Capability and professional development

The Commonwealth recognises that career progression and professional development are the foundation for developing our employees to shape a public service that delivers for all Australians.

The APS Employment Conditions survey identified that currently, development and career progression as an area with lower satisfaction. We saw that 47% of respondents are dissatisfied with current arrangements. These positions are designed to support all APS employees to build capability, develop their skills and grow their careers across the APS.

These changes enhance commonality and strengthen our commitment to the APS Employee Value Proposition by supporting opportunities to learn and grow. They further position the APS as a model employer and support greater mobility across the service by helping employees build experience and capability.

These positions are not final, and we are still working with bargaining representatives on drafting and negotiating in good faith.

Stay informed

These are summaries of key preliminary Commonwealth positions. We encourage you to reach out to your Agency Lead Negotiator to find out more about the preliminary Commonwealth positions.

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To find out more about the Commonwealth’s preliminary position on careers and development, contact your APS bargaining representative or Agency Lead Negotiator.

Learning and development

Learning and development helps APS employees build capability, perform effectively and develop throughout their careers.

The Chief Negotiator is proposing a new learning and development principle to support all employees to access a range of appropriate learning and development opportunities. This includes building the skills and capability employees need as new technology and ways of working evolve, including where AI forms part of their role.

This gives employees greater opportunity to access meaningful development that supports both their current role and future career across the APS.

Study assistance

Study assistance allows employees to build deeper expertise, gain recognised qualifications and develop the skills they need for future opportunities across the service.

A proposed study assistance principle provides a more consistent approach to study assistance though common language and considerations around becoming an ‘approved student’.

Support may include paid or unpaid study leave, paid time, financial assistance, or a combination. Agency Heads will retain discretion to determine who is an approved student and the type and amount of study assistance approved.

Professional qualifications

Assisting employees to maintain required professional qualifications supports the specialist expertise, standards and capability the APS relies on to deliver high-quality

The Chief Negotiator is proposing a professional qualifications principle to provide a more consistent approach to meeting the reasonable costs for employees holding and maintaining the professional qualifications required for their role.

These provisions support employees who have mandatory obligations to hold a registration, accreditation, licence, or practising certificate as a requirement for their role, along with broad agency discretion to support employees to maintain professional memberships including to support professionalisation.

Update to the preliminary positions

The Chief Negotiator has amended the Commonwealth's preliminary positions on learning and development, study assistance and professional qualifications following consultation and negotiation with bargaining representatives.

The current preliminary positions have been revised to principles rather than common clauses or conditions. This provides a common APS-wide foundation while giving agencies greater flexibility to retain, supplement or bargain more beneficial Learning and Development, Study Assistance and/or Professional Qualification arrangements where appropriate.

Changes include:

• Updated drafting to clarify the ability of agencies to retain of more beneficial conditions or supplementary conditions relating to Learning and Development, Study Assistance and/or Professional Qualifications.
• Clarified that agencies may introduce Learning and Development, Study Assistance and/or Professional Qualification provisions to supplement the relevant principle in Part B bargaining in consultation with the APSC.