30 Aug Curious about VET Qualifications?

There are hundreds of different Training Package qualifications in Vocational Education & Training, and it is interesting to note the process that produces and allows you to enrol in them.

The Australian Government engages specialist advisory groups (Jobs and Skills Councils) who identify what someone must be able to do and know to undertake a specific task. This comprehensive and complex data obviously takes time to collect and assemble (it can take 2 or more years). The data is sent to the Commonwealth Government who, after consultation with Industry and any relevant departments/bodies/groups, determines a final version. The final version is quality assured by DEWR, then reviewed by Commonwealth, State and Territory Skills Ministers, once approved the qualification is deemed to be in existence.

A qualification clearly identifies what is required for Competency to be achieved, you might call these Learning Outcomes, and they take 2 main forms:

1. What you need to be able to do in a practical sense (Performance Evidence)
2. What you need to know in a technical sense (Knowledge Evidence)

Clearly, the RTO does not determine what you need to know or be able to do, as can be seen, this is determined by Government, the task of the RTO is to identify how it wishes to deliver and assess to meet the outcomes established in the course. The RTO submits its concept of delivery and assessment to the relevant Governments’ VET Regulator, and they have the right to approve or not the proposed process and methods. Once approved the RTO is obliged to follow the approval and can be audited at random by the Regulator for compliance.

At times we have enquiries from folk who ask if they can forego some of the requirements due to personal reasons and the answer is, “respectfully no”; an RTO cannot modify the requirements of a qualification, to do so would be to issue a qualification to someone who has not met the Competency requirements.

There are many more technical requirements within a qualification to achieve Competency and if you wish to know more about the subject then you should attend our next free of charge Professional Development webinar which will be held on Friday 15 November 2024. To attend simply email [email protected]