Contextualisation of Units

There are more than 15,000 units of competency in the system, despite policy efforts over the last ten years to reduce the numbers. Training providers collectively struggle to deliver and be audited against so many discrete units. As a result, many units end up never being delivered, despite describing identified industry work practices and training needs.

It seems that there are two large contributing factors to this issue:

• New units are developed to describe new ways of work, but at the same time it is almost impossible to delete existing units that describe older methods of work that are still in use.
• When units are written broadly enough to apply across multiple industries, they lack contextualisation and become meaningless for each industry. As a result, many units with the same subject matter exist across many industries, but as separate units which contain details specific to an industry.

The number of units could be significantly reduced by national contextualisation statements and materials to deal with new and old methods of work, and issues of application specific to each industry. This is an approach that has recently been demonstrated for the new infection control units.

Your Input is Welcome

Contact us with any questions or to share your thoughts.