What you need to know about training packages
A training package is a set of nationally endorsed qualifications and standards.
Training packages are developed closely with industry and provide a framework to recognise and assess the skills and knowledge people need to perform effectively in the workplace.
It is important that training remains relevant to your industry and students are equipped with the most up to date skills and knowledge.
Training packages underpin many vocational education training (VET) programs, guiding the delivery and assessment of structured nationally recognised accredited training.
Standards
Training packages are developed to an agreed quality standard and are responsive to industries' existing and future skills needs.
For more information, visit the Standards for Training Packages.
Development and endorsement
To keep up with industry changes and to respond to emerging industries, technologies and jobs, training packages go through regular reviews.
Training package development and endorsement refers to the entire process starting from identifying a training need through to the endorsement of the training package by the COAG Skills Council.
For more information, visit the Training Package Development and Endorsement Process Policy.
Industry Reference Committees (IRCs) work with Skills Service Organisations (SSOs) to develop training packages in response to industry skill and workforce requirements. The Australian Industry and Skills Committee (AISC) approves training packages for implementation.
To find out about the AISC, IRCs and SSOs that support them, visit the Australian Industry Skills Committee.
To see the full schedule of training packages under review, visit the Australian Industry Skills Committee's National Schedule.
South Australian State Training Authority
Each Australian state and territory government has a State Training Authority (STA) that administers VET.
One of the key responsibilities of the STA is to engage with stakeholders throughout the training package development process to identify and resolve local industry needs and interests.
We connect with industry through the eight Industry Skills Councils and training providers to gather local intelligence for training packages identified as high priority to the State.
Implementation Guides
Companion Volume Implementation Guides support trainers and assessors to implement training packages and provide information on the various components and requirements of a training package, including:
- qualifications
- registration processes for training organisations
- how to correlate information from earlier versions of the training package with the latest endorsed qualifications
- sample training programs
- contacts and resources.
To read companion volumes to support implementation of training packages, visit VETNet.
South Australia uses the Victorian Purchasing Guides for the nominal hours allocated to a training package.
For more information, visit the Victorian Department of Education and Training.
Get involved
You can be involved at all stages of the development process:
- industry skills forecast and proposed schedule of work, which provides industry overview and a 4-year plan for developing training products - qualifications, units of competency and skills sets
- training product drafts, which aims at achieving broad industry consensus about the content of training products
- validation of drafts, which ensures that the content and structure of training products meet industry needs
- case for endorsement, which provides a compelling case for approving the training products.
If you would like to get involved, please email DIIS.trainingpackages@sa.gov.au or phone 1800 673 097.
Watch the video below to learn about the development process and how to get involved.