What is the ACSF?
The Australian Core Skills Framework (ACSF) is a national framework that describes adult foundation skills across five performance levels. It remains a core reference point for LLN work in the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector.
The ACSF covers five core skills:
- Learning — ability to use learning strategies and manage one's own learning
- Reading — ability to understand and interpret written texts
- Writing — ability to produce written communication
- Oral Communication — ability to understand and produce spoken language
- Numeracy — ability to use mathematical knowledge and skills
Digital literacy often sits alongside LLN in RTO practice, but DEWR treats it through the Digital Literacy Skills Framework (DLSF) rather than as a sixth ACSF core skill.
Each core skill is described at five performance levels (ACSF 1 through ACSF 5), ranging from:
- Level 1: Engaging with simple, highly familiar tasks with a lot of support
- Level 2: Engaging with simple tasks in familiar situations with some support
- Level 3: Engaging with tasks of moderate complexity with limited support
- Level 4: Engaging with a range of complex tasks with minimal support
- Level 5: Engaging with complex, specialised tasks with independence and initiative
Why Does This Matter for RTOs?
Current ASQA guidance under the 2025 Standards says providers need to review each prospective student's LLND proficiency and digital literacy in the context of the training product before enrolment or commencement (Outcome 2.2). The Standards do not prescribe one framework, but ACSF remains a practical way to map LLND demands and the DLSF can support digital literacy review.
This means RTOs must:
- Identify what LLN skill levels are required by the qualification
- Review each learner's current LLN proficiency
- Consider any digital literacy demands relevant to delivery or workplace practice
- Identify any gaps between what is required and what the learner has
- Support learners who have gaps
The ACSF is still one of the most useful tools for doing the LLN part of this work. Without a documented method, RTO decisions become subjective and harder to evidence later.
Peak ACSF Level Mapping
The concept of "peak ACSF level" is central to good LLN assessment practice. For any given qualification, you do not just need to know that Reading is required — you need to know at what level.
For example:
- A Certificate II qualification might require Reading at ACSF Level 2
- A Certificate IV qualification might require Reading at ACSF Level 3 or 4
To find the peak level, you need to read the Performance Criteria across all units in the qualification and identify the highest level of skill demand. This is exactly the kind of analysis that takes hours manually but can be automated.
How to Use ACSF Levels in Assessment
Once you have identified the peak ACSF level for each core skill, your assessment should include questions that test learners at that level. An assessment question for Numeracy at ACSF Level 3, for example, should require learners to:
- Perform calculations with more than one step
- Apply mathematical reasoning to a workplace scenario
- Interpret data presented in tables or graphs
The questions should be contextualised to the industry — a construction context, a community services context, or a hospitality context, depending on the qualification.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
1. Mapping to the qualification level, not the unit content A Certificate III qualification does not automatically require ACSF Level 3 skills. Some Certificate III qualifications require Reading at Level 2, while others require Level 4. Always map from the actual Performance Criteria.
2. Assessing only the obvious skills Many RTOs assess Reading and Numeracy but neglect Writing, Oral Communication, or Learning. Others skip a separate digital literacy review even when the training environment clearly relies on digital systems.
3. Using generic templates Generic LLN assessment templates are not mapped to a specific qualification's Performance Criteria. This creates a compliance gap. Assessments must be grounded in the actual unit content.
4. Not documenting the mapping process ASQA may ask you to show how you reached your LLN and digital literacy decisions. Keep records of how you mapped ACSF levels, how you reviewed each learner, and what support you provided where gaps were identified.
Summary
The ACSF is the standard framework for describing and assessing the five core LLN skills in Australian VET. For digital literacy, use the DLSF or another documented method that fits the training product and delivery context. RTOs that separate these two pieces clearly produce stronger, more defensible assessment processes.