Australia is one of just a few countries that have a vocational education sector where a trainee is assessed by his or her acquisition of competencies, and focuses on the development of skills relevant to a trade or field of skilled specialization.

In fact, Australia's VET sector is internationally recognized as providing world's best practice in vocational training, and qualifications from Australian VET institutions are recognized worldwide.

Vocational education and training (VET) enables students to gain qualifications for all types of employment, and specific skills to help them in the workplace.

The providers of VET include technical and further education (TAFE) institutes, adult and community education providers and agricultural colleges, as well as private providers, community organisations, industry skill centres, and commercial and enterprise training providers. In addition, some universities and schools provide VET.

Vocational education and training is provided through a network of eight state and territory governments and the Australian Government, along with industry, public and private training providers. These organisations work together to provide nationally consistent training across Australia.

The VET sector is crucial to the Australian economy; both for the development of the national workforce and as a major export industry.

What is a training package?

Training packages are developed by Industry Skills Councils (ISCs) to meet the training needs of an industry, or a group of industries.

Training packages do not suggest how a learner should be trained, rather, they specify the skills and knowledge required to perform effectively in the workplace.

Each training packages is made up of three components:

Units of competency: define the skills and knowledge to operate effectively and how they need to be applied to perform effectively in a workplace context.

Qualifications framework: groups of units of competency ranging from Certificate I to Graduate Diploma level such as:

• Certificate 1
• Certificate 11
• Certificate 111
• Certificate IV
• Diploma
• Advanced Diploma
• Graduate Certificate
• Graduate Diploma

Assessment guidelines: the industry's preferred approach to assessment, including the qualifications required by assessors, the design of assessment processes and how assessments should be conducted.