Qualification vs skill - If it looks the same, is it the same?
What is the difference between qualification and skill?
Or is a qualification equivalent to skill?
Consider this scenario: You send a person off to a training course and they get a qualification through recognition of prior learning (RPL). This means they are now qualified, right? But are they now also skilled?
Well, it depends!
If the person’s skill set was correct before they did the RPL qualification, they would now be both qualified AND skilled. However, if they were lacking in some areas of their skill set, the RPL would not identify this, and would instead consider them now equally qualified as anyone else with the same qualifications.
As you can see, the problem with this form of RPL qualification is in the assumption that “if it looks the same, it is the same”.
Two Swiss Army pocket knives
Let’s just say that I produced two Swiss Army style pocket knives for you to examine. One was a cheap knock off, the other was a genuine Swiss Army knife. If I posed the following question, what would your answer be: “If your survival in the bush depended on a Swiss Army style knife, which one would you take?”
I’ll guarantee most of us would pick the genuine Swiss Army knife over the cheap knock off in a life and death situation.
The question is now, if the two knives look the same, so therefore they must be the same, so why did you not take the cheap knock off knife to save your life?
Vision for ACASA
The vision for ACASA (Australian Certification and Accreditation Service Agency) came from a desire to ensure that compliance training was built on skilling people up with practical applicable knowledge and not just qualifications.
For this reason we designed the ACASA training model on the following pillars:
Accredited courses can be licensed out through ACASA to other training organisations.
Trainers & companies do NOT have to be an RTO to deliver ACASA courses
Trainers of licensed organisations must pass an ACASA exam to ensure they can deliver the accredited course.
Students’ final assessment is undertaken by ACASA assessment monitors and not through the training organisation to ensure quality of the training meets ACASA requirements.
Training organisations can apply to ACASA to have their courses accredited and registered under the ACASA system.
A further point of difference of ACASA is that many other accreditation organisations only cover The Chain of Responsibility Master Code of Practice. At ACASA we have made sure to cover all codes and standards to be the One-Stop-Shop organisation for ALL compliance matters for the transport industry.
The moral of the earlier story: make sure the qualification has real value, not just something that looks OK. Because let’s face it, at work, lives depend on safe and compliant processes created and maintained by qualified people with the right skill set for the job.
Ready to learn more about ACASA’s services?
Are you interested to know more about how our training and accreditation services can help your business?
Call now for a free 15 minute consultation on how ACASA can help your business at https://www.acasagency.com.au/contact-us