Creating inclusive pathways into education

Transcript

NARRATOR: In this case study, Danicka Ryan from TAFE New South Wales talks about creating inclusive pathways into education.

DANICKA RYAN: My name is Danicka Ryan. I am a 31-year-old female and my pronouns are she, her. I have light brown hair and I am wearing a bright pink button-down top. I'm lucky enough to work at TAFE New South Wales and my role is Manager of Regulatory Governance and Compliance in the Course Development and Quality Branch.

I have been at TAFE for eight years and regardless of my role, my work has always focused on educational quality, regulatory readiness, student support, inclusive practice and strengthening the student experience across Vocational Education and Training. I've always believed wholeheartedly in the power of education to change lives.

NARRATOR: What is the program you are sharing with us today?

DANICKA: I'm really proud to speak today about Find Your Fit because it brings together a number of things that matter deeply in VET. Access, equity, student confidence, LLND, and making sure that students are supported before they even begin. At TAFE New South Wales, we have an incredibly diverse student cohort. Students come to us with different levels of confidence, different educational experiences, different digital literacy skills, different support needs, and different reasons for studying.

Find Your Fit is one way we're trying to meet students earlier in a more supportive and inclusive way, and we're seeing some really incredible results after only one year. The tool was developed by TAFE New South Wales inhouse to support all of our prospective students prior to enrolment. It is a short, accessible, public-f facing tool that helps our prospective students reflect on their language literacy, numeracy, and digital literacy skills. Based on the prospective students’ responses, Find Your Fit provides an early indication of whether a course level may be the right fit for them or whether they may benefit from exploring alternate options or speaking with one of our staff members for additional guidance or support. One of the most important things about Find Your Fit is that it is not designed to be intimidating. It is not a high stakes test and it's not intended to create a barrier to enrolment. It's truly the beginning of a supportive conversation. It helps students think about what they may need to succeed and it helps New South Wales identify early where support may be required in the student journey. That's what makes this tool so powerful. It takes something that can sometimes feel complex or deficit based and reframes LLND for what it should truly be known for. a warm, practical, and supportive way to help students find the right pathway for them, ultimately leading to study success, whatever that might look like.

NARRATOR: What led to the development of this program?

DANICKA: Find Your Fit was developed in response to both a regulatory shift and a student support opportunity. Under the new 2025 standards, education providers are required to review prospective students’ skills and competencies prior to enrolment, including their language literacy, numeracy, and digital literacy skills. Providers also need to advise students about whether a training product is suitable for them based on that review. When developing Find Your Fit, it was not just about compliance. It was about asking how do we do this in a way that feels human, accessible, and helpful. We know that many students enter education with different levels of confidence. Some are returning to study after a long time. Some may have had negative experiences within the education system. Some may have disability, learning support needs, low digital literacy confidence or uncertainty about what a course will actually involve. So the opportunity was to create something that supports students before they enrol. something that helps them understand the expectations of the chosen course, connect with support early, and feel more confident in their decision to enrol with us. Find Your Fit was developed as a first LLND indicator. It helps us understand whether a student appears to be well matched to their chosen course level or whether they may need to seek additional advice, support, or a more detailed L &D review with a specialist who can help.

NARRATOR: How was the program designed and implemented?

DANICKA: Find Your Fit was initiated in response to the shift in the RTO standards, particularly the stronger focus on reviewing a student skills and competencies prior to enrolment. For TAFE New South Wales this was not just a compliance exercise. It was an opportunity to rethink how we engage with students early, how we identify LLND and digital capability needs, and how we make that process feel supportive rather than intimidating. Find Your Fit was built in-house by TAFE New South Wales and that's something that we're really proud of. It was designed through genuine collaboration between teams with expertise in LLND, accessibility, diversity and inclusion, student support, educational quality, regulatory and compliance and also digital design. The work was strongly informed by regulatory drivers, the Australian core skills framework and the dig framework. But student experience was intentionally kept simple. We did not want prospective students to feel like they were sitting in a formal test before they had even started. We wanted Find Your Fit to feel clear, supportive, and easy to complete. Find Your Fit was deliberately designed to be short, engaging, and practical. We wanted to avoid testing fatigue, particularly for students who may already be feeling anxious about returning to study, unsure about their skills, their learning support needs, or who may already have low digital literacy confidence. Rather than asking students to complete a long assessment at the first point of contact, Find Your Fit provides a first indicator directly to the student of what study level is best suited to them.

Accessibility was always front of mind for us and built into the design from the beginning. Find your fit was tested with a screen reader to help ensure students using assistive technology could access it prior to implementation. We also focused carefully on plain language, clear structure, ease of navigation. This was really important for us to get right because a tool designed to support inclusion itself has to be inclusive, particularly when it is a digital tool. Find Your Fit is also part of a broader holistic support model that was also developed. It does not replace LLND specialists or comprehensive diagnostic assessment. Instead, it provides that first early indicator of where support may be needed or further support may be needed. If a student's responses suggest they may benefit from further support, this can then lead to more detailed testing or review by specialist staff. Find your fit is also integrated with our customer relationship management system which is managed by frontline staff. This can help them to guide students through the tool if required. Help them understand their Find Your Fit results and connect them with the right advice, course pathway or additional support services. So the tool supports early identification while still keeping people, expert judgment and specialist support at the heart of it. What was really special about the development of Find Your Fit was the pace and collaboration. The tool was developed in just under 12 weeks and it genuinely felt like a magic 12 weeks. Not because it was easy, it certainly wasn't, but because everybody came together around the same purpose, making the first step into study clearer, warmer, and more supportive for students. There was a shared sense of purpose across the teams involved. Everyone understood that this was about more than just a tool. It was about starting a bigger shift in how TAFE New South Wales supports students prior to enrolment. how we talk about LLND and how we create a more accessible and engaging first step into study.

NARRATOR: What outcomes and improvements have you seen?

DANICKA: One of the strongest outcomes has been the level of engagement. In the last year, more than 150,000 students have engaged or prospective students have engaged with Find Your Fit with reporting currently showing 156,558 completed surveys with an average of 442 engagements per day, which has remained incredibly stable week on week with little variation. So 442 people using Find Your Fit daily, which is pretty incredible. That level of engagement tells us there is a real need for simple, accessible pre-enrolment support. Students are willing to engage with LLND guidance when it's presented in a way that's respectful, practical, and easy to access. We can also see from the reporting that the tool is not creating unnecessary burden for prospective students. Almost half of the people who have engaged with Find Your Fit complete it in under one minute. 72.5% complete it in under two minutes and 96.5% complete it in under five minutes. That's really important for us to monitor because we want to make sure that we're avoiding testing fatigue, particularly for students who may already feel anxious about study, unsure about their skills, or overwhelmed by formal testing.

The tool has helped us to create an earlier support point in the student journey. Rather than waiting until a student has enrolled, commenced training or starting to struggle, Find Your Fit gives TAFE New South Wales a first indicator of potential support needs much earlier. The reporting also shows how Find Your Fit supports course matching. We can see the Find Your Fit result, whether the student went on to enrol and the course they went to enrol in. For example, current reporting shows us students who completed the survey and then enrolled in a course, including students enrolling in courses above or below the initial Find Your Fit recommended level. That information is incredibly useful because it helps student support staff have a more informed conversation with students about whether they are in the right course, whether additional support may be needed, or whether an alternate pathway might be a better fit.

One of the really positive outcomes has been the way that Find Your Fit has opened up conversations. It gives frontline staff a practical and non-judgmental starting point to talk with prospective students about their skills, confidence, support needs, and goals. It also gives prospective students a way to ask questions early before they're in a classroom or feeling like they're already behind. that helps reduce stigma and bias around LLND because the conversation becomes less about what a student can't do and more about what they need to feel confident, prepared, and supported. This is particularly important from an equity perspective. Early advice can make a significant difference for students who may need additional support, reasonable adjustments, foundation skills development, or help choosing a course that better matches their current skills and goals. It empowers students to make informed decisions and it helps staff provide support in a way that is strength-based and timely. So the improvement is not just the number of students using the tool and the engagement. It's the fact that Find Your Fit gives us a practical, accessible and scalable way to identify support needs early guide students into the right course, open up meaningful conversations and connect students with the right support before challenges become barriers.

NARRATOR: How have you measured the impact of the program?

DANICKA: The evidence that we've collected is a mix of data, reporting insights, course matching information, and operational feedback. From a reporting perspective, we're able to track how many students are engaging with Find Your Fit, how long it takes them to complete their Find Your Fit result, and whether they then go on to enrol in a course at TAFE New South Wales. that gives us a strong evidence base to understand both the scale of engagement and how the tool is being used to inform the student journey. One of the most valuable pieces of evidence is the enrolment analysis. We can see the course a student enrols in after completing Find Your Fit, including whether that course appears to be aligned to higher than or lower than their initial Find Your Fit result. that gives us practical insight into course matching and helps identify where students may need additional advice, support, or a more detailed comprehensive diagnostic assessment.

We've also collected evidence through the way that the tool is being used. Student support and frontline teams can use Find Your Fit results to open conversations with students about their goals, competence, course options, and support needs. That is important because the impact is not just measured by completion numbers. It's measured by whether the tool helps create earlier, better, and more supportive conversations. There is also evidence in the design and implementation process itself. The tool was mapped against the relevant LLND and digital capability frameworks including the ACSF and Digcom framework and was tested for accessibility including with a screen reader. That gives us confidence that the tool is not only supporting compliance with the pre-enrolment review requirements under the RTO standards, but it is doing so in a way that is accessible and inclusive. The evidence collected shows that Find Your Fit is operating as intended. It's being used at scale. Students are completing it quickly. Staff can use the results to support conversations and course matching. and students who may need further support can be identified earlier and referred into more comprehensive testing where required.

NARRATOR: What feedback have you received from participants?

DANICKA: The feedback so far has been that Find Your Fit is simple, accessible, and useful. Staff have appreciated that it gives students an easy first step into what can sometimes be a sensitive area. It helps open up conversations around LLND and digital literacy skills. without making students feel judged or discouraged. Student support staff have also valued being able to view results and use them to guide conversations with students. It gives them a starting point to ask better questions, provide more targeted advice, and help students find the course that is generally the right fit for them. For students, the benefit is that it's not overwhelming. It does not feel like a formal exam. It's short. It's practical. It's supportive. That matters because we do not want the first interaction with LLND support to feel like a barrier. We want it to feel like TAFE New South Wales is saying we want to understand what you need and we want to help you succeed. Now that Find Your Fit has reached the 12 month mark, we are also undertaking a comprehensive review of the tool and the broader student experience around it. That review will not only look at the functionality of the tool itself, but at how students experience the process, how clearly they understand their results, how supported they felt afterwards, and whether the tool helped them make a more informed decision about their course and their study decision. We are planning to seek broader feedback from students, frontline staff, student support teams, and LLND specialists. That is really, really important because the success of Find Your Fit is just is not just whether students complete it. It is whether it helps open the right conversations, reduces stigma, improves course matching, reduces attrition and connects students with the right support at the right time. So the next stage of feedback is about understanding the full journey from the students first interaction with Find Your Fit through to enrolment support conversations and where needed referral to more comprehensive LLND support that will help us to continue to improve Find Your Fit and strengthen it as part of a more supportive inclusive and student centred pre-enrolment experience.

NARRATOR: Were there any unexpected benefits?

DANICKA: Yes, one of the most exciting unexpected benefits has been the shift in mindset it has started to create across the broad organization and the way that it has extended LLND conversations out to prospective students much earlier in their journey. Find your fit has helped bring LLND conversations forward prior to enrolment before a student is in the classroom and before a challenge becomes a barrier. We are creating a way to have conversations earlier, more positively, and with more care. It has also created a self-service opportunity for prospective students in an area that can otherwise feel daunting. LLND and course readiness can feel overwhelming, particularly for students who are returning to study, unsure about their skills, or nervous about asking for help.

Find Your Fit gives students a safe and accessible way to pause, reflect, and think about what they might need before they enrol. That's really empowering. It gives students information so that they can use it to make a more informed decision and it can give them confidence and language to approach conversations with student support staff, teachers, or LLND specialists. Instead of the conversation coming from a place of uncertainty or stigma, students can come into it with a clearer sense of their goals, their confidence, and the support they might need. And that's a really powerful shift. It has also reinforced that accessibility and inclusion cannot be treated as add-ons. They need to be part of the thinking from the very beginning in the idea, the design, the language, the technology, the reporting and the support model wrapped around the tool. Another unexpected benefit is that Find Your Fit has given us a foundation for something much bigger. Find your fit is not just a tool. It is the starting point for a more supportive, engaging, and consistent LLND experience at TAFE New South Wales. For me, that's the most exciting part. Find Your Fit has helped us start to reimagine what early student support success can look like. It shows that a pre-enrolment process can be accessible, self-directed, strength-based, and empowering while still giving us meaningful information to support students.

NARRATOR: Well, were there any challenges, and how were they addressed?

DANICKA: One of the biggest challenges was balancing compliance, student experience, and accessibility. The 2025 stands require RTO's to have a clear process for reviewing a student's skills and competencies prior to enrolment, but we were really conscious of the way that we responded to that requirement. We did not want to create something that felt heavy, clinical, or discouraging to students, especially when LLND can already feel sensitive or daunting. So we made a very deliberate decision to design Find Your Fit as a first indicator, not a full diagnostic assessment. That distinction was really important because it allows us to identify potential support needs early while avoiding unnecessary testing fatigue for our prospective students. It also keeps the first step into the study as positive and accessible as possible. Another challenge was making sure the tool could work for a very diverse student cohort. TAFE New South Wales students come with different levels of confidence, digital skills, education histories and access needs. We address this through inclusive design, plain language, clear navigation, and screen reader testing so students using assistive technology could access the tool. We also needed to make sure the tool was grounded in strong educational practice. The design was informed by the ACSF and dig framework with input and design from LLND specialists from the very beginning. So that even though we kept the student experience simple, the thinking behind it is comprehensive and robust. Another important challenge was helping staff understand where Find Your Fit sits in the broader support process. It does not replace eld specialist comprehensive diagnostic assessment or professional judgment. It helps identify what specialist support may be needed and it gives frontline and student support staff a practical starting point for earlier [clears throat] quality conversations with students. So the way we address the challenges that we face throughout this project was by keeping the student at the centre. We asked how do we meet the standards, support quality decision making, reduce stigma, avoid testing fatigue and still make the process feel warm, accessible and empowering. and Find Your Fit was our response to that. What advice would you give to others? My advice would be start with the student, not the process. For many students, especially those who are returning to study, unsure of their skills, nervous about asking for help.

The pre-enrolment stage can feel like a really big step. If the process feels confusing, inaccessible, or like a test they might fail, we really risk losing them before we've even had a chance to begin. I would encourage others in the VET sector to think about LLND as part of understanding the learner, not as a deficit or a problem to be fixed. It's about asking what does this student need to feel prepared, confident, and supported, and how can we provide that? Design with care from the beginning. Use plain English. Test with assistive technology. Involve specialists, frontline staff, and people who actually have conversations with students every day. They'll often see and experience things that a project team will miss. I would also say do not be afraid to think outside the box. Sometimes compliance can make us feel as though we need to build something very formal or procedural, but there is so much room for creativity, warmth, and innovation there. Bring your blue sky thinking to life, involve the right people, and watch magic happen. Importantly, do not expect one tool to do everything. Find your fit works because it sits within a broader support ecosystem. It provides an early indication, but the real value comes from what happens next. The conversations, the guidance, the support, the LLND specialists, and where needed more comprehensive assessment. For me, the advice is meet the standards in a way that still feels human. Build something that gives students confidence, not another reason to doubt themselves or their decision to study.

NARRATOR: What is the future of this program?

DANICKA: Find your fit is really the start of a much bigger shift in how TAFE New South Wales supports students with LLND course readiness and inclusive access. Now that we've reached the 12 month mark, very exciting. The next step is to complete a comprehensive review of the tool and the experience around it. We want to understand not only how the tool is performing but how it is supporting the broader student journey from the first point of interest so your enrolment course advice support conversations and then into the classroom. We'll continue strengthening the connection between Find Your Fit student support frontline staff LLND specialist and further testing and reporting. The goal is to continue to make sure that the tool is not sitting in isolation, but it's part of a connected, holistic, and supportive pre-enrolment experience. There is real opportunity to keep using the data more meaningfully. The reporting helps us understand student needs, course matching, enrolment patterns, and where of course additional support may be required. Over time, those insights can help inform course design, support planning, foundational skills, targeted u programs, and broader accessibility improvements.

Another important step is also collaboration. We know that LLND accessibility and studio study sorry student readiness are not challenges unique to TAFE New South Wales. They are shared across the VET sector. So there's a real opportunity to collaborate with other TAE and education providers share what we're learning and contribute to broader sector conversations about how we support students before enrolment in a way that is accessible, strength based and genuinely useful. For me personally, the next phase is about building on the momentum. Find your fit has shown that students will engage with LLND guidance when it feels accessible and useful. Now, we want to keep improving on that experience and continue to build a process that is proactive and empowering. Ultimately, the plan is to keep moving towards a model where students feel supported from the very beginning. Staff have the information and tools to provide the right information and support to the student at the right time.

NARRATOR: Is there anything else you would like others to know about the program?

DANICKA: I think what I would like to add is that Find Your Fit is a really practical example of equity in action. It's simple on the surface, but it represents a much deeper commitment to accessibility, inclusion, and student success. For some students, the decision to enrol can feel like a big step. They may be wondering whether they're ready, whether they'll cope, whether they belong, or whether support will even be available. Find your fit helps that first step feel warmer and clearer. It helps prospective students reflect on their own skills and abilities. It helps staff identify support needs early and it helps TAFE New South Wales to guide students towards the course and support that best fits them. At its heart, Find Your Fit says to students. You are welcome here. We want to understand what you need and we really, really want to help you succeed.

NARRATOR: This video was developed by the Australian Disability Clearing House on Education and Training in partnership with the Australian Government Department of Employment and Workplace Relations. For further information on building inclusive practices and supporting students with disability, visit our website adcet.edu.au