VET Products for the 21st Century - National Skills Standards Council

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Recommendation 12Ensure that the context of assessment is clearlyspecified in Training Package Units of Competencywhere the industry can make a case for each suchtargeted Unit to the National Quality Council at thetime of Training Package endorsement.Recommendation 13Establish a joint working group of the NQC and theAustralian Qualifications Framework Council(AQFC) to investigate introducing a national creditsystem through the work on AQFC projects relatedto pathways and strengthening the AustralianQualifications Framework.Recommendation 14Ensure that Training Package developers includearticulation arrangements in the design anddevelopment of Diploma and Advanced Diplomaswhere appropriate.Recommendation 15Ensure that Language, Literacy and Numeracyrequirements are made more explicit in thedevelopment of occupational and foundationqualifications.Recommendation 16Simplify and streamline the content of TrainingPackages by separating the performance standardsin units of competence from guidance andsupporting information for RTOs with the followingcomponents subject to national endorsement:• Units of competence (required knowledge andskills, i.e., title, elements, performance criteria,etc)• Qualifications & Occupational/Foundation outcomes• Qualification packaging rules• Assessment Requirements• Credit ArrangementsRecommendation 17Restructure and streamline Training Packagecontent by:• simplifying the endorsed components – byreducing the level of detail included in theendorsed Training Packages, particularly the level of specification in the competencystandards;• expanding non-endorsed components – muchof the detail and specification removed fromendorsed components can instead beincluded in user guides where more flexiblestructural and formatting options mean thatmaterial can be edited and packaged in a waythat makes these documents more readableand useable;• eliminating unnecessary information and consolidating repetitive material;• continuing to consolidate the units ofcompetence that cover the same or similar areas of knowledge and skill; and• dividing Packages into more fit-for-purposecomponents focused on the needs of industryand employers on the one hand and providerson the other.Recommendation 18Develop a quality assurance process for nonendorsedcomponents of Training Packages.Recommendation 19Reaffirm that course accrediting bodies (RCABs)have the capacity to accept/approve courses wherethe outcomes identified by RTOs and enterprisesare not available in endorsed Training Packages.Recommendation 20Make it mandatory for crown copyright stateaccredited courses to be publically available on theNTIS. 3Recommendation 21Implement the proposed recommendations byacknowledging and building on existingprofessional networks and supporting collaborativearrangements between industry and providers inimproving the quality of assessment outcomes.MCVTE resolutionsThe Ministerial Council for Vocational andTechnical Education (MCVTE) endorsed the policyframework as outlined in the report and agreed tothe following additional resolutions:• That the NQC conduct a review jointly withNVEAC on how best to ensure that equityneeds are addressed in the policy frameworkfor VET Products for the 21st Century.• That in relation to Recommendation 6 the outcomes of the review will be presented aspart of a high level report to COAG.• That endorsement of Recommendation 20 is subject to scoping of its impact.3Refer to additional resolution from MCVTEVET PRODUCTS FOR THE 21 ST CENTURY - 7
2 . I n t r o d u c t i o n2. IntroductionRecognising synergies between the Council OfAustralian Governments (COAG) agenda to deliversignificant improvements in human capitaloutcomes for all Australians and the plannedNational Quality Council (NQC) work to identifyimprovements to Training Packages, in mid 2008 aJoint Steering Committee (JSC) of the NQC andthe COAG Skills and Workforce Development SubGroup was established to bring the work together ina joint project called ‘VET Products for the 21stCentury’. This report summarises the workconducted by the JSC and presents a ProposedPolicy Framework and related recommendations toachieve these objectives.2 . 1 P r o j e c t & r e p o r t s c o p eThe JSC was established to develop a policyframework to enable VET qualifications andproducts to:• meet the needs of businesses and industry;• equip individuals with broadly based skills andknowledge.• provide strategic oversight and guidance of aconsultation project to determine any changesnecessary to the definition and design of unitsof competency, Training Packages, VETqualifications, accredited courses, creditsystems, and recognition arrangements withinand between systems, to ensure that the VETsector is able to meet a more demand andclient-driven system;• report to the NQC and the COAG Skills andWorkforce Development Subgroup on theoutcomes of the consultation, and provide recommendations; and• facilitate dialogue and collaboration betweenbodies undertaking work in relation to the VETsector including the NQC, COAG, theAustralian Qualifications Framework Council(AQFC) and Skills Australia.This report is organised in 5 sections, including anExecutive Summary that outlines the principalfindings from the project and provides aconsolidated set of recommendations. Section 2provides an introduction to the report; Section 3gives the background and context; Section 4 dealswith meeting diverse needs and finally Section 5presents the proposed policy framework andsupporting recommendations.2 . 2 A p p r o a c h t o t h e p r o j e c tThe project was conducted in two stages. Stage 1was an initial, short consultation process involving18 meetings with key stakeholders in December2008, designed to provide the basis for broaderstakeholder consultation on options to addressthese key issues. Stage 2 was a broader andmore comprehensive consultation process. Theconsultations were assisted by a consultation paper(available at www.nqc.tvetaustralia.com.au)covering:• the way in which competence is currentlydefined and assessed in the Australian vocational education and training (VET)system;• the kinds of qualifications necessary to meetthe needs of and ensure consistent outcomesfor the diverse groups of learners in the VETsystem;• the extent to which the needs of individualenterprises are being effectively met by the current VET products;• the structure of National Training Packages;• credit systems.Finally, a number of specific consultation questionsand possible options in relation to the definition anddevelopment of competency, VET qualifications,the structure and content of Training Packages andcredit systems were provided for consideration. Inaddition, a paper was commissioned from NCVERto support the consultation process, Competenceand competency based training: What the literaturesay (available at www.nqc.tvetaustralia.com.au), tobe read in conjunction with the consultation paper.In January 2009, a consortium of NCVER/IthacaGroup was contracted to:• Co-ordinate, conduct and manageconsultations (see Appendix A for details ofconsultations conducted) based on an agreedmethodology• Collate and evaluate consultation outcomes• Prepare a final report (with advice on possiblerecommendations) based on an analysis of:- the outcomes of the consultationsconducted;- a synthesis of the outcomes from six (6)ISC research sub-projects and otherrelated NQC projects.An electronic public submission process was alsoestablished to allow those who could not attend apublic workshop to provide their views and a total of35 submissions were received and acomplementary targeted consultation regardingequity considerations was undertaken (seeAppendix B for stakeholders interviewed). Over 500people attended public workshops or participated inthe various consultations. It was also clear thatmany of the submissions received were fromorganisations that had themselves consultedothers, and sometimes quite widely.VET PRODUCTS FOR THE 21 ST CENTURY - 8
Page 1 and 2: ContentsVET PRODUCTSFOR THE 21 STCE
Page 3 and 4: L e t t e r f r o m t h e C h a i r
Page 5 and 6: human capital and COAG has establis
Page 7: 1 . 6 R e c o m m e n d a t i o n s
Page 11 and 12: 4 . M e e t i n g d i v e r s e n e
Page 13 and 14: 5 . P r o p o s e d p o l i c y f r
Page 15 and 16: 5 . 1 D e f i n i t i o n o f c o m
Page 17 and 18: 5 . 3 A s s e s s m e n t r e q u i
Page 19 and 20: 5 . 6 N e w d e s i g n f o r T r a
Page 21 and 22: 5 . 7 I n d u s t r y e n g a g e m
Page 23 and 24: Targeted stakeholder consultations

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