Angela explores the real impact of this funding imbalance, from regional RTO closures to TAFE’s capacity crisis—outdated facilities, digital access issues, and staff shortages.

She also uncovers the hidden flaw in “fee-free” training: ❗️low student commitment and poor completion rates, leading to wasted resources and skills shortages.

✅ What you’ll learn in this episode:

• Why the “dodgy RTO” myth doesn’t hold up to the data
• How current funding decisions risk collapsing the support ecosystem for quality training
• The unintended consequences of centralising training delivery
• What we must do now to protect student choice, innovation, and training diversity in Australia

🎧 Tune in to join the fight for fair, equitable funding—and learn how you can take action.

✍️ Sign the petition: change.org/save_private_rtos

Send us a text

Join host Angela Connell-Richards as she opens each episode with a burst of insight and inspiration. Discover why compliance is your launchpad to success, not a limitation.

Connect with fellow RTO professionals in our free Facebook groups: the RTO Community and RTO Job Board. Visit rtosuperhero.au/groups to join today.

Wrap up with gratitude and guidance. Subscribe, leave a review, and join our community as we continue supporting your compliance journey in vocational education.

Support the show

Thank you for tuning in to the RTO Superhero Podcast!

We’re excited to have you join us as we focus on the Revised Standards for RTOs in 2025. Together, we’ll explore key changes, compliance strategies, and actionable insights to help your RTO thrive under the new standards.

Stay connected with the RTO Community:

• RTO Job Board Facebook
• RTO Job Board LinkedIn
• RTO Community Facebook

📌 Don’t forget to:
✔ Subscribe to the RTO Superhero Podcast so you never miss an episode!
✔ Share this episode with your RTO network—compliance is a team effort!

🎙 Listen now and get ahead of the compliance changes before it’s too late!

📢 Want even more compliance insights? Subscribe to our EduStream YouTube Channel for our FAQ series on the New Standards for RTOs 2025! 🎥

🔗 Subscribe now: EduStream by Vivacity Coaching

✉️ Email us at hello@vivacity.com.au
📞 Call us on 1300 729 455
🖥️ Visit us at vivacity.com.au