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In 1989 the Employment and Skills Formation Council (ESFC) of the National Board of Employment, Education and Training (NBEET) commissioned a broad consultation on and analysis of development and issues in skills recognition. The resulting report (indexed at TD/LMR 85.693) provided a number of possibilities with the potential to improve the prevailing arrangements for the recognition of vocational training and learning. This present study was commissioned by NBEET to examine the progress and prospects in improved skill recognition since the earlier consultation. The resulting report presents an overview of the emerging skills recognition system, including the analysis of skills and competencies in workplaces, the new public infrastructure of course accreditation and registration of providers, and links between skills recognition, industrial relations and workplace change. The report also details the views of more than 70 organisations that were consulted and their views arranged as nine key issues now being confronted: strengths and weaknesses of 'competency based' approaches; strengths and weaknesses of a national skills system; accreditation, credits, and credentials; industrial awards, industrial relations and skills; the capacities and outlook of Australian enterprises; the capacities and outlook of education and training providers; costs, cost structures, and resource provision; the new machinery of skills formation and recognition; and direction and strategy. In conclusion, the report provides a brief synthesis of suggestions made for the continued development of the skills recognition system.