40+ years experience as a trainer, instructional designer, quality manager, project manager, program manager, RTO auditor, RTO manager and VET adviser.
In 2005, the Western Australian Government’s Department of Training and Workforce Development published a document titled, ‘New streamlined RPL assessment processes.’ This was preparing for the 2006 implementation of the TAFE WA Trade Skills Recognition Project. This project promoted an RPL process that focused on task‑based assessment, rather than a paper-based portfolio assessment.
The following is a summary of some key points from the document:
Traditionally, RPL required students to independently gather paper evidence and map portfolios against competency units. RTOs have recognised that this approach was overly isolating, highly demanding, and often required literacy or analytical skills exceeding the qualification’s actual level, disadvantaging mature-aged learners, re-entrants, and migrants needing confidence-building support.
Modern streamlined RPL processes reduce reliance on paper portfolios, replacing them with flexible, interactive assessment methods similar to standard training programs. These include structured interviews and direct observations in workplace or simulated environments. Crucially, RTO should offer personalised, ongoing support, advice, and feedback, transforming RPL into a user-friendly assessment pathway that adheres to regulatory standards while properly guiding students through the process.
Twenty years later …
Monday’s edition of TDA’s newsletter provided information about a free event to be held on the 14th of October 2026. The event titled, ‘Reimagining Skills Recognition: a national RPL forum’, had the following description:
For decades, RPL has asked candidates to map what they know against training package requirements. RPL is paperwork-heavy and too often undersells expertise. This one-day forum opens a national conversation about a different approach: putting a candidate’s actual skills, experience, and currency at the centre of the assessment judgement, while staying firmly within existing regulatory settings.
The day will be led by the Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT) and is the launch event for National TAFE Network’s Reimagining Skills Recognition project, which is a national partnership between CIT, TAFE Queensland, TAFE SA, UC, UNSW, ASQA and the AMWU.
The national RPL forum will be facilitated by the Canberra Innovation Network and brings together TAFE educators and executives from across the country, university academics, industry, government, and people with lived experience of RPL. What happens in the room will feed directly into a shared national practice framework and toolkit.
The description for this event reads like it had been written 20 years ago.
Has nothing changed since 2006?
Have all the effort and cost over the past 20 years to improve RPL been a waste of time and money?
What really are the barriers that have stopped RTOs from implementing an RPL process that is focused on task‑based assessment?
The UEE22025 Certificate II in Electrotechnology (Career Start) qualification was released on the 25th of November 2025. Six months later, the UEE22226 Certificate II in Gateway to the Energy Sector qualification was endorsed, and on the 15th of June 2026 it was released.
Fun Fact: There are 57 RTOs that have added the UEE22025 Certificate II in Electrotechnology (Career Start) qualification to their scope of registration.
This article explores a range of initiatives and innovations relating to the current reforms to the Australian VET system.
There is a difference between a gateway and a pathway
The UEE22025 Certificate II in Electrotechnology (Career Start) qualification provides a pathway to an apprenticeship or traineeship. The UEE22226 Certificate II in Gateway to the Energy Sector qualification is a gateway training program. These two qualifications have a fundamental difference.
The UEE22025 Certificate II in Electrotechnology (Career Start) qualification aims to develop work skills and it provides credit towards an apprenticeship or traineeship. It starts a person’s career. It puts the person on a pathway to continue onto a Certificate III from the UEE Training Package.
The UEE22226 Certificate II in Gateway to the Energy Sector qualification does not develop work skills. It is like a secondary school subject or a relatively short training program to occupy someone’s time while they decide if employment in the energy sector is something they want to do.
The UEE22226 Certificate II in Gateway to the Energy Sector qualification has deliberately been created to not give credit towards an apprenticeship or traineeship. Also, it is unlikely that the attainment of the UEE22226 Certificate II in Gateway to the Energy Sector qualification could contribute to a future RPL application.
The shift from vocational training to vocational education
The UEE22226 Certificate II in Gateway to the Energy Sector qualification was released on the 15th of June 2026. It is the first ‘training product’ to be released that uses the formats specified by the Training Packaging Organising Framework 2025. The packaging rules for the UEE22226 Certificate II in Gateway to the Energy Sector qualification states that, “it is a core only qualification”, and it requires the completion of ten core units.
The ten core units created for the UEE22226 Certificate II in Gateway to the Energy Sector qualification are in the Application of Skills and Knowledge (ASK) format. An analysis of these units indicated a description of curriculum rather than competency. They are units of curriculum, not units of competency. This supports the shift from competency-based training to curriculum-based education.
The following are the ten units of curriculum that have been created for the UEE22226 Certificate II in Gateway to the Energy Sector qualification.
Seven exploration units. Units that develop a person’s capability to explore a subject. An innovation for the Australian VET system!
Curriculum-based education
The following is the first sentence of the Qualification description from the UEE22226 Certificate II in Gateway to the Energy Sector qualification.
This qualification has not been created to develop work skills. It immediately identifies the target audience as ‘learners’. This means school students or other people interested in exploring a career in the energy sector. The following has been extracted from the second paragraph of the Qualification description from the UEE22226 Certificate II in Gateway to the Energy Sector qualification.
This reinforces that this qualification is ‘schoolwork’ and it has a focus on developing the ability to research a ‘subject’ rather than learning to perform tasks in a workplace environment. The following has been extracted from the third and fourth paragraphs of the Qualification description from the UEE22226 Certificate II in Gateway to the Energy Sector qualification.
This shows how the delivery of this qualification must be done in a ‘school-like’ environment.
And finally, the Qualification description from the UEE22226 Certificate II in Gateway to the Energy Sector qualification states, “Graduates will be prepared to undertake further vocational education and training or pre-apprenticeship programs”.
The above shows how a Certificate II qualification leads to a Certificate II qualification. However, there are variations to the above pathway.
Entry points: A person could start at the pre-apprenticeship program, or they could commence the apprenticeship without doing the gateway or pre-apprenticeship program.
Exit points: A person could complete the gateway program and stop, or they could complete the pre-apprenticeship and not continue the pathway.
It is said that Australia is facing a significant shortage of qualified electricians. Is the UEE22226 Certificate II in Gateway to the Energy Sector qualification likely to increase the number of people completing their apprenticeships and becoming qualified electricians?
Introducing foundation skills outcomes
The Training Package Organising Framework 2025 has introduced a new template for qualifications. Qualifications shall now include Foundation Skills Outcome. This information shall indicate “the foundation skill outcomes a competent learner is expected to have upon completion of the qualification. It should be reflected as a bar chart and include each of the five Australian Core Skills Framework skills (learning, reading, writing, oral communication, numeracy).” Did it really have to be shown as a bar chart?
The following shows the Foundation Skills Outcome for the UEE22226 Certificate II in Gateway to the Energy Sector qualification.
ACSF Level 2 seems very limited. Is this a missed opportunity, especially not raising the numeracy skills to an ACSF Level 3?
One the mandatory units for the UEE22226 Certificate II in Gateway to the Energy Sector qualification is UEEFS2002 Develop foundation skills required for entry to the energy sector. This is an interesting adaptation of units in the Australian VET system. An example about what makes it so interesting is the Knowledge Evidence.
The following is the Knowledge Evidence for the UEEFS2002 Develop foundation skills required for entry to the energy sector unit.
Do all the above items represent knowledge?
The Knowledge Evidence seems like a place to dump information. The UEE units of curriculum are using the Knowledge Evidence as a place to document the details. This is making these UEE units of curriculum very prescriptive. Wasn’t the aim of the new ASK formatted units to make things less prescriptive?
In the past, and currently, the FSK Foundation Skills Training Package separates each foundation skill into a unique unit, but the UEE Electrotechnology Training Package has created a unit that combines all foundations skills into the one unit. This seems to be making ‘super-sized’ units. Yet another innovation for the Australian VET system!
In conclusion
The UEE22226 Certificate II in Gateway to the Energy Sector qualification and associated UEE units using the ASK format are the first to be endorsed and released. There will be a delay before any RTO adds the UEE22226 Certificate II in Gateway to the Energy Sector qualification to their scope of registration. The nominal hours for the new UEE units are not yet available, and RTOs will need to develop their assessment tools and training materials before applying to add the qualification to their scope of registration.
We can expect to have more qualifications and units using the ASK format endorsed and released over the next few months. I’ve reviewed draft ASK units developed by three other JSCs, and each JSC seem to be using the ASK template slightly or extremely different ways to develop new units. It looks like a significant shift from competency-based training to curriculum-based education. And the promise of less prescriptive units seems to have been broken.
Ironically, the new ASK units seem to be more prescriptive while increasing the ambiguity. Generally, we can expect the Australian VET system to become more complex. Is this what our VET leaders want?
This article has explored a range of initiatives and innovations that relate to the current reforms to the Australian VET system. These VET Reforms include the splitting of VET into two systems:
A competency-based vocational training system
A curriculum-based vocational education system.
If you have found this article interesting, thought provoking, or mildly entertaining, please consider ‘liking it’. If not, please ‘share it’ with others so that they may like it.
Do you want more information?
Are you an RTO manager or course coordinator?
Could your RTO team benefit from professional development about changes to the Australian VET system? In particular, how the Training Package Organising Framework or how the new EPC and ASK formatted units impact their work as VET practitioners?
The new ASK formatted units have removed information about the elements of competency and associated performance criteria. In the Australian VET system, competency is defined as the consistent application of knowledge and skills to the standard of performance required in the workplace. The key words I want to highlight in this definition are knowledge, skills, and performance.
Knowledge + Skills = Performance
Therefore, it is super important to identify the performance requirements when unpacking the unit of competency. Once the performance requirements have been identified, then the next important thing to do is reconstruct the pieces of information scattered across the unit of competency. This can be done by showing the connections between performance, knowledge, and skills.
Unpacking the UEEFS2003 unit
In this article, I shall use the newly released UEEFS2003 Work safely and sustainably in the energy sector unit of competency.
This is one of the first ASK formatted units that has been endorsed and released for implementation. It was developed by Powering Skills Organisation.
Step 1. Identify performance requirements
Performance requirements need to be extracted from two separate parts of the unit:
Performance Evidence
Application of Knowledge & Skills
The following shows to the Performance Evidence for the UEEFS2003 unit. I have added the PE numbers.
The following shows to the Application of Knowledge & Skills for the UEEFS2003 unit. I have added the A numbers.
The following table shows the connection between the Performance Evidence and Application of Knowledge & Skills for the UEEFS2003 unit. I have added the coloured highlighting to show how they are connected.
The following shows how I have integrated and consolidated information from the Performance Evidence and Application of Knowledge & Skills for the UEEFS2003 unit. It simplifies the information from two lists (total of 15 items) to one list consisting of five items that I have called Performance Requirements.
The above list of five Performance Requirements can be used for organising assessments tasks and training sessions.
Step 2. Reconstruct the pieces of information
Pieces of information are scattered across the unit of competency:
Knowledge
Knowledge Evidence
Skills.
A table with the following structure can be used to reconstruct the pieces and show the connections between performance, knowledge, and skills.
The following shows the Knowledge items for the UEEFS2003 unit. I have added the K numbers.
The following shows how the Knowledge items relate to the Performance Requirements.
The UEEFS2003 unit has a large quantity of Knowledge Evidence items. There are 9 bullet points and 38 sub-bullet points, giving a total of 47 items of Knowledge Evidence.
The following shows an incomplete list of the Knowledge Evidence for the UEEFS2003 unit. I have added the KE numbers.
The following shows how the Knowledge Evidence items relate to the Performance Requirements.
The following shows the Skills for the UEEFS2003 unit. I have added the S numbers.
The following shows how the Skills items relate to the Performance Requirements.
The above table clearly shows the connection between all the pieces of information from the UEEFS2003 unit. As previously stated, this list of five Performance Requirements, now showing the connection to knowledge and skills can be used for organising assessments tasks and training sessions.
Knowledge + Skills = Performance
Conclusion
This article has used one of the newly endorsed and released ASK formatted units to show how to:
Extract pieces of information from a unit to identify performance requirements
Use a table to connect performance requirements with the specified required knowledge and required skills.
A future article can demonstrate how the Performance Requirements can be used for organising assessment tasks and training sessions.
Many people look at, and read, my articles but don’t respond. If you have found this article interesting or somehow useful, please consider ‘Liking it’.
Also, I look forward to receiving for comments.
Do you want more information?
Are you an RTO manager or course coordinator?
Could your RTO team benefit from professional development about changes to the Australian VET system? In particular, how the Training Package Organising Framework or how the new EPC and ASK formatted units impact their work as VET practitioners?
In this article, I want to emphasis the ongoing importance of ‘performance’ in the Australian VET system.
Competence relates to Performance
The Australian VET system is still based on competencies.
Competency, in the Australian VET system, is defined as the consistent application of knowledge and skills to the standard of performance required in the workplace.
Three key words that I want to focus on are: Knowledge, Skills and Performance.
A fundamental purpose of the Australian VET system
A fundamental purpose of the Australian VET system is to ensure Australia has a productive workforce. This is achieved by delivering training that develops the ability of people to perform work. Each year, billions of dollars are spent by governments on the VET system. It would be a waste of Australian taxpayers’ money if VET didn’t produce people with the ability to perform work safely and effectively.
A major outcome for VET should be work-ready people. These people may be seeking a job, seeking a new job, or seeking a better job.
Capability is not the same as Performance
VET must focus on ‘performance’. Having knowledge is not enough. Having skills is not enough. A person may know the theory (knowledge) and possess the capability (skill), but without action and real-world application, they remain unable to perform work.
The new Application of Skills and Knowledge (ASK) units will remove information about Elements and Performance Criteria. This significantly de-emphasises ‘performance’. However, each RTO delivering an ASK unit will still need to interpret it, contextualise it, and reconstruct it to describe the required performance.
Focusing on performance allows us to see how work actually happens. The required performance must be clearly described before assessment tools can be developed and before training programs can be designed.
Describing performance, linking knowledge and skills
The ASK units will specify the required knowledge, required skills, and application of knowledge and skills. However, the application of knowledge and skills in the ASK units do not necessarily describe anything about performance.
An RTO may use task breakdowns and step-by-step procedures to describe the required performance, as illustrated by the table below. In addition, extra columns can be added to the table to include information to show the link between each step of performance and the required knowledge and required skills.
This table format reconstructs the three piece of information: Knowledge, Skills and Performance.
This example clearly describes the required performance, and the step-by-step procedure can be used to develop observation checklist for assessment. Also, it provides information about when and what knowledge and skills need to be covered during training.
Do you want more information?
Are you an RTO manager or course coordinator?
Could your RTO team benefit from professional development about changes to the Australian VET system? In particular, how the Training Package Organising Framework or how the new EPC and ASK formatted units impact their work as VET practitioners?
Some people have been against a competency-based VET system for a very long time.
In November 2018, the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, commissioned a short-duration review of the Australia’s VET sector. The review was led by Steven Joyce, a former New Zealand Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment. He was later appointed Chair of the Skills Expert Panel, providing strategic advice to the Australian Government on VET reform implementation. [1]
People who were against a competency-based VET system had their say and Steven Joyce included their ideas in his report.
In April 2019, the Australian Government released the report with the title, ‘Strengthening Skills: Expert Review of Australia’s Vocational Education and Training System’, also known as the Joyce Review. [2]
In 2020, work on the VET Reforms begin. Later, VET Reforms were rebranded as Skills Reforms.
What is the planned change?
The planned change to the Australian VET system starts with changing qualifications and unit. The ultimate goal to the creation of a harmonised tertiary education system.
Not everyone thinks that VET should become a curriculum-based education system. There are some people who want VET to retain as a competency-based training system. I think a compromise has been made so that everyone gets what they want. The people want to introduce a vocational education system can have what they want, and those wanting vocational training system to continue to have it.
What are the two systems?
VET is splitting into two systems:
Vocational training system
Vocational education system.
The following table shows some differences between the two systems.
And the following illustrates the one VET system splitting into two.
Options for the future may include:
Vocational training (VT) is completely replaced by vocational education (VE), returning the entire VET system back to pre-1992 settings
Continues as 2 different systems, VE system and VT system
After the curriculum-based experiment fails the entire system returns to competency-based vocational training (VT) system
AI destroys the economy and society as we know it (let’s hope this is not a real option).
The following illustrates potential future options.
What is tertiary education harmonisation?
Harmonisation refers to the strategic alignment of the Vocational Education and Training and Higher Education (University) sectors. This initiative is driven by the Australian Universities Accord reforms and guided by the Jobs and Skills Australia Roadmap. The aim is to create a seamless tertiary education system.
I will assume that harmonisation is not about creating one tertiary education system. The vocational education (VE) system would continue to exist. The dream is for vocational education (VE) course to provide a pathway to higher education (HE) courses.
In conclusion
Ultimately, the ongoing evolution of the Australian VET system highlights a long-standing tension between competency-based training and curriculum-based education. What began with the 2018 Joyce Review has culminated in a strategic compromise: rather than forcing the entire sector into a single system, the system is splitting into distinct vocational training (VT) and vocational education (VE) streams. This dual-system approach attempts to satisfy both traditionalists who value practical, work-ready competencies and reformers advocating for broader, knowledge-based curriculum structures.
Looking forward, the success of this reform hinges on how effectively these two systems co-exist and align with the broader goal of tertiary harmonisation. The future remains open to several paths, ranging from a total shift back to a pre-1992 curriculum model to a potential return to a purely competency-based framework if the current experiment fails.
Could your RTO team benefit from professional development about changes to the Australian VET system? In particular, how the Training Package Organising Framework or how the new EPC and ASK formatted units impact their work as VET practitioners?
