Vocational Education and Training (VET) – what it is and how it works.
What are Training Packages and what is in them?
What is Vocational Education and Training (VET)?
Vocational Education and Training (VET) develops skills that are directly related to work. It provides skills and knowledge that equip people to perform their job, contributes to people's employability and supports life-long learning. VET covers the full spectrum of jobs in the workforce - just about any job you can think of. The exception is those jobs that require highly specialised skills or extensive theoretical knowledge - these are usually covered by higher education (eg degrees).Training packages are the foundation stones of the VET system and with them comes competency-based training and assessment.
The competency-based Training System
Industries have now made the move to competency-based training. This means that the aim of training is to have the learner actually able to do specified things to a specified standard. The focus of the system is on what a person can actually do in the workplace as a result of learning and skill development - not on the process and time involved. This means that work skills can be formally recognised, no matter whether they are gained through training or through direct work activity. Employees can be formally assessed in a specific work skill by using a training package competency standard and an appropriate assessment tool.
What are Training Packages?
A Training Package is a set of resources and materials designed to assist industry implement skills development and recognition - a lot like standards (a Training Package doesn't contain materials a learner can pick up and learn how to do a job). The Forest and Forest Products Industry Training Package is an example of what training packages do. It describes the broad skills and knowledge that workers need to perform effectively in workplaces in the industry. Qualifications and the Units of Competency that relate to forest and forest products industry sectors are grouped together in the Training Package, so that every type of job in the industry is covered Training packages are developed with input from industry experts - the aim is to have units of competency that accurately reflect the kinds of skills used in the industry.
Qualifications Qualifications group together units of competence in a meaningful way. A training package qualifications framework sets out the rules about what constitutes a qualification.
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