The Australian | 14 November 2013 The Victorian government will restrict access to remedial training for adults, claiming that VET colleges are lining their pockets by enrolling students unnecessarily. But the Australian Education Union says new funding arrangements could strip almost $30 million from TAFEs, which are already reeling from a $290m cut last year. The AEU says the government plans to squeeze funding rates for educationally struggling adults by up to 20%. Victoria already has Australia’s highest proportion of adults with poor literacy, with a recent report assessing 16% of Victorians at the lowest level. TAFE secretary Pat Forward said the cuts would have “an … [Read more...]
The Scan Early Edition 21 May 2013
21/05/2013 by
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ATARs for uni admission drop marginally 21 May 2013 | Universities are continuing to lower entry scores to maintain expanding numbers, sparking warnings that school inequality is to blame as regional and poor students get left behind. Commonwealth student applications and offer data for this year also show that universities are continuing to recruit into teaching degrees a rising proportion of school leavers with Australian Tertiary Admission Ranks of 50 or less. The proportion of university offers to school leavers with ATARs of 50 or below has doubled over the last two years to … [Read more...]
TAFE: how a good idea got buggered up
21/05/2013 by
21 May 2013 Kim Bannikoff has wide experience in education and training as a consultant and public servant in Victoria, Queensland, and the Commonwealth. He represents the VET sector on the Australian Qualifications Framework Council and is a Senior Fellow at the LH Martin Institute at the University of Melbourne. This article is based on a speech delivered by Bannikoff at the Australian Education Union’s Federal Conference in February 2013. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fifteen years ago I was working in the Education Department in Queensland. It was the period of time that Kemp introduced the SES funding … [Read more...]
TAFE Qld IR framework
06/11/2012 by
Final Report of the Queensland Skills and Training Taskforce | 6 November 2012 Analysis presented to the Taskforce identified that the current employment model for TAFE teachers reflects the conditions of secondary teachers that existed when TAFE systems separated from secondary and technical school systems in the 1970s and 1980s. Since that time, major shifts have occurred in delivery models (e.g., online and mobile learning) and in the demands of learners and employers (e.g., delivery at a client’s factory floor or corporate office). These have impacted significantly on the expectations of the work undertaken by TAFE workforce. A common finding of all recent reviews of TAFE … [Read more...]
Vic skills reform premised on creative figuring
01/11/2012 by
TAFE in Victoria | 29 October 2012 In this illuminating slide show, sourced through the TAFE in Victoria news site, the Australian Education Union suggests that the skills crisis/deficit in the Victorian workforce was massively overstated to justify skills reform – a classic case of “policy-based evidence”. It’s a pretty unarguable proposition actually – and was pointed out to officials at the time (as was the fact that the school leaving age had been increased from 16 years to 17 years old). In making the case for skills reform, in April 2008, the then Victorian government asserted: Currently, there are more than 1.4 million adult Victorians who do not hold any post school … [Read more...]
Invest in TAFE blog
11/10/2012 by
11 October 2012 With TAFE struggling across the country with budget cuts and the impact of "marketisation", the Invest in Quality, Invest in TAFE campaign has established a blog site to encourage those interested in what is happening to TAFE around the country to contribute to the debate and discussion. The first post surveys the state of the sector. Three states – Victoria, NSW and Queensland – are feeling the impact of savage state government budget cuts to TAFE budgets, with the combined effect of a shift to full competition for funding combining with the state government budget cuts in Victoria to place TAFE in that state on the brink of disaster. In Victoria on 13 September … [Read more...]
The Scan Main Edition 11 October 2012
11/10/2012 by
Melbourne top dog Melbourne University's position as Australia’s leading university, as measured by various league tables, was confirmed with the release of the research-focused National Taiwan University Ranking. Melbourne ranked 35 in the world, ahead of Sydney at 61 and University of Queensland on 72. ANU, usually Melbourne’s closest Australian challenger, languishes in this particular ranking coming in at 172 internationally and 6th nationally. [Continue reading]... Grants freeze threatens research Industry could pull the plug on millions of dollars of promised research funding because of uncertainty over the Commonwealth government's freeze on discretionary spending in its bid … [Read more...]
Victorian TAFE Funding Cuts, Job Losses, Course Cuts and Campus Closures- 1/10/12
02/10/2012 by
AEU | 2 October 2012 The Australian Education Union has estimated that announced job losses as a result of cuts to Victorian TAFE funding of $311.2m in a full year now total 2034 positions. Victorian TAFE Cuts at 1 October 2012 … [Read more...]
IR the next TAFE battleground
27/09/2012 by
The Australian | 26 September 2012 Industrial relations are set to become the key skills reform battleground as TAFEs around the country move to slash teaching costs to cope with rolling budget cuts and increased competition. Critics say cosy relationships with education unions have left TAFEs with "archaic" IR arrangements that are too inflexible for modern training. Unionists say proposed changes will leave teachers no time to liaise with industry, update skills or develop courses. The conflict is playing out in four states, led by Victoria, where the government has allowed TAFEs to negotiate their own industrial agreements. At least 11 of the 14 stand-alone institutes plan … [Read more...]
TAFE cuts advice to be kept secret
23/09/2012 by
Sunday Age 23September 2012 The Victorian government has refused to release the advice it commissioned before slashing the TAFE sector's budget, forcing institutes to cut courses and make thousands of workers redundant. TAFE institute directors have condemned the government's refusal to release the full KPMG modelling. A freedom of information request by the opposition shows the government spent about $150,000 on advice from consulting firm KPMG before cutting funding to TAFEs. The response shows the Education Department also sought an exemption from normal tendering processes, excluding other consulting firms from applying for the contract. But the response to the FOI request … [Read more...]
