{title}
Meet Lara Franklin, ATTTO Qualifications Developer
Helping to make unit standards and qualifications work for you
ATTTO Qualifications Developer Lara Franklin began her career as a travel agent, working in both retail and wholesale travel.
“I liked the idea of becoming a veterinarian or a criminal lawyer – but all those years of full time study seemed too much! My mum suggested I do something with people, so becoming a travel agent made sense,” she says.
Following eight years as a travel agent, Lara became a travel and tourism tutor at a tertiary provider.
“Working as a travel agent gave me an insight into how the industry works, as well as the customer contact. Moving into tutoring was an opportunity to share the knowledge I had learnt, and give back to those wanting to enter the industry. I could share real stories about what the job was actually like.”
Lara has now come full circle, working as a Qualifications Developer at ATTTO for the last three years.
“I’ve done the job, passed my knowledge onto the students, and now I’m getting to develop the unit standards and qualifications that industry use. It’s a lot easier having a background in the industry; hopefully my knowledge will help to make the unit standards and qualifications better and more relevant for people training for and within the industry.”
Lara’s role involves working through qualifications and unit standards, making sure they are still relevant and fit for purpose for industry. She does this in close consultation with groups of industry experts.
“We review a qualification every five years; however we constantly monitor the needs of industry and, if necessary, will carry out a revision on the unit standards and/or qualification during this period to ensure they remain relevant to industry needs. A review requires a full consultation with stakeholders to make unit standards and qualifications fit for purpose again, whereas a revision involves minor changes such as updating legislation,” she says.
“In most cases we go through and weed out anything that’s not necessary, add anything that’s missing – that sort of thing. That’s what sets national qualifications apart; they’re developed with industry for industry, and are constantly being improved and updated,” she says.
Lara at the controls of a Republic of Singapore Air Force C-130 Hercules.