The ACSF is used for several purposes in the VET system, including:

• identifying a person's levels of performance in each of the core skills, in order to determine their strengths and weaknesses
  
  
• mapping core skills to units of competency, so that trainers and assessors know what the expectations would be of a person who was competent in that unit
  
  
• evaluating training resources and assessment tools in terms of their core skills levels, to ensure that they are a good match for the competency they relate to
  
  
• discussing the performance of employees and workplace needs between literacy specialists, supervisors, training and employers
  
  
• describing benchmark levels in applications for funded training, and reporting on the progress of learners in follow-up reports.

Some industry skills councils are progressively mapping the competencies in their Training Packages to the ACSF. This means that in time there will be a 'spiky profile' for these competencies, showing which core skills apply and what levels of performance would be expected from a 'competent' person.

The ACSF and AQF

It's important to note that the five ACSF levels of performance are not directly related to the Australian Quality Framework (AQF) levels. That is, you can't simply say that the competencies in a Certificate III qualification will all require core skills at a level 3, or that Certificate II competencies only require level 2 core skills.

In practice, qualifications at the same AQF level often have different core skill requirements. For example, qualifications in the building trades have higher numeracy requirements than qualifications at the same level in the arts and entertainment.