New and updated units of competency, skills sets and qualifications for the retail baking industry will soon be available.

The units, skills sets and qualifications were developed out of a government-funded project to address industry concerns with the current documents. It is one of many projects from the Commonwealth Government’s  system for training package development (read more at www.aisc.net.au). The project was overseen by the Food, Beverage and Pharmaceutical Industry Reference Committee.

Feedback from industry was that the current standards did not adequately describe the skill needs of industry, resulting in poor skill levels of graduates. A full review resulted in the editing of existing, and the development of new, units, skill sets and qualifications to address industry concerns.

The project involved extensive industry consultation to ensure units, skills sets and qualifications adequately described the skills needs of industry and aligned to the requirements of current job roles. Drafts were available for industry feedback on the Skills Impact website for four weeks from April 11, 2017. All feedback was considered and edits were made to the documents before the final drafts were made available for industry validation in mid-July 2017.

This August, once quality and equity reviews have been completed, the new units, skill sets and retail baking qualifications will be submitted to the Australian Industry and Skills Committee (AISC) for endorsement and approval for publication on training.gov.au. Once published, they will be nationally recognised and will be delivered and assessed by registered training organisations (RTOs).

To find out more, visit www.skillsimpact.com.au and click ‘Projects’.

This project was led by the Food, Beverage and Pharmaceutical Industry Reference Committee (IRC), which is responsible for the development and management of national training package components used by industry and the Vocational Educational Sector. The project was managed on behalf of the IRC by Skills Impact, a national Skills Service Organisation. Skills Impact is funded by the Australian Government, to support the operation of Retail baking industry reference committees  across a range of industries.

Skills Impact relies on your feedback to ensure units and qualifications for the baking industry remain accurate and current. To subscribe to news alerts about projects relating to the baking industry, click ‘subscribe’ on the Skills Impact website.