How did employability skills evolve?
Identifying what makes an employable graduate is something that has been debated in the Australian education sector since the early 1980s. In 1992 the Mayer Committee published the first major Australian study into this area and identified seven key competencies. The key competencies have been included in Training Packages – at the unit of competency level – since their inception in 1997. To identify Australia’s needs, the Business Council of Australia and the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in consultation with other peak employer bodies, produced a report on employers’ requirements in 2002. This project was funded by the Department of Education, Science and Training and the Australian National Training Authority. The report, Employability Skills for the Future, includes a new model for mapping and identifying generic skills-the Employability Skills Framework. This set of skills defines employability in today’s world where transferable skills are more highly valued and ar
