What is a Training Package?
Training Packages are a set of nationally endorsed standards and qualifications for recognising and assessing people’s skills in a specific industry sector. Along with the ‘packaging’ of units of competency, they contain assessment guidelines for the award of the qualification and the full set of competencies. Training Packages are developed by industry through theIndustry Skills Councils (ISC’s)or by enterprises to meet the identified training needs of specific industries or industry sectors. The group of competencies for that industry are then endorsed by Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments and approved for use throughout Australia. Training Packages consist of competency standards, assessment guidelines and qualifications. They do not include support materials such as learning strategies, assessment resources and professional development materials, nor do they state how training is to be delivered or the final assessment methodology.
Many people think training packages are courses but they are not courses. In fact there is no training content in a training package. A training package is a set of statements that your performance will be assessed on, like: Computer is turned on in accordance with manufacturer’s instructions; Source documents are checked for accuracy and authorisation. Lots of similar statements (called criteria) are put together in a common group (called Elements) then the groups are put together under a subject area (called Units). So, a Unit is simply a subject containing a group of sub-subjects (the Elements), which are made up of statements (the Performance Criteria).
A Training Package is a consistent and reliable set of nationally endorsed standards and qualifications for recognising and assessing people’s skills. A Training Package describes what skills and knowledge are needed to perform effectively in the workplace without prescribing how to train. Teachers and trainers then develop learning strategies which are “the how” depending on a client’s needs, abilities and circumstances.
