Frequently Asked Questions

Our favourite topic!

Churchill Education was established over ten years ago, when one of our co-founders, Randall Smith, left his role as a Senior Detective with the Queensland Police Service. Randall worked with an RTO to attain qualifications through Recognition of Prior Learning, and was surprised and frustrated at how difficult and time-consuming the process was. He decided that RPL would form the basis for his next career, and that he would offer a service that was easy for the customer, ethical in how it was conducted, and driven by the needs and ambitions of the customer, rather than a provider concerned only with profit. Getting recognition for your hard work over the years should be rewarding – not a chore, and certainly not a swindle!

At Churchill Education, we are:

Reliable –we keep lines of communication open and are easy to contact by phone or email.

Reputable – we have built a reputation for quality and integrity over more than ten years

Efficient – we understand the importance of streamlining the RPL process

Honest – we are upfront about costs and we won’t try and sell you unnecessary qualifications

Transparent – we are open about our process and believe it stands up to scrutiny

Customer-focused – we ask you what you want and are guided by you.

Gaining a qualification through RPL after leaving a defence career can make you eligible for jobs in a wide variety of industries. This includes the government, public sector, private sector, or even mining!

The main piece of evidence required to begin assessing your suitability for qualifications through RPL is a copy of your full ADO Service Record. This should be available from your Clerks. You should also provide two of the following items:

• A recent PAR
• An ROA
• Your Duty Statement
• An ADF-issued certificate
• A promotion or posting notice
• Commedations
• Desensitised pay slip.

Gaining your defence qualification through RPL formalises the valuable skills and knowledge you’ve built during your career and recognised your service. This demonstrates your experience to employers and can help you enter a civilian career, without needing to study further or spend time getting certified for the skills you already have.

Specifically, Churchill Education has helped defence personnel since 2006, with many members of our team having proud military careers themselves. We also have subject area experts and an in-house military mentor (formerly of the Special Forces community) available to you.

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) for the defence industry is a formal assessment process that turns the skills and knowledge developed during your defence career into nationally recognised qualifications. Your experience is matched against the requirements of each unit within the desired qualification, and you’re then awarded the credentials without completing any further study or sitting exams.

You can get a qualification through RPL while working full-time in education,as this assessment process requires no further study. Instead, it recognises the skills and knowledge you’ve already developed through your education career, and means you won’t have to study what you already know.

There is a wide variety of qualifications you can gain through RPL to boost your education career, depending on your goals and current experience. Educators hoping to progress into more senior roles may choose a Certificate IV, Diploma, or Advanced Diploma of Leadership and Management. Those working in the HR side of education may prefer a Human Resource Management qualification, ranging from a Certificate IV to an Advanced Diploma.

Apply for a qualification that demonstrates your experience in education through RPL by booking a complementary assessment with a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) like Churchill Education. An experienced advisor will map your existing skills and knowledge and recommend the qualifications you’re eligible for, based on the evidence you provide.

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) is a formal assessment process that turns the skills and knowledge developed during your education career into nationally recognised qualifications. Your experience is matched against the requirements of each unit within the desired qualification, and you’re then awarded the credentials without completing any further study or training.

Most people need a minimum of 6 months’ experience to be eligible for Certificate-level qualifications through RPL, though this varies between industries and subjects. More substantive experience may be required for Diploma-level or higher qualifications. 

Beyond the time spent in a role, the nature of the experience is just as important when calculating your eligibility for RPL. Work and life experience, volunteer work, and formal and informal training can also contribute to your portfolio of evidence for qualifications through RPL.

Choose the right qualification with RPL by assessing your skills, knowledge, work experience, and goals. By applying through a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) like Churchill Education, you’ll work with an expert advisor who will assess your skills and experience, and recommend the qualification subject and level you’re most eligible for. 

They will also consider your future career or higher education goals, and may suggest some further gap training to achieve a higher-level qualification if necessary.

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) is a formal assessment process that uses the skills and knowledge you already have to award nationally recognised qualifications. Your existing work experience is compared against the units each qualification comprises. If they match, you’re then awarded a certificate without needing to complete any further study.

Find out whether you’re eligible to gain a qualification through RPL by completing a free appraisal with a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) like Churchill Education. If you already have at least 5 years of current, relevant experience in your field, the chances are you will be eligible. The assessment process is carried out by an experienced Career & Education Advisor, who can recommend the qualifications that match your skillset best.

Qualifications in a wide variety of fields are available through RPL, including business, leadership, management, and human resources, government and investigations, health and safety, logistics, and security and risk management. They can help people in many industries formalise their existing work experience, from military and emergency services to business and administration, and many more. 

Qualifications achieved through RPL are also available at a range of levels, from Certificate IV to Advanced and Graduate Diplomas.

The cost of securing a qualification through RPL for mining varies depending on the exact qualification chosen, the amount of relevant experience you have, and the quality of your evidence. However, RPL costs around half as much as studying. With Churchill Education, the price also includes a dedicated Career & Education advisor to walk you through the process.

The length of the RPL process for those working in infrastructure varies depending on the qualification type and provider chosen. The overall timeframe also depends on how soon you can provide suitable documentation and whether any follow-up information is needed.

However, it takes just 14 days with Churchill Education, or 7 days through our VIP Fast-Track Service.

Gaining a business qualification through RPL benefits your infrastructure career by formalising your existing skills and knowledge, without needing to complete any additional study. The RPL process is significantly faster than traditional study and provides proof of your abilities to employers, which can help you achieve senior management or leadership positions in the infrastructure industry. It also highlights your transferable skills and can be used to enter a new industry.

RPL for infrastructure professionals is a formal assessment process that awards nationally recognised qualifications for the skills gained in your infrastructure career. These qualifications are awarded by Registered Training Organisations (RTO), who match your experience against the requirements of each unit within the qualification. You’re then awarded the credentials without completing any further study or learning what you already know.

The amount of time it takes to complete the RPL process for mining, including qualification matching and evidence assessment, varies depending on the provider you choose. The overall timeframe also depends on how soon you can provide suitable documentation and whether any follow-up information is needed.

However, it takes just 14 days with Churchill Education, or 7 days through our VIP Fast-Track Service.

Yes, every qualification you gain through RPL is nationally recognised and issued under the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF). They’re also exactly the same as those granted by other educational institutions, providing you secure the qualification through a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) like Churchill Education.

The cost of securing a qualification through RPL for mining varies depending on the exact qualification chosen, the amount of relevant experience you have, and the quality of your evidence. However, RPL costs around half as much as studying. With Churchill Education, the price also includes a dedicated Career & Education advisor to walk you through the process.

Achieving a qualification through RPL can help you pursue a range of higher-level mining careers, including supervisory and managerial mining roles. Recognising your existing mining career experience through RPL also demonstrates that you have the transferable skills to enter several other industries, including security, project management, trades, IT, administration, and more.

RPL for those who have worked or currently work in mining is a formal assessment process that converts your skills, knowledge, and experience into nationally recognised qualifications. These qualifications are exactly the same as those awarded through studying, but require no additional training. Instead, your existing experience is assessed against the qualification’s requirements.

Credit transfer applies if you have already completed a particular unit within a course. In order to receive credit, you’ll need to provide a statement of attainment or a transcript that shows the unit as completed. If it was some time ago that you studied, one or more of the units you studied may have been superseded. This means that they have been updated, and you need to complete the unit again.

Recognition of Prior Learning applies if you haven’t studied the unit previously, or if you have but it’s been superseded, and you have sufficient experience in that particular area to prove you don’t need to study it again. If you think you could be eligible for a credit transfer, we can help you with this.

People get qualifications through RPL for a variety of reasons. These include:

• To satisfy licensing or regulatory requirements within an industry
• To validate and consolidate skills acquired through experience
• To provide proof of abilities when going for a promotion
• To convert skills into a generalised format so they can be transferred to different industries
• To gain a measure of what level qualification your abilities equate to
• To cite as evidence of your currency in an area in order to train others
• To convert overseas qualifications and/or experience into Australian qualifications

RPL is a process in which the experience, skills, training and knowledge that you have built up in your career can be converted to nationally recognised qualifications. These qualifications are exactly the same as those awarded through studying.

Getting qualifications through RPL means that you don’t have to sit in a classroom and learn about things you already know. Instead, you can just show evidence that you’ve covered it in your work.

A lot of important learning happens while you’re on the job, not just when you’re sitting in a classroom. This sort of experiential learning is just as valid, and deserves to be acknowledged. What better way to do it than by getting a qualification?

The amount of time it takes to complete the RPL process for police, including qualification matching and evidence assessment, varies depending on the provider you choose. The overall timeframe also depends on how soon you can provide suitable documentation and whether any follow-up information is needed.

However, it takes just 14 days with Churchill Education, or 7 days through our VIP Fast-Track Service.

Some of the most popular qualifications for police and first responders that can help you transition into a new career include the Diploma of Government Investigations PSP50416, Diploma of Work Health and Safety BSB5131, Diploma of Leadership and Management BSB50420, and Diploma of Security Risk Management CPP50619.

You’re eligible to gain a qualification through RPL if you have current, relevant proof of experience working within the police force. However, if you’re not sure, the best way to confirm your eligibility is by completing an appraisal with a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) like Churchill Education. A Career & Education Advisor will assess your background, skills, experience, and evidence, and recommend the qualifications your police career makes you eligible for.

RPL (Recognition of Prior Learning) for police is an assessment process that turns your police or first responder career experience into nationally recognised qualifications. It assesses your existing skills and knowledge against a formal set of criteria to award you a qualification, without the need for any further study.

While we can’t offer official taxation advice, we can say that you may be able to claim the cost of qualifications achieved through RPL as a self-education expense. Seek further advice on this by speaking to your accountant or the Australian Tax Office. We’ve also had many customers take advantage of their tax refunds by using those sums to pay for RPL qualifications – and of course, we think education is always a good investment!

Payment options are available if you’d like to spread out the cost of your qualification into fortnightly repayments. For more information about payment options, click here.

Qualifications through RPL range in price from $1095 – $3600. You’ll find this info in the

‘Fees and Payment’ tab at the bottom of each qualification page.

This is one of the biggest misconceptions about RPL. When you work with certain providers, RPL can be very complicated and time-consuming. However, if you choose to work with Churchill, it will not be hard. Other providers may ask you to do the complicated mapping part of the process, in which you match your experience and skills to units within a qualification. We do that for you. We tell you exactly what evidence we need, and complete the process once you’ve provided it. RPL is only hard if you try to do it alone. With the right help, it’s easy.

That’s fine. The preliminary assessment is obligation-free, meaning that you may or may not choose to proceed with one or more qualifications once you get your results. We do provide guidance about which qualifications are the best fit for the career path you intend to pursue, and if we can’t help you with certain qualifications, we can point you in the direction of someone who can.

1. We conduct a free qualification appraisal and give you a report
2. You tell us the qualifications you want to go ahead with and provide evidence
3. You receive nationally recognised qualifications!

Let’s step this out a bit more:

Step 1. We conduct a free qualification appraisal and give you a report.

The RPL process begins with a conversation with one of our Skills Recognition Advisors.

• You tell us what you’re looking for and where you want to go
• You provide a few easily accessible documents
• You’ll be sent a report within 48 hours. This will include a breakdown of costs involved and lists the qualifications:
  • You could be eligible for right now
  • You could be eligible for with a little more online gap training.

This is cost-free and obligation-free.

Step 2. You tell us the qualifications you want and provide evidence.

You can make an informed decision about which qualifications are best for you and your career. Once this is confirmed, we can complete the process.

• We tell you exactly what evidence we need to establish your competency in the units that make up a qualification.
• You provide your evidence, then you can sit back and relax!
• We match the evidence to the units. This is called mapping. Other providers may get you to do this yourself.

Step 3. You receive nationally recognised qualifications!

Congratulations! Your experience has been validated and translated into nationally recognised qualifications.

You receive your qualifications though both email and post, within 14 days for most qualifications. Or, with our VIP Fast-Track Service, you can have them in just 7 days.

To save you time, we submit all the paperwork to the government for you. This formalises your qualifications.

Being able to demonstrate current, relevant evidence of the skills and experience gained during your public sector career makes you eligible to secure a qualification through RPL. The best way to confirm your eligibility is by completing an appraisal with a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) like Churchill Education. A Career & Education Advisor will assess your background, skills, experience, and evidence, and recommend the qualifications your police career makes you eligible for.

Yes, every public sector qualification you gain through RPL is nationally recognised and issued under the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF). They’re also exactly the same as those granted by other educational institutions, providing you secure the qualification through a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) like Churchill Education.

The best qualifications to gain through RPL for a public sector worker depend on your career goals and current experience level. However, some of the most popular choices include the Certificate IV in Government, Human Resource Management, or Leadership and Management. Those with more experience may consider the Advanced Diploma of Government or the Graudate Diploma of Strategic Leadership.

RPL (Recognition of Prior Learning) for the public sector is an assessment process that evaluates your existing public sector experience to help you gain nationally recognised qualifications. Rather than studying what you already know, this process assesses your skills against a set of criteria, and if you qualify, awards formal certifications that make you eligible for promotions, higher-level study, or careers in new industries.

The Australian Government provides a service for international students to have their overseas tertiary qualifications recognised. See Qualifications Recognition.

An RTO can consider experience gained from overseas when evaluating an application for RPL. Evidence must be validated in the same way as evidence produced form within Australia.

The first step in the RPL process is a preliminary assessment to determine which qualifications you could be eligible for, provided you have the requisite evidence. This is free and we don’t need a full suite of evidence at this stage – just a current position description and a resume. It’s always good to know what your options are. Then, if you progress, we can advise you on obtaining the evidence you need.

People who have gotten qualifications through RPL after leaving Defence have gone on to get jobs in mining, in various government departments or organisations and in the private sector. Read stories about RPL here.

Many people who have gained qualifications with Churchill Education have used them to gain credit towards further education, including Bachelor degrees or Masters at university. All nationally recognised qualifications can be used for credit transfer. Most universities state that the amount of credit granted depends on the specific application of an individual.

Yes. Churchill Education is a registered training organisation, RTO:31430. This means that we are regulated by the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA), the Australian Government regulatory body for the VET sector.

The qualifications that we offer are nationally recognised, and issued under the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF). Accordingly, they’re exactly the same as those granted by other educational institutions such as TAFE.

RPL can apply to a wide variety of industries. We award qualifications to people in government, mining, Defence, emergency services and throughout the private sector. We offer qualifications through RPL in the areas of government and investigations, management and leadership, business, security and risk, WHS.

RPL instalment payment plans are available through Churchill Education for any amounts over $995. Installments are paid over three months, with the first one made when you enroll. An electronic copy of your qualification will be issued 7 days after the final instalment is received.

Payment options for RPL vary based on the provider you choose, but Churchill Education offers a range of options to simplify the process. You can pay through bank transfer, debit card, or credit card, with an upfront payment or instalment plan. Other than Amex, you can pay any way you like as long as payments are made as agreed.

Yes, RPL is typically much cheaper than traditional study. Getting a qualification through Recognition of Prior Learning costs around half the price of other methods. It also saves you a significant amount of time, since no additional study is required.

The cost to secure a qualification through RPL varies depending on the Registered Training Organisation (RTO) chosen, the qualification type and level, the amount of relevant experience you have, and the quality of your evidence. However, RPL is significantly cheaper than traditional study and means you can continue working while gaining a nationally recognised qualification.

The amount of time it takes to complete the RPL process, including qualification matching and evidence assessment, varies depending on the provider you choose. The overall timeframe also depends on how soon you can provide suitable documentation and whether any follow-up information is needed.

However, it takes just 14 days with Churchill Education, or 7 days through our VIP Fast-Track Service.

You can secure a qualification through RPL while working full-time, as this assessment process requires no further study. Instead, it recognises the skills and knowledge you’ve already developed through your career, and means you won’t have to study what you already know.

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) is a formal assessment process that turns your existing work experience and skills into nationally recognised qualifications. Your experience is compared against the qualification requirements, and if they match, you’re awarded the credentials without completing any further study or sitting exams.

The best way to find out whether you’re eligible to secure a qualification through RPL is to complete a free qualification appraisal with a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) like Churchill Education. A Career & Education Advisor will assess your background, skills, experience, and evidence, and recommend the qualifications you may qualify for.

The length of the RPL process for security risk professionals varies depending on the provider you choose, the quality of evidence, how soon you can provide suitable documentation, and whether any further information is needed. However, it takes just 14 days with Churchill Education, or 7 days through our VIP Fast-Track Service.

The qualification you can gain through RPL with a security risk career depends on your work experience, the quality of your evidence, and the skills you can demonstrate. However, some of the most popular qualifications for those already working in this industry include the Certificate IV in Security Risk Management and the Diploma of Security Risk Management.

You’re eligible to gain a qualification through RPL if you have current, relevant proof of your experience working within the security risk industry. However, if you’re not sure, the best way to confirm your eligibility is by completing an appraisal with a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) like Churchill Education. A Career & Education Advisor will assess your background, skills, experience, and evidence, and recommend the qualifications your security career makes you eligible for.

Security risk RPL (Recognition of Prior Learning) is an assessment process that helps security risk management professionals gain formal certifications for their existing work experience. It converts the skills and knowledge already developed throughout your security career into nationally recognised qualifications, which can be used to

If you have experience in a human resources-based government role, the best certificate to help make progress in your HR career is a Certificate IV in Government (Human Resources) from a registered training organisation (RTO).

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