Upgrade ahead for Certificate III RAC qualification?

Australian Industry Standards (AIS) is seeking feedback on cases for change for various training packages and qualifications – including the Certificate III refrigeration and air conditioning qualification.

Last year, the new Certificate III qualification for refrigeration and air conditioning, UEE32220, was finalised and will come online with registered training organisations by October 2022. Although the new course incorporates important updates, stakeholders flagged early on that it mostly consisted of transitioning to a new format, rather than the much-needed overhaul of the qualification.

“During transition of the UEE Training Package, several issues were identified by stakeholders which fell outside of the scope of the transition project,” says the Case for Change.

“It was identified that all qualifications related to refrigeration and air conditioning (RAC) contained content which was significantly out of date and the qualification pathway does not accurately align to job roles within the sector.”

The proposal notes that the current qualifications were first endorsed in 1999 based on modules developed even earlier, and updates over the years have resulted in a course that is disjointed and unwieldy.

The new project would determine the essential performance capabilities (EPCs) of an RAC tradesperson and identify amendments required to existing content within the qualification to provide the required knowledge, skills and performance. This would involve amendments to existing units, but may also identify new units required to replace current units where EPCs do not readily align.

In addition, a new unit of competency and skill set would be developed to enable RAC technicians to competently assess and report on a building’s smoke control features of mechanical services systems. This work relates to essential services fire measures legislation.

The proposal to update the RAC qualification is just one of many published by AIS in its cases for change, across a wide range of industries. Feedback is invited on the cases for change until May 11. Following consultation these will be submitted to the Australian Industry and Skills Committee for consideration.

To read the Case for Change and provide feedback, click here.

Photo courtesy of Superior Training Centre.