Projects currently being undertaken by the AQF Council
Strengthening the AQF
AQF Qualification Issuance Policy and Protocols
AQF National Policy and Guidelines on Credit Arrangements
Pathways Project
Strengthening the AQF
July 2010 Consultation Paper
The AQF Council has agreed on a package of policies that should comprise the strengthened AQF. A consultation paper was circulated to all stakeholders and presentations on the proposed strengthened AQF were held in every Australian capital city during the period July 14-29, 2010. A copy of the presentation is available here.
Responses
The response process closed on 4 August 2010. All responses except those that included the request for confidentiality will be available through the links below. (links to be available from Monday 9 August)
Responses 1-50
Responses 51-100
Background to the Project
The first term of reference for the AQF Council is the provision of policy advice to the Ministerial Council (MCTEE) on:
• Strategic strengthening of the AQF required to meet identified needs such as improving national consistency and contemporary relevance, including national and international portability
• Improving flexible qualification linkages and pathways in education and training within and across all sectors, including recognition of non-formal and informal learning
• Relevant national and international issues and their implications for national qualifications policy
• National and international recognition and comparability of qualification standards and alignment of qualifications standards/frameworks.
Architecture of the AQF
Three papers have been released by the AQF Council: the consultation paper Strengthening the AQF: A Proposal (May 2009), Strengthening the AQF: An Architecture for Australia's Qualifications consultation paper (October 2009) and Strengthening the AQF: A Framework for Australia's Qualifications (released 12 July 2010). The first two papers should be read together to obtain a complete understanding of the rationale and evidence base for the project.
The July 2010 consultation paper includes the package of policies that comprises the proposed strengthened AQF including:
- A draft structure of 10 levels and criteria for each
- Draft qualification type descriptors for each of the existing qualification types
- Draft specifications for selected AQF qualification types
- Draft policies for the issuance of qualifications, generic skills in qualifications, and the addition and removal of qualification types.
Draft specifications for all AQF qualification types are included in a separate paper, available here.
In May 2009 a consultation paper outlining the Council’s proposal for the strategic strengthening of the AQF was circulated to stakeholders for feedback.
Several face to face consultations were held with key stakeholders and written submissions were received from 84 higher education, schools and vocational education providers, industry and employer groups, government agencies and accrediting authorities in addition to private individual responses.
A report on the submissions: Strengthening the AQF: A proposal - Analysis of Submissions September 2009 is available.
In October 2009, a second consultation paper Strengthening the AQF: An Architecture for Australia's Qualifications was released for comment. The paper detailed the proposed levels-based structure with levels attributes and criteria, revised qualification type descriptors and a notional duration of student learning for each qualification. The levels criteria and qualification types descriptors are defined by learning outcomes and are expressed in terms of knowledge, skills and application of knowledge and skills.
Consultation workshops were held with key groups of stakeholders during October and written submissions were also received. During November and December 2009 and in early 201, the draft levels criteria and qualification type descriptors were further revised. The AQF Council agreed to the draft levels criteria and qualification type descriptors and the AQF terminology.
Research was commissioned to empirically test the levels criteria, the qualification type descriptors and the placement of Australia’s qualifications at a level in the proposed strengthened Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF).
A consortium of experts in item response modelling for educational purposes undertook the research. The consortium was led by Victoria University and includes Educational Measurement Solutions and Bateman & Giles Pty Ltd.
The data collected was used by the research team to:
· undertake an investigation of the ordered nature of the levels criteria,
· examine the internal coherency of the knowledge, skills and application dimensions in the levels criteria and qualifications type descriptors,
· identify any redundant or non-discriminating descriptors,
· determine the relative complexity of each descriptor within and across each dimension,
· calibrate the qualification type descriptors with the levels criteria on the same complexity continuum,
· examine the uni-dimensionality of the overall framework,
· examine the appropriateness of the assigned notional duration of student learning for each qualification type.
A report on the research to inform national and international stakeholders of the AQF was prepared for consideration by the AQF Council in June 2010. Details about the findings are included in the July 2010 consultation paper. An overview of the research and the findings will be posted on this website in August 2010.
AQF Qualification Issuance Policy and Protocols
The AQF Council's Terms of Reference require it to review and revise the AQF in consultation with key stakeholders as part of its responsibility to maintain the AQF.
The AQF Council has identified that the existing issuance policy Issuing a Qualification detailed in The AQF Implementation Handbook, needs to be reviewed to improve the clarity of information provided about AQF qualifications - especially to graduates and employers - to increase the protection of AQF qualifications, and to ensure consistent application across all education and training sectors.
The review of this policy is being considered in the context of the AQF Council's work on strengthening the AQF.
The third draft policy is now available for consultation and is included in the July 2010 consultation paper - Strengthening the AQF: A Framework for Australia's Qualifications (released 12 July 2010). Stakeholder views are being sought on the proposed policy.
The consultation period will close on 4 August 2010.
Project Contact: Di Booker di.booker@sa.gov.au phone 08 8226 3331.
AQF National Policy and Guidelines on Credit Arrangements
The project was commissioned by the AQF Advisory Board following a reference from MCEETYA. The project covers two recommendations from the reference: Recommendation 3 - to develop common terms and Recommendation 7 - to revise good practice principles. A third recommendation regarding strengthening the AQF will be actioned in the Council’s Strengthening the AQF project.
A draft policy and guidelines was endorsed by the AQF Council at its meeting in May 2009 and made available for use by stakeholders as an interim policy. Further refinement has taken place during the first half of 2010.
The draft policy is now available for consultation and is included in the July 2010 consultation paper - Strengthening the AQF: A Framework for Australia's Qualifications (released 12 July 2010). Stakeholder views are being sought on the proposed policy.
The consultation period will close on 4 August 2010.
Project Contact: Di Booker di.booker@sa.gov.au phone 08 8226 3331.
Pathways Project
In March 2009, the Deputy Prime Minister commissioned the AQF Council to ‘improve the articulation and connectivity between the university and the VET sectors to enable competency-based and merit-based systems to become more student-focussed’.
The AQF Council Chair provided advice to the Deputy Prime Minister on the outcomes of the project in November 2009.
The report is not yet publicly available. Any updates will be reported on this website.
Project Contact: Ann Doolette ann.doolette@sa.gov.au phone 8226 2775.