A Training Package is a set of nationally endorsed standards and qualifications for a particular industry, and provides the recognition and assessment requirements for the skills needed by people in that industry. It consists of two parts - endorsed components, and support materials.

Endorsed components

The three endorsed components of a Training Package are:

• national competency standards, the units of competence which specify the skills and knowledge needed to carry out tasks relevant to that industry
  
  
• national qualifications for the industry, and the 'packaging rules' that specify which competencies can be used for each qualification
  
  
• assessment guidelines, which set out the requirements for assessing people against the competency standards.

Support materials

Support materials consist of learning and assessment strategies, assessment tools and the learning materials that trainers and assessors use in their own training programs. They are also called 'non-endorsed components', because RTOs are at liberty to develop their own and customise them as much as they like, so long as they comply with the requirements set out in the Standards for Registered Training Organisations 2015.

Although some trainers prefer to develop their own learner guides and training resources, you can access a wide range of resources from the relevant industry bodies, publishing companies and distribution outlets.

You'll find various training resources listed on the website for the Service Skills Organisation (SSO) that manages the Training Package you're working with.

The state and territory education department websites also list resources that they have funded.

Other resources are developed and distributed directly by commercial publishers. You can find these by entering the qualification or competency titles into your search engine.