Repurposing TAFE

TAFE College at Bairnsdale, Victoria (Wikipedia)

by John Pardy, Monash University

Within a few months of coming to office the Abbott government established a Vocational and Education and Training (VET) Reform Taskforce.

Over the past two years there have been three separate parliamentary inquiries into Australia’s Technical and Further Education system.

Industry Minister Ian MacFarlane initiated the Abbott governments VET Reform Taskforce to examine the future shape of the VET sector.

Describing the Australian skills and training system as a “convoluted mess”, he continued:

The reality is that we have inherited a system in the skills and training area which is so close to broken that we have regular meetings now with people who say, ‘For God’s sake just fix this - it is so complicated, it is so heavily regulated, it is so over-audited we’re not getting the results that we need to get.'

The problems facing the VET sector

Serious structural problems beset Australia’s skills and training system. Low-quality provision and over-regulation highlight the shortcomings of skills and training delivery in parts of the sector.

The creation of a national training market intensified competition between public and private providers. Marketising VET has placed different incentives and pressures on TAFE institutions and private VET providers. Compliance with national frameworks has been a heavy burden.

National industry qualification frameworks, which sought to make VET qualifications consistent across Australia, now operate as straitjackets.

These frameworks, commonly referred to as “training packages”, are based on competencies related to particular jobs rather than skill sets relevant to work in related industries and useful for changing employment contexts.

By their very nature, these centrally planned and bureaucratised frameworks are inflexible and over-prescribe outcomes. They are reviewed on a three-year cycle, adding complexity to the audit processes providers are subjected to.

The national policy agenda holds TAFE providers and private providers captive, discouraging locally targeted outcomes, including local industry collaborations.

An opportunity for reform

The VET Reform Taskforce presents a key policy moment to establish conditions for TAFE institutions to renew their purpose.

Ideally such a taskforce should support TAFE institutions and their owners, state and territory governments, in making necessary structural changes by articulating a national vision for skills and training and the types of key institutions that will make that happen.

The VET Reform Taskforce could clarify the purposes and remit of future providers of skills and training.

While state and territory governments own and operate TAFE, the policy settings that created, sustained, changed and affected their education purposes and intentions have long been set at a national level.

TAFEs repurposed, for example, as either community colleges or polytechnics could accommodate young people who are not participating in secondary schooling. That would connect them to further education, pre-trade, trade and occupationally relevant diploma-level education opportunities.

Such institutions could also offer further education, trade and post-trade education, retraining and higher-level skills and training through vocational degrees.

In an era when Australian businesses are dealing with global economic challenges, publicly backed robust skills and training institutions have a key role to play.

Private and public skills and training organisations equip people to participate in shifting labour markets. Minister MacFarlane has an opportunity to progress a vision for skills and training that fixes VET by remaking TAFE.

Why is VET so important?

Recent policy reforms of higher education set a goal of 40% of young people achieving an undergraduate bachelors qualification. But what about the other 60%? Not all people see their futures through university education, which is why VET is so important.

When the Coalition was last in office, the government initiated Australian Technical Colleges, to provide skills and training to secondary school students.

The Rudd-Gillard ALP government abandoned this policy and set about funding and establishing Trade Training Centres for clusters of secondary schools around the nation. The Abbott government is continuing this initiative, with a name change to Trade Skills Centres.

Nationally it seems both sides of politics are committed to skills and training, in a technical and vocational sense, in secondary schooling. This expands the educational and social purposes of secondary schooling past a limited preoccupation with university admission.

As this future for skills and training is being established, there is also a need to consider skills and training outside of and after secondary school.

TAFE institutions across Australia have a vast campus network that reaches into regional and urban centres.

Servicing the training needs of industry, regions and local communities requires deliberate national policy action. TAFE and what it can become will play a key role in meeting future skill needs.


John Pardy does not work for, consult to, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has no relevant affiliations.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Re-Imagining the Campus in the VET Sector

ACT Institute of TAFE - Fyshwick Campus (ArchivesACT)

by Mary Leahy, University of Melbourne

With technology changing the landscape of higher education, The Conversation is running a series “Re-imagining the Campus” on the future of campus learning. 

Here, Mary Leahy considers the impact of allowing non-TAFE training organisations access to TAFE facilities for the delivery of training.

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A change to the treatment of publicly owned Technical and Further Education (TAFE) facilities has the potential to exacerbate existing problems in the Australian vocational education and training (VET) sector.

The federal minister for industry, Ian Macfarlane, expressed concern that TAFE assets are underused. He signalled interest in following the Queensland government approach, which allows non-TAFE registered training organisations (RTOs) access to TAFE facilities for the delivery of training.

To assess the implications, this idea needs to be seen in the context of the Australian VET sector. Major government reforms are reshaping the VET landscape.

These include the allocation of government funding for non-TAFE training organisations and the more recent introduction of demand-driven funding models.

Underpinning these reforms are some important assumptions. The main one is the view that a training market is the most efficient way of allocating scarce public resources. We do not have an unregulated market. Even the most laissez faire of Australian governments recognises the risk of market failure.

The assumption of rational choice

The market solution is based on the assumption that individuals will make rational self-interested decisions about education and training. In other words, they will choose the education and training options that best meet their clearly articulated and understood needs.

A large body of research in the field of behavioural economics challenges the view that we make decisions in this way. People are just not that well informed, either about the options available or their own best interests.

The way a choice is framed has a significant impact. We are also much more sensitive to short-term losses than to long-term gains.

Such findings are not predicted by the rational choice theory underpinning mainstream economics, which has considerable influence on the way Australian education policy is formulated.

So how does this help us understand how prospective students will respond to the delivery of non-TAFE training at TAFE campuses?

According to rational choice theory, people will make an informed choice that will be in their best interests. However, behavioural economics raise questions about our capacity to distinguish between a qualification offered by two different providers operating out of the same physical space.

This is important because of the implications for the institutions delivering qualifications.

In a training market, it is assumed that consumers focus on the training product or qualification. It is understood that the prestige of the provider may enhance or detract from the product’s appeal. However, little or no attention is paid to the institution as an entity with intrinsic value.

Some non-TAFE training providers are institutionally shallow, emerging and disappearing in response to demand. The short-term training market does not adequately demonstrate nor necessarily reward institutional depth.

Yet this depth is vital for developing shared expertise, knowledge, experience and structures that support robust vocational education.

Not least of these structures is hard-won relationships with employers and industry, including the ability to provide quality industry-based training and assessment.

So why is this significant?

Trading on perceptions of quality

TAFE institutes usually have an established profile. A savvy non-TAFE RTO could potentially benefit from this. By using TAFE campuses and facilities, some non-TAFE providers may be able to convey an appearance of the institutional depth required for solid vocational courses.

This may not be apparent to students. For at least some, the physical space where the program is delivered will trump any distinction between the education providers.

If the training offered by both providers is of the same high quality, this will not matter, at least in the short term. Situations where there are clear differences in quality may result in the sullying of one institution’s reputation.

The effect of the physical space will need to be considered when analysing perceptions of quality, training demand and whether a provider has met that demand.

Increasing publicly available information about courses and providers will assist some individuals to make better decisions. However it will not be sufficient to radically alter the way we form preferences and make choices.

Therefore, any policy that allows some providers to leverage the reputation of more established institutions risks exacerbating existing flaws in the vocational education market, especially the lack of consumer knowledge and short-term bias.

This should concern reputable providers of all types.

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Mary Leahy receives research funding from Commonwealth and State Governments and the European Commission.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Higher Education is More Than Vocational Training

Graduation ceremony (Photo credit: Sean MacEntee)

by John Brennan, The Open University

Universities Australia recently announced a joint initiative with business groups to get graduates “work ready” through vocational workplace training.

This is to be welcomed but it is also to be questioned - about what it should mean in practice, how it should be applied, and what the respective roles of universities and employers should be in providing it.

Some years back I was at a meeting about higher education and employment, attended by a number of employer representatives. I recall one employer, who had spent the whole of his long career in the motor industry, remarking:

Over the years, I’ve been responsible for hiring something in the order of 3000 graduates for the different companies I’ve been part of. And what I was wanting and expecting, of each one of them, was that by the time they left the job I had recruited them for, they would have changed the nature of that job.

Rather than being concerned with how recruits would fit into existing organisational arrangements and master existing ways of doing things, here was an employer who expected graduates to change existing arrangements and ways of working.

Rather than being concerned about whether the graduates had the right kinds of skills and competencies, the point this employer was making was that he didn’t know what skills and competencies his workers would need in a few years' time.

The very point of hiring graduates was that you hoped to get people who would themselves be able to work out what was required and be capable of delivering it.

Of course, starting any job requires some work-specific knowledge and capability. This may be merely working out how to fill in time sheets and make holiday arrangements or matters more technical. When recruiting staff, graduate or non-graduate, employers have a responsibility to provide suitable induction and training.

The responsibilities of higher education are different. They are about preparing for work in the long term, in different jobs and, quite possibly, in different sectors.

This is preparation for work in a different world, for work that is going to require learning over a lifetime, not just the first few weeks of that first job after graduation.

The Universities Australia initiative sets out a perfectly reasonable set of objectives for the ways in which higher education can help prepare students for their working lives.

But much will depend on the interpretation and on recognising who - higher education or employer - is best equipped to contribute what.

The Universities Australia initiative seems to focus on “vocational training to improve graduate employability”. This needs to be interpreted quite broadly. All higher education is vocational in the sense that it can help shape a graduate’s capacity to succeed in the workplace.

Many years ago, Harold Silver and I wrote a book entitled A Liberal Vocationalism. It was based on a project we had just completed on the aims of degree courses in vocational areas such as accountancy, business and engineering.

The book’s title intentionally conveyed the message that even vocational degree courses were about more than training for a job. There were assumptions about criticality, transferability of skills, creating and adapting to change and, above all, an academic credibility.

I can still recall the argument made by the head of a polytechnic accountancy department who we interviewed for the project. He emphasised that it was essential for accountancy students to take courses in the philosophy of science. What could be more central to the job of accounting than being able to recognise “truth”?

Studying different subjects and preparing for different jobs all require different things. Some of these are known at the time of study. Others are not.

Degree courses in subjects such as history and sociology are preparations for employment as much as vocational degrees such as business and engineering. But the job details will not be known at the time of study. Indeed, they may not be known until several years later.

Thus, the relevance of higher education to later working life for many graduates will lie in the realm of generic and transferable skills rather than specific competencies needed for a first job after graduation.

The latter competencies are not unimportant but the graduate’s employer is generally much better equipped than a university to ensure that the graduate acquires them.

Work experience alongside or as part of study can also help a lot. The emergence of graduates from higher education without any employment experiences is neither in their own nor in their employers’ interests.

Higher education is about preparation for working life, not for a specific job in the first couple of years after graduation. Graduates who have studied the more academic subjects will require a longer transition period into employment than those who have studied more vocational degrees.

The transition may well entail further training in a professional field, which either the employer or an educational institution may provide.

All types of graduates are likely to change their jobs several times over their working lives. Higher education is for the long term. Universities, employers and students should realise that.

John Brennan has received research funding from research councils and policy organisations for projects on the relationship between higher education and society, including the topic of graduate employment.


This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Excuses for Heavy-Handed TAFE Sackings Don't Hold Up

Preston Campus of NMIT (Photo: Wikipedia)

by Brendan Sheehan, University of Melbourne

On the eve of Good Friday, in apparent attempt to bury a bad news story, the Victorian government sacked seven of the chairs of its 14 standalone TAFEs and two more were to “retire”.

These sackings came as no surprise. In October last year, Victoria’s Coalition government shepherded through Parliament amendments to the Education and Training Reform Act which severely circumscribed the powers of TAFE governing boards and gave the minister the power to hire and fire chairs and board members.

Under previous arrangements, TAFE chairs were selected by the board members, half of whom were appointed on the recommendation of the skills minister.

As you would expect, the Victorian Labor opposition has roundly condemned the sackings, describing them as political payback for the outspoken criticism by the Victorian TAFE sector of last year’s dramatic cuts to TAFE funding, in favour of private VET providers.

But the irony is that in 2010 the then government, and now opposition, proposed more or less the same powers to hire and fire. Peter Hall, then opposition spokesperson, now higher education minister, said in 2010:

This is an unnecessary grab for power … the minister suggested there needed to be more lines of accountability because these institutes are engaging in commercial activities and as they receive significant funding from the taxpayer they need to be accountable to the taxpayer. They are already accountable, and they are already engaging in significant commercial activity.

But now Peter Hall says that this “grab for power” is necessary to make TAFE more “commercially oriented”, in line with the recommendations of the Report of the TAFE Reform Panel.

Well, the panel did advise a number of measures to make TAFE more “commercially oriented” but nowhere did it recommend wholesale board sackings.

While the government hasn’t given reasons for the sackings, one can reasonably assume that the chairs were dispatched because of a perceived lack of business expertise. Peter Hall obviously has very high expectations.

Jonathon Forster, who Hall sacked as Holmesglen’s chair, is the founder and now executive chair of Kane Constructions, a company with an annual turnover of $500 million, 285 full time employees and which operates throughout the east coast of Australia and overseas.

And in his own seat covering the La Trobe Valley, Hall has sacked David Gittins as chair of GippsTAFE. Gittins is just the managing director of the Valley’s biggest car dealership and has a background in community service (he was, for example, the founding chairman of Life Education for Doncaster Templestowe in 1989-1992).

The government might have justified the sackings on the basis that the institutions themselves have somehow failed to realise commercial opportunities and have been poorly governed and managed.

The government didn’t make that case because it’s not one that can substantiated: all the evidence points the other way.

Data published by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research show that Victorian TAFE institutes have led the way in tapping non-government streams of revenue, which one could reasonably take to be an indicator of commercial orientation.

In 2011, fee-for-service activity yielded Victorian TAFES $475.3 million in revenue, some 44% of the Australian TAFE sector total.

The larger Victorian TAFEs all have large offshore operations. Northern Melbourne Institute of TAFE (NMIT), for example, delivered programs outside Australia with 25 partner institutions, involving 23,000 students, in countries such as China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia.

NMIT’s total income in 2011 of $153.6 million included “extraneous”, mainly fee-for-service, income of $64 million (about 42% of the total).

NCVER data also show Victorian TAFEs to be the most “efficient” in terms of the composition of their expenditure: 68 cents of every dollar was on actual training provision and support as against an Australian average of 63 cents in the dollar.

And Victorian TAFEs aren’t remarkably profligate in benefits to staff: employee costs comprised 49.7% of expenditure as against an Australian TAFE sector total of 54.4% (university sector employee costs averaged 57.5% of overall expenditure in 2011).

You might think the TAFE Reform Panel would have looked at these sorts of issues in detail but, in what appears to be a classic case of policy-based evidence, the Panel only made passing reference to the comparative performance of Victoria’s TAFE sector (14 words on page 56, that I can find).

The Panel has recommended to the government that TAFEs need greater autonomy, including in capital raising and investment, to enable them to operate effectively in the “competitively neutral market” the government is putting in place.

The government says it accepts this but, on the precept that you should start as you mean to go, sacking half the TAFE board chairs and foreshadowing a spill of all TAFE board positions seems not to be an auspicious beginning.

In the meantime, there’s the federal inquiry into TAFE, which has a remit to look at all aspects of the TAFE equation, including that increasingly quaint notion of the contribution that TAFE can make to community and personal development, which modern governments no longer seem prepared to fund.

The inquiry has called for submissions by Thursday 18 April 2013.

This inquiry provides an opportunity at a critical time in TAFEs history to properly define the role of the public VET provider in contributing to Australia’s continuing economic and social development. It also needs to set out, in broad terms, what is needed to support that role.

The overriding question before the inquiry is whether Australia can afford to allow the policy-driven descent of TAFE into a fractured, residualised system, with no apparent community purpose, as is seemingly occurring in Victoria.

Brendan Sheehan works with both public and private VET providers. He is a Senior Fellow with the LH Martin Institute, which analyses and comments on current VET sector issues.


This article was originally published at The Conversation. Read the original article.

Napthine Falls Short: TAFE Needs More Than a Bandaid

TAFE campus at Bendigo, Victoria (Wikipedia)

by Brendan Sheehan, University of Melbourne

There might be a new Premier in Victoria, but it seems there’s still no good news for TAFEs.

The $200 million in structural adjustment funding announced this week is certainly welcome, but it is simply too little, too late.

The Victorian government should have made such provision almost a year ago when it abruptly took a meat cleaver to TAFE funding, hacking out $300 million.

The damage from these cuts has been monumental. But what is more worrying is the way these cuts have signalled a changing role for TAFEs in Victoria with repercussions for the quality of vocational education and the wider economy.

Cut to the bone

You didn’t need a crystal ball to foresee that the former Baillieu government’s cuts would result in severe and immediate challenges for the public TAFE network.

In large part because the cuts had almost immediate effect, TAFEs had little time to put their houses in order.

Within weeks, despite the calming assurances by the Victorian Tertiary education and skills minister that all was well, redundancies were rolling through the sector, amounting by year’s end to several thousand.

There was the wholesale dumping of courses; fee increases; and campus closures in communities with low education and training attainments.

It could be argued that, over time, rationalisation might have positive outcomes in forcing TAFEs to thoroughly review their operations. They could have adapted to become more agile and more specialised, dumping marginal offerings and concentrating on areas of strength.

But the point is, TAFEs really haven’t had much time to work this through - and no assistance to date. So the sector has panicked and responded without regard to overall balance and what is now apparently the quaint notion of “community interest”.

The $200 million announced this week - $50 million over four years - is in no way “compensation” for the $300 million hacked out of annual TAFE budgets. TAFEs are still left with a deficit of $250 million a year.

The $200 million is also only for the express purpose of assisting TAFEs - principally the regional TAFEs - to “transition”. But in four years, the $50 million a year in structural adjustment funding will be gone but the $300 million a year cut in operational funding will continue.

A changing role

This latest announcement forms the government’s response to an “independent” review of TAFE that was looking at how to foster a “strong sustainable TAFE sector in an open and competitive training market”.

You would have thought the government might have more usefully commissioned such a review before the event of the full blown “marketisation” it unleashed in May last year.

Be that as it may, the government’s response confirms a shift towards the role of public sector TAFE providers, first revealed when it removed “full service provision funding” last year.

In its submission to the Roche review of TAFE in Queensland, TAFE Directors Australia, in justification of maintaining TAFE funding, observed that as publicly owned entities, TAFE institutes at their core have a commitment to “the community good” which a private, for-profit entity, no matter how publicly-spirited it might be, simply does not.

The raison d’etre of a private provider is to make a profit. If it delivers a community service, this is a bonus, but it’s not what drives the provider. While any surplus generated by a TAFE institute is, by definition, reinvested in community service activities.

There’s to be none of that namby pamby nonsense henceforth in Victoria.

In its report, the independent review panel recommended that the government “should clearly define the community service obligations that it wishes to fund in the Victorian vocational training market and the process for identifying and costing them” (recommendation 18).

The government agreed and defined a community service obligation as a service that would not be provided commercially without additional funding. It concluded “there are no requirements that currently meet this definition.”

That makes sense in the context of the government having already abolished full service funding and a higher funding rate for TAFEs over private providers.

But what you then see is that, in the case of meeting the special needs of certain students (such as students with a disability), a provider either has to provide at a direct loss to the bottom line (not likely in these tough times), reduce the scale or quality of the service, cross subsidise delivery by increased fees to other students or cease delivery altogether.

One of the first course casualties of TAFE funding cuts in Victoria was the teaching of AUSLAN at Kangan Batman TAFE. And throughout the TAFE sector, support services for students with special needs have been drastically scaled back.

The open market

Against all this, the Victorian government points to a dramatic growth in government-subsidised enrolments from approximately 380,000 in 2008 to more than 670,000 in 2012.

Most of this growth has been in the private Registered Training Organisation (RTO) sector (plus 76%) as against the TAFE sector (plus 11%). Private RTO provision has grown from a 34% share of government-subsidised in 2008 to 58% in 2012.

Perhaps this is, as the government suggests, a case of people voting with their feet. Or perhaps it’s a case of reduced quality of provision.

Certainly the Victorian government has had its concerns with the quality of provision as evidenced by the fact that the number of private RTOs eligible to provide subsidised training was slashed this year by 20% (from around 500 to 400).

And just this week, the National Skills Standards Council has issued a call for a new “Australian Vocational Qualifications System” in order to protect the economy from a “failure in confidence” in qualifications.

John Dawkins, the chair of the NSSC, told The Australian newspaper that “underperforming” RTOS could destabilise the training system and labour market by undermining the integrity of qualifications and “providing unfair competition to better providers”.

Dawkins said “we can assume an employer looking at qualifications from a TAFE or some of the better private providers would not have a question about the quality of that qualification. The question is, what about the others?”

A good question indeed, and all the more relevant after the dramatic changes that we’ve seen in the Victorian vocational system.

Brendan Sheehan works with both public providers and private RTOs.


This article was originally published at The Conversation. Read the original article.

TAFE - Imperative to Australian Education and Infrastructure

by Jocelynne Scutt, Online Opinion: http://www.onlineopinion.com.au

Interviewed for the New Left Project, political philosopher Noam Chomsky identifies what ought to be universally known and acknowledged: namely, that university fees are central to sustaining the class system.

This occurs not only through privileging those whose parents are able to pay 'upfront' fees or contribute to them, or support their offspring whilst studying, but by directing students into the most lucrative professions or sectors:

'Take something as simple as raising tuition fees - it's much more true in the US than elsewhere, but in the US tuition is now sky high - in part it selects things on a class basis but more than that, it imposes a debt burden. So if you come out of college with a big debt you're not going to be free to do what you want to do. You may have wanted to be a public interest lawyer but you're going to have to go to a corporate law firm …'.

This limitation of flexibility, lack of scope to decide and be able to do what one might be best disposed to, is about freedom and its denial.

As Chomsky observes, those in power do not approve of those without it having the ability or scope to upset the status quo: the idea of freedom 'is very frightening for those who have some degree of privilege and power and … that shows up in the education system too'.

Although primarily directed to his own country, as Chomsky recognises and remarks, the problem goes way beyond the US. Australia is well implicated.

For Australia, this follows first through re-imposition of university fees in the 1980s, denying or making immeasurably difficult access to higher education for those without resources to pay upfront fees or lacking family backing that reduces the impact of fees and provides support for living expenses.

University fees shut out working-class youth and potential mature age students or has them graduating with a high debt-burden.

In turn, the policy results in an emphasis upon degrees in fields that most readily accommodate repayment of the debt. Fees become a dictator not only of who can attend university, but of what those who do make it should do with their education and the learning opportunities university should provide them.

Now, the problem is not isolated to universities. It has spread through the entire tertiary sector and into vocational and educational training (VET), with an emphasis on fees and a push toward providing courses the sole object of which is money-making employment.

Worse, the trend is toward a private sector take-over of TAFE or, at minimum, TAFE being downgraded so that it is simply a competitor in the educational field, with private sector 'educators' being given carte blanch. Now, money-making is not only the aim of educational provision in terms of the outcomes for students, it is to be the sole aim of all VET providers.

Unlike universities (federally funded), the major funding for TAFE has come from state government budgets. In 2012, however, federal and state governments reached an agreement whereby millions of federal dollars would go to the VET sector, on the basis of increased student numbers and improved vocational training.

Despite this agreement, however, Victoria cut $300 million from TAFE, followed by similar or proposed cuts in Western Australia and other states. This attack on TAFE has come in the face of its significant role and contribution to education and training.

Funds taken from TAFE are going to private providers, despite private providers' poor track record in supplying solid courses, high-level skills training (or any training), positive educational outcomes or any education outcomes at all..

In Victoria, the changes have led to huge rises in student fees, with courses cut and institutions closed or at risk. Consequently, New South Wales says its programme is designed differently, with loans to be available for students who take government subsidised diploma courses.

So TAFE students will face the debt-burden confronting university students, with the NSW emphasis correspondingly to be on courses approved by government, this in turn to be determined in consultation with industry and 'labour market research'.

This means that courses in arts and humanities will be eliminated or able to continue only with increased fees - fees to be paid upfront without subsidy or support through loans or other financial underpinning.

Arts and humanities students will therefore face no government debt-burden, but may find no courses available to them, whether because the courses no longer exist or they do not have the financial means pay or to survive whilst studying.

The emphasis is wholly upon education and training for jobs. The notion that education and training has a broader purpose has no place in this approach. For TAFE and other providers, the NSW government calls this 'lifting their game'.

To read further, go to: http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=14540&page=0

The Neglected Sector: The Year That Changed TAFE in Australia

TAFE Action - TAFE teachers and students rally outside Premier Baillieu's office (Photo credit: Takver)

by Christopher Stone, PhD Student at Macquarie University, The Conversation: http://theconversation.edu.au

This year, the majority of TAFEs across the country have been threatened by state government changes to the sector.

In New South Wales and Victoria, vocational education has seen institutional closures, loss of expertise and reduced opportunities for students. The Queensland government, too, is looking at similar changes to save money on vocational education.

This stands in stark contrast with the debate around government support for higher education. This funding is widely accepted - the discussion mostly looks at why it should be increased not whether it should exist at all.

We justifiably assume that Australia benefits from a well supported higher education sector and from university students who contribute to a higher skilled economy, a more informed political debate, and a richer more well rounded society.

So why is it that cuts to vocational education often fly under the radar?

Who benefits?

With vocational education and training (VET) the same arguments about the benefits of education to our economy and society apply, and are perhaps even stronger than for higher education. Stronger because the TAFEs and the private vocational colleges that make up the sector, are more accessible to a number of disadvantaged groups.

My recent research on the VET sector shows the role VET plays in both addressing disadvantage as well as the substantial government return on its investment.

Returns on investments have been estimated as more than six to one for NSW TAFEs. And a potential two to one return on investments in the VET sector nationally.

Beyond the purely economic arguments, there is an even stronger case that it provides substantial social benefits by giving a forum for those from disadvantaged backgrounds to improve their options.

To read further, go to: http://theconversation.edu.au/the-neglected-sector-the-year-that-changed-tafe-in-australia-10927?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest+from+The+Conversation+for+21+December+2012&utm_content=Latest+from+The+Conversation+for+21+December+2012+CID_ef2dcf048b795310a32a9a63f1067cdd&utm_source=campaign_monitor&utm_term=The%20neglected%20sector%20the%20year%20that%20changed%20TAFE%20in%20Australia

TAFE Cuts Indicate Losses For an Entire Generation

by 21st Century News: http://www.21stcenturynews.com.au/tafe-cuts-indicate-losses-for-an-entire-generation/?inf_contact_key=9a30eece4e36bbd0e4981f05b70a469722c6a1d5ad376c6669dbe1839f03450a

TAFE, Liverpool, Sydney (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

AAP: A generation will miss out on tertiary education and have reduced earning power if NSW cuts TAFE funding, a new study warns.

The study, commissioned by NSW Public Service Association (PSA) and carried out by the Centre for Policy Development (CPD), shows those who complete TAFE qualifications increase lifetime earnings by nearly $325,000.

The report from the study says men who achieve an advanced diploma, diploma or certificate III or IV earn an average of 13.8 per cent more than those with Year 11 education, while women with those TAFE qualifications will earn 11.4 per cent more.

Vocational education and training (VET) is particularly important for people with disabilities or from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, according to the report Valuing Skills: Why Vocational Training Matters.

The PSA is warning that those benefits could be lost after the NSW government’s $1.7 billion cut to education spending, affecting TAFE colleges along with state and private schools.

“At a time when the state government has embarked on short-sighted cuts to TAFE, including fee increases and 800 job losses, today we’ve seen the immense value generated by VET for individuals, our society and our economy,” PSA general secretary Anne Gardiner said.

She said the NSW government had no clear plan for TAFE, which was both underfunded and undervalued.

“If you cut jobs and working conditions for TAFE staff, you will get worse education outcomes and a generation of young people could miss out altogether on tertiary studies,” Ms Gardiner said.

Report author Christopher Stone, research director of CPD’s public service research program, said the decrease in government funding came at a time there was concern over skills shortages. “If funding is to be reduced it needs to be done with a clear public explanation of either how the sector can achieve increased efficiencies, or what services are no longer to be provided,” he said.

Does General Education Matter?

by OnlineColleges.net: http://www.onlinecolleges.net/2012/11/13/does-general-education-matter/

Now Is the Time To Move Your Training Online

Digital on-demand (Photo credit: Will Lion)

by Robin L. Green

Today's workplace can be anywhere that has access to the Internet; the days of being chained to a desk in an office are gone thanks to gadgets like laptops, smartphones and tablets, not to mention the fact that almost every household now has online access.

More and more people are taking advantage of technology and working from home or even the local Starbucks (which I've been known to do on occasion).

The freedom of connectivity allows us to never be far from vital information. That includes training.

It's hard for some companies to embrace online training, but the proof is in the pudding. Moving your training online provides an advantage not only to employees, but to the organization's bottom line.

Instead of hiring expensive facilitators and spending huge amounts on travel and seminar fees, all that's required is a device and a connection.

Here are some scenarios we think you need to consider when it comes to giving your employees access to quality online training:

Online Accessibility Benefits Learners No Matter Where They Are

Online training offers unprecedented convenience and accessibility no matter how many employees you have, and no matter where in the world they are located. Finding online courses that suit your needs eliminates the worry of travel, and schedule constraints when it comes to booking a desired facilitator or instructor.

Today, many well-known instructors have made seminars and lectures available online, as well as created specifically tailored courses that include quizzes and other materials that ensure learners are benefiting from those sessions. Online training offers content that is accessible by anyone from virtually anywhere.

A Quick Search Will Unearth Countless Options

No matter what type of training you're looking for, chances are, it's out there. Search engines like Google have become our best friends when it comes to finding just about anything - including online training courses. Both content creators and seekers of training benefit by going online because there are countless individuals out there looking for information about online training.

Online Training Is Less Expensive

In today's economy, sending employees to all-expenses paid training seminars (especially those that don't take place locally) can be a prohibitive expense. Online training, however, mitigates these costs by delivering learning content virtually.

Trainers can offer content to employees without being constrained by geography and meeting room size, and employees can continuously learn from the convenience from their location, eliminating all the associated costs.

Materials Are Available "On Demand"

Instead of having to stick to a rigid schedule, online most online training materials are available "on demand," whenever employees want to access them. Training can be integrated into the daily routine, as opposed to having to stop everything to attend an off-site seminar.

This also eliminates a "forced" learning environment where employees feel pressure to take in as much information as possible in a short period of time. By training content available on demand, employees can learn when they're ready to learn, not when a trainer is ready to teach them.

Find the Perfect Partner

Every organization is unique and will have varying needs when it comes to online learning. The best approach to starting out is to find an online learning partner that makes it as easy as possible to get comfortable in the realm of online training.

Coggno offers a wide variety of course options that can be purchased individually, added to existing learning management systems, or used to create a brand new, proprietary leaning management system for your company. The choice is yours. We're here to make it easy. For more information, contact us by clicking here.

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Various Forms of Continuing Education

Street view of San Diego Continuing Education-Centre City Campus (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

by Edward J Hulse

Professional continuing education can be completed in a variety of ways.

The most important thing is the professional learns something from the course(s) they take.

Hopefully, the course will educate them and help them provide better services for their clients.

The worst thing a professional could face is a waste of time and money.

If the course doesn't help them provide better services or make them more knowledgeable in their field it is a big waste of time.

In this article we are going to discuss some different professions and ways continuing education is completed. We are going to cover online education, classroom education, and self-study.

Online continuing education is becoming more and more popular among adult learners. It doesn't matter if you are looking to go back to school for a master's degree, get continuing education credits for your insurance license, or need help budgeting a large project.

There are classes online for everyone! These courses are usually the most flexible and easiest for full-time working adults to complete. They are mainly asynchronous so the student does not have to be online at a specific time.

Many times the course can be spread out over time as well. So the student may start the course on Wednesday and complete it on Sunday. This allows for even more flexibility for the student.

Another popular form of continuing education is sitting in a classroom and listening to a lecture. The classroom is very interactive and conducive for visual learners. Sometimes they need to see and read things multiple times and ask questions.

Live chat is not always an option in online learning. Insurance agents in Florida for example do have to have to complete an examination if they sit in a classroom for their continuing education credits.

But, if you are an adult learner looking for a master's degree you will be writing papers, completing case studies, and taking exams to get your degree. Classes are held at a specific time on a specific day so they are not as flexible as online courses.

The third type of continuing education is self-study or correspondence courses. This is where the student will order study materials online and have them delivered to their home. This is not available for every type of profession. Students can study at their leisure then take an exam either online or at a testing center depending on what is required.

As you can see there are many different ways you can continue your education, you will just have to find the easiest and most convenient method that fits your needs.

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Lesser Explored Higher Education Prospects

Tourism (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

by Chesh Pattinson

The question of what higher education course to opt for haunts many high schoolers, graduates, and even experienced professionals.

With a plethora of options available to choose from, it is quite often the select few that make it to the top of people's lists.

Either due to lack of information or the lack of career prospects, many career options have been left unexplored for a long time.

With changing times and requirements, a lot of these courses have come to hold more promise than they have displayed earlier. Let us have a quick look at some of these options.

Tourism

Tourism is not only Canada's, but also the world's fastest rising industry. There are several skilled and unskilled job roles that the industry has to offer. Several tourism schools have expanded the list of courses on offer and strengthened their base in acceptance of a surge in interest.

Job prospects

Tourism is a very diverse industry with hundreds of career options on offer. You can opt for several old school jobs like a travel agent, tour guide, pilot, or flight attendant. Or you can go in for several new age jobs like a white water rafting instructor, gourmet food expert, or a virtual tour operator.

Course requirements

Owing to the immense diversity in expertise that the industry requires and the jobs that it offers, you would be hard pressed to find a single university or college that offers all relevant courses. You could refer to any Travel or Hospitality based college for help in narrowing down your options and understanding the requirements.

Fishing

To suggest to a Canadian to learn how to fish at a college has normally been laughed at. After all, we have to be doing things right if our fishing industry is one of the largest and most valuable across the world. However, more and more Canadians, have come to realize that higher education might further their business or career prospects.

Job prospects

Apart from the actual role of fishing, the industry offers several jobs. You could also look to the Fisheries and Oceans Canada or DFO for opportunities in this industry. Various personnel for office, field, research, and coast guard posts are constantly required all across the country.

Course requirements

Most fisheries courses are post-graduate courses that require a degree in B.Sc or a related environmental science or biological field.

Films

Vancouver serves as Hollywood's third favorite spot, right after L.A. and New York. Often referred to as North Hollywood, it has all the offerings of the land of movies and opportunities right here in Canada. While there is no success guaranteed in this business, education definitely helps bridge a large gap.

Job prospects

The movie business offers several jobs right from the makeup and design to animation, direction, acting, production, sound production, post production, and a host of several others.

Course requirements

For non-specialized jobs, the film industry welcomes new entrants with arms wide open. You should check with a reputed school like Vancouver Film School for more guidance.

Whatever your career inclination, if you're at the point where you are considering higher education, don't get boxed in with the traditional course options. Look at all that the world (and universities) have to offer, analyze what suits you best, and then make your decision.

Author has been writing educational articles for a decade and is an expert in Tourism School and Hospitality Management in Vancouver, BC, Canada.

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Continuing Education Helps You Learn on Your Own Terms

Online Learning (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

by Rima Hammoudi

Nobody should ever be tied to a job that they do not enjoy.

While a job is needed to make financial ends meet, it should still be something that people look forward to everyday- especially since most people spend the majority of their lives working.

If this is not the case, then it may be time for you to consider a career change.

A lack of a post-secondary education is no longer an excuse to refrain from a more desired career path. Developments in educational research have led to the introduction of online learning, also known as distance education.

People can learn at their own rate, and need only to spare five to ten hours a week in their daily lives to study from the comfort of home.

Concentrations include, but are not limited to:

- Business
- Health Sciences
- Human Services
- Languages and Communications
- Computers
- Creative and Visual Arts
- Law and Security Policing
- Engineering Technology,
- Library Records Management
- Engineering Technology
- Social Sciences

These programs all have different levels of focus, and these depend on what your personal preferences and strengths are. Every concentration can be taken to a higher level - this simply depends on the desires of the student.

Since everybody learns in different ways and at different rates, online learning allows for people to educate themselves at the level that best suits them. The intimidation of the classroom is eliminated, and students are able to ask any question, at any time. The professors are accessible on a one-on-one level, increasing their approachability.

Another benefit of distance education is that is forces students to work online. Today, technology is evolving quickly, and those who are unfamiliar with the operations of a computer are likely to be left behind.

Gaining certification online is one of the best ways to learn the intricacies of your computer, and the functions of the Internet. Familiarity with computers will only add to your skill set, making your next employment application more appealing to potential employers.

Continuing education is also cost-efficient. Parking, food and babysitting expenses are eliminated. Tuition and supplies are your only cost, and these are generally manageable. For those people that need additional monetary assistance, financial aid is available to those that qualify.

Financial help can sometimes help bridge the gap between choosing to further our education, or continue on with our daily lives, so find out if it is an option available to you.

Distance education is a way of learning that strays away from the confines of the classroom. It allows people to learn what they can, when they can, without putting additional strain on the everyday circumstance of an individual's daily obligations. It is an education that is considerate of the individual.

If properly applied, continued education can change the course of your life, providing you with a truly rewarding career. All you have to do is a little studying from time to time.

Visit Mohawk College for more information on online learning programs and courses.

Rima Hammoudi is a Copywriter at Higher Education Marketing, a leading Web marketing firm specializing in Google Analytics, Education Lead Generation, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Mobile SMS Alerts, Social Media Marketing and Pay Per Click Marketing, among other Web marketing services and tools.

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Is Studying Online Right For You?

E-learning short courses (Photo credit: London College of Fashion short courses)

by Jess C

1. Are You Returning to a Higher Education Course?

Entering the world of training and assessment can be difficult, particularly if you are new or returning to study. However, the technology available today means that large numbers of students are choosing to complete vocational education and training through online or distance study.

2. Questions You Need To Ask ...

Before chosing to undertake an online course, there are some things you need to ask yourself first.

• Are you organised? You need to be able to set both weekly, monthly and occasionally yearly goals to ensure completion of your course. If you are not organised, perhaps the blended mode would suit you better. Another option is to tell your trainer this and have them contact you weekly to review your learning plan.


• Do you make and stick to goals? The goals you set will mean nothing unless you actively strive to achieve them. It is also important to realise that professional and personal distractions may affect your studies. You need to ensure you are in a position to deal with these and that they won't affect you in the long run. You should ask whether you have a support network within your family and friends.


• Are you self-sufficient? Beginning an online course means that the responsibility is yours. Obtaining the Certificate III, IV or Diploma level qualification rests solely on the efforts you put in.

3. Why Should You Study Online?

There are numerous reasons supporting online study and many that support traditional face-to-face study. Some people choose to study online as they have a full-time job meaning they do not have the time to attend the Monday to Friday classes. They may also prefer to study on the weekends meaning evening classes are unsuitable as well.

Many students may also have families meaning they do not have the time during the day to attend classes. Studying the Certificate III, IV or Diploma level qualification via distance or online learning means that they can make use of small amounts of time and schedule study around family life.

Students who live in regional or rural areas do not have the same access to education as those in the city or large suburban areas. Online education caters to this niche group of people. Additionally, some students generally fear classroom activity and prefer the technological element of interaction with teachers and peers.

4. Online Education

Online education is one of the fastest and most preferred methods of completing a vocational education and training qualification. Courses like the Cert IV in Training and Assessment can be studied in distance, online, blended or face-to-face modes. Contact your local training provider to find out more!

Inspire Education is a leading provider of nationally recognised and nationally accredited courses. For more information on obtaining your Certificate IV in Training and Assessment or other vocational education and training course, see Cert IV TAE

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Study Now Pay Later: Australian Government-Approved Diploma Courses

Are you currently UNEMPLOYED, SELF-EMPLOYED, A STAY-AT-HOME MUM, JUST FINISHED SCHOOL or JUST WANTING TO UPGRADE YOUR SKILLS????

STUDY ONLINE!!!!

Improve your employment prospects with an online Diploma Course!!

^*VET-FEE HELP approved courses with a variety of online colleges….

STUDY NOW, PAY LATER!!!

ENROL NOW - Currently taking enrolments for the following courses:

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·        and many more!

CONTACT US NOW to check your eligibility for VET-FEE HELP and take advantage of this exciting offer.

CALL Dr Robert Muller

0433 354 383

Or email: dr.robert.muller@gmail.com

*VET-FEE HELP Eligibility criteria apply, must hold Australian Citizenship or a Humanitarian entry visa, aged over 16 years

Free Career and Course Counselling Sessions for Australians

Hi everyone! 

Are you looking for an opportunity to change your direction in life? Is there something that you are passionate about that you could study and then work in for the rest of your life?

Well, my name is Dr Robert Muller and I offer educational services to the community, including teaching, editing, and homeschooling advice. 

In addition, I offer career and course counselling advice, a skill I developed as a careers counsellor at the university level. You can see my educational sites at: http://tutoringtoexcellence.blogspot.com and http://www.whylearn.com.au.

Today, I have a SPECIAL OFFER that can help you!

As part of my annual “pay-it-back” services to the community, from the 1^st of October until the 31^st of January every year, I offer free no obligation online career and course counselling sessions, particularly for people who live in the disadvantaged areas of Adelaide, or who come from disadvantaged families.

Of course, the offer is also open to the entire South Australian community and to people right across the nation. In fact, if you are from an isolated part of the state, contact me as this could become an important part of where you are going in life. For people on the south side of Adelaide, I also offer free face-to-face sessions.

As part of this free service, you will find your ideal career choice, or choices, and which courses can lead you in the right direction.

You can contact through my website at: http://tutoringtoexcellence.blogspot.com or by email at: dr.robert.muller@gmail.com or on 0433 354 383.

Educate Don’t Decimate

TAFE college at Bairnsdale, Victoria (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

by Jonathan Jackson, 21st Century News: http://www.21stcenturynews.com.au/educate-dont-decimate/

Education is the lifeblood of this country.

With Australia falling behind the rest of the world’s skills in literacy and numeracy, it is imperative that proper education in a range of fields remains viable.

Yet, State budget cuts in relation to TAFE courses will make vital education untenable.

Victoria’s Holmesglen TAFE’s Moorabbin campus will undergo a transformation that will leave 65 teaching professionals seeking new employment, courses will be cut and students will have to face a 10% increase in fees. The fee hike is the institution’s response to a $28 million budget shortfall, courtesy of the Baillieu government.

TAFE chief executive Bruce McKenzie confirmed cutting courses was “a real possibility”. “There’s a few that we’re looking at and we will have to modify our VCE courses quite a bit,” he said. He also confirmed that Holmesglen was considering buying out State Government ownership of the institution. “If funding keeps getting worse it is something we will have to look at.”

Victoria is not the only State in the gun. In NSW, $80 million and 800 teaching jobs will be cut from TAFE and student fees will increase by 9.5%. An accepted recommendation to the Queensland government would vanquish $78.8 million from training, tertiary education and employment.

The lack of appreciation by State governments for the TAFE sector is astonishing. No other institution offers such a broad range of courses and skills, particularly hands on skills.

Let’s look at some of society’s more basic needs. Plumbing is a public necessity. It is vital to health and infrastructure. It is taught at TAFE in conjunction with employers who are good enough to take on apprentices; apprentices who are paid to do a certain level of work to a particular standard.

Now, take away funding for the plumbing TAFE course and there are less teachers to properly instruct apprentices. There are fewer apprentices available to employers and the apprentices that are available can’t do the job properly, leaving employers to foot the bill for sub-standard work.

In this scenario the infrastructure and economy are widely affected. Plumbing is just one example; what about accountants, bookkeepers and engineers? The list goes on.

TAFE education, indeed any education, should receive more funding - not less.

Southern Metropolitan State Labor MP John Lenders said the Government was “robbing our children of their future.” Federal Tertiary Education Minister Chris Evans said Victoria was “destroying the TAFE sector.” No doubt, this is just Labor on the attack. However there is some merit to what they say.

A freedom of information request by the opposition, obtained by The Sunday Age, shows the government spent about $150,000 on advice from consulting firm KPMG before cutting funding to TAFEs.

The request found that KPMG’s information prepared on the ”project objectives, scope and approach” had been withheld. This was widely condemned by TAFE directors. Bruce Mackenzie said, ”It’s really quite important for the community perception that they do release that information unless they’ve taken it further than the modelling suggested. I can’t see why they’d keep it secret otherwise.”

In Victoria, the cuts present wide ranging problems. The TAFE Association estimated about 2000 redundancies across TAFE institutes. While many of the current State governments were left with diabolical economic circumstances, the education sector is one sector that must survive funding cuts.

The merging of TAFE colleges is no answer. TAFEs are one of the largest employers in regional or outer metropolitan areas; they focus on community and they serve and important economic and social function, not least by developing skillsets that can’t be taught at traditional universities.

TAFE provides a pathway to professional involvement and development. It contributes to the need for a higher educated workforce and social mobility. It meets social and economic requirements. TAFE is also at the forefront of innovation, future trend and ideas.

To decimate TAFE is to pull at the fabric of Australia’s future and let it unravel. Education is the most important social construct we have. It should be nurtured, not destroyed.