APT ™ is an Accredited Training Package authorized by the Australian Quality Training Framework, the government body responsible for accrediting vocational training nation wide.

Competency Based Learning

APT is a ‘competency based’ training package, allowing learning to be much more creative and flexible, where theory is balanced with healthy amounts of practice. Competencies are skills that students learn. After these skills are demonstrated to an assessor, students may obtain a "Certificate of Attainment" for their "Unit of Competency". An example of a Unit of Competency in the APT package is: “Manage a Permaculture Seed Bank.”

Each Unit of Competency has both theoretical, knowledge based aspects and practical, activity based aspects. It is the job of the assessor to make sure that students can apply both aspects of their learning to perform a task or skill (competency) to a required level.

Qualifications

Qualifications (Certificates 1-4 and Diploma) are made up of various Units of Competency- about 10-15 depending on the Qualification. After a student has gained enough Units of Competency they may apply for a Qualification.

Flexibility

Units of Competency may be learned and assessed in two general ways:

1. Auspiced Programs- a comprehensive course structure like the Permaforest Trust's program, where it is possible to gain all of the necessary Units of Competency for a Qualification inside one program of study.
2. Short Course Auspiced Programs- usually short courses on a particular topic which lead to a Certificate of Attainment outlining which competencies and/or Units of Competency have been achieved by the student in the course. Short auspiced courses may be combined to give enough Units of Competency to achieve a full Qualification.
3. Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)- where students may gain competencies in a variety of places through a combination of work on student's own properties, WWOOFing, doing APT ™ short courses, other permaculture training and many other methods. In the case of RPL, students structure their own program of training, often with the help of an RPL Trainer/Assessor, and after completion of this program they are then assessed for competencies by thier Accredited Trainer/Assessor.

Competency based learning provides the opportunity for students to learn in a flexible and creative manner in a realistic setting, making it ideal for learning permaculture skills.

Australia is a world leader in competency-based training.