The jobs and skills council for the business, ICT and finance sectors, Future Skills Organisation has launched a new Digital Capability Training Product Trial (TPT).
The trial is designed to accelerate the development and delivery of industry-led, high-quality digital skills training to address Australia’s critical digital skills gap, and will focus on building generalist skills in areas such as AI and cyber.
The project aims to both (a) develop digital skills’ units of competency, skill sets and supporting resources based on the DigComp 2.2 framework and (b) to test them through a new approach which it is hoped will enable faster skills development.
It will do so while working alongside the Training Package Organising Framework to ensure that the units developed in the trial align with national standards.
The trial is an acknowledgement that traditional training package development processes are too slow to keep up with technological change, particularly in areas like generative AI, leaving industries seeking alternatives outside the VET sector.
Instead of waiting until the new units and skillsets can be formally included in training packages, the trial will see selected RTOs, including TAFE Centres of Excellence and specialist providers, delivering these ‘draft’ courses to learners, with students’ successful completions recognised through digital badges and subsequent recognition of prior learning (RPL) once the units and skill sets achieve national accreditation in the relevant training package.
In this trial it is intended that the final accredited units of competency and skill sets will sit within the Business Services Training Package, making them available for broad cross-industry use given that 3,268 RTOs offer at least one unit from the BSB Training Package.
An independent evaluation of the trial will provide evidence on how well the approach bridges skills gaps, supports industry responsiveness, and reduces the time lag between industry identifying a need for new skills and VET’s training package development process delivering new training courses and materials.
