Trainer and assessor capacity
Work out whether your current trainers can cover your delivery and assessment load, and how many more you would need.
For RTO managers, heads of department, scheduling staff
How to use this calculator
Start with the worked example below. Replace the figures in Your numbers with your own inputs, then select Recalculate. Read the assumptions and limitations before using the estimate in your planning. Save report downloads the last calculated results and inputs.
Spare delivery hours
648 hours
Capacity beyond what you have committed. Room for another cohort or for the non-delivery work.
- Capacity per trainer
- 608 hours
- Available weeks after leave, multiplied by weekly delivery hours.
- Total delivery capacity
- 3,648 hours
- What your current team can deliver in the period.
- Trainers needed for the commitment
- 4.93 people
- Committed hours divided by one trainer's capacity. Round up: you cannot roster a fraction of a person.
- Non-delivery hours the commitment creates
- 2,250 hours
- Preparation, marking and administration generated by the delivery you have promised.
- Total workload
- 5,250 hours
- Delivery plus the work it generates. This is the number that matters for workload, not delivery alone.
This is an estimate to support your professional judgement, not a determination. Our tools draft. You validate.
Saves the last calculated inputs, results and assumptions to your device. Recalculate after changing inputs.
Your numbers
People available to deliver or assess in the period.
How long you are planning for. A term is about 10 weeks; a year about 44 teaching weeks.
Hours actually in front of learners, excluding preparation.
Check this against your own real workload before trusting the default. Many trainers report a ratio closer to 1.0 or higher once all preparation, marking and administration is properly counted.Below 0.4 usually means preparation is being done unpaid.
Weeks per trainer unavailable for delivery across the period.
Total face-to-face hours across every cohort in the period.
How this is worked out
Available weeks = weeks in period − leave weeks. Delivery capacity per trainer = available weeks × delivery hours per week. Total capacity = capacity per trainer × trainers. Shortfall = committed hours − total capacity. Trainers needed = committed hours ÷ capacity per trainer.
What it assumes
- Every trainer can teach every unit you have committed to. In practice scope and currency restrict who can deliver what, and that usually reduces effective capacity.
- Leave is spread across the period rather than concentrated in your busiest weeks.
- The non-delivery ratio you entered covers preparation, marking and administration together.
What it does NOT account for
- Trainer scope and vocational currency: two trainers with the same hours are not interchangeable if only one holds the unit.
- Room, equipment and workplace-placement availability, which often binds before people do.
- Casual and agency staff you could engage at short notice.
- Travel time between campuses or to workplaces.
What to do next
- Map which trainers actually hold each unit on your delivery plan before treating capacity as interchangeable.
- If the shortfall is small, check whether it is concentrated in a few weeks rather than spread. A peak is a rostering problem, not a hiring one.
- Compare the cost of the extra trainers against the casual true-hourly-cost calculator before deciding between hiring and engaging casuals.
- Re-run with a higher non-delivery ratio if your trainers report regular unpaid hours.
Sources
- Standards for RTOs 2025: trainer competency and currency: Outcome Standards, Division 2 (VET workforce) (reviewed 2026-08-27)
- Non-delivery ratio range: Common RTO workforce planning practice; entered as an input rather than fixed, because it varies widely by delivery model. (reviewed 2026-08-27)