The cornerstone of training and assessment is the Training Package. The Training Package is essentially what an industry or group of industries uses to tell us what their training needs are. The basic idea is if we can do what the Training Package says to do, then people will have the skills that industry needs.
Some people say that this is not fair because it means that industry and business get everything that they want.
Another way of looking at it is that if people are trained in the way that a Training Package says, then they will possess the skills that make them employable.
So, it can work both ways. Industry benefits by having people who can do the job. People benefit by having more job prospects because they can do the job.
SO, WHAT IS A TRAINING PACKAGE?
Perhaps in simple terms, we could start by saying that a Training Package is a guide for training and a standard for assessment. According to www.training.com.au (which is an excellent resource), a Training Package is
‐ asetofnationallyendorsedstandardsandqualificationsusedtorecogniseandassesstheskills andknowledgepeopleneedtoperformeffectivelyintheworkplace.
‐ TrainingPackagesareakeyresourceforregisteredtrainingorganisations(RTOs)inthedelivery ofstructured,accreditedtraining.
‐ TrainingPackagesaredevelopedbyindustrythroughnationalindustryskillscouncils(ISCs)or byenterprisestomeettheidentifiedtrainingneedsofspecificindustriesorindustrysectors. Also, it is worth us knowing that they are:
Funded by the Australian National Training Authority (DEST)
Written in consultation with State and Territory training bodies and representatives from industry.
Also called an Industry Training Package or a National Training Package.
Training Packages are the rock on which all nationally‐recognised competency standards and qualifications are built. Because they are national in scope, they allow for standards to be set and reached nationally.
WHAT ARE THEY FOR?
There are many Training Packages, ranging from Automotive Manufacturing to Hairdressing to Funeral Services and beyond. In simple terms, there are Training Packages to suit most industries.
We can search for relevant information at the training.gov.au (TGA) database service. Unlike the previous service NTIS, (now defunct) it is not possible to view a list of Training Packages or the list of Industry Skills Councils all at once. However TGA has a considerably improved the search functionality, and access to all information online is improved.
EACH TRAINING PACKAGE HAS ENDORSED AND NON‐ENDORSED COMPONENTS The Endorsed components are the core parts that have and are subject to quality assurance to be sure that they meet industry requirements. These are the "must‐haves", and include:
Qualifications
Competency Standards Assessment Guidelines
The Non‐Endorsed components are the optional parts. We can call them “guidelines” because they help us, but we do not all have to follow them in the same way. Instead, these are the things that the deliverers of the training can choose to support the delivery of the endorsed parts. Commonly, these include:
learning strategies assessment resources
professional development materials
A SIMPLE STRUCTURE Thinking big to small, we find that:
Each industry has a Skills Council eg.Manufacturing Industry Skills Council
Each Skills Council puts together Training Packages
eg,AUM08 Automotive Manufacturing
Each Training Package contains Qualifications
eg,AUM25108 Certificate II in Automotive Manufacturing (Bus/Truck/Trailer)
Each Qualification contains Units of Competency
eg,AUM8041B Prepare materials for fabrication using jigs/fixtures
If you explore the links in the right hand column above, you will see how from the level of the Industry Skills Council things become increasingly specific. We start big, then slowly work our way down from industry sector (eg in the above example, Automotive Manufacturing) to AQF Level (eg, in the above example, AQF Level II ‐ because it is a Certificate II) to specific task that someone working at that level in that industry sector is needed to do (eg, in the above example, preparing materials for fabrication using jigs/fixtures).
Of course, if we go the other way and start at the bottom, we can see that preparing materials for fabrication at this Certificate II level is needed for the Automotive Manufacturing industry so that they can do the things they need to be able to do and at the standard that they need to be able to do them. Taking it one step further, when we provide quality training in preparing materials for fabrication, then we are helping support industry in general, and that helps Australia in general. So, that's what it is all about!
How do we use one? An example...
Okay. This course, the TAE10 – Certificate IV in Training & Assessment is part of a training package. This Training Package is the Training & Education Training Package. If you click on that link, the Training Package will open in a new window so that you can refer to it for the remainder of this section.
The first thing we see is that this Training Package has been put together by the Innovation and Industry Skills Council. Further down, we see the list of Training Package components – at least some of the endorsed parts that we mentioned earlier. To see the others we will need to download the full document, which is made available in Word or PDF versions under the Release History section near the top.
If we move back down to the Components section we will discover what Qualifications can be delivered as part of this Training Package, and there are seven, from this course Certificate IV, through to Vocational Graduate Diploma.
Further down, we will find a list of Skill Sets – these are groups of units that do not form a
qualification in themselves, but are recognised as providing a specific set of skills for the workplace. They are typically part of a qualification, so for example the TAE10 Assessor Skill Set includes three assessment units of competency that together form a skill set that can be used independently in the workplace (in this case assessment) or can (with further study) become a full qualification.
Further down still, we will find a list of all of the Units of Competency that we can use to form part of any qualification in the TAE10 Training Package. To have a look at any of the Units of
Competency, we simply click on their title.
But before we get too carried away, we need to think about something. If the training that is
required can relate to a bigger qualification, or can lead to an actual qualification, then using formal competency standards from Training Packages is important. But, let’s face it, not all training is part of a bigger course of study or qualification. So, we might just choose some informal
competency standards instead – these are ones that we can make up ourselves for our own particular needs.