Accredited Courses vs Training Packages
In order to succeed in life, it is necessary to acquire certain educational qualifications and skills. Various courses and training facilities have been introduced to cater to these needs, ensuring that the outcome is of high quality. Accredited courses and training packages are two such options that have emerged to meet the growing demand for quality training.
Key Takeaways
- An accredited course is a course that has been approved by a quality assurance process, usually by a government organization.
- A training package is a set of qualifications, standards, and guidelines developed to meet the training needs of specific industries.
- While both options are nationally recognized, training packages have gradually replaced accredited courses over time.
What are Accredited Courses?
An accredited course is a course that has been approved by a quality assurance process, which evaluates the operations and services of educational programs or institutes. In most countries, accreditation is performed by a government organization such as the ministry of education. An accredited course requires supporting material, such as a curriculum, but does not provide a complete set of resources needed for assessment and delivery. To create an accredited course, it is necessary to establish a need for the course and ensure that it does not duplicate qualifications from an existing training package.
What are Training Packages?
A training package is a set of qualifications, standards, and guidelines developed to meet the training needs of certain industries. Training packages are created by Industry Skills Councils in a given country. A training package does not provide education or training; instead, it prescribes the outcomes required by a workplace.
There are three endorsed components to a training package: competency standards, which are a set of benchmarks used to evaluate an individual’s knowledge and skills; assessment guidelines, which determine whether an individual’s performance meets the competency standards; and a qualifications framework, which is the sum of the units of competency and all qualifications required for each necessary qualification in an industry. In most countries, these components are regulated by national bodies. In Australia, for example, information about any training package can be obtained from the Department of Education Employment and Workplace Relations.
What is the difference between Training Packages and Accredited Courses?
While both accredited courses and training packages are nationally recognized and subject to a country’s quality and regulatory frameworks, there are some differences between the two:
• Training packages cover most training needs and ensure effective monitoring, while accredited courses cover areas not provided by training packages. Accredited courses cannot be developed where training packages already cover a particular area.
• Training packages have progressively replaced accredited courses over the years.
