Glossary
Assessment—is the process of forming and recording a judgment about a person’s skills and knowledge.
Course accreditation—is the process used to formally recognise national qualifications not covered by nationally endorsed training packages.
Accredited course—is a structured sequence of vocational education and training that has been accredited and leads to an Australian Qualifications Framework qualification or statement of attainment.
Apprenticeships and traineeships—combine practical work with structured training to gain a nationally recognised qualification.
Australian National Training Authority—is a former Australian Government statutory authority with responsibility for the development of national policy, goals and objectives for the vocational education and training sector.
Competency standards—competency standards define the skills and knowledge to operate effectively in employment and how they need to be applied.
Contextualisation—means tailoring units of competency to suit specific needs.
Elements—within a unit of competency describe the skill outcomes that contribute to a unit or what skills are required to perform the work activity.
Employability skills—are non-technical skills and competencies which play a significant part in contributing to an individual’s effective and successful participation in the workplace.
Endorsed—is the official term used when a training package has successfully completed the quality assurance process and is endorsed by the National Quality Council, agreed to by state and territory ministers for vocational education and training, and placed on the National Training Information Service.
Evidence guide—within a unit of competency describes the underpinning knowledge and skills that must be demonstrated to prove competence.
Flexible learning—expands choice about what, when, where and how people learn. It is a learner-centred approach to education and training that covers a range of delivery modes, including e-learning, distance education, mixed-mode delivery, online learning, self-paced and self-directed learning.
Industry skills councils—are national bodies that provide advice on the current and future skills needs of their industries and develop and maintain training packages.
Ministerial Council for Vocational and Technical Education—this body has overall responsibility for national training policy, priorities, planning and performance. Its membership comprises Australian and state and territory government ministers responsible for training.
Moderation—is the process of comparing standards of assessment across different courses, institutions or organisations, to ensure that assessments are valid, reliable and fair.
National recognition—(previously referred to as mutual recognition) means that a student automatically has credit for units of competency that they have completed at any other registered training organisation in Australia.
National Senior Officials Committee—this committee consists of the chief executive officers of the Australian and state and territory training departments. It is the administrative arm of the Ministerial Council for Vocational and Technical Education. It implements the decisions of the Ministerial Council, drives national collaboration on training matters, and monitors the effectiveness of the national training system.
National Skills Framework—is the three key elements of the national training system which promote quality and national consistency in terms of qualifications and the delivery of training. The three key elements are training packages, the Australian Quality Training Framework and the Australian Qualifications Framework.
Noted materials—are support materials that meet the quality assurance requirements of the National Quality Council are ‘noted’ and can be distinguished by a special tick logo.
Packaging—or packaging rules means making available a choice of units within the packaging arrangements of a training package to suit local clients and/or conditions.
Performance criteria—specify the required level of performance or what level of skill is needed.
Range statement—relates to the unit of competency as a whole providing the range of contexts and conditions to which the performance criteria apply. It allows for different work environments and situations that will affect performance.
Reasonable adjustment—refers to measures or actions taken to provide a student with a disability the same educational opportunities as everyone else.
Recognition of prior learning—is an assessment process that assesses the individual’s non-formal and informal learning to determine the extent to which that individual has achieved the required learning outcomes, competency outcomes, or standards for entry to, and/or partial or total completion of, a qualification.
Registered training organisation—these organisations meet the Australian Qualifications Framework Essential Standards for Registrations which allow them to deliver nationally recognised vocational education and training; they include TAFE institutes, private training providers, enterprises and schools.
Scope of Registration—specifies the Australian Qualifications Framework qualifications and/or units of competency for which the training organisation is registered to deliver, assess and issue qualifications.
Skill sets—provide a clearly defined statement of the skills and knowledge required by an individual to meet industry needs or a licensing or regulatory requirement.
Statement of attainment—is the statement issued within the Australian Qualifications Framework for either a formal record of achievement for the successful completion of part of an Australian Qualifications Framework qualification or a formal record for the successful completion of an accredited course where the course does not meet the requirements of a full Australian Qualifications Framework qualification.
Superseded—refers to an old training package that as been replaced by an updated training package as a result of a training package review process.
Training package—is a set of nationally endorsed standards and qualifications for recognising and assessing people’s skills in a specific industry, industry sector or enterprise.
Training package implementation guides—are support resources to help registered training organisations, teachers, trainers and assessors use training packages.
Unit of competency—is the specification of knowledge and skill, and the application of that knowledge and skill, to the standard of performance expected in the workplace. A unit of competency is the smallest unit that can be assessed and recognised.
Vocational education and training in schools—is the term used for programs that allow school students to undertake vocational studies with their school curriculum, leading to a senior secondary certificate and/or a nationally recognised vocational education and training qualification within the Australian Qualifications Framework.
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