The new Training Package Organising Framework (TPOF) has shifted the description of foundation skills from unit level to qualification level.
What impact will this have on our training and assessment of foundation skills?
Since 2012, foundation skills have been included as a mandatory field within the unit of competency (UOC) template. Sometimes training package developers filled this field by simply including the standard statement,
Foundation skills essential to performance are explicit in the performance criteria of this unit of competency.
NSSC – Standards for Training Packages, p.4
Sometimes they detailed the foundation skills but used a variety of foundation skills frameworks to do so. Click the following links to see examples of different units and their application of the different foundation skills frameworks: ACSF or ACSF + CSfW or ACSF + DLSF or ACSF + ES.
In 2025, the new TPOF requires foundation skills to be described at qualification and skills set level. The templates for both qualifications and skill sets include foundation skills as a mandatory field. At the UOC level, foundation skills are now optional and its recommended they be included for units that are often delivered as stand-alone units, such as First Aid.
The Companion Volume will offer advice about FS at unit level, but for the most part, it will now be up to the trainer and assessor to highlight the embedded foundation skills.
Since April 2015, VET trainers have been required to hold TAELLN411 Adress adult language, literacy and numeracy skills (or its predecessor) so they should be attuned to identifying foundation skills in units.
It will be interesting to see how this new approach impacts the inclusion of foundation skills in teaching and assessing.
Do you think it will result in more or less focus on foundation skills?
