Metal and Engineering Industry
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an Industry Training Package?
Industry Training Packages describe the skills and qualifications required to be employable within a particular industry. Training Packages are a mechanism against which nationally recognised and portable training can be designed, delivered and assessed. Despite the name, Training Packages are not “off the shelf” training programs or resources. They are industry specified benchmarks that establish the structure and expected outcomes of national qualifications.
Industry Training Packages consist of industry competency standards, assessment guidelines and qualifications. They do not usually include support materials such as learning strategies, assessment resources and professional development materials; however these may be developed to support the implementation of training packages.
Who develops Industry Training Packages?Industry has a strong voice in Australia's vocational education and training system through a national system of industry advisory arrangements. New communication channels with industry have been created through the establishment of 10 'Industry Skills Councils'. ISCs are responsible for developing and maintaining Industry Training Packages. For more information about Industry Skills Councils go to
www.isc.org.auWhy have Industry Training Packages?Training Packages are a key feature of Australia’s national training system. They provide a national framework that enables vocational qualifications to be consistent and portable across all States and Territories. Without them nationally consistent training outcomes would not be possible. As industry specified products, training packages ensure that training outcomes are industry relevant.
What is the Metal and Engineering Training Package?The Metal and Engineering Training Package (national identifier code MEM05) replaces all existing national industry-supported training courses within the Manufacturing Engineering and Related industries. The Training Package includes qualification outcomes from Certificate I to Advanced Diploma. Future versions may include Vocational Graduate Certificates and Diplomas.
MEM05 covers the skill development and recognition requirements of people who use the workplace competencies covered by the National Metal and Engineering Competency Standards and specified Competency Standards from other National Quality Council (NQC) endorsed training packages. The Metal and Engineering Training Package is designed to be flexible and can be linked to all types of employment arrangements including Australian Workplace Agreements, Certified Agreements as well as Federal and State Awards. It also complements the employment framework formally agreed to by all industrial parties. You might find it useful to read through the Metal, Engineering and Associated Industries Award, 1998 or one of the state derivative awards.
Where can I obtain a copy of the Metal and Engineering Training Package and other supporting documents?The Metal and Engineering Training Package including the competency standards is available from
Manufacturing Skills Australia or
TVET. MSA also produces a range of supporting publications.
The training package may be accessed online through the
National Training Information ServiceWhat is competency?The Australian vocational education and training system is based on the concept of competency. The broad concept of industry competency concerns the ability to perform particular tasks and duties to the standard of performance expected in the workplace.
Competency in this context is far more than the skills an individual is able to perform in an industry or enterprise; it is equally about the knowledge that an individual brings to the application of those skills. This approach encourages multi-skilling and the ability to transfer competency to new situations leading to improved portability of skills across the workforce.
The concept of competency includes all aspects of work performance, not only narrow task skills. The four components of competency are:
- task skills
- task management skills
- contingency management skills
- job/role environment skills
While not every unit of competency contains all four components, they will be present in groups of units that cover a job or job role.
What are units of competency?Units of competency define the various competencies required for effective workplace performance. Units focus on what is expected of an employee in the workplace rather than on the learning process, and as such embody the ability to transfer and apply skills and knowledge to new situations and environments. As standards, units of competency represent an aggregation of realistic workplace practices across a broad range of situations.
The units of competency are developed through extensive consultation and are validated by stakeholders within the industry. The group of competencies for that industry are then endorsed by Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments and approved for use throughout Australia.
Units of competency are concerned with what people are able to do, e.g. (‘maintain and overhaul equipment) and with the ability to do this in a range of contexts, for example ‘maintain and overhaul equipment for manufacturing plant’. They emphasise outcomes and the application of skills and knowledge, not just their specification.
By combining various units of competency, a “profile” can be established that reflects the requirements for a particular job. In the same way, units of competency can be combined into a qualification. As building blocks, units of competency afford a great deal of flexibility for designing job profiles and qualifications.
What’s in a unit of competency?Units of competency are the smallest component of achievement which can be nationally recognised; it is the unit of competency as a whole, not individual elements or performance criteria, which are recognised.
A unit of competency is typically broken down into smaller components called elements. Elements describe, in outcome terms, functions that a person who works in a particular area of work is able to perform. Elements must describe actions or outcomes which are demonstrable and assessable. The elements of competency combine to make up the unit of competency. Note that elements are not simple procedural lists of sequential tasks. Elements often appear to be unrelated until combined to form a unit of competency.
Apart from elements, units include the following:
Performance criteria: Performance criteria are evaluative statements which specify what is to be assessed and the required level of performance. It is here that the activities, skills, knowledge and understanding which provide the evidence of competent performance are specified.
Range statement: this performs a number of significant functions, such as contextualising the competency, providing a link to knowledge and enterprise requirements and assisting in providing a focus of assessment. The range statement contains “variables” that are indicative of the scope of the unit. Note that variables are guides only and are not limited to or prescribed by the examples listed under the scope.
Why are competency standards broad in nature?The standards are set in a packaging framework designed to facilitate flexibility, multi-skilling and specialisation. The framework is based on the principle that individual units of competency, apart from a very small number of mandatory units, should not be exclusively related to a particular occupation or employment classification level. Units of competency may be selected in combinations that reflect a wide variety of work requirements and applications. Units of competency may be customised within certain limits to suit particular applications, job roles and work requirements.
What is the difference between competency standards and subjects or modules?Competency standards should not be confused with subjects, modules or any other inputs to structured training delivery and assessment. Competency standards are neither a method nor a mode of training. Units of competency specify what is expected of a competent person. This may occur as a result of training and assessment, or by assessment of appropriate experience.
It is against units of competency that training and assessment programs are designed and that design could take on many forms. All references to ‘competency’ are made in the context of the competency standards – not the outcomes described in subjects, training modules or any other training curricula.
Remember that training modules provide learning pathways to acquire new skills and knowledge. In other words, they are a journey to becoming competent. The competency standards describe the level or degree of application of skills and knowledge as well as indicating the scope of application i.e. they specify the destination.
Whilst modules are a useful training resource, they are much narrower and atomised in their approach. For this reason, mapping between National Competency Standards and modules is not recommended. MSA encourages a project centred approach to the achievement of competency against one or a number of integrated units of competency.
What is the purpose of industry unit weightings or ‘points’?Many specialisation units have an allocated ‘unit weighting’, commonly referred to as ‘points’. The unit weightings reflect the’industrial value’ of the unit in the workplace. Whilst an approximation is sometimes made between the required number of points and the total hours of training required for a qualification, individual unit weightings do not in any way infer a nominal number of training hours for any given unit.
A fundamental principle of the competency based approach is the concept of integrated delivery and assessment of units of competency. This means that where possible, training should be designed meet the combined outcomes of ‘clusters’ of logically related units. Training time for combinations of units may be substantially less than that required for any single unit. It is partly for this reason that any attempt to relate points and training hours to individual units is fundamentally flawed. For further information see What is integrated assessment?
Many of the qualifications include an identified number of required points. The units selected for the qualification must have a combined points value no less than the points value specified for the qualification. The combined points total also includes the points for any pre-requisite units involved. Note that the points for any particular unit can only be counted once in each qualification. For example, if a unit is selected to be part of a qualification and it is also a pre-requisite for another selected unit, then the points for that unit can only be counted once.
How can I make suggestions or provide feedback?In accordance with DEEWR requirements, MSA reviews the Metal and Engineering Training Package through a process of continuous improvement. Changes can include simple editing through to development of new units to meet particular industry needs. The standards are viewed as dynamic and changes are incorporated to improve the standards in terms of technical quality, usability, changes in workplace organisation and use of technology.
Changes will be submitted for endorsement bi-annually. Feedback and comment is sought from enterprises, industry and training organisations across Australia.
To provide feedback or make suggestions, visit us at
www.mskills.com.au and click on the feedback links provided throughout the site, or just phone or email us.
Can I change units of competency?Units of competency are designed to reflect a wide variety of work requirements and applications. They represent an “aggregated” view of industry expectations for particular work requirements. Notably, they focus on skill requirements, rather than specific applications of those skill requirements.
Units of competency may be customised provided the structure and overall outcome of the competency standards unit is not changed. This may be achieved by:
- adding enterprise specific language, terminology and procedures and/or;
- changing range of variables to incorporate the context of enterprise applications and procedures etc
Note that the unit number, title, pre-requisites and unit weight points value must not be changed. Elements and performance criteria cannot be changed except by the addition of detailed information.
How are competency standards used in the enterprises?Industry parties (unions and employer organisations) have agreed that competency standards are the national benchmark for the recognition of skills. This is reflected in the Metal, Engineering and Associated Industries Award 1998. The National Metal and Engineering Competency Standards have a number of uses for enterprises, including:
- skills classification against the Award
- multiskilling
- work organisation and job redesign
- providing career path options
- identification of training needs
- succession planning
- workplace assessment
- providing the basis for nationally recognised and portable qualifications
A Competency Standards Implementation Guide has been developed to assist enterprises in the implementation of industry competency standards. The Award required enterprises to follow the Guide whenever competency standards are being implemented or used in an enterprise for the purpose of classifying employees or positions within the Award classification structure. Copies of the Implementation Guide may be purchased from Manufacturing Skills Australia (phone 1800 358 458) or downloaded free from the MSA website
www.mskills.com.auCan I bring in other units of competency from other Training Packages?Provided the integrity and level of outcome is retained, you can use limited numbers of units from other endorsed Training Packages from other industries and/or enterprises. These units can make up to a certain percentage of the units required for a Metal and Engineering Training Package qualification. Assessment against any substitute or replacement unit must be carried out according to the Assessment Guidelines in the Metal and Engineering Training Package.
Qualification packaging rules in Volume 1 of the Training Package indicate the points value or numbers of units of competency that may be drawn from other endorsed Training Packages. Units must be available for inclusion at the same qualification level in the other endorsed Training Package/s.
Note that it is the responsibility of the RTO to determine the relative points value or equivalence of any units drawn from other Training Packages.
Can I customise qualification titles?A qualification title may be customised by the addition of an approved occupation/functional stream after the endorsed title as shown on the qualification and/or transcript. Qualification packaging rules in Volume 1 of the Training Package indicate additional descriptors (if any) that may be used.
An example is Certificate III in Engineering – Mechanical Trade (Refrigeration and Air-conditioning). No other changes may be made to the qualification titles. Note that the addition of these descriptors to a qualification title does not change the formal title or unique code of the qualification.
Alternatively, reference to occupational or functional pathways may also be included on any qualification statement that is issued. This could be achieved by adding a pathway descriptor or an additional sentence below the formal title of the qualification
Do non-training package courses still apply?Where no national training package qualification exists, then state sponsored courses may still apply. Contact the relevant qualifications authority in your state for further information.
Is there a benchmark for assessment?Assessment leading to nationally recognised AQF qualifications and Statements of Attainment in the vocational education and training sector must meet the requirements of the Australian Quality Training Framework (AQTF) as expressed in the Standards for Registered Training Organisations. These can be downloaded from the DEEWR website at
www.dest.gov.au or can be obtained in hard copy from DEEWR. The Metal and Engineering Training package contains a summary of these requirements.
What are the required competencies for assessors?The Standards for Registered Training Organisations specify mandatory competency requirements for assessors. Standard 7.3 outlines specific assessor competencies required from the Training and Assessment Training Package. These are as follows:
a. TAAASS401A Plan and organise assessment;
b. TAAASS402A Assess competence;
c. TAAASS404A Participate in assessment validation; and relevant vocational competencies, at least to the level being assessed
Note that a person who holds the appropriate BSZ coded competencies from the former Training Package for Assessment and Workplace Training will be accepted for the purposes of this standard.
What is integrated assessment?The Metal and Engineering Training Package consists of units of competency that will rarely be used in isolation. A given combination of units will form part of a person’s job role. No single unit of competency can be acquired in isolation and therefore opportunities for integrated learning and assessment activities should always be explored. Careful consideration of the profile of competencies will identify groups or ‘clusters’ of units where integrated assessment (or co-assessment) can be applied.
For example, mandatory units can often be readily integrated into the delivery of many specialisation units. A ‘project based’ approach is ideally suited to the integration of related units.
Adoption of integrated assessment can provide significant savings in time, cost and effort of assessors and candidates. Assessment tools should be designed so that assessment evidence can be gathered for a group of units and the outcomes identified with those units. This approach can be quite adequately used to also deal with prerequisites.
Where can I obtain learning and assessment resources?MSA has developed a small number of competency based ‘model’ learning and assessment strategies. These are designed to assist training providers to develop an integrated approach to deliver and assessment. The strategies also suggest a range of practical projects suited to an integrated approach. These strategies are available at
www.resourcegenerator.gov.auMSA will continue to develop learning and assessment strategies. Training providers are encouraged to develop similar resources and, where practical, provide them for use by the wider community.
In addition, there are some resources available from Australian Training Products (see
www.atpl.net.au)
What is the difference between RTO assessment and workplace assessments by registered industry assessors?A range of Registered Training Organisations may conduct assessments and issue nationally recognised qualifications in the Metal and Engineering Training package. These qualifications are portable and may be accepted as evidence of competency by a range of enterprises.
For the purposes of industry competency standards implementation and/or skills classification, ‘assessment’ is the process of determining whether or not an individual employee (who does not hold an appropriate recognised qualification or is working at a higher level than that specified in the Award for the qualification held) is competent when their skills and background are compared to the performance criteria set out in the relevant competency units.
At present, this form of assessment is normally only valid within the particular enterprise. However MSA is investigating ways to ensure that Registered Training Organisations recognise competencies that have been assessed in accordance with the Implementation Guide for credit transfer towards qualifications they issue.
Please contact MSA to find out the requirements for becoming an industry assessor.
Where can I obtain further information?If you have a question not addressed in this fact sheet, please contact the MSA info line on 1800 358 458 or e-mail us at
info@mskills.com.au