The Qualifications Reform Design Group, appointed by the Minister for Skills and Training Brendan O’Connor in August 2023, which includes the Ai Group Centre for Education & Training’s Executive Director, Megan Lilly, provided its initial advice to Skills Ministers in March 2024.
The proposals provided in the Unlocking the Potential of VET report reflect a significant step in redesigning qualifications to better support the diverse users of the VET system and their needs. The proposals were based on the principles that the new qualifications must:
- meet industry needs by strengthening the path from qualification design to delivery, and producing graduates with industry-relevant and transferable skills for changing workplaces and industries;
- bring more students into the VET sector by delivering the knowledge, skills and core capabilities they need for life and work, and building confidence in the future that a VET qualification offers;
- improve the status and responsiveness of the VET system by retaining what is working while generating new models for use across sectors, with appropriate oversight to maintain trust; and
- enable quality delivery by reducing the overspecification that contributes to compliance overload in VET delivery and assessment, leading to better learning experiences and outcomes.
The Design Group proposes a new differentiated qualifications system to preserve qualifications that are working well while enabling new qualification models to serve different purposes. The new system moves from a ‘one size fits all’ approach to designing qualifications based on their purposes:
- Purpose 1 – qualifications leading to a specific occupation (for example a licensed trade). These are qualifications that already meet the needs of industry and students and should be preserved.
- Purpose 2 – qualifications to prepare learners for multiple occupations within an industry. Examples might include pre-apprenticeships that lead to various trades and should encourage transferability and mobility within an industry.
- Purpose 3 – qualifications that develop cross-sectoral or foundation skills and knowledge which may be applied across industries, or lead to tertiary education and training pathways.
Read the Report
