The National Governance and Accountability Framework establishes the decision-making processes and bodies responsible for training. It also includes planning and performance monitoring arrangements to guide the operation and growth of the training system.
The diagram below shows the relationships within the Framework
Find out more about the National Governance and Accountability Framework
The National Skills Framework provides the basis for high quality, flexible, nationally consistent vocational education and training which meets industry needs and which employers can trust. The framework consists of quality delivery through the Australian Quality Training Framework (AQTF), and through quality training products.
The AQTF comprises national standards for the registration and auditing of training providers and accreditation of courses, and national standards for state and territory registering authorities.
AQTF 2007 came into effect on 1 July 2007 and is the revision of the AQTF to improve the quality of training and assessment in the VET sector. The new arrangements encourage greater participation of licensing and industry regulatory bodies in ensuring the quality of training, and will also achieve greater national consistency through new standards for state and territory registering bodies. Outcomes-focussed audits will allow RTOs to focus more on the quality of the outcomes of their training and assessment, which in turn will give industry greater confidence in the outcomes of training.
Find out more about AQTF 2007.
A training package is an integrated set of nationally endorsed competency standards, assessment guidelines and Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) qualifications for a specific industry, industry sector or enterprise.
Each training package:
- provides a consistent and reliable set of components for training, recognising and assessing people’s skills, and may also have optional support materials;
- enables nationally recognised qualifications to be awarded through direct assessment of workplace competencies;
- encourages the development and delivery of flexible training which suits individual and industry requirements; and
- encourages learning and assessment in a work-related environment which leads to verifiable workplace outcomes.
Training packages ensure the relevance of training and qualifications for industry. A training package describes the skills and knowledge needed to perform effectively in the workplace. They cover a full range of industries in Australia from aviation to community services, electrical, engineering, music, maritime, manufacturing, tourism, and business.
In addition to the traditional technical training areas in the trades, a variety of industries, such as retail, business services, and information technology, have now developed structured nationally recognised training as a result of the implementation of training packages. There are now 75 training packages (72 industry, 3 enterprise) covering 80% of the workforce across all industries.
For more detailed information about training packages, visit the national training information service at http://www.ntis.gov.au/ 
.
The Australian Qualifications Framework (commonly known as the AQF) is a unified system of national qualifications in schools, vocational education and training (TAFEs and private providers) and the higher education sector (mainly universities).
The Framework links together these qualifications and is a nationally recognised, quality-assured system of educational recognition. AQF vocational education and training qualifications focus on competency in a workplace environment.
There are many pathways that connect schools, vocational education and training, universities, community education and employers. These pathways include agreed credit for previous learning between institutions and education sectors.
Training providers which are formally registered and audited by government are referred to as Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) and are authorised to issue VET qualifications for training within their scope of registration.
There is a wide range of RTOs in Australia. The majority of training is delivered by publicly owned technical and further education initiatives. Private and community bodies also operate RTOs, as do some schools and some large national employers.
Nationally accredited and consistent training is ensured by training packages and accredited training products. To find more information about training packages, visit the National Training Information Service (NTIS) site, or training.com.au . For more information about accredited training products and national registration, accreditation and auditing, visit the TVET Australia website.
The National Skills Framework sets out arrangements for ensuring national consistency and quality of training services delivered by RTOs.
Australian Apprenticeships are one of the best ways to combine training and employment and lead to a nationally recognised qualification.
Find out more about Australian Apprenticeships.
VET is jointly funded by the Australian and state and territory governments, with the Australian Government providing approximately one third of the government funding. The 2005-2008 Commonwealth-State Agreement for Skilling Australia’s Workforce sets out the overall objectives and aims for the national training system and provides the mechanism for the release of funding from the Australian government to state and territory governments. The 2005-2008 funding agreement is worth $ 4.4bn.
Funding through the Agreement supports:
- a shared commitment to support national goals and objectives for vocational education and training;
- national policies to support the effective operation of the training system;
- national planning arrangements to support improved training outcomes;
- national priorities that are to be achieved in the medium term;
- national outcomes-focussed performance measures, such as module and qualification completion rates, and employer satisfaction levels;
- national initiatives and project activities that would advance the training system, such as promotion and marketing, and research priorities; and
- national targets that will reflect Australian and state government policy objectives.
Find out more information on the roles and responsibilities of parties to the 2005-2008 Commonwealth-State Agreement for Skilling Australia’s Workforce.
In addition to a multilateral agreement, bilateral agreements with each state and territory provide flexibility to advance national and state priorities and establish performance levels that are relevant to each jurisdiction.
Bilateral agreements include details of:
- the states’ and territories’ share of the national targets for increasing the number of training places;
- the Commonwealth-State Skills Shortage Initiative that builds on the National Skills Shortages Strategy; and
- the joint funding pool to improve outcomes for Indigenous Australians, particularly in regional and remote locations.
Funding under the Commonwealth-State Agreement supports the operation of the operational bodies within the national training system.