Contextualisation also refers to tailoring units of competency to suit specific needs. In practice this means that enterprises or RTOs can ‘modify units of competency to reflect the local outcome required by an individual and/or enterprise’. This can be achieved by including, modifying or substituting text within the unit/s of competency, so that it is specific to the company or worksite.
However, in all cases of contextualisation ‘the integrity of the outcome of the endorsed unit/s of competency must be maintained’, for example, elements and performance criteria must not be removed, distorted or narrowed.
Examples of contextualisation could include:
- substituting enterprise specific requirements for generic terms in performance criteria, for example, company specific policies and procedures
- adding to the range statement, and adding enterprise specific requirements, for example information about specific equipment or processes
- identifying any particular skills and knowledge required to perform the tasks in the workplace and add to required skills and knowledge or make it more enterprise specific
- identifying the kinds of evidence candidates may be able to provide in their job roles, and adding to the evidence guide
- making any modifications within the Training Package rules to meet special needs of target group, for example those with low language, literacy and numeracy skills
An example
This extract from the unit of competency RIIMPO310A Conduct grader operations demonstrates what a contextualised unit might look like. The blue text is company specific. The questions on the right are the types of questions that guide the contextualisation process.
Download the example