Once you have identified your client’s business needs and skill needs you may be in a position to develop and deliver a skills program. See Understanding business needs.

There are a number of options that support skills development in sustainability including three sets of options using the MSA units and qualifications:

• Sustainability qualifications in the MSS Sustainability Training Package
• Skills clusters using selected of units of competency from MSS and other Training Packages
• MSA technical and non technical qualifications – which include sustainability units.

MSS qualifications

The MSS Sustainability Training Package is at the forefront of sustainability skills and recognises the overlap between issues such as:

• Business and resource efficiency and cost savings
• Measuring, setting goals and improving sustainability indicators
• Business viability and environmental, social and economic sustainability
• Compliance, monitoring and reporting
• Risk assessment, sustainability strategies and environmental management.

Skills to support business in these areas are covered by the:

• Sustainable Operations qualifications at Certificate IV, Diploma and Graduate Certificate levels
• Environmental Monitoring and Technology qualifications at Certificate IV, Diploma and Graduate Certificate levels.

While the community and industry often use the terms like sustainability and environmental protection interchangeably the MSS package applies specific meaning to the terms Sustainable Operations and Environmental Monitoring and Technology; and the two groups of qualifications are quite distinct. Understanding this distinction is critical for your RTO to be able to provide the right advice to clients on the training options in MSS.

Many skills for sustainability are based on high level technical and mathematical capability and many relate to compliance and safety issues. It is critical that your RTO also understands the levels of the qualifications and how they relate to job roles and responsibilities in the private and public sector.

Skill Sets

MSS Sustainability Training Package has six Energy Efficiency Skill Sets.

Skills clusters

You may find that a client’s job roles or skill needs do not align to a full qualification in which case you may want to provide one or more skills clusters to meet their specific skill needs.

Depending on the skill needs you might select suitable units of competency from MSS or you might find that you need to combine them with units of competency from other Training Packages.

Your training and assessment strategies should demonstrate how you have identified the need for these skills cluster/s.

Understanding the qualifications

The packaging rules for each qualification provide the primary source of information about the units of competency that make up the qualification. They define how units must be combined to meet the industry agreed and nationally endorsed standard for the qualification.

Reviewing the available units of competency and how they must be packaged is critical to understanding a qualification. However, this relies on delving into the units themselves so that you are clear about all aspects of the skills and knowledge required for the competency. The Core unit resources provide guidance on interpreting the core units from the Sustainable Operations qualifications.

The packaging rules also describe the application of the qualification. It describes the application of the qualification in the workplace including examples of the job roles and employments outcomes that are covered. This is essential information when deciding which qualification is the most suitable for a particular need and for selecting the correct level of qualification.

See Sustainable Operations qualifications overview for more information on the application of these qualifications and some packaging examples.

See Environmental Monitoring and Technology qualifications overview for more information on the application of these qualifications and some packaging examples.

MSA technical and non technical qualifications

An environmental sustainability unit of competency is packaged into the core of each of the MSA qualifications. These units cover the general environmental sustainability skill needs of all workers.

Depending on the level of the qualification and the sector needs the unit will be one of:

• MSMENV272 Participate in environmentally sustainable work practices
• MSMENV472 Implement and monitor environmentally sustainable work practices
• MSMENV672 Develop workplace policy and procedures for environmental sustainability.

You can also use the packaging options in MSA qualifications to provide sustainability skills. Environmental sustainability units from the MMENV series are available as electives in most of the MSA qualifications. You can also use the imported units allowance to bring in units from MSS, other Training Packages and accredited courses.