tag:theconversation.com,2011:/nz/topics/tafe-funding-cuts-3427/articlesTAFE funding cuts – The Conversation2016-02-05T01:11:15Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/541712016-02-05T01:11:15Z2016-02-05T01:11:15ZDeregulating TAFE is a big risk to the labour market<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/110384/original/image-20160204-2993-6jbgh2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Deregulating TAFE would have serious impacts for the labour market.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/297710445/TAFE-document">leaked paper</a> outlining the government’s plans to deregulate TAFE would have a serious impact on large sections of the labour market.</p>
<p>The proposed policy not only highlights an ideological commitment to fee deregulation, prioritising industry consultation and austerity, but also fails some of the basic requirements of an <a href="https://theconversation.com/frozen-wages-insecure-jobs-struggling-youth-rising-inequality-shrinking-unions-join-the-dots-50981">active labour market policy</a> (ALMP). </p>
<p>High quality vocational training allows us to quickly retrain and find work in industries with skills shortages. When combined with adequate income subsidies and employment services, Vocational Education and Training (VET) can create an effective and efficient labour market. </p>
<p>When the formula is correct, ALMP can help to address structural unemployment. This is created when there is a mismatch in the skill demands of business and the availability of skilled workers. Effective reform also supports workers back into the labour market and allows firms to remain flexible. </p>
<p>However, this approach requires effective regulation and strong institutional protections. </p>
<p>Research <a href="https://www.ncver.edu.au/wps/portal/vetdataportal/restricted/publicationContent/!ut/p/a0/hY_JCsIwFAC_xUOP5b1uaXoUQdJeBKvQ5FKyqdHS3ap_L3oXjwMDw4CACkQrF3eWs-ta2XxYkDoPwg1jMRY7xgjm6fawL9kxwoAABy7SnwJLoAQBotfOANeJDY1MYv9ELfqxCamfZVT5VGEWGQy01AjFv2IF3F2HQaxB6K6d7XOGqtWLHevpIkdrPOzvqnH6uzB5GFIk0N-koq_H6g2HsqY4/">shows</a> that countries with strong regulatory frameworks and heavy costs for non-compliance typically have higher quality VET sectors.</p>
<p>This new policy proposal signals a step in the opposite direction. Chief areas for concern are the extension of funding arrangements to private providers, a lack of consultation outside of industry groups, and a renewed push to deregulate fees. This could in effect dilute regulatory control, increase cost to both consumer and taxpayer, and allow for predatory market practices in the VET sector.</p>
<h2>Value for money?</h2>
<p>There are approximately <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/FBC2FEEBF38C6DD6CA25773700169C92?opendocument">5,000 registered training providers</a> in Australia. While most students are recipients of government subsidies, almost 3,700 providers are private enterprises. </p>
<p>TAFE market share has <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/victorian-tafes-record-estimated-50-million-loss-20150416-1mm68v.html">fallen to a mere 25%</a> as a result of <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/tafe-forced-into-higher-ed-markets/news-story/48209bb1fd6e06c6be51ec8df1837c0e">deregulation and funding cuts</a>. By allowing private providers to flood the market with a low-cost, high-volume approach to course construction, the quality of training has become diluted.</p>
<p>The money used by private enterprises has often been used to <a href="http://www.nteu.org.au/defendourunis/article/Deregulation-of-Victorian-vocational-education%3A-A-case-study-in-policy-and-market-failure-16469">undercut the pay and conditions</a> of the public providers, which can have real impact on the quality of education. </p>
<p><a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=961144">Research shows</a> that wage increases had a direct effect on teacher quality. For every 1% increase in starting salary, there was an associated increase 0.6% in the aptitude of students entering teaching degrees. In other words, if you pay teachers more, you get better students wanting to become teachers.</p>
<p>Deregulation often reduces these regulatory mechanisms and strips away compliance costs for private providers, but as this <a href="http://reneweconomy.com.au/2015/how-australia-can-become-a-renewable-energy-superpower-35215">does not</a> always result in a reduction of cost to the consumer. Energy companies, despite experiencing a greatly deregulated market, have failed to substantially reduce consumer cost.</p>
<p>The energy deregulation story offers us another concerning and often unacknowledged risk. </p>
<p>Just last year, the chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) identified the east coast gas market as containing all the <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/business/comment-and-analysis/east-coast-gas-market-has-all-the-hallmarks-of-a-cartel-20151011-gk6b4i.html">hallmarks of a cartel</a>.</p>
<h2>Competition, compliance and cartels</h2>
<p>Usually when we hear the word “cartel” it conjures up images of drug trafficking, racketeering and other illicit practices. We think of real world kingpin Pablo Escobar, or his fictional equivalents like Scarface’s Tony Montana or Breaking Bad’s Walter White. While less likely to inspire award-winning television series, economic cartels are a serious concern.</p>
<p>At their core, cartels are an agreement made between competing firms with significant market power. This agreement can take a number of forms, but in essence, cartels agree to set prices between themselves and let competition be damned.</p>
<p>Under the Competition and Consumer Act cartels are <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/caca2010265/s44zzrf.html">explicitly illegal</a>. However in the past ten years, the ACCC has <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/business/anti-competitive-behaviour/cartels/cartels-case-studies-legal-cases">investigated and prosecuted a number of cartels</a> in Australia. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, their capacity to investigate has been limited in recent years, as funding was frozen in 2014 and the <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/business/accc-bemoans-funding-levels-20141029-11e1jc.html">ACCC workforce has been cut by almost 13%</a>.</p>
<p>The ensuing legal proceedings take years and cost millions of tax dollars. While there is a legal deterrent to cartel formation in the VET sector, it is by no means a guarantee. </p>
<p>This may be an extreme scenario, but there are inherent risks wherever reform is proposed. However the risks posed by deregulation have immediate and serious impacts for large sections of the labour market, and the everyday lives of Australians.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/54171/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shirley Jackson is affiliated with the Australian Labor Party and the Victorian Trades Hall Council. He works for the Young Workers Centre.</span></em></p>The risks posed by deregulating the vocational education and training sector have serious impacts for large sections of the labour market.Shirley Jackson, PhD Candidate in Political Economy, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/313702014-09-18T04:44:21Z2014-09-18T04:44:21ZRenewing federalism: our tertiary education system needs a rethink<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58848/original/xkvtmmf2-1410497409.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Funding of vocational education is suffering given neither the state nor Federal government has sole responsibility.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/downloading_tips.mhtml?code=&id=150587615&size=huge&image_format=jpg&method=download&super_url=http%3A%2F%2Fdownload.shutterstock.com%2Fgatekeeper%2FW3siZSI6MTQxMDUyNjEzOCwiYyI6Il9waG90b19zZXNzaW9uX2lkIiwiZGMiOiJpZGxfMTUwNTg3NjE1IiwicCI6InYxfDEwMTI3NTg4fDE1MDU4NzYxNSIsImsiOiJwaG90by8xNTA1ODc2MTUvaHVnZS5qcGciLCJtIjoiMSIsImQiOiJzaHV0dGVyc3RvY2stbWVkaWEifSwiT1p2aHA5UHI5NU1ZeFpyMW9rMGpnc2dFNUI4Il0%2Fshutterstock_150587615.jpg&racksite_id=ny&chosen_subscription=1&license=standard&src=jgXb_TEZzdUmTTFA_aaYMQ-1-1">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The reform of Australia’s federation is under review. In this special series, we ask leading Australian academics to begin a debate on renewing federalism, from tax reform to the broader issues of democracy.</em></p>
<p><em>Victoria University’s Peter Noonan examines the effect of the funding relationship between the state and Commonwealth on tertiary education.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>A major imbalance exists in Australia’s tertiary education system. Left unaddressed it will lead to growing disparities in funding between higher education and vocational education and training, distort student choices and create an imbalance in skills in the Australian labour market. </p>
<p>An effective tertiary education system would comprise a range of high quality courses and providers operating across the vocational education and training (VET) and higher education sectors under an equitable funding system.</p>
<h2>What would an effective funding system look like?</h2>
<p>An effective tertiary education funding system should have three main features:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Public subsidies that balance public and private benefits, course costs and the circumstances of individual students</p></li>
<li><p>Private contributions supported by income contingent student loans that ensure that students only pay when they start to get personal benefits</p></li>
<li><p>Student income support targeted to the needs and circumstances of individual students.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>There is already great diversity of courses and providers across the Australian tertiary education system with growing and better connections between the sectors. The Commonwealth also operates a consistent and comprehensive student income support system for tertiary education students. </p>
<p>But the potential of this system is undermined by growing divergence in how, and at what levels, VET and higher education are funded, and how, and at what level, the states fund their VET systems.</p>
<h2>The nature of the problem lies in the Federal/state divide</h2>
<p>This divergence in funding levels and models occurs because of the way higher education and VET are funded by the Commonwealth and the states.</p>
<p>The Commonwealth has full responsibility for funding higher education providers. It funds them through public subsidies supplemented by student fees. These fees are paid to providers either directly by students, or by the Commonwealth on their behalf through an income contingent loan. Student fees are regulated by the Commonwealth, but this could change if the government’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/where-to-now-for-the-higher-education-bill-31017">Higher Education Bill passes</a>.</p>
<p>The states have full responsibility for funding VET providers. VET student fees are regulated in some states and deregulated in others. However only VET students in Diploma, Advanced Diploma and a few Certificate IV courses have access to the Commonwealth’s income contingent loans schemes. Other students have to pay their fees upfront. </p>
<p>The major flaw in the funding system is that VET funding is a shared responsibility between the Commonwealth and state governments. The Commonwealth contributes to VET provider funding through agreements with each state and territory. These agreements were designed to provide a sustainable base for VET funding and VET enrolments but which have now broken down.</p>
<p>Most states don’t have the capacity or the will to make VET funding a priority. Victoria is the notable exception. VET fees are increasing but most VET students can’t access income contingent loans. They also generally have less capacity to pay than higher education students given a larger proportion of VET students are from <a href="http://avetra.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/48.00-Leesa-Wheelahan.pdf">low socio-economic backgrounds</a>. </p>
<p>As a consequence public investment in VET <a href="http://www.vu.edu.au/sites/default/files/mitchell-institute/pdfs/Peter-Noonan-TDA-speech-2Sep2014.pdf">has plateaued since 2011</a> and the future VET funding outlook is even bleaker. The Commonwealth has reduced its funding for the VET agreements with <a href="http://www.budget.gov.au/2014-15/content/bp3/html/bp3_03_part_2a.htm">the states from 2017-18</a>.</p>
<h2>The funding gap in tertiary education will widen</h2>
<p>The major gap between investment in higher education and VET - which has always existed - has widened significantly in recent years as the following graph shows. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58965/original/r6mk499g-1410742363.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58965/original/r6mk499g-1410742363.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58965/original/r6mk499g-1410742363.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58965/original/r6mk499g-1410742363.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58965/original/r6mk499g-1410742363.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58965/original/r6mk499g-1410742363.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58965/original/r6mk499g-1410742363.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58965/original/r6mk499g-1410742363.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Unsurprisingly VET enrolments decreased by <a href="http://www.ncver.edu.au/wps/portal/vetdataportal/restricted/dataContent/!ut/p/a1/pVPbTuMwFPyaPlo-cS5OHksDOBXhkoBo8lI5tlNStWmonQrx9Til0mqFCF3Wb5bmjGfGc3CJF7hs-aFZcdPsWr4Z7mWwTBwyY8yD-R1jAST06jHL2ZMLjOJnXOJStKYzL7hoxUHtl_qF75WcgOSGT0CbXqrWaMRbicSu32ulEQHHRbzXZs83DR8oOr5SUulm1R5vopG48F3qRSQIUeBUEfKICyiSoBCvK08KV_gyoAO61ypWNe835lG9GVzAUdOuNfbdJM5-QxQrLQaiBS6sf_jmTGE0Hic4zd-z64BcWEDIUoDkNs-u0svchZD-3zwE582PAM75XguZXU-ZR2-sZy8kkMQXLKbRoIWeAGMRHQFjGYwCrMnCuqDfy_Rx_qc0kVuHNa8FCkPpIk8oB3EiQwSccDfyiag9wPMzcmvWr6_l9FQkW6vF3-3u-mrTiOOe6AkQalnHZd57nzKfZ-ny4ekys-ivxS2-VrD4TZP_YYHmP3Xg5yzO3_Ruuw3XqnpXlZ9lWZ0na787vN_Ut-mUbZep_gBWgen3/dl5/d5/L2dBISEvZ0FBIS9nQSEh/?useDefaultText=0&contentIDR=53749268-61b9-4230-9d0e-afb4dc3c5d67&useDefaultDesc=0#">3.4% between 2012 and 2013</a>.</p>
<p>While the balance between public and private funding for higher education will change with budget cuts and fee deregulation, the growth trajectory in higher education funding will increase even if universities set fees at minimum levels required to offset budget cuts. </p>
<p>As a consequence the gap between investment in VET and higher education is likely to widen potentially leading to distortions in enrolments in the sectors, with declining quality and outcomes in VET. </p>
<p>VET is a prime candidate for reform in the federation, and reform has been attempted in the past. In 1992 the Commonwealth offered to assume full responsibility for VET funding from the states. The now dysfunctional shared funding model emerged as a compromise.</p>
<p>Various reviews since then have proposed that either the Commonwealth or the states should take full responsibility for VET funding based on the principle that a single level of government should have responsibility and accountability for specific areas of service delivery.</p>
<h2>What are the alternatives?</h2>
<p>A full reallocation of responsibility for VET from one level of government to the other is unlikely.</p>
<p>Perhaps its time for a different approach, based around tertiary education entitlement. The Commonwealth could extend the established higher education model of consistent public subsidies, student contributions and income contingent loans into VET by negotiating an agreed per student subsidy level with the states, leaving the states or institutions to set fee levels. </p>
<p>Alternatively the Commonwealth could negotiate a one-off transfer of VET funding from the states for agreed student cohorts (for example school leavers) and provide ongoing funding of an entitlement in both VET and higher education. The states could provide subsidies for student places in VET in areas of state priorities. </p>
<p>Different ways of thinking about the roles of the Commonwealth and the states in tertiary education are needed if we are to have a balanced and fair system across higher and vocational education. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>Renewing Federalism is in partnership with the Australian National University’s Tax and Transfer Policy Institute at the Crawford School of Public Policy and with the University of Melbourne School of Government.</em></p>
<p><em>Our Renewing Federalism series will culminate in a symposium on October 2 at ANU. If you would like to attend the event, please see event details and <a href="https://taxpolicy.crawford.anu.edu.au/events/4661/renewing-australian-federalism-starting-conversation">RSVP here</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Read more in the series <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/renewing-federalism">here.</a></strong></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/31370/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Noonan is Professorial Fellow at the Mitchell Institute for Health and Education Policy at Victoria University and Professor of Tertiary Education Policy at the University. The University receives VET funding from the Victorian Government. </span></em></p>The reform of Australia’s federation is under review. In this special series, we ask leading Australian academics to begin a debate on renewing federalism, from tax reform to the broader issues of democracy…Peter Noonan, Mitchell Professorial Fellow, Victoria UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/316202014-09-12T01:28:32Z2014-09-12T01:28:32ZReforms to VET are a good thing, but nowhere near enough<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58819/original/kk2vbdbp-1410481756.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Changes to the regulation of Vocational Education and Training are good, but they ignore the real problem, that the sector is chronically underfunded.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/downloading_tips.mhtml?code=&id=207780916&size=huge&image_format=jpg&method=download&super_url=http%3A%2F%2Fdownload.shutterstock.com%2Fgatekeeper%2FW3siZSI6MTQxMDUxMDUwMCwiYyI6Il9waG90b19zZXNzaW9uX2lkIiwiZGMiOiJpZGxfMjA3NzgwOTE2IiwicCI6InYxfDEwMTI3NTg4fDIwNzc4MDkxNiIsImsiOiJwaG90by8yMDc3ODA5MTYvaHVnZS5qcGciLCJtIjoiMSIsImQiOiJzaHV0dGVyc3RvY2stbWVkaWEifSwicnF3amxDdjR1azRVUW9leGF1bDFMRE45TXk4Il0%2Fshutterstock_207780916.jpg&racksite_id=ny&chosen_subscription=1&license=standard&src=sLCwnA8wUekpgMRBtnqozw-1-62">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>After announcing a <a href="http://www.minister.industry.gov.au/ministers/macfarlane/media-releases/lifting-apprenticeship-completion-rates-better-support">slew</a> of <a href="http://www.minister.industry.gov.au/ministers/macfarlane/media-releases/jobs-and-new-careers-young-australians-grow-businesses">changes</a> to vocational education and training (VET) earlier in the week, Industry Minister Ian MacFarlane made further changes yesterday to the <a href="http://www.minister.industry.gov.au/ministers/macfarlane/media-releases/governments-second-tranche-vet-reforms-deliver-industry-led-and">regulation of the sector</a>. While this is a positive step in the direction of reforming what some see as an ailing VET sector, the real problem is chronic underfunding. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.vetreform.industry.gov.au/">second tranche of reforms</a> announced yesterday are part of the government’s attempt to fix what the minister <a href="http://www.ianmacfarlanemp.com/media-releases/lifting-apprenticeship-completion-rates-with-better-support-for-apprentices-and-small-businesses">describes as a</a> fractured, unwieldy and overly bureaucratic system. Well, that message is nothing new, but an important question is will the reform process this time be comprehensive enough, and will there be the drive to see it though?</p>
<h2>The good news, bad news and some ‘please explains’</h2>
<p>The good news first. Giving high-quality apprenticeships and other vocational qualifications the esteem they deserve is a very worthy initiative. Seeing them as equivalent but different to a university degree is an important move towards creating a greater parity of esteem. </p>
<p>But this means we have to ensure that the VET brand is sound and highly regarded. Cracking down on unscrupulous brokers who are slipping through the regulatory net is a very positive step. Stopping rogue provision is another and that is the job of the national regulator, the Australian Skills Quality Authority (<a href="http://www.asqa.gov.au/">ASQA</a>). </p>
<p>This should not come at the cost of overburdening those providers that are doing the right thing by providing a quality learning experience relevant to the needs of their students and local employers. The move to allow the best providers to have delegated regulatory responsibility is another of the real positives the minister announced. This will enable these providers to concentrate on quality provision rather than compliance.</p>
<p>Where might the jury still be out? I would suggest in at least four areas: first, the move to open up the development of <a href="http://www.serviceskills.com.au/about-training-packages">Training Packages</a> - the national standards for skills in a specific industry - to greater contestability. The quality and flexibility of Training Packages has been always been a contentious issue as <a href="http://www.isc.org.au/">Industry Skills Councils</a>, who decide what the requisite skills in a given industry are, have sought, with varying success, to balance competing interests. At the coalface, providers find themselves criticised for not delivering what local employers want, yet they can risk being non-compliant if they are not seen to be faithfully following the Training Package.</p>
<p>The second uncertainty is the replacement for the National Skills Standards Council, which has been foreshadowed by the minister but whose membership is yet to be announced. This will need to provide a strong quality assurance function if we move to what might well be a more devolved and varied set of standards bodies like that in the early ‘90s. If this is to be the case, we will need to avoid the turf wars and competition that characterised this period. </p>
<p>Such a body will be vital to oversee and ensure the integrity of all VET sector qualifications. In the past, models based on representation (the National Quality Council) and expertise (the National Skills Standards Council) have been tried. What will be the model this time?</p>
<p>Next, the minister has announced yet another review of Training Packages. This will be the third in my living memory: the first was under the Australian National Training Authority, which was closed down before the recommendations were implemented. I was more intimately involved with the second, conducted under a joint National Quality Council and Council of Australian Governments (COAG) steering committee. </p>
<p>That was not, I can tell you, an easy process. The inherent conservatism of VET’s stakeholder groups meant that the reforms proposed then probably did not go far enough. In fact, what was proposed was unwound to some extent on implementation.</p>
<p>So I wish this new Training Package reform process a lot of luck. It will need it. </p>
<p>One of the minister’s interesting proposals is more “skill sets” training. This is worth a look, particularly for upskilling or more broadly skilling existing workers. Will training in “skills sets” attract government funding as part of a more flexible approach, however?</p>
<p>The final area where the jury is still out is the quality and usability of the standards for training providers to be introduced early next year. It is vital that ASQA and providers have standards they can both work with. One fear is that the latest version will make the regulator’s job harder, not easier. Another is that they will not be sufficiently precise so that providers can clearly understand what is expected of them.</p>
<h2>All of this misses the point, VET is chronically underfunded</h2>
<p>It may be that all of this talk of reform is missing a couple of important points. First, VET is continually expected to do more with less. <a href="http://www.lhmartininstitute.edu.au/userfiles/files/Peter%20Noonan_TDA%20speech_2Sep2014.pdf">A recent paper</a> by VET researcher Peter Noonan points out:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>While investment in schools and universities in Australia has risen significantly in recent years, there has been a much lower rate of growth in VET, with an even bleaker funding outlook in years to come. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>This needs to be redressed. The other area of real concern is that while all this reform is being proposed, little, if anything, is being done to ensure that VET teachers and trainers have the skills, support and ongoing professional development they need to do their highly important work effectively. </p>
<p>You can regulate and change all you like, but it is the teachers and trainers on the ground who will make the real difference. They need the resources to be able to do this.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/31620/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hugh Guthrie receives funding from a range of bodies to conduct VET related research</span></em></p>After announcing a slew of changes to vocational education and training (VET) earlier in the week, Industry Minister Ian MacFarlane made further changes yesterday to the regulation of the sector. While…Hugh Guthrie, Principal Research Fellow, Victoria UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/131782013-04-03T00:53:28Z2013-04-03T00:53:28ZExcuses for heavy-handed TAFE sackings don’t hold up<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/21938/original/8fdbbc2c-1364865375.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4256%2C2828&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Last week’s wholesale sackings of TAFE leaders is just another chapter in the chaotic story of the vocational reforms.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/Joe Castro</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>On the eve of Good Friday, in apparent attempt to bury a bad news story, the Victorian government <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-03-28/half-of-victoria27s-tafe-board-chairs-sacked/4600426">sacked seven of the chairs of its 14 standalone TAFEs</a> and two more were to “retire”.</p>
<p>These sackings came as no surprise. In October last year, Victoria’s Coalition government shepherded through Parliament <a href="http://the-scan.com/2012/10/29/vic-government-takes-more-control-over-tafe-boards/">amendments to the Education and Training Reform Act</a> which severely circumscribed the powers of TAFE governing boards and gave the minister the power to hire and fire chairs and board members.</p>
<p>Under previous arrangements, TAFE chairs were selected by the board members, half of whom were appointed on the recommendation of the skills minister.</p>
<p>As you would expect, the Victorian Labor opposition has <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/victorian-tafe-chairs-sacked/story-e6frgcjx-1226608521445">roundly condemned</a> the sackings, describing them as political payback for the outspoken criticism by the Victorian TAFE sector of last year’s dramatic <a href="https://theconversation.com/victorian-tafe-cuts-an-attack-on-working-people-7302">cuts to TAFE funding</a>, in favour of private VET providers.</p>
<p>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, <a href="http://tex.parliament.vic.gov.au/bin/texhtmlt?form=jVicHansard.dumpall&db=hansard91&dodraft=0&house=COUNCIL&speech=7206&activity=Second+Reading&title=EDUCATION+AND+TRAINING+REFORM+AMENDMENT+%28SKILLS%29+BILL&date1=16&date2=September&date3=2010&query=true%250">said in 2010</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>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.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>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 <a href="http://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/about/department/tafereformpanel.pdf">Report of the TAFE Reform Panel</a>. </p>
<p>Well, the panel did advise a number of measures to make TAFE more “commercially oriented” but nowhere did it recommend wholesale board sackings.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Peter Hall obviously has very high expectations.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.kane.com.au/who-we-are/directors">Jonathon Forster</a>, 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.</p>
<p>And in his own seat covering the La Trobe Valley, Hall has sacked <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/david-gittins/35/147/339">David Gittins</a> 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 <a href="http://www.lifeeducation.org.au/what-we-do">Life Education</a> for Doncaster Templestowe in 1989-1992).</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>The government didn’t make that case because it’s not one that can substantiated: all the evidence points the other way.</p>
<p>Data published by the <a href="http://www.ncver.edu.au/publications/2550.html">National Centre for Vocational Education Research</a> 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. </p>
<p>The larger Victorian TAFEs all have large offshore operations. <a href="http://www.nmit.edu.au/pdf/annual_reports/nmit_annualreport2011.pdf">Northern Melbourne Institute of TAFE</a> (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).</p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>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% (<a href="http://www.innovation.gov.au/HigherEducation/ResourcesAndPublications/HigherEducationPublications/FinanceReports/Documents/Finance2011.pdf">university sector employee costs</a> averaged 57.5% of overall expenditure in 2011).</p>
<p>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).</p>
<p>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 <a href="http://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/about/department/modernworkforce.pdf">government says it accepts this</a> 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.</p>
<p>In the meantime, there’s the federal <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House_of_Representatives_Committees?url=ee/tafe/tor.htm">inquiry into TAFE</a>, 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. </p>
<p>The inquiry has called for submissions by Thursday 18 April 2013.</p>
<p>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 <em>and</em> social development. It also needs to set out, in broad terms, what is needed to support that role. </p>
<p>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.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/13178/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>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.</span></em></p>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…Brendan Sheehan, Senior Fellow, LH Martin Institute, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/128082013-03-13T23:53:28Z2013-03-13T23:53:28ZNapthine falls short: TAFE needs more than a bandaid<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/21216/original/74j8c2rw-1363150757.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C6%2C4249%2C2669&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The announcement this week of funding for Victorian TAFEs won't make up for previous cuts.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/Julian Smith</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>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 <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/national/tertiary-education/tafes-new-200m-no-fix-for-past-cuts-20130312-2fym7.html">announced this week</a> is certainly welcome, but it is simply too little, too late.</p>
<p>The Victorian government should have made such provision almost a year ago when it abruptly took <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/national/education/tafe-cuts-leave-system-reeling-20120507-1y8oq.html">a meat cleaver to TAFE funding</a>, hacking out $300 million.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<h2>Cut to the bone</h2>
<p>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. </p>
<p>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 <a href="http://the-scan.com/2012/06/06/the-spin-of-victorian-tafe-cuts/">all was well</a>, 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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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”. </p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>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.</p>
<h2>A changing role</h2>
<p>This latest announcement forms the <a href="http://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/about/department/modernworkforce.pdf">government’s response</a> to an “independent” <a href="http://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/about/department/tafereformpanel.pdf">review of TAFE</a> that was looking at how to foster a “strong sustainable TAFE sector in an open and competitive training market”. </p>
<p>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.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/21227/original/mvx8qd38-1363154035.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/21227/original/mvx8qd38-1363154035.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/21227/original/mvx8qd38-1363154035.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/21227/original/mvx8qd38-1363154035.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/21227/original/mvx8qd38-1363154035.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/21227/original/mvx8qd38-1363154035.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/21227/original/mvx8qd38-1363154035.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/21227/original/mvx8qd38-1363154035.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Teachers and students protest after cuts to TAFE last year.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/Joe Castro</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>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.</p>
<p>In its <a href="http://training.qld.gov.au/industry/skills-training-taskforce/index.html">submission to the Roche review</a> of TAFE in Queensland, <a href="http://www.tda.edu.au/cb_pages/files/20121022%20Supplementary%20submission%20to%20the%20Queensland%20Skills%20and%20Training%20Taskforce_1.pdf">TAFE Directors Australia</a>, 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. </p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>There’s to be none of that namby pamby nonsense henceforth in Victoria.</p>
<p>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).</p>
<p>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.”</p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>One of the first course casualties of TAFE funding cuts in Victoria was the teaching of <a href="http://the-scan.com/2012/05/23/tafe-cuts-end-kangans-auslan-diploma/">AUSLAN at Kangan Batman TAFE</a>. And throughout the TAFE sector, support services for students with special needs have been drastically scaled back.</p>
<h2>The open market</h2>
<p>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. </p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/21228/original/c9tm64yy-1363154650.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/21228/original/c9tm64yy-1363154650.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/21228/original/c9tm64yy-1363154650.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=860&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/21228/original/c9tm64yy-1363154650.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=860&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/21228/original/c9tm64yy-1363154650.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=860&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/21228/original/c9tm64yy-1363154650.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1081&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/21228/original/c9tm64yy-1363154650.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1081&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/21228/original/c9tm64yy-1363154650.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1081&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Premier Ted Baillieu defended his TAFE cuts when he was in power.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/Julian Smith</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>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).</p>
<p>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, <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/new-training-system-could-spark-college-exodus/story-e6frgcjx-1226594945302">told The Australian newspaper</a> 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?”</p>
<p>A good question indeed, and all the more relevant after the dramatic changes that we’ve seen in the Victorian vocational system.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/12808/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brendan Sheehan works with both public providers and private RTOs.</span></em></p>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…Brendan Sheehan, Senior Fellow, LH Martin Institute, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/109272012-12-20T01:26:25Z2012-12-20T01:26:25ZThe neglected sector: the year that changed TAFE in Australia<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/18771/original/5t352k62-1355717833.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=12%2C6%2C3987%2C2538&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">We won't realise the impact of state cuts to vocational education for many years.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Joe Castro</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>This year, the majority of TAFEs across the country have been threatened by state government changes to the sector. In <a href="https://theconversation.com/tafe-cuts-will-affect-everyone-state-governments-should-think-again-9687">New South Wales and Victoria</a>, vocational education has seen institutional closures, loss of expertise and reduced opportunities for students.</p>
<p>The Queensland government, too, is <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-11-07/qld-government-faces-backlash-over-tafe-cuts-proposal/4358158">looking</a> at similar changes to save money on vocational education.</p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>So why is it that cuts to vocational education often fly under the radar?</p>
<h2>Who benefits?</h2>
<p>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. </p>
<p>Stronger because the TAFEs and the private vocational colleges that make up the sector, are more accessible to a number of disadvantaged groups. </p>
<p>My <a href="http://cpd.org.au/2012/11/valuing-skills/">recent research on the VET sector</a> shows the role VET plays in both addressing disadvantage as well as the substantial government return on its investment.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>The following graph uses ABS data that divides the population equally into five levels of socio-economic disadvantage. It shows the percentages of VET and higher education students in each level. The dark line indicates the height the columns would be if students were drawn exactly equally from all levels of disadvantage. </p>
<p>The graph shows that those from less advantaged backgrounds may have difficulty accessing higher education. While the VET sector has a relatively even spread of students from disadvantaged, middle class, and affluent backgrounds.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/18296/original/9d2sv2m9-1354580122.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/18296/original/9d2sv2m9-1354580122.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/18296/original/9d2sv2m9-1354580122.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18296/original/9d2sv2m9-1354580122.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18296/original/9d2sv2m9-1354580122.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18296/original/9d2sv2m9-1354580122.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18296/original/9d2sv2m9-1354580122.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18296/original/9d2sv2m9-1354580122.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Students by levels of disadvantage.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The government money going towards VET is then more evenly spread across different backgrounds, and is making further education available to those who may not normally have access.</p>
<p>This is not an argument for removing government support from universities. Quite the opposite – less funding for universities would only make the problem worse, as the increased costs of university could only be afforded by the wealthy.</p>
<p>However, it does demonstrate the need for other education providers that have greater accessibility. </p>
<h2>A helping hand</h2>
<p>There are a number of unavoidable reasons why universities are not as accessible as TAFEs. For example, the smaller size of most TAFE campuses and private colleges means they can be more widely distributed. </p>
<p>Shorter travel times make them more accessible to students from rural and remote areas, which are often areas of socio-economic disadvantage.</p>
<p>The lack of access to resources and facilities that can come from living in remote areas is itself a form of disadvantage. And here again TAFEs perform well in providing opportunities. </p>
<p>While the <a href="http://cpd.org.au/2012/11/valuing-skills/">percentage of Australians</a> in rural and remote areas is 11%, the percentage of TAFE students from these areas is 20%. And private vocational colleges also do well with 14% of students from rural and remote areas. </p>
<p>TAFEs play a particularly important role in providing a forum for those with a disability to improve their opportunities, with 7.2% of TAFE students having a disability or long-term medical condition. This is double the proportion of university students with a disability, which is 3.5%.</p>
<h2>A question for governments</h2>
<p>The evidence shows TAFE’s ability to work for everyone. The role it plays for disadvantaged groups is a challenge to the number of state governments that are implementing or considering large cuts to TAFE funding – which themselves are in a context of long-term funding decline to the VET sector.</p>
<p>The challenge is to explain why cuts are being made to education providers that are clearly using these public funds to provide opportunities to all. So why are our governments choosing not to make this investment when everyone wins?</p>
<p>While there have been some protests, the level of debate around the cuts has been limited. This may be because the damage won’t be realised for many years to come. </p>
<p>It also seems as though VET students as a whole are less politically active than university students. Personally, I think this is because many VET students are working in the industry as they train and worry about endangering their jobs by encouraging media attention.</p>
<p>But whatever the reason, an education sector that benefits all Australians in the long-term should not depend on the activism of its current students. Broader public support is needed. The value of TAFEs and the VET sector, should speak for itself.</p>
<p>In the long term, Australia will come to regret the year we sold out on vocational education.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/10927/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This work draws on commissioned research conducted for the Public Service Association of NSW.</span></em></p>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…Christopher Stone, PhD Student, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/96872012-09-20T01:09:32Z2012-09-20T01:09:32ZTAFE cuts will affect everyone: state governments should think again<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/15654/original/bz4rnbcc-1348038479.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=19%2C12%2C4236%2C2707&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The role of TAFEs in supporting innovation by anticipating knowledge and skills can't be easily picked up by universities.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AAP Image/Joe Castro</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>TAFE staff <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-09-20/government-warned-not-to-ignore-tafe-protest/4271310?section=vic">are striking today</a> to demonstrate their opposition to unparalleled funding cutbacks totalling almost $300 million imposed by the Victorian State Government. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/deeper-tafe-cuts-revealed-in-secret-documents-20120913-25v7o.html">A recent leaked cabinet paper</a> summarising so called “TAFE transition plans” has incited outrage. The plans show that campuses will close, TAFE institutes will merge, at least two thousand staff will be sacked, students will pay higher fees and TAFE institutes will cut provision or close down courses.</p>
<p>The Commonwealth government is <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/tafe-may-lose-another-400m-as-canberra-threatens-baillieu-over-cuts-20120915-25zei.html">now threatening</a> to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars earmarked for vocational education and training.</p>
<p>However, the Victorian government is not alone. The New South Wales government <a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/nsw-announces-education-saving-measures/story-e6frf7kf-1226471844983">is cutting</a> $80 million and 800 teaching jobs from TAFE, while increasing student fees by 9.5%. A Queensland government review of vocational education and training <a href="http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/queensland-skills-and-training-taskforce-report-recommends-closing-38-tafe-campuses-in-queensland/story-e6freoof-1226467177747">recommends closing 38 TAFE campuses</a> and the Queensland government has cut $78.8 million from training, tertiary education and employment.</p>
<p>These state governments have failed to appreciate how important TAFE is to our economy and the community more generally. To them the vital work TAFE does is invisible.</p>
<p>But while TAFE’s effect might not be visible to politicians, it is an essential economic, social and cultural support for Australian communities and regions. Without strong TAFEs, there could be serious changes to our <a href="https://theconversation.com/tafe-cuts-will-harm-the-economy-boost-crime-rate-experts-9597">social cohesion and economic future</a>. </p>
<h2>The benefits of TAFE</h2>
<p>TAFEs are often one of the biggest employers in regional or outer metropolitan areas and a focus for the community.</p>
<p>All TAFE directors in Australia will be on their local regional economic development committee and work together with local government and industry leaders to identify economic problems and skill requirements. </p>
<p>All TAFEs have staff working with schools to support better outcomes for students, and they work with local communities to develop programs and support for disadvantaged students. They provide pathways to higher education and to the professions, and in doing so, support Australia’s need for highly educated workforce and social mobility. They run courses that meet local economic or social needs even when it isn’t good business sense to do so.</p>
<p>Perhaps the least visible aspect of the work of TAFEs is how they anticipate the knowledge and skills that will be needed to support innovation. Just as universities create new knowledge for society and train the professions, TAFE’s role as an educational and training institution is to anticipate how workplaces are changing, and the kind of knowledge and skills that will be needed for tomorrow and not just today.</p>
<p>Every Australian has benefited from the contribution TAFE has made to economic development and social inclusion. Cutting TAFE is akin to a farmer eating rather than planting their seeds. We are cutting now rather than investing in the future. </p>
<h2>Can universities take over?</h2>
<p>Universities and TAFE play complementary roles, but whereas the role that universities play is well understood, TAFE’s role is not. Without TAFE, new knowledge that is generated in universities will not be translated into new work practices.</p>
<p>Universities can never take over the space vacated by TAFE, even if they wanted to. Universities might offer more “middle level” programs, such as diplomas and associate degrees, but they can’t offer the range of programs that TAFE offers at all skill levels. They also don’t have the same links with workplaces that TAFEs have, nor do they have the same geographic reach of TAFE. </p>
<p>There are hundreds of TAFE campuses in Australia in cities and regional and rural areas, which is the very reason many universities want to partner with TAFE institutes. Closing TAFE campuses in regions will reduce access to vocational and higher education.</p>
<h2>Political will</h2>
<p>The problem is that state governments don’t understand the invisible role TAFE plays. Instead, they are mesmerised by the invisible hand of the market and think it will all turn out in the end: it won’t and we will all be the poorer for it.</p>
<p>TAFE is far more than a “provider” of courses that is interchangeable with private providers. It is an educational institution that contributes to economic, social and cultural development, which private for profit providers can never replicate.</p>
<p><em>This piece was co-authored by Brendan Sheehan, a Melbourne policy consultant and former Skills Victoria executive. He publishes <a href="http://the-scan.com/">The Scan</a> which reports on developments in tertiary education in Australia.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/9687/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leesa Wheelahan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>TAFE staff are striking today to demonstrate their opposition to unparalleled funding cutbacks totalling almost $300 million imposed by the Victorian State Government. A recent leaked cabinet paper summarising…Leesa Wheelahan, Associate Professor, LH Martin Institute, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/81462012-07-20T04:16:41Z2012-07-20T04:16:41ZTAFE troubles puts Victoria’s tourism competitiveness at risk<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/13133/original/v8wj8jw4-1342659833.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Regional Victorian tourism is likely to feel the impact of Victoria's recent TAFE cuts, which follow bi-partisan policy failure around competition.</span> </figcaption></figure><p>Tourism and hospitality course closures have featured prominently in the recent announcements about redundancies flowing from the estimated $200 million of Victorian TAFE funding cuts. </p>
<p>While the causes are complex, their severity and suddenness impacts on regional tourism. The prospect of reduced training and learning capacity outside Melbourne coincides with a challenging time for regional southeast Australia as it is by-passed by the mining boom and struggles for viability. </p>
<p>As a traditional mainstay of regional economies, the farming sector is already warning of skilled labour shortages as a prospect of withdrawing TAFE agriculture courses. But the tourism sector is more labour intensive, and competitiveness will be particularly important for the regional outlook where there are limited opportunities to diversify the economy and retain community cohesiveness.</p>
<p>Melbourne is a tourism success story and Australia’s fastest growing urban destination. But more remote Victorian regions have stagnated as city residents opt for overseas travel and for lower cost carriers over self-drive domestic trips. To redress this trend - and to create sustainable tourism employment and retain local job-seekers - regions must provide appealing visitor experiences featuring high service standards. </p>
<p>Locally-based training and learning opportunities are essential, including food and wine-related services for hotels, restaurants, attractions, conference venues, events, retailing and tours. Food service is also critical for non-tourism institutions such as hospitals, aged care facilities and prisons. </p>
<p>While increased apprenticeship funding will provide some respite for existing providers, the “slashing and burning” impacts on all TAFEs, with financially precarious regional institutions the most vulnerable. </p>
<p>Deep cuts have been announced in outer Melbourne with TAFE tourism and events closing at Victoria University in Werribee and Swinburne closing hospitality, tourism and events at Lilydale. Meanwhile hospitality training facilities are <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/regional-tafes-the-unkindest-cut-20120706-21mfb.html">likely to close</a> at GippsTAFE with program cuts at SouthWest TAFE in Warrnambool and at Ballarat. </p>
<p>In 2011 publicly-funded enrolments across vocational education in Australia grew by 82,000, of which 94% (77,000) were in Victoria, pioneer of “contestability” (where public TAFES were encouraged to compete against private providers).</p>
<p>The constestability agenda was introduced to “level the playing field” for public and private provision - but the scale of the ensuing private sector expansion exceeded expectations, particularly around a handful of qualifications. </p>
<p>The proponents of change argue that the altered funding will bring an end to excessive numbers of poorly-targeted qualifications (for instance, in fitness training) for non-existent jobs. With regulatory controls failing to keep a lid on the expanded private provision in Melbourne, the government is cutting across the board. </p>
<p>Cuts to some hospitality programs may also reflect a backlash against the <a href="http://globalhighered.wordpress.com/2009/08/11/indian-students-in-australia-how-did-it-come-to-this/">unanticipated proliferation of Indian enrolments</a> in commercial cookery courses within Melbourne. </p>
<p>Though migration changes have largely addressed this problem, the bitter legacy of racially alleged attacks, media beat-ups and college closures brought <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/national/melbourne-college-accused-of-offering-grades-for-cash-20090517-b7d3.html">disrepute</a> to hospitality training. The private sector cost blowouts and the Indian migration debacle occurred in Melbourne, but the cuts will d<a href="http://www.upskilled.edu.au/about-upskilled/latest-news/2012/june/victorian-government-slashes-funding-for-tafes.aspx">isproportionately hit the regions</a>. </p>
<p>Both political parties failed to strike the appropriate balance between regulation and competition in training targeted at both the domestic and international student markets. The <a href="http://www.premier.vic.gov.au/media-centre/media-releases/3755-extra-1-billion-for-quality-focused-vet-system-.html">spin-doctors argue</a> there was a need to reduce funding for over-provided (“bad”) programs and provide a boost for trade/craft programs and apprenticeships (“good” programs). </p>
<p>Many paraprofessional fields have indeed lamented the declining take-up of apprenticeships where “real skills” are acquired by combining on-the-job learning from skilled masters with classroom training. So far so good. We need qualified chefs preparing the highest quality food. The recent staging of TV program Masterchef in Daylesford was a showcase for combining quality local produce and skilled practitioners. </p>
<p>However for every chef preparing meals, <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/travel/hong-kongs-hands-on-hotel/story-e6frg8rf-1226424456547">training restaurants</a> are needed to provide a “front-of-house” where tolerant diners enjoy their creations and make allowance for servicing from inexperienced students “in training” (and even share the learning experience on TripAdvisor!).</p>
<p>Many outstanding private providers currently operate as registered training organisations (RTOs) ranging from large hospitality operations such as Crown Casino to small owner-operated businesses. Valuable workplace-based training certainly occurs and more enlightened employers will continue to support staff development and the recruitment of apprentices. </p>
<p>The private sector has some capacity to expand on-the-job training, but recent experience suggests that some will be the “tick and flick” variety. In contrast, regional TAFEs excel at providing food service environments that welcome locals and accommodate those seeking a trade without having to head for the city. As local institutions, training restaurants are akin to bank branches and post offices and critical for the local retention of learners and for capacity building. </p>
<p>All is not lost for the regions. Emerging partnerships might bring local food producers and entrepreneurs together with TAFE Institutes. But the shorter-term risk is that in seeking quick savings, TAFEs may close their costly training restaurants at the expense of future generations. Training kitchens and restaurants are integral to professional hospitality training, as laboratories are critical for science teaching. </p>
<p>But removing training restaurants and associated courses will accelerate the drift of young people to the city and eliminate an established hub for local suppliers.</p>
<p>Both sides of politics are implicated. Despite its strong emphasis on regional centres, the Brumby Government instigated contestability. However having underestimated the regional implications of its TAFE cuts, the coalition is now experiencing the political fallout. </p>
<p>The Kennett Government bequeathed the legacy of a competitive and service-oriented Victorian tourism industry (think of perfect coffees at Beechworth or Daylesford). This legacy was maintained by successive Labor administrations, a much admired model of bipartisanship interstate. </p>
<p>However the naïve bipartisan conventional wisdom of contestability is unlikely to be emulated elsewhere. It is ironic that constructive bipartisanship has sustained Victoria’s competitiveness as a provider of excellent tourism service, but bungled competition in training will leave a bad regional taste. </p>
<p>The tourism “goose that laid the golden egg” may be yet be sacrificed by a bad case of bipartisan policy failure. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/8146/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brian King is Chair of Mentors in the Victorian Tourism Awards, Director (Non-Executive) of Destination Melbourne, Chair of the Assessment Panel, Tourism & Hospitality Education International Centre of Excellence (THE-ICE) & Chair of the Academic Board, Blue Mountains International Hotel Management School. </span></em></p>Tourism and hospitality course closures have featured prominently in the recent announcements about redundancies flowing from the estimated $200 million of Victorian TAFE funding cuts. While the causes…Brian King, Professor of Tourism, Victoria UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.