VET News

AQF Review Report Released

The Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) Review has now completed.  The AQF is the national policy for regulated qualifications.

The Australian Government announced a review of the AQF in the 2017-18 budget to ensure that it continues to meet the needs of students, employers, education providers and the wider community.  

The review panel, led by Professor Peter Noonan, has made a number of recommendations as significant reforms to the AQF.  The comprehensive recommendations focus on a future AQF that would evolve as follows:

• A less complex AQF structure with a primary focus on the qualification types in the AQF (Degrees, Certificates etc.). 
• A single and clearer taxonomy comprising eight bands of knowledge and six bands of skills more flexibly applied. Application is not rigidly locked to other bands (or levels). 
• Contemporary definitions of knowledge and skills are used. Knowledge, Skills and Application are defined in terms of action – the information to inform action, the capabilities to take action and the context for action. 
• Using these features, the AQF is refocused on the design of qualifications linked to learning outcomes for individual qualifications. 
• Additional information is included to help define qualification types, particularly for qualifications leading to Nationally Recognised Training delivered through the VET sector, for apprenticeships and for research-oriented qualifications. 
• General capabilities (such as digital literacy and ethical decision making) are identified for use in individual qualifications. 
• The AQF Pathways Policy is revised to broaden guidelines for credit recognition across AQF qualifications and to define and provide for recognition of shorter form credentials, including micro-credentials, towards AQF qualifications. 
• A prototype national credit points system is developed for voluntary adoption by institutions and sectors. 
• Qualification types are realigned against the revised taxonomy (based on options outlined in this Report) including the addition of a higher diploma qualification. VET certificates can be more meaningfully titled to reflect their purpose. 
• The Senior Secondary Certificate of Education is more clearly defined and represented in the AQF in terms of its role in preparing young people for a range of pathways into VET and higher education (including with credit). 
• Volume of learning is expressed in terms of hours, not years, and applied as a benchmark for compliance and quality assurance. 
• An ongoing governance body for the AQF is established to give effect to decisions of the Review of the AQF and to provide advice on revisions to the AQF where required in the future. 
• AQF policies are updated or assigned to the relevant agency, with redundant policies removed. The AQF is more consistently referenced and applied in VET and higher education sector standards and guidelines

For more information, you can view the:

• DET website
• Review report

Date posted Oct 31, 2019