The Australian Industry and Skills Committee (AISC) has approved an important update to the Training and Education (TAE) Training Package that will ensure that the VET workforce has better skills in the future.
The AISC has heard the concerns raised by Australian industry, VET regulators, and other key stakeholders and have agreed changes to the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment, the base qualification for all VET trainers. The changes specifically respond to the quality issues identified by the Australian Skills Quality Authority through its strategic reviews.
The AISC has agreed to the inclusion of two new core units for the Certificate IV qualification. The inclusion of an additional unit in addressing adult language, literacy and numeracy skills will ensure that VET practitioners will have a greater understanding of the foundation skills required in their industry sectors.
The addition of a core unit on the development of effective assessment tools (Design and develop assessment tools) will help to assure employers that students graduating from VET courses will be more effectively assessed as having the necessary skills and knowledge to do the job .
This is the first major review of the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment since 2010 and the changes will apply to new students undertaking the qualification. However, given the importance of improving assessment and foundation skills within the VET system, the AISC has recommended that the COAG Industry and Skills Council consider applying the new requirements to the existing workforce. At a minimum requiring the existing VET workforce to undertake the two additional core units contained in the new Certificate IV in Training and Assessment.
This decision reflects the benefit of strong industry leadership in the new arrangements for training package development and is a positive step towards higher quality VET training.
This decision is also consistent with cross-government work currently underway on assessment within the VET sector.
Full details of the training package approved for implementation will be available shortly on the National Register for VET at training.gov.au.