VET News

Supporting Foundation Skills Framework Users

The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) team would like thank everyone who took part in the consultation phase of the Foundation Skills Frameworks review project. The richness and diversity of feedback – provided through discussion forums, focus groups, interviews and the online survey – are a testament to your passion and expertise.  Our consultation activities are now complete, and we are in the process of documenting our findings.

A consistent message we heard during consultation was the need for more support material and professional development to use the Australian Core Skills Framework (ACSF) and the Digital Literacy Skills Framework (DLSF). In view of this finding, we are compiling a list of resources that support framework users. We would love to hear from you about any publicly available resources that helped you to understand and apply the frameworks, including those resources that might be in a need of a ‘refresh’. 

Please send us an email at FSFrameworks@acer.org with either a link to the resource or its title by Thurs 23 June.

More than 500 individuals generously shared their insights and time with us. While framework users are a diverse group, we heard many common refrains that will inform our final report (due 30 June 2022). Themes arising from the consultation include the need to:

• Understand the purpose of the frameworks to describe skills at level – and that the frameworks are not designed as curriculum or assessment tools.
• Recognise the diverse contexts and wide range of online assessment tools based on the ACSF and DLSF – and the challenges of using them with learners with varying digital skill levels.
• Define the concept of digital literacy – and distinguish it from other terms such as digital skills, digital fluency, digital proficiency and digital mastery.
• Clarify the relationship between the ACSF and the DLSF – and determine how they relate to other digital and foundation skills frameworks in the increasingly crowded VET framework space.
• Make minor changes to improve the currency and sufficiency of the frameworks – and remain conscious of the frequently heard caveat: Beware of the unintended and significant consequences of ‘tinkering’.

Report drafting throughout June 2022

We will work closely with the Department in the coming weeks to consider the implications of the findings for the ACSF and the DLSF.

Thanks for your interest and participation in the Frameworks review to date!

Date posted Jun 9, 2022