Australian TVET
Qualifications
The Australian education system has three parts: primary, secondary & tertiary
Australian Vocational Education & Training (TVET) qualifications are delivered by Registered Training Organisations (RTO), Technical & Further Education (TAFE) institutions, universities, industries or workplaces & sometimes, secondary schools.
Primary Education
Kindergarten to Years 6 or 7
Secondary Education
Years 7 or 8 to Year 12
Tertiary Education
TAFE & University
APTC offers courses at the tertiary level.
What is TAFE?
TAFE stands for ‘Technical & Further Education’. It also stands for excellence in vocational training relevant to today’s world—an accessible education tailored to employers' needs for hundreds of thousands of people each year.
TAFE colleges in Australia are similar to North America's Community and Junior College systems and the United Kingdom and New Zealand Polytechnic systems. They provide standardised qualifications internationally within the Australian Qualifications Framework.
The Australian Government accredits TAFE courses, and TAFE has significant financial support from national and state governments to deliver these qualifications.
TAFE Queensland is the Registered Training Organisation (RTO) that issues the APTC qualifications and implements the APTC program on behalf of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Australian Qualifications Framework
The Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) is the national policy for regulated qualifications in Australian education and training. It incorporates the qualifications from each education and training sector into a single comprehensive national qualifications framework.
One of the key objectives of the Australian Qualifications Framework is to facilitate pathways to, and through, formal qualifications.
The objectives of the AQF are to provide a contemporary and flexible framework that:
- accommodates the diversity of purposes of Australian education and training now and into the future
- contributes to national economic performance by supporting contemporary, relevant and nationally consistent qualification outcomes which build confidence in qualifications
- supports the development and maintenance of pathways which provide access to qualifications and assist people to move easily and readily between different education and training sectors, and between those sectors and the labour market
- supports individuals’ lifelong learning goals by providing the basis for individuals to progress through education and training and gain recognition for their prior learning and experiences
- complements national regulatory and quality assurance arrangements for education and training
- enables the alignment of the AQF with international qualifications frameworks.
To find out more, see the Australian Qualifications Framework.