Most purchased training materials are written to work across many workplaces. That is what makes them useful as a starting point, and it is also why they need work before you deliver them. Contextualising is the process of fitting the materials to your learners, your delivery mode and the industry they work in, while keeping every requirement of the unit intact. What ASQA says ASQA's Assessment Practice Guide, written against the 2025 Standards for RTOs, lists contextualising assessment tools to the student cohort and industry or work context as one way to show an assessment system is fit for purpose. Its Training Practice Guide names, as a known risk, not reviewing purchased resources for full coverage of unit requirements or not contextualising them to the RTO's delivery. RTOs regulated by VRQA in Victoria or TAC in Western Australia should also check their own regulator's requirements. What contextualising is Contextualising changes the setting, language and examples so learning and assessment make sense in a particular job. A unit on workplace communication might use a ward handover for nursing learners, a site toolbox talk for construction learners and a client call for office learners. The skill assessed is the same in each case. The scenario, the terms used and the documents learners work with are different. What it is not Removing or narrowing elements, performance criteria or evidence requirements Lowering the level of performance the unit describes Changing only the assessment and leaving learner materials, session plans and slides generic, so the pieces no longer match Contextualising and customising compared The two words are often used as if they mean the same thing. A practical way to separate them: Contextualising Customising Focus The industry, job role or local setting One organisation or one group of learners Typical changes Scenarios, terms, legislation and equipment for that industry or state The employer's own policies, forms, systems and brand Example A unit set in aged care rather than a general setting The same unit using one provider's incident form and procedures Benefit Learners see how the unit applies to their kind of work Learners practise with the exact documents they will use Watch for Over narrowing, so skills are not portable to other workplaces Materials that only work for one client and need rework for the next Many RTOs do both: contextualise for an industry, then customise further when delivering for a single employer. What to adapt Change all of the materials together so they tell the same story: training and assessment strategy learner guides and self-study guides slides and session plans assessment tools, including RPL tools workplace logbooks and placement documents Questions to answer first Learners. What do they already know? What are their language, literacy, numeracy and digital skills? What support will they need? Delivery mode. Face to face, online, in the workplace or a mix? Can every task be done in that mode? Workplace. What equipment, procedures and documents do people in this role use? Which laws, codes and standards apply in this industry and state? Resources. What do learners need access to, and what must the RTO provide? Who to involve Include trainers and assessors with current industry skills, and someone working in the industry now. Industry contacts often notice outdated terms, equipment or procedures that a trainer away from the workplace may miss. Keep a record of who reviewed what and the changes made. A short worked example Take a first aid or infection control unit used across three groups: childcare educators, warehouse staff and hospitality workers. The knowledge questions stay aligned to the same unit requirements. The scenarios change: a child with a fever at pick up time, a forklift collision in a loading bay, a burn in a commercial kitchen. The observation task uses equipment each group would find at work. The learner guide uses examples from each setting. The mapping document is checked after the changes to confirm every requirement is still covered. Choosing materials that are easy to adapt Editable files, clear mapping and scenarios kept in separate sections make contextualising faster. You can browse learner materials and learning and assessment kits and check each product page for the file formats supplied.
