VET & TAFE
campusreview.com.au
Refresh
your
memory
If federal public policymakers
lack the knowledge and in-house
experience related to VET, how
can they address its problems?
By John Mitchell
I
f you have spent the last 40 years in
the vocational education sector, like I
have, you will be used to politicians and
policymakers in Canberra forgetting VET
when they make heady pronouncements
about education. The expression
“universities and schools” commonly
trips off the tongues of excited politicians
and bureaucrats, neatly obliterating any
mention of a VET sector that we now
know is responsible for 3.9 million annual
enrolments.
So while the latest example of such
an oversight in a policy-related paper is
not a surprise, in the interests of good
government, Canberra needs to explain it.
The National Innovation and Science
Agenda (NISA) was launched several months
18
ago, following the elevation of Malcolm
Turnbull to prime minister and his remark at
the time that there has never been a more
exciting time to be an Australian. The NISA
booklet, subtitled “Welcome to the ideas
boom”, noted that Australia is “well placed
to take advantage of the opportunities
presented by these exciting times,” but to
succeed “there are areas where we need
to improve”. To guide this improved use
of innovation, and backed by a funding
pool of $1.1 billion, NISA will focus on four
pillars over the next four years: culture and
capital; collaboration; talent and skills; and
government as an exemplar.
Predictably, the NISA booklet describes
the roles of universities and schools in
stimulating innovation but fails to even
mention the VET sector or its major
contributor, TAFE. In response to this
oversight, TAFE Directors Australia convened
a roundtable in Canberra in early March
on innovation and applied research to
stimulate a national conversation about
TAFE’s contribution to NISA, based on TAFE’s
previous, current and ongoing applied
research partnerships with enterprises.
Near the start of the roundtable, attended
by about 100 TAFE and industry partners
and government representatives at the
Canberra Institute of Technology, the
deputy secretary of the department of
industry, innovation and science, David
Hazlehurst, told the participants that
criticism about VET not being included in
the strategy was “fair enough”. However,
while it was interesting to observe a key
policymaker squirming on stage, the
excuse he offered for the omission was
unconvincing: “This [omission] was not
meant to suggest that VET and TAFE don’t
have an important role. It’s that there were
some important gaps that the government
wanted to fill,” he said.
Hazlehurst, who joined the Department
of Industry and Science as acting deputy