VET ck credibility
six months full time, while the diploma in community services takes two years full time.
As a way to address the variation in terms of size of qualifications of the same type, the Australian Qualifications Framework was revised to include a duration component. It hasn’ t caused any problems for the senior secondary or higher education sectors because their qualifications were, and continue to be delivered, within the duration ranges specified by the AQF.
However, it hasn’ t had any impact in VET yet, because no-one has noticed. Or if they have, they aren’ t saying anything!
By-the-by, the AQF stipulates that diplomas should be at least one year full time in duration and provide one year of credit into a three-year bachelor degree. Given the vast difference in volume of learning for diplomas, such as the examples mentioned above, it is little wonder that there is a lack of trust between VET and higher education when providing credit.
Late last year, the AQF council released an unambiguous paper, Volume of Learning: An Explanation, detailing its expectations about duration:“ The volume of learning determined for a qualification must fall within the range provided in the descriptor for the qualification type. The concept of‘ typically’, used( in the AQF handbook) to describe the volume of learning … is not intended as justification for not applying the requirement.”
It goes on to explain that a full time year involves about 1200 hours of learning, an internationally accepted standard. The provider I found on the internet that delivers a Diploma in Business in six days spread over nine months would, I suspect, have a difficult time justifying itself. To further illustrate the point, that provider’ s( at best) 48 contact hours compares with 288 contact hours for one year of a Bachelor of Commerce degree at the University of Melbourne. Admittedly, the former qualification might have a considerable amount of private study involved, but so too does the bachelor program.
I found another provider that was quite precise about its expectations for private study – a certificate IV delivered in seven days plus about 15 hours of home study. According to the AQF, certificate IVs should be at least six months in duration.
This new level of specification from the AQF might just provide regulators with the teeth they need to challenge providers who are delivering certificate IVs over a week or two – and yes, there are plenty of actual examples of this – but it is unfair to blame providers when the problem, in the first instance, lies with the design of the qualification itself.
There is a simple solution, and qualification designers in every sector, including VET in other countries, have been using it for some time – a measure of volume for units. Maybe it’ s time our VET sector got on board too. n
Felicity Dunn is an education and training researcher.
www. campusreview. com. au March 2013 | 35