In the veterinary sector, there is a growing demand for broader skills to provide essential care and treatment to animals across diverse environments and species. It is important that nationally endorsed veterinary nursing qualifications and related training package products align with the full range of different contexts and job tasks required.
Click across the tabs to view active and completed project stages. Consultation takes place at every stage of the project.
Skills Insight is consulting with the veterinary sector to understand their workforce challenges and identify how nationally endorsed training package products for veterinary nursing skills may be adapted.
The project begins with a skills review to analyse current and future practices in veterinary nursing across a variety of animal species and contexts. Opportunities and challenges identified will inform recommendations about the next step, which involves the review and development of training package products.
The second part of this project will commence in August 2025 to take advantage as the new training package product flexibility that comes into effect in July 2025. The new approach to developing training package products will be utilised to support veterinary nursing career pathways and assist in addressing retention rates and skills shortages.
Veterinary nursing survey
Thank you to everyone who participated in the survey about the skills and knowledge associated with veterinary nursing responsibilities. Your contributions have helped us capture a diverse range of perspectives across the sector.
These insights will complement existing research and our other information-gathering strategies to better understand how new opportunities arising from qualification reform can shape more effective training package products for veterinary nursing.
Survey responses were collected between 8 April and 4 May 2025.
Part 1: Skills review
The skills review will include veterinary nurses, veterinarians, employers, unions, associations, registered training organisations and other stakeholders to help analyse veterinary nursing functions and responsibilities.
The skills review will result in a report that will include key findings, a series of recommendations for future work to address the identified issues, and recommended adjustments to the relevant training package products in line with the new qualification design approach identified in VET Qualification Reform.
Part 2: Training package product review
Current qualifications, units and companion volumes will be reviewed to determine how the training package can evolve to better meet any skills needs identified in the Skills Review.
Current training package products
Through stakeholder collaboration, the project team aim to:
Key stakeholder organisations have been identified for this project. Skills Insight will ensure contact is made throughout this project to seek involvement and views on skills requirements.
If you are aware of an organisation or other key stakeholders that you think should be involved, please contact the project team at [email protected]
Timeline
Project team
Jess Cleary
Stakeholder Engagement Manager
Skills Insight
[email protected]
Penny McQueen
Project Manager
Skills Insight
[email protected]
Maree Thorne
Industry Skills Standards Contractor
Consultation has taken place as part of a skills review to analyse current and future practices in veterinary nursing across a variety of animal species and contexts. The skills review was undertaken using a mixed-method approach, which enabled high engagement and participation from a diverse range of stakeholders across sectors and locations. The report provides crucial information to lay the foundation for reshaping training package products to better reflect the real-world skills and knowledge required in veterinary nursing.
A report outlining the findings of the Skills Review has been submitted to the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, along with supporting materials.
Supporting materials:
- Consultation Log – summarising engagement activities
- Supplementary Tables – listing essential skills and knowledge for veterinary nursing, selected comments, enrolment data and registered training organisations (RTOs) elective selections.
Thank you to everyone who generously shared their insights regarding veterinary nursing. We greatly appreciate the time and energy volunteered by all involved.
Register for an information session
Two online sessions are planned for July to share the Skills Review findings and recommendations. We encourage everyone with an interest to attend.
Register for the session that best suits you.
Online sessions
If you are unable to attend either session, a recording will be made available afterwards on this webpage.
Next steps
A Technical Committee is being established to guide the development of training package products which will commence in August 2025.
The findings and recommendations from the Skills Review will be shared and discussed with the technical committee to inform the review and update of relevant training products.
The new approach to qualification design (qualification reform) and the new Training Package Organising Framework (TPOF), which became effective from 1 July 2025, will be explored to support veterinary nursing career pathways and assist in addressing retention rates and skills shortages.
This stage has not yet commenced.
At the broad consultation stage, we present and discuss potential solutions, collecting feedback from a wide range of stakeholder across the country. It follows consultation with various stakeholders that has already taken place throughout the project.
This stage has not yet commenced.
At the finalisation stage, final checks are conducted and the outcomes of the project are submitted to the Department for consideration. Following this, outcomes are published or enacted.
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