The Vocational Education and Training sector (VET) is doing more to address Australia’s skills shortage than private providers, according to a new paper from the Centre for Policy Development.
The paper’s author, Christopher Stone, found that in Victoria 29% of TAFE students are being trained to fill jobs affected by the skills shortage, compared to less than 20% of students in private training facilities.
Stone said the sector also provided greater benefit to wider society than other education providers.
Nationally, TAFE had a greater share of disabled students (7.2%) than the private education sector (4.2%), and also had a greater regional and rural footprint.
Stone is using these findings to argue that recent cuts to the VET sector are misguided.
“The major finding is that the evidence is often ignored in reformations of TAFE,” he said.
“That’s been true in the past and right now with both Victorian reforms and with NSW and Queensland following on.”
He said TAFE provides a return on investment for governments, and should be subsidised to reflect this.
“Obviously TAFE is good for individuals, for their personal development and career,” he said.
“But in terms of spending taxpayer’s money, we need to be making sure we are subsidising the VET sector in a way that is good for our economy.”
Associate Professor Leesa Wheelahan of the LH Martin Institute said private providers were not adequately covering Australia’s training needs.
“The report explains why it isn’t possible to leave TAFE as a residual provider of last resort that undertakes training private providers don’t want to do,” she said.
“Allowing private providers to offer high volume, cheap to run programs while TAFE is left running expensive programs will endanger the long term viability of TAFE, but also run down provision in regions and rural areas, and result in reduced access for people from disadvantaged backgrounds.”
Sam Salvidge
Campaigner
Fine arts, hairdressing, panel beating, outdoor recreation, hospitality and customer service all facing cutbacks in NSW in 2012/13. Education is a great equaliser and we will go backwards as a society if we let these cuts take effect.
http://pinterest.com/saveourtafe/save-our-tafe/
John Q Citizen, Aussie
Administrator
In victoria ted baileau and his all singing and dancing rich boy act have butchered the tafe system and we have been left with a shell of a system. Allegedly in the name of reform. Baileau will tell you to your face the previous alp govt is to blame, actually ted you and your ideologically unsound government is...
Students will be left in the cold, hard working Tafe teachers will loose their jobs. The skills shortages will grow and only those students with the money will actually get anywhere. The spoils will be left to private providers who it has to be said are in some cases indifferent, poor administrators and motivate by mudules that 'pay them' for their results and the quality of education to students will suffer . In a sector that didn't need to be de-regulated. Life on the peninsula was never this hard was it ted?
Michael Shand
Michael Shand is a Friend of The Conversation.
Software Tester
Great Read, not suprisingly when your incentive is to make a profit, turns out you dont care too much about educating kids or providing needed services to the community.
When education is run for profit, they are not trying to educate your kids, they are only trying to take your money
Gavin Moodie
logged in via LinkedIn
Thanx for this piece.
I suggest a correction to the opening sentence. In Australia the sector is called vocational education and training which comprises public Technical and Further Education institutes and private providers. So the first sentence should be -
Technical and Further Education institutes are doing more to address Australia’s skills shortage than private providers . . .
Andrew Smith
Education Consultant at Australian & International Education Centre
There was and still is a focus upon skill shortages in the international sector i.e. TAFE and RTOs with CRICOS registration offering courses that match occupations on DIAC's Skilled Occupation List (SOL).
However, due to regulatory issues on quality, less than optimal management of the study to residency pathway (too many TAFEs and RTOs offering same limited types of courses, e.g. cookery, although significant shortages still exist in hospitality) and raising the bar on visas, especially for vocational…
Read moreGavin Moodie
logged in via LinkedIn
How can the government or anyone else predict workforce needs in 3 or 4 years' time. Workforce planning is notoriously unreliable. Better to leave the decision to students, who bear most of the cost of study.
Andrew Smith
Education Consultant at Australian & International Education Centre
Tend to agree, the Soviets could not manage it, however industry groups often have a good idea of what is happening, and I think Skills Australia tries to cooperate in this area.
In Australia cookery courses attracted headlines re. international students i.e. "Indians", "we don't need that many" (cooks or Indians?) yet hospitality is a massive industry and employer of cooks, chefs, bakers, patisserie, kitchen hands etc. (back of cigarette packet calculation via "Job Outlook" maybe 250,000+?), and according to a TAFE leader turnover is always high in the industry, and now with ageing population many more are retiring.
A student could do no worse than refer to http://joboutlook.gov.au and DIAC's SOL for some ideas.
Gavin Moodie
logged in via LinkedIn
Employers have a direct interest in predicting an under supply of graduates, claiming what they call 'skills shortages' to increase the number of graduates and so depress working conditions and patch up high staff turnover and waste.
I agree that the Australian Government's job outlook is excellent and that the Australian Workforce and Productivity Agency’s national specialised occupation list is useful.
In addition, Graduate Careers Australia reports the destination of graduates some 4 months and then 3 years after graduation, and the National Centre for Vocational Education Research conducts a students outcomes survey every year. These report employment rate by field within institution. University results are published on the My University site. I don't think the employment rates for each vocational institute is published.
John C Smith
Auditor
Over skilled and under employed seems to be another problem in Australia.
Do we need TAFE or University trained kitchen hands and cleaners?.
Are retaining youth for too long in the secondary education system?
Our TAFEs are over capitalised wasting money that could be used for the training of students. We shouldfarm out kids when they are 14 or 15 to trade training.
I think the system we had until the eighties were a better system than the very expensive current wasteful systems. How many administrative staff do we have in the current TAFes that replaced the old technical colleges? The Institues of Technologies becoming universities.
Then comes our Industrial realations taht does not help trade skill training.
Andrew Smith
Education Consultant at Australian & International Education Centre
Having observed TAFEs' international "marketing" and "training" activities offshore there is much financial waste on e.g. "international travel plans".
Kitchen hands are very significant occupation employing 100K+, providing hands on pathways through on the job training and formal VET to other occupation such as cooks, chefs etc. http://joboutlook.gov.au/Pages/occupation.aspx?code=8513&search=alpha&Tab=stats&graph=EL
Commercial cleaners alone number 150K+ and provide opportunities for many…
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