Common ASEAN Tourism Curriculum (3)

Common ASEAN Tourism Curriculum (3)

In summary, fifty two qualifications across six labour divisions were packaged for CATC & RQFSRS, see Table 3.2 below:

	Certificate II	Certificate III	Certificate IV	Diploma	Advanced Diploma	Sub-Total
Food & Beverage	2	2	3	1	1	9
Food Production	2	3	3	1	1	10
Front Office	1	1	1	1	1	5
Housekeeping	1	1	1	1	1	5
Tour Operation (Management)	2	3	4	2	1	12
Travel Agencies	3	3	3	1	1	11
TOTAL						52

Career Progression

CATC is based upon the vocational training model with the concept of ‘qualifications rather than courses’. No two hospitality/tourism properties are identical and no two hospitality/tourism properties have training (or any other) needs that are the same. Therefore CATC is designed for different working environments and based around unique qualifications for local needs rather than standard training courses.

Flexibility and Choice

The Framework requires students to undertake industry-based core and generic units of competency but allows flexibility for the functional units that complete the requirements for each qualification. This will enable students to:

•      select functional units to suit their workplace needs  and/or personal career aspirations

•      pick an industry stream most relevant to employer needs  which will deliver targeted training appropriate to workplace requirements

•      move easily between streams most relevant to  their changing or emerging professional and workplace needs

•      engage only in vocational training  that is directly relevant to identified industry and personal imperatives.

Flexible Pathways

Participants can also enter – or leave - the qualification Framework at any level: there is no obligation to complete, for example, Certificate II before undertaking Certificate III or higher. For example:

Building on Existing Qualifications

Enrolling in a higher level qualification enables the student to use and build on the previous units they have studied. Their unit selection will again reflect the blend of functional competencies they wish to attain and as previous units count towards their new qualification additional units are included to add the new competencies demanded by industry. The extent to which the student varies the functional competency clusters from which they select will depend on their career goal and industry need. This can also work over lifetimes by enabling employees to take additional modules and thus to ‘grow’ into new jobs.

Practical and Progressive

This approach has produced qualifications that represent a blend of industry-identified competencies that enable practical workplace application as well as providing the basis for promotion and continued learning, and the ability for trainees to move between labour divisions as the need or opportunity arises.

Industry-Based Content & Units of Competency

The qualifications listed in the proposed Framework are based on units of competency developed by industry making the training content relevant and responsive to industry need. As the qualifications rise through the levels (Certificate II to Advanced Diploma), so the choices of units of competency that exist within the packaging rules vary to respond to the changing workplace nature of the tasks that need to be completed.

A Blend of Competencies

These changes to selection options reflect the required functional competencies identified by industry as being necessary for the various job titles that have been classified. Every qualification requires participants to undertake a blend of mandatory core and generic competencies as well as elective functional competencies.

Each of the qualifications has been designed holistically with a focus on essential core and generic units of competency together with the ability for trainees to select the most appropriate functional competencies to support their workplace needs or aspirations

Life-long Learning

The key to this capability lies in the freedom of people to choose units of competency from functional competency clusters that best suit their individual workplace and training needs, and yet still be credited with (some) previous units they have already studied. In this way, this framework actively supports the concept of life-long learning by encouraging further study through acknowledgment of workplace learning and recognition of past study.

Accumulation of Skills and Knowledge

The underpinning intention of this approach is to provide a vocational education and training system that enables trainees to accumulate skills and knowledge as they move through the system and study to gain higher qualifications. This will facilitate movement between qualifications, streams and labour divisions for trainees thereby providing a system that meets and can respond quickly to changing employer demand and one that maximises trainee choice of units of competency, streams and labour divisions.

Robust Framework

While providing freedom and flexibility the educational integrity and robustness of the framework is guaranteed by the need for trainees to complete the designated number of units at each qualification level before a complete certificate can be issued.

Portability of Qualifications

The flexible structure of CATC will enhance the portability of qualifications between industries and countries and the intended audit requirements that will be imposed on all training providers will assure provider integrity, reliability and commitment.

Recognition of Attainment

It will be a requirement that any statement of attainment issued by any training provider must be recognised for the purposes of ‘prior standing’ by every other training provider within the system regardless of where that training provider is located and regardless of the perceived reputation of that organisation. This can be gained in the classroom (Recognition of Prior Learning - RPL) or in the workplace (Recognition of Current Competence – RCC).

Mobility of Career Pathways

This means that trainees can readily move from (for example) Housekeeping to Front Office or Food and Beverage service, and can move readily from Tour Operations to Travel Agencies. The structure also enables trainees to move easily into supervisory or managerial qualifications, or retain an operational role within the industry while gaining additional skills.