A new instrument for a new regulatory moment
Australia’s training landscape is entering a phase where student support is not only a moral imperative but a measurable requirement. The revised Standards for RTOs that took full regulatory effect on 1 July 2025 sharpen expectations around identifying learner needs, providing appropriate supports, and demonstrating continuous improvement with evidence. Within this environment, the Wellbeing Assessment for Adult Learners (WAAL) has been designed as a positive-psychology-based self-assessment that adult learners can complete quickly and revisit over time to track change. WAAL’s purpose is simple and pragmatic: give providers a defensible, learner-centred way to identify strengths and risks early, route students to the right supports, and evidence uplift at audit. WAAL is not a clinical tool; it is a context-aware learning instrument that helps RTOs and higher-education providers translate “wellbeing” into action inside classrooms, online cohorts, workshops, and work-based learning. It sits squarely within the sector’s move toward proactive support and measurable outcomes under the Standards.
Positive psychology as WAAL’s backbone
WAAL is grounded in positive psychology, particularly Martin Seligman’s PERMA model of well-being: Positive emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment. PERMA has become a widely used scaffold for flourishing interventions and measurement in education and organisations, precisely because each domain can be cultivated through everyday practices rather than specialist clinical treatment. WAAL adapts this foundation to adult learning by asking learners short, context-specific questions about how frequently they experience positive emotion in learning, how absorbed they feel in tasks, how connected they are to peers and trainers, whether they find meaning in the competencies they are pursuing, and whether they feel they are making progress that matters to them. These are not abstract prompts; they are oriented to assessment schedules, placement demands, trainer feedback, and workplace relevance that define adult and vocational learning.
Why the Australian sector needs a learning-context wellbeing measure now
Two forces are converging. First, regulators are making student well-being a practical quality issue, tying it to the integrity of learning experiences and the safety of students in both physical and digital environments. That expectation is explicit in ASQA’s new Practice Guides (including the Wellbeing guide) and in TEQSA’s resources and guidance notes for higher education that link wellbeing and safety to governance, risk management, academic integrity, student engagement, and business continuity. Second, providers need an instrument that is short, learner-friendly, deployable across delivery modes, and aligned to support pathways they already operate. WAAL is a response to both needs: a sector-ready toolkit that helps identify emerging risks and strengths inside the learning environment and converts the results into targeted support and auditable improvement.
Building on what works: WAAL’s relationship to validated scales
WAAL does not reinvent psychometrics. It builds on established measures by translating their insights into the adult-learning context. For example, the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS) is a validated instrument used internationally to gauge mental well-being in the general population and to evaluate program impact. WAAL does not substitute for WEMWBS in clinical or public-health contexts; rather, it borrows the principle that short, positively worded items can reliably capture shifts in wellbeing, then re-expresses those ideas in teaching, assessment, placement, and work-integrated learning settings. In short, WEMWBS demonstrates that short scales can track change; WAAL applies this in the VET and adult-learning context to guide support actions and demonstrate educational impact.
The WAAL construct: five learning-anchored domains
WAAL includes five domains, adapted from PERMA and expanded for adult learners:
Positive Learning Affect focuses on enjoyment, calm, and confidence during learning, assessment, and placement tasks. It asks if learners feel emotionally safe attempting new competencies and whether small wins create momentum for the next task. This domain maps to “P” in PERMA and signals when anxiety or frustration may undermine performance if left unaddressed.
Engaged Learning assesses how often learners experience flow states or deep involvement in tasks, whether learning materials feel pitched at the right level, and whether delivery modes support sustained attention. This aligns with PERMA’s “E” and helps providers tune pacing, scaffolding, and micro-credential sequencing.
Relational Connectedness explores the quality of interactions with trainers, assessors, peers, and workplace supervisors. It asks whether learners feel they belong to a cohort, know whom to ask for help, and feel respected in feedback loops. In compliance language, this intersects with the duty to provide access to appropriate training support and safe environments.
Meaning and Relevance probes how clearly learners see the link between units of competency, assessment tasks, and personal goals like employment, promotion, or career change. Adult learners persist when training “makes sense” in their real world. This area also surfaces risk when students feel trapped in irrelevant requirements, a common driver of disengagement.
Achievement and Progress captures perceived progress, mastery experiences, and confidence in meeting assessment standards. It helps teams decide when to offer targeted practice, LLNDE support, or reasonable adjustments, and it provides early warning that learners feel stuck before formal assessments record failure.
A quick, repeatable self-assessment that informs early support
WAAL uses concise items in plain Australian English, written for diverse cohorts including mature-age learners, career-changers, apprentices, international students, and First Nations learners. It is designed to take five to seven minutes to complete on a phone or computer, with a readability level appropriate for VET. Results presented as a simple profile so learners can see their strengths first and talk about them, while also identifying low-scoring areas that might benefit from support. WAAL can be run at enrolment, week three, census points, pre-placement, and pre-assessment, giving a longitudinal view of change and the chance to intervene earlier than census withdrawals or failed assessments. Because the instrument is self-assessment and not diagnosis, it can be administered by training and student-support teams without clinical credentials, with clear referral pathways where higher-risk responses are flagged. This approach is consistent with sector guidance that foregrounds prevention, early identification, and whole-of-provider responsibility for wellbeing and safety.
Alignment with the Standards for RTOs 2025 and audit-ready evidence
ASQA’s Practice Guide—Wellbeing asks providers to show systems for identifying support needs, selecting appropriate services, communicating supports to students, and evaluating effectiveness through feedback and improvement cycles. WAAL produces actionable evidence for each of these. The screening itself satisfies “identify,” the dashboard and routing rules address “select and communicate,” and the follow-up scores plus learner feedback power “evaluate and improve.” WAAL reports also contribute to governance artefacts under Quality Area 4 (risk management and continuous improvement) and interface neatly with Information and Transparency obligations when providers communicate available supports up-front and report back to stakeholders on outcomes. For higher-education providers, WAAL complements TEQSA’s wellbeing guidance by giving faculties and student-success teams a measurable view of wellbeing in courses and cohorts that can be escalated where institutional risks are identified.
How WAAL works: items, scoring, privacy, and referral logic
WAAL items are phrased positively and rated on a five-point frequency scale. Scores are calculated per domain and combined into an overall index of learning wellbeing. Percentile bands are generated at the cohort level so an individual can see how their profile compares with peers in the same course, delivery mode, and campus. Importantly, privacy and ethics are built in: learners see messaging that explains the voluntary nature of the tool, how responses are used to improve support, and how to access immediate help if distressed. At the provider end, a routing matrix translates flagged patterns into tailored actions: for example, low Engaged Learning with normal Positive Learning Affect may trigger pacing adjustments and study-skills coaching, while low Relational Connectedness prompts invitations to cohort study sessions, trainer check-ins, or mentor pairing. For higher-risk combinations—such as very low Positive Learning Affect with low Meaning—WAAL suggests rapid referral to wellbeing services and provides scripts for initial conversations, consistent with TEQSA’s advice on accessible support and continuity of care.
Integrating WAAL with existing student-support ecosystems
WAAL adds value when it plugs into what providers already do. In practice, that means mapping WAAL’s alert types to your training support, diversity and inclusion, disability and access, careers and employability, and academic integrity streams, as appropriate. It means connecting low Meaning and Relevance scores to career conversations about units of competency and local job pathways, and linking low Achievement and Progress to formative assessment clinics or LLNDE diagnostics. Where providers partner with external services (for example, telecounselling, migrant support, or Indigenous student services), WAAL flags can be built into referral workflows and memoranda of understanding so that learner consent and data-sharing boundaries are respected. Over time, the cohort-level analytics show which courses and delivery modes produce sustained well-being gains, helping deans and training managers target improvements to instructional design and assessment scheduling. This aligns with the Standards’ explicit emphasis on risk management, continuous improvement and student-centred outcomes.
The Australian policy context: whole-of-institution wellbeing
Australian tertiary policy has moved steadily toward whole-of-institution approaches where wellbeing is treated as an enabler of learning, retention, and safety. TEQSA’s guidance note on wellbeing and safety ties risks to multiple standards, including admission, needs analysis, facilities and placements, IT security, student isolation, diversity and inclusion, complaints handling, academic integrity, management of partnerships, corporate responsibility, and business continuity. This breadth is not incidental; it reflects the reality that wellbeing is influenced by how courses are designed, how assessments are staged, how placements are supervised, and how institutions respond to harassment and safety concerns. WAAL takes this policy frame and gives course teams a practical barometer in live cohorts, allowing earlier intervention and better governance reporting across faculties and training departments.
Benchmarking WAAL against sector frameworks
At the university level, the Australian University Mental Health Framework developed by Orygen emphasises mentally healthy settings that enable students to thrive and calls for stronger ties between the education and mental-health sectors. WAAL’s cohort analytics, referral mapping, and periodic re-administration speak directly to those aims: they help providers see where certain settings or delivery modes are working well, where particular cohorts are at risk, and how early outreach shifts trajectories. For VET, the logic is identical: use short, regular check-ins to understand how the learning environment is affecting wellbeing, respond early with appropriate supports, and demonstrate organisational learning.
Implementation in practice: from pilot to whole-of-provider roll-out
A sensible path begins with a pilot in two to three courses across different AQF levels and delivery modes. Run WAAL at orientation, mid-term, and pre-assessment. Train a small multi-disciplinary team—trainer/assessor, student-support, academic lead—to review results weekly and action referrals within 72 hours. Document what changed because of WAAL: which learners accepted support, what adjustments were made, and how subsequent WAAL scores and academic outcomes moved. Present the pilot to governance forums with a focus on risk reduction (for example, fewer last-minute withdrawals, improved attendance, increased early help-seeking) and on evidence for audit. Once a playbook is stable, scale to other courses, embed WAAL schedule points in course calendars, and consolidate reporting dashboards for executive oversight and continuous-improvement logs. This cadence aligns with regulatory expectations for self-assurance under ASQA’s standards and TEQSA’s emphasis on good governance, risk management, and student protection.
Interpreting scores responsibly and ethically
WAAL is designed to empower, not label. Results are discussed with learners as a conversation starter about what is going well and what could be better in their learning environment. Low scores in one domain do not define a student; they signal an opportunity to adjust teaching approach, assessment scaffolding, or support access. Where a pattern suggests elevated risk, providers follow established escalation pathways, communicate clearly about confidentiality and consent, and ensure that students know how to access crisis support that sits outside the training organisation when needed. Using WAAL ethically means keeping it under the stewardship of education teams with clear boundaries, rather than treating it as a clinical assessment. This stance reflects the spirit of Australian guidance that promotes prevention, early support, and safe environments while respecting learner autonomy.
Data, dashboards, and continuous improvement
At the cohort level, WAAL’s de-identified analytics equip leaders to ask sharper questions: Which delivery mode shows the strongest gains in Engagement? Are night cohorts reporting lower Relational Connectedness than daytime cohorts, and what could fix that? Do block placements correlate with dips in Positive Learning Affect that could be mitigated with different pre-placement briefings? Over successive terms, providers can track the impact of specific interventions—peer mentoring, redesigned assessment briefs, trainer feedback cadence—on WAAL domains and on academic metrics like attendance, on-time assessment, and unit completion. This cycle closes the loop demanded by the Standards’ risk management and continuous improvement expectations while giving boards and executives a simple, consistent signal of student experience and risk.
How WAAL complements, not replaces, other supports and measures
WAAL is complementary to existing surveys and regulatory data. It does not replace student experience surveys, grievances data, or AVETMISS-level outcomes. Nor does it replace validated mental-health scales such as WEMWBS, where those are warranted for program evaluation or research. Instead, WAAL answers a narrower but crucial question for providers: what is the learning-context wellbeing profile of this cohort right now, and what should we do next week to help them thrive? Its strengths are speed, relevance to instructional decisions, and direct mapping to support actions that providers control. For organisations running WEMWBS or similar measures, WAAL can sit upstream as a frequent pulse, with periodic deeper measures for evaluation studies or partnerships with health providers.
A note on governance: roles, responsibilities, and reporting
Strong governance means clarifying who sees what and who acts. WAAL works best when course coordinators, student-success teams, and trainers receive actionable views for their cohorts, while executives and boards see de-identified trend lines across faculties and delivery sites. Policies should specify that WAAL results are not used for punitive purposes, but to guide support and learning design. Reporting cycles should align with academic boards, quality committees, and risk registers, ensuring that WAAL insights flow into decisions about timetabling, placement preparation, trainer professional development, and resourcing for counselling and student support. TEQSA’s wellbeing guidance and ASQA’s Practice Guides point to precisely this kind of integrated, preventative approach.
For an award-winning sector, evidence is the edge.
CAQA’s perspective is straightforward. Providers that can quantify how learning environments lift wellbeing will retain more students, meet their governance obligations with confidence, and be recognised by industry and community partners as leaders. WAAL gives providers a way to show—not just say—that they act early, tailor support, and learn from the data. In a sector where TEQSA continues to emphasise student protection and where ASQA benchmarks self-assurance, that evidential edge will differentiate providers who aspire not only to compliance but to excellence.
The path ahead: WAAL as a shared language for thriving
Ultimately, WAAL is a shared language. Learners can say “I’m engaged but not progressing,” “I’m progressing, but I don’t see the meaning,” or “I feel disconnected from my cohort,” and staff can respond with concrete steps rather than platitudes. Course teams can compare notes across sites and modes, borrowing what works. Leaders can show funders and regulators how changes to delivery and support tangibly improved the conditions for adult learners to thrive. And the sector can move beyond slogans to measured flourishing—the core promise of positive psychology when it meets the practical realities of Australian education.
Sources and further reading
ASQA—2025 Standards for RTOs and Practice Guides: Standards in effect from 1 July 2025, including the Practice Guide—Wellbeing and related student-support guides that frame provider responsibilities for identification, support, and improvement.
TEQSA—Student Wellbeing Resources and Guidance Note: Guidance on wellbeing and safety, with links to standards-related risks spanning admission, needs analysis, facilities, IT security, inclusion, complaints, integrity, partnerships, governance, resourcing, continuity, information quality, and privacy.
Orygen—Australian University Mental Health Framework: A national framework for mentally healthy university settings that supports thriving and encourages whole-of-institution approaches, highly relevant to VET-HE partnerships and pathway programs.
Positive psychology foundations—PERMA: Seligman’s model (Positive emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, Accomplishment) as a practical scaffold for flourishing and educational interventions.
Validated wellbeing measurement—WEMWBS: An internationally used, validated scale for mental wellbeing that demonstrates how short, positively worded instruments can track change at population and program levels.
