Complaints

If you have a complaint about any aspect of the college’s operations, services or facilities, speak to any of our staff. They will listen to your concerns and try to resolve your complaint immediately.

At any stage you are welcome to complete a Customer Complaint Form. These forms provide us with valuable feedback about your needs and concerns, and help us to target areas that need improvement.

Completed forms may be submitted directly to our staff or mailed, postage paid, to:
Reply Paid 6
MANAGING DIRECTOR
C.Y. O’Connor College of TAFE
PO Box 498
Northam WA 6401

You can expect an initial response within two working days from receipt of your complaint. If the matter needs more investigation, we will keep you informed of the progress of your complaint. Our target is to resolve all complaints within ten (10) working days. If you are unhappy with the resolution, a customer complaints appeals process is available.

Note: This system is not designed to deal with appeals related to academic assessment. Please refer to the Academic Appeals process below.

Grievances

Sometimes, issues of concern are serious. These may include:

• Teaching practices or techniques
• Discriminatory behaviour
• Staff behaviour

Note: This grievance procedure is not to be used for concerns about assessments.

In the first instance you are encouraged to discuss your concern with the lecturer or staff member concerned. If a solution cannot be negotiated, or you do not wish to speak directly with the staff member, you may approach their immediate manager or supervisor. For students who are still unable to resolve their concerns, the college has in place a formal Student Grievance Procedure. This procedure requires you to lodge your grievance in writing. Your written submission should include:

• A brief description of your grievance;
• A summary of your attempts to resolve the grievance;
• A suggested resolution or an outline of what you expect to happen.

Your formal grievance may be submitted to the sectional manager, or to Student Services. Once a written grievance is received, a committee will be formed to consider the issue and make recommendations for further action.

Your feedback is very important to us, so we guarantee all complaints will be treated confidentially and equitably.

Appeals Against Assessments / Examination Results

Appeals against an assessment for a competency based training (CBT) module may be lodged on the following grounds:

• The judgement as to whether competence has been achieved and demonstrated was made incorrectly;
• The judgement was not made in accordance with the assessment plan.

An appeal against an assessment for a non-Competency Based Training (non-CBT) subject may be lodged on the basis of an incorrect assessment.

There is a non-refundable fee of $25.00 per module or subject that must be paid on application for the Appeal.

Appeals must be submitted within four weeks of the date of issue of the Statement of Academic Record. All appeal applications are to be sent to, and decided by, your Portfolio Director.