Vocational Education and Training ( VET ) involves school based and post-compulsory education and training, which provides people with occupational or work-related knowledge and skills.
QANTM College programs are responsive to Industry needs and present opportunities for students to gain practical work skills and vocational qualifications as part of their school education. The work related programs are structured to offer students pathways, which are flexible and linked to further study options offered in most sectors, including high growth and new economy industries.
Industry defines the knowledge and skills required by a person to be competent in the workplace (known as competency standards). Competency Standards describe the skills and knowledge required for a person to operate effectively in the workplace. The standards have been defined by industry, are nationally recognised and form the basis of training for that specific industry.
VET programs and courses such as the QMIS program involves competency-based assessment . It is important that schools involved in the delivery of these programs have an understanding of the concept of competency and competency-based assessment, as competency standards form the benchmarks for assessment and the basis for nationally recognised qualifications.
Competency-based assessment is different to the type of assessment that you may have experienced in the school environment.
In competency-based assessment, a candidate is judged to be ‘competent’ or ‘not yet competent’ against Units of Competency in a Training Package. If the evidence indicates that a candidate is competent, the assessor is saying that this person has demonstrated that they have the necessary skill, attitudes and knowledge to effectively perform a function or task to the standard required by an enterprise.
When a person is judged as not yet competent, they may be in need of further coaching or learning opportunities, or they may need to produce more evidence of their skills.
Source: http://online.curriculum.edu.au
Within Vocational Educational Training (VET) these words are used very specifically. Both the assessor and the learner must demonstrate competency in performing particular work activities to a required standard.
The QANTM Multimedia in Schools programs form part of the National Vocational Education and Training system. The Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST), provides the national focus, administering and advising Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) like QANTM College, on how they can meet national priorities, goals and objectives.
The QMIS units have been developed using the Elements and Performance Criteria that form part of the Australian National Training Package. The Unit Outlines are provided by National Training Information Service (NTIS) and these documents describe the skills and knowledge required to gain competency within the various units.
The Australian Quality Training Framework (AQTF) is the means by which QANTM College’s compliance is measured against the set of national standards. This ensures that our programs are recognised throughout Australia. The programs are designed to meet the needs of the interactive multimedia industry.
Programs are broken down into units of competency. Unit Outlines for each of the units are made up of Elements - descriptions of skill outcomes, which contribute to a unit. Each Element outlines specific Performance Criteria - level of skill - that must be satisfied for students to be awarded a competency. This means that each Element must have one or more assessment items that cover the performance criteria.
Student work is supervised by the school, following criteria provided by QANTM. Once the supervising teacher makes a preliminary assessment that the student is demonstrating competency, the student work is forwarded to QANTM College for formal RTO assessment, feedback and validation. Students work towards a qualification by successfully gaining a competency for each of the units involved in the course.
