Qualification Reform Trial

The trials will enable industry, government and training providers to test elements of qualifications reform, including identifying resources required to support employers and learners, and to support training providers successfully delivering the training products of the future.

The HSSO Qualification Reform Trial focuses on career pathways for the Personal Care Worker job family and will develop occupational standards which reflect the skills and capability requirements for the workforce.

Skills Ministers have agreed the following design elements will underpin the trials:

• Qualifications based on appropriately grouped occupation and skills clusters to deliver vocational outcomes for students (including supporting stronger recognition of cross-sectoral and transferable skills)
• Simplifying products and removing complexity through the separation of occupational and training standards to reduce the level of prescriptive conditions in current qualifications and make better use of industry and educational expertise
• Stand alone and/or stackable short form training products, with improved pathways advice to support students to rapidly upskill or reskill to pursue new career opportunities (including facilitating stronger articulation pathways between school, VET and higher education to support lifelong learning).

This project will deliver:

1. Career Pathways and Occupational Standards for Personal Care Workers, including the development of training and assessment standards.
2. Mapping of QRT products to current training products: including the package of pathways description, occupational standards and training/assessment standards against the requirements of the Certificate III in Individual Support.
3. Development of recognition of prior learning approaches (RPL) and tools to support the formal recognition of individuals’ skills, knowledge and experience.
4. A Comparison Report comparing the occupational/training standard format with the current Training Package format of qualification development.
5. Identification of skill similarity with adjacent sectors, and how the occupational standards may apply across sectors to support mobility and skills recognition into personal care.

The project materials are exploratory and will have no formal standing as endorsed products.

Next Steps

The final HSSO project report and all project deliverables are complete and have been approved by the Department of Education, Skills and Employment (DESE). We will provide a further update once the Department has published the outcomes of the four qualification design trials.