VET & TAFE
campusreview.com.au
Shadow minister for education
Tanya Plibersek at the 2020 AEU
conference. Photo: John Ross/AAP
Cuts killing TAFE
AEU conference hears calls
for funding restitution for
beleaguered TAFE sector.
By Wade Zaglas
D
eclining funding for TAFE was one
of the key topics addressed during
the recent Australian Education
Union’s (AEU) 2020 federal conference,
held in Melbourne.
Keynote speakers included AEU president
Correna Haythorpe, Labor leader Anthony
Albanese, shadow education minister Tanya
Plibersek, and Australian Greens leader
Adam Bandt.
Plibersek said at the conference that
businesses she has visited are desperate for
skilled, qualified staff.
“I’ve had many businesses, big and small,
tell me that they’d love to take on more
staff, but that they can’t find people with the
right training,” she told AAP.
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“There are almost two million Australians
crying out for work or looking for more
hours. So I’m keen to hear from employers
about how our schools, TAFEs and
universities can better train Australians
for jobs.”
Plibersek laid the blame squarely at the
feet of the Morrison government, citing
cuts to TAFE and vocational education
funding and low numbers of apprentices
and trainees.
Before the conference, the AEU released
its State of Our TAFE 2020 survey, which
revealed that on average TAFE teachers are
working an extra day per week above their
contracted hours.
The survey found that 72 per cent of
respondents have seen their work hours
increase over the last three years, and
93 per cent say the pace or intensity of their
work has similarly risen.
One of the key findings of the survey
was that only 2 per cent of TAFE teachers
thought their workloads were manageable,
with most citing increases in administrative
and management demands as impacting
their workloads. Poor working conditions
such as these have led to a shortage in
qualified, skilled TAFE graduates across the
country, the survey concludes.
Haythorpe blamed years of federal
government funding cuts for Australia’s
skills shortage. She highlights that funding
for vocational education was slashed by
more than 15 per cent in the decade to
2016, with the Morrison government cutting
TAFE funding by 10.6 per cent ($326 million)
in 2018 alone.
“Funding cuts to vocational education
have seen apprentice numbers decline by
140,000 across the country, exacerbating
our current skills shortage,” Haythorpe said.
“Australia’s TAFE system offers a clear
solution to this situation. It offers the highest
standard of vocational education at all levels,
with nationally accredited programs and a
highly qualified and experienced workforce
of professional teachers.
“However, privatisation policies resulting
in course and campus closures have caused
incalculable damage to TAFE and led to
significant job losses across the sector,” the
AEU president said.
Supporting Haythorpe’s concerns is
the most recent Commonwealth Report
on Government Service (RoGS) report.
It shows that between 2017 and 2018,
government spending on vocational
education fell by $252 million to a total of
$6.02 billion, a drop of 4 per cent from the
previous financial year.
The report also illuminated the fact that,
since the 2012 peak funding of $7.65 billion,
$1.6 billion in funding has been stripped
from the sector, equating to a 23.13 per
cent loss in funding.
The total number of annual working
hours provided by government expenditure
was also cut by 36.4 million, a decline of
6.4 per cent from last year and a substantial
drop of 30.6 per cent from the 2012 peak.
“Half the new jobs in the future
will require a vocational education
qualification,” Haythorpe said.
“Without a strong and properly funded
TAFE sector, how can we hope to train the
people we need to deliver the infrastructure
essential for our future, to drive our
transition to renewable energy, and to
limit the already catastrophic impact of
climate change?
“Only TAFE provides a highly qualified
workforce and a trusted, world-leading
education that will give Australians the skills
they need for the future.” ■