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State of Our TAFE
Survey reveals a workforce of extraordinary skill and dedication
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This year, we celebrate our 40th anniversary of building union power and global justice. Solidarity with workers and social movements has been key for bringing about change amidst societies torn apart by war, authoritarianism and exploitation.
We invite you to join us and contribute to our collective impact by becoming a member today. Let’s keep up the fight for another 40 years.
The call for global solidarity has never been more urgent.
Act fast, as these are limited-edition shirts, make sure you don't miss out. Offer valid until May 1st.
Over the next month, if you:
•become a new member or,
We invite you to join us and contribute to our collective impact by becoming a member today. Let’s keep up the fight for another 40 years.
•upgrade your current monthly donation you get a FREE exclusive 40th-anniversary t-shirt design by Workers Art Collective member Judy Kuo or a book with our history, you choose!
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The Official Journal of the TAFE Division of the Australian Education Union VOL58 • N0.1 • AUTUMN 2024
Australian TAFE Teacher (ISSN: 0815-3701) is published for the Australian Education Union by Heads & Tales. The magazine is circulated to all TAFE members of the AEU nationally.
Heads & Tales, Ground Level, Building 1, 658 Church St, Richmond 3121
Tel: (03) 8520 6444 • Fax: (03) 8520 6422
Email: tafeteacher@hardiegrant.com
AEU and subscription enquiries: Australian Education Union Federal Office, PO Box 1158, South Melbourne Victoria 3205 Tel: (03) 9693 1800 • Fax: (03) 9693 1805
Art direction & design Dallas Budde & Robert Bertagni
Printer Printgraphics Printgreen
Circulation: 6,610
Copyright rests with the writers, the AEU and Heads & Tales. No part of this pub lication may be reproduced without the prior permission of the copyright holders. The opinions expressed in the magazine are not necessarily the official policy of the AEU.
TAFE is the word, and this year the opportunity to rebuild with TAFE is stronger than ever.
Purdy AEU Federal TAFE President
Welcome back!
2024 is shaping up to be another year of renewed focus on jobs and skills, with TAFE centered at the heart of vocational education provision. This of course comes with both pros and cons for TAFE teachers in terms of recognition, value and workload as we see more students choosing TAFE.
Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA), a tripartite structure set up by the Albanese Government to advise government and stakeholders on Australia’s current and emerging workforce skills and training needs, has a new commissioner in Vice-Chancellor and president of Western Sydney University, Professor Barney Glover AO. He begins his role in April 2024. He will be advised by the JSA advisory board, which includes AEU federal president Correna Haythorpe.
Glover has a long history leading higher educational institutions and is currently a member of the Australian Universities Accord Panel, Australian Government representative on the University of the South Paci c Grants Committee, Convenor of the NSW Vice-Chancellor’s Committee, Chair of the Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching Working Group and the Australia-based
Patron of the Association for Tertiary Education Management.
On the heels of Glover’s appointment announcement, the Australian Universities Accord nal report was released on 25 February by Education Minister Jason Clare. The review panel, chaired by Professor Mary O’Kane AC also included Glover, and set a target of 80 per cent of the Australian workforce to have either a TAFE quali cation or a university degree by 2050. Amongst the 47 recommendations, the review called for more cross-provision between VET and higher education providers, including opportunities to expand the role of TAFEs and recommended a pathway for TAFEs to become self-accrediting in VET at the Australian Quali cation Framework (AQF) Level 5 and above in areas of national priority.
Addressing the report, Education Minister Jason Clare says with high school completion rates dropping, the arti cial barrier separating TAFE and universities will need to be broken down if Australia is to reach its goal.
However, action to address teacher shortages stemming from years of sector underfunding under previous governments is still in development, with Minister for Skills and Training Brendan O’Connor saying a VET Workforce Blueprint to identify attraction and retention strategies and examine ways to build capability, support career development and succession planning is in progress.
The Department of Employment and Workplace Relations has launched a Strategic Review of the Australian Apprenticeship Incentive System. Minister O’Connor, has appointed Justice Iain Ross AO and Lisa Paul AO PSM as the reviewers. With apprenticeship completion rates in steady decline over several years, the review is looking into how support can be best placed to increase the completion rate. Submissions are open until 15 May 2024, with the terms of reference available at:
www.dewr.gov.au/australianapprenticeships/strategic-reviewaustralian-apprenticeship-incentivesystem. The bi-annual State of Our TAFE survey has been completed with ndings included in this issue. Key concerns that members highlighted included the impact of the federal funding guarantee and fee-free TAFE and the resulting workload that has brought, including the urgent need for more support sta and wraparound services for new cohorts of students.
Figures released by the government in late March reveal 355,557 Australians enrolled in fee-free TAFE across Australia during 2023.
Fee-free TAFE continues to support communities o en excluded from tertiary education, with those enrolling in courses including more than 26,000 people with disability, over 23,000 First Nations people and more than 76,000 people who speak a language other than English at home. Women made up 62 percent of enrolments and 33 per cent of students came from regional and remote areas.
Following the enormous success of the TAFE Photography Competition, we are pleased to be running it again this year. Photographs by each 2023 state and territory winner are now proudly hanging in Minister O’Connor’s o ces. The 2024 competition launches at the AEU TAFE AGM held on April 12, and entries will remain open until 10 July 2024. A pull-out centerspread in this issue of TAFE Teacher has more information and a QR code link for students to enter the competition, so please pin the pullout to your noticeboard and encourage your students to enter for a generous cash prize and a trip to Canberra for National TAFE Day.
As always, work on the Rebuild with TAFE Campaign continues, with new developments forthcoming.
Michelle
State of Our TAFE
The 2023 State of Our TAFE survey reveals a workforce of extraordinary dedication and skill but one that has also been pushed to the brink by the ongoing impact of nearly a decade of Coalition
cuts to public vocational education.
Article by Jonathon Guy
The AEU’s State of Our TAFE survey was completed throughout November 2023 with more than 30 per cent of the AEU’s TAFE membership responding and representation from every TAFE institution in Australia.
The vast majority, (95 per cent) of responses came from those in teaching and training roles, and those with a high level of experience, averaging 14.5 years’ experience in the sector.
The survey also reveals new burdens arising from the Commonwealth’s landmark investment in Fee-Free TAFE. These challenges for TAFE teachers include the continuation of unacceptably high working hours and workloads, the changing nature of TAFE jobs and how expectations for workers to provide vastly increased levels of support to students, more students with greater needs in less time and without additional institutional support.
Although the large investment and commitment to TAFE made by the Albanese government has been seen as very welcome, there are still significant concerns among TAFE teachers on workload, job security, and the level of support required by students accessing the expanded Fee-Free TAFE program.
Working hours and intensity
Full time workers reported an average of 42.6 hours per week, 19 per cent higher than their average contractual working hours of 35 hours per week. This equates to more than an additional day of unpaid work every week.
Part time workers reported that they are the most likely to work hours that substantially exceed their contracted work time. The average part time TAFE employee stated that their work time exceeds their contracted hours by an average of 28 per cent.
Those employed on very small fractions (0.2-0.4 FTE) are most likely to report working well above their contracted hours and reported that they work 140 per cent of their contracted hours on average each week.
Sixty per cent of respondents said their working hours had increased over the last two years, half of whom said that their working hours have “increased significantly”, a mere 8 per cent said that their working hours had reduced and nearly a third indicated that their working hours had remained the same.
TAFE teachers are seeing increased workload intensity, with 85 per cent of respondents telling us that the pace or intensity of their work has increased over the last two years - 65 per cent significantly.
INCREASED WORKLOAD INTENSITY COMBINED WITH HIGH WORKING HOURS IS MAKING WORKLOADS UNMANAGEABLE
The large percentage of TAFE members who indicate that intensity has increased indicates that TAFE workers are doing more work than ever, with less time available to do it. Less than 5 per cent of members replied that their workload was “entirely manageable” and less than 32 per cent said that it was “manageable most of the time”.
WORKLOAD MANAGEABILITY
Respondents were asked to rank the top ve contributing factors to their current workload. The most frequently selected areas were:
•Increased administrative work85 per cent
•Widening of duties within my area of responsibility - 65 per cent
•Reductions in sta - 57 per cent
•Impacts or reorganisation or restructuring - 48 per cent
•Increased student numbers45 per cent
The increased intensity of work and the burden of additional tasks has real and substantial impacts on the ability of TAFE teachers to continually develop their teaching practice, maintain their industry currency, to update and develop curriculum and to provide su cient time for students to learn and practice skills. Almost two thirds said that the burden of additional tasks impacted on their professional development (63 per cent) and their ability to maintain their industry currency (65 per cent), 79 per cent said that their ability to devote time to curriculum development was impacted and more than two thirds (69 per cent) said that their ability to provide su cient time for students to learn and practice skills was limited by their workload.
The impact of Fee-Free TAFE
The interim 12-month Skills Agreement introduced almost $1 billion of additional funding split between the Commonwealth and state and territory governments to support the delivery of an initial 180,000 Fee-Free TAFE places across Australia.
The interim agreement has now been followed by a ve-year National Skills Agreement (NSA) which includes $414 million in Commonwealth funds for a further 300,000 Fee-Free TAFE places over the next ve years. Enrolments have exceeded expectations to reach 295,000 by September 2023.
Fee-Free TAFE is designed to address areas of national priority and provides places in care (aged care, childcare, health care and disability care), technology and digital jobs, hospitality and tourism. Construction, agriculture and sovereign capability.1
Further, the Fee-Free TAFE program aims is to provide training to priority population groups including:
•First Nations Australians
•young people (17-24)
•people who are out of work or receiving income support payments
• unpaid carers
•women facing economic insecurity
•women undertaking study in nontraditional elds
•people with disability
•certain categories of visa holders.
The AEU welcomes the Commonwealth Government’s commitment to TAFE as the anchor institution for Australia’s jobs and skills strategy and supports the introduction of Fee-Free TAFE.
However, the State of Our TAFE survey reveals that the implementation of Fee-Free TAFE has presented some additional challenges for TAFE members.
The survey shows that students enrolling in the Fee-Free TAFE cohort have signi cantly higher levels of additional needs than the TAFE student cohort overall and that TAFE institutes are generally not currently resourced to support those needs.
HAS THERE BEEN AN INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF STUDENTS PRESENTING WITH ADDITIONAL NEEDS ENROLLING IN FEE-FREE TAFE?
FEE-FREE TAFE – WHAT IS THE IMPACT ON THE PACE AND INTENSITY OF WORK?
WORKLOAD IMPACT OF FEE-FREE TAFE
When TAFE teachers were asked what additional needs were more prevalent among the new Fee-Free cohort of TAFE students:
• 74 per cent said there are more students with mental health needs
• 79 per cent said there are more students with additional literacy and numeracy needs
• 66 per cent said there were more students with additional digital skills needs
• 60 per cent said more students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds have enrolled in FeeFree TAFE.
The impact of Fee-Free TAFE also extends to workload. In the survey 51 per cent of TAFE teachers said that the pace and intensity of their work has increased since the extended rollout of Fee-Free TAFE and 32 per cent have already seen an increase in their working hours at an average of 6.9 additional hours per week.
FEE-FREE TAFE – HAVE ADDITIONAL SERVICES BEEN ALLOCATED FOR STUDENT NEEDS?
Over half (55 per cent) of survey respondents said that their TAFE institute had not allocated additional services to support students enrolling in Fee-Free TAFE, and the National Skills Agreement does not currently provide for an increase in standard support services in response to Fee Free TAFE.
It is imperative that this oversight is urgently addressed so that TAFE workers and institutes accommodate the diverse range of new students that TAFE has welcomed in 2023, and those that it will continue to welcome in coming years.
Teacher attrition in TAFE
More than two thirds (69 per cent) of members said they had considered leaving the sector in the last year, with 45 per cent of TAFE teachers planning to remain on the job for less than five years.
More than three quarters (77 per cent) said that workload has a major impact on the recruitment and retention of TAFE teachers form industry, followed by pay (67 per cent) and employment conditions (59 per cent).
DO THE FOLLOWING IMPACT ON RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION OF TAFE TEACHERS FROM INDUSTRY?
WHAT WOULD INFORM YOUR DECISION TO LEAVE TAFE?
Overall findings
Among those who said that they had considered leaving TAFE in the past 12 months, when asked which factors would drive their decision to leave, workload (55 per cent) and lack of support from their TAFE institute (54 per cent) were the primary drivers.
The State of Our TAFE survey clearly shows that despite signi cant renewed investment in TAFE over the last year, the legacy of the underfunding of the TAFE system and the decimation of the permanent TAFE workforce over the last two decades has le a lasting impact on the sector.
Workloads continue to grow, and the addition of hundreds of thousands of new students through Fee-Free TAFE, many with greater support needs than the traditional student cohort, has le TAFE teachers struggling to manage.
More student support and more teachers are urgently needed, alongside improving conditions to stem the tide of those leaving the sector in despair. This can only be done by providing decently paid secure jobs that protect and respect teachers’ pedagogical expertise and professional autonomy. TAFE teachers need more support from their employers and better remuneration.
Attracting new teachers from industry can be supported through a de ned and regulated career pathway for experienced people from industry to transition into TAFE teaching jobs that are appropriately renumerated, and a concerted national e ort is required to rebuild the attractiveness of TAFE teaching to experienced practitioners from industry.
Rampant casualisation has resulted in a highly mobile workforce that not only lacks security but is rarely o ered the opportunities for professional development and advancement that secure employment provides.
The AEU calls on the Commonwealth to match its investment in TAFE students with an equally ambitious investment in the TAFE workforce, additional support for students and investment to renew campus buildings, equipment and infrastructure. These investments should include:
1 A strong investment to implement a TAFE teaching workforce renewal strategy, with a focus on addressing insecure employment, improved professional development, and unsustainable workloads.
2 Funding for wraparound support services for students with increasing complex needs enrolling in Fee-Free TAFE to improve student engagement, retention and completions and reduce workload pressures that supporting these students is creating for TAFE teachers.
3 A capital investment strategy to match the signi cant funding commitment that the Commonwealth has made in the National Skills Agreement to rebuild TAFE.
When asked to select the top three things that would encourage them to stay in the TAFE sector, 67 per cent cited a reduced admin burden, 60 per cent cited improved pay and 57 per cent selected better treatment from their employer as changes that could encourage them to remain. RESPONDENTS Sta from every TAFE in the country took part in the survey, with 2051 people responding in total.
Teaching through trauma
A trauma-informed approach to teaching is essential during climate emergencies and other community traumas, but it also can be a gamechanger for students on a dayto-day basis.
Article by Rochelle Siemienowicz
More than 20 years have passed, but I still remember that a ernoon in September 2001 when my TAFE students insisted that we go to the pub next door.
“Planes have crashed into the Twin Towers and the world might be ending,” the students argued, “how can we possibly concentrate today, Miss?”
I resisted. We were perfectly safe in Melbourne, and I was acutely aware of limited class time le to complete the Adult VCE Media Studies subject. Whether it was right or wrong to go to the pub (we did), I now think those students were expressing good instincts. I wanted to carry on as if nothing had happened, but something huge was going on in their world. They needed to talk about it and connect socially before they could feel calm and regulated enough to learn.
The term “trauma-informed teaching” wasn’t used in those days. In fact, Beyond Blue, the Australian mental health and wellbeing support organisation, was only established in the year 2000. But now, extensive evidence-based resources are available to help both teachers and students dealing with individual or community trauma.
We’re now beginning to understand that trauma is complex, and resists set timelines in how long it a ects people. It can arise from individual events and experiences, like the death of a loved one, suicide, family violence, or from being part of a marginalised or discriminated-
against group. And it can a ect whole communities as a result of wars, bush res, oods, droughts, pandemics – and any of the natural disasters associated with the climate emergency. Teaching through trauma is the reality all educators face at this moment.
Trauma-aware education
“There has been a growing awareness and understanding of trauma over the last 20 years,” says Geri Sumpter, the head of Be You, the national mental health and wellbeing initiative for learning communities in Australia, delivered by Beyond Blue in collaboration with Early
“We’re now beginning to understand that trauma is complex, and resists set timelines in how long it a ects people.”
Upskilling
Childhood Australia and headspace.
“This has led to the development of an approach that is referred to as traumainformed,” says Sumpter. “Recently, this has been discussed in the National Guidelines for Trauma-Aware Education in Australia which were developed in response to a growing interest in traumaaware education across the country.”
Sumpter says that trauma-informed approaches help educators to create emotionally safe learning environments and build trusting relationships, while avoiding additional distress: “If you are fostering a learning environment that is safe, builds trust, and encourages choice and collaboration, you have already established the core principles that support a trauma-informed approach.”
“Good teachers are empathetic, organised and connected to their students however being traumainformed in their approach takes di erent knowledge and skills.”
What is trauma?
Sumpter de nes trauma as “the ongoing emotional, psychological and physiological impact that can result when a person feels their safety has been threatened so deeply that it overwhelms their ability to cope.”
She says trauma-informed approaches recognise how common trauma is, and acknowledge the way it a ects our wellbeing, relationships, and ability to work and learn: “These approaches consider a person’s whole environment and their experiences, as well as how their behaviours might be seen as responses to trauma, rather than pathologies.
“Think of a trauma-informed approach as asking, ‘What might have happened in your life that has shaped how you experience the world now?’ instead of, ‘What’s wrong with you?’ You don’t need to know someone has experienced trauma, or the details of their trauma, to implement a trauma-informed approach.”
While everyone is di erent, Sumpter says there are common things to look out for in the educational environment.
“Behavioural changes are probably the earliest warning sign, for example students having strong emotions such as sadness, anger, anxiety, guilt of moodiness.
“You might also notice a decline in performance, di culty concentrating or switching o . Some may also display
“Good teachers are empathetic, organised and connected to their students however being traumainformed in their approach takes di erent knowledge and skills.”
an increased need for independence or engage in rebellious or risk-taking behaviour.”
It’s not what happened –it’s how you feel about it Until very recently, our understanding of “trauma” itself, and its long-term impacts on nervous system regulation, memory, and learning, were incredibly limited and o en shaming or punishing of su erers. In her 2003 book Unbroken: the trauma response is never wrong, trauma researcher Mary Catherine McDonald describes how a more nuanced understanding of trauma is still emerging, one that acknowledges that what physically happens to a person – an attack, natural disaster, loss or abuse – is not as important psychologically as how that person understands, interprets and reacts to those experiences.
McDonald gives the example of a rst responder whose trauma response kicked in, not around the horri c emergencies she was attending
professionally as a paramedic, but around a relationship crisis that threatened her very sense of self and autonomy.
“Something is potentially traumatic,” McDonald writes, “when it overwhelms the nervous system enough to cause our emergency coping mechanisms to kick into gear. These mechanisms are designed to save our lives – and they do. But to do so, they pull energy and resources from some of our other systems, including those that help us orient ourselves in the world and organise our memories.”
We can see then, that even if someone is physically safe and not immediately threatened, for example, by climate emergency events, they might be experiencing trauma around the growing awareness of impending global crisis. Such distress is, of course, reinforced when communities experience actual environmental events that do threaten their safety and way of life.
Educational spaces like schools, TAFE institutes and universities perform
essential roles in communities during such crises, providing safe physical and emotional spaces, as well as maintaining social connections and regular routines. For the teachers and education support sta employed at this time – who may also be experiencing their own distress –being trauma-informed can equip their emotional lifeboats.
Core principles of trauma-informed teaching
Sumpter says Be You provides a vital toolbox of evidence-based traumainformed resources and training modules for teachers to use to provide support, information and protection for students during traumatic community events.
These are based around ve core principles:
1 Safety – especially important when working with students because if they don’t feel safe, they’ll be reluctant to talk about their thoughts and feelings.
2 Trust – teachers need to take steps to build trusting relationships, set clear boundaries and follow through on commitments.
3 Choice – ensuring individuals have options within an interaction or experience.
4 Collaboration
5 Empowerment – critical when working with students in disaster preparedness, response, recovery and resilience.
Understanding your students
Kim Hawkins started her career as a VET teacher 30 years ago and has worked with many diverse, challenging, and disengaged groups across early childhood, disability and community services. Having worked in the Northern Territory and regional Western Australia, Hawkins is now based in Perth as an educational consultant. She says: “You can’t be an e ective teacher if you don’t know the needs of your group, and if there’s trauma in there, you’ve got to address it. You can’t just ignore it. Because nobody’s going to learn anything while they’re in trauma.”
Hawkins remembers working in Karatha in the Pilbara region, dealing with bird u and regular cyclones, where students and fellow sta were “genuinely very, very scared, and there was loss there.”
“It’s about acknowledging that those things have happened, and that
BE YOU RESOURCES FOR TAFE AND VET
Grief, trauma and critical incidents fact sheet
beyou.edu.au/fact-sheets/grieftrauma-and-critical-incidents Explores grief and disasters, and how to provide support for people facing them.
Responding to natural disasters and other traumatic events
beyou.edu.au/responding -to-natural-disasters Resources for educator and student wellbeing – specifically related to early learning services and schools but relevant for all teachers including vocational education.
Be You for VET
beyou.edu.au/get-started/vet
A variety of resources most relevant to qualifications in early childhood education and care and education support, including:
• Learner Guides for those studying CHC30121 Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care.
• Trainer Guides to Be You resources related to qualifications CHC30121
Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care; CHC30221
Certificate III and CHC40221
Certificate IV in School Based Education Support
• Wellbeing Plan for VET learners.
everybody’s reactions will be di erent. With the bush res here in WA, for example, how can you expect someone to go to the classroom when they’ve just lost their house? Teachers need to be exible in their approach, and the need to know how to help students nd the other support services and resources they might need, like counselling. It’s another skill set in addition to what they’re already trying to teach.”
For TAFE teachers, a workforce that is time-poor, stretched and casualised, being asked to become trauma-informed may feel like another onerous burden.
But as Be You’s Geri Sumpter says, it’s important to remember teachers are not expected to be mental health professionals. Resources are there to support them.
Relationships, routine, regulation
Sumpter says TAFE teachers might nd the following ideas useful in a crisis:
•Talk to students about what’s happening while being mindful some may not be ready to do so.
•Schedule physical and mental ‘brain breaks’ for students.
•Consider establishing a buddy program or support network.
•Encourage students to work in pairs or groups to build social connection and channel energy into something rewarding, like a passion project or community event.
•Provide choices as to empower students.
•Identify students’ strengths and who they can call on in adversity.
•Be mindful of any changes to routines and explain when and why changes happen.
•Plan ahead for distressing calendar events such as milestones, anniversaries or memorials.
Teachers experience trauma too
Both Sumpter and Hawkins emphasise the importance of educators looking a er their own wellbeing a er a traumatic event, looking for signs of their own distress, seeking the necessary support and care.
“Compassion fatigue” is a potential problem, and Sumpter says signs to look out for include decreased concentration, problems planning activities, and irritability with students and colleagues.
“Knowing what stress and anxiety feels like for you personally will help you select the best self-care strategies and to recognise when you need to implement them,” she says.
ROCHELLE SIEMIENOWICZ is a freelance writer and editor.
Critical thinking & critical skills
State-of-the-art facilities and top-quality teaching awaits nursing students at TAFE Queensland’s Townsville Pimlico campus.
Article by Diana Ward
Laura Mackaway, educational team lead for the nursing teachers for TAFE Queensland north’s Townsville (Pimlico) and Bowen campuses says TAFE is more than a building with world class facilities for students to learn in: “The people here – the people who work
here are like family, when I walk in here, it feels like home.”
She – and her close-knit teaching team - say the most unique part of TAFE Queensland’s Diploma of Nursing is that it is closely aligned with what is current in the real world, so students know what things look like and feel ready when they start working.
“We are constantly working to be able to replicate the real world in a simulated environment,” she says. “We also work with the textbook publishers on simulated documentation – right down to a simulated bathroom, so they can learn how to bathe someone before they go out, because that can be so daunting.”
As nursing practices are continually evolving, Diploma of Nursing teachers must have teaching quali cations, be a current Registered Nurse (RN), and that includes working in the eld either part
time concurrently with teaching or via an intensive industry placement each year. “Some teachers work casual shi s in di erent nursing elds and some of us take industry release where we complete yearly industry engagement to ensure our expertise remains current, allowing us to learn new skills and nd out what’s the current best practice,” she says.
This currency is passed on to students and becomes an additional tool for teaching and learning.
“I think one of the best ways to learn is through storytelling and story listening. I identify as an Aboriginal person and when I tell a story, I feel the students don’t forget it,” says Bahtabah woman Mackaway.
“Also, humour, humour is so important – I do like to try to bring that out in them. It’s amazing to see their humour develop over a semester.”
PICTUREDTAFE Queensland Townsville (Pimlico) campus; opposite: Laura Mackaway
“The course is so in demand that there’s a waitlist of over 560 students.”
Hands-on learning
In addition to coordinating three online teachers and ve face-to-face teachers to deliver the Diploma of Nursing, Mackaway also coordinates the educational placements for students, liaising with industry to source placement opportunities. Placements are mandatory and allow students to put into practice what they are learning in the classroom. “We also really nurture and support the students through their placements,” she says of the TAFE approach.
To receive their Diploma and be a quali ed Enrolled Nurse (EN), students complete 400 to 440 hours of practical placements over their course across four key areas. Typically, that breaks down to 120 hours in aged care, 160 hours at an acute setting like a hospital, and the balance spread between mental health – usually in a hospital setting and mental health facility, primary health or palliative care. “General practices are really keen on getting more ENs on board,” she says.
The employment rate for graduates of the Diploma is around 95 to 100 per cent. “We try to get students placed where they want to work for their last placements
because they will o en get jobs from that placement – especially as the employers know they are about to nish,” says Mackaway.
The quali cation is in such high demand that there’s a waitlist of over 560 students. “Fee-Free TAFE has played a part in that as well as the diversity in nursing cohorts. It’s always been popular, but we’ve never seen a waitlist this long previously,” she says.
Creating safe spaces
“For the Diploma of Nursing, we have a diverse range of students. We enroll individuals ranging from school leavers, with the youngest being 17, as well as some in their seventies. They come from all walks of life, some with experience and some without,” says Mackaway.
She says the demographics of the students are all ages, mostly female and amix of cultures: “That’s great because the students learn so much about what is and not acceptable in other countries and cultures.”
Cultural diversity is a component during Stage 2 of the Diploma, which predominantly focuses on First Nations.
“Equitable access to healthcare is
a consideration – we’ve got this big hospital here that people come to from the regions as well – and we encourage students to continue to think about how to make health care more equitable and safe and appropriate to First Nations people because how we do things won’t work for everyone,” she says.
That same imperative for respect and recognition ows into TAFE support services for students.
“We have accessibility support which ranges from autism to physical impairments, counselling services, and learning support available, whether that’s help with academic writing, making sure the sentence ows or just getting used to writing again,” says Mackaway.
Academic support
When a student needs support, they likely seek out learning skills teacher Vanna Sanders. Sanders works across all departments at Townsville (Pimlico) TAFE, but her principal responsibilities are across health and community.
“Nursing is probably my top priority because it’s one of the most academically demanding courses we o er,” she says.
“I assist students to jump the academic hurdles that they didn’t know they were going to encounter. Most students come here knowing that it’s going to be hard to learn all the nursing terminology and to learn the practical skills, but they didn’t know that they had to do academic writing that they’re going to have to master many di erent programs on the computer and they are going to have to learn on a learning management system.”
She says the area of greatest need is for students to pass their assessments and this requires academic writing skills that many students wouldn’t have used for decades, as well as learning to use a variety of technology and so ware. “One of our students is in her 70s and she hadn’t been in school for 50 years or more,” says Sanders. “Generally speaking, [I’m teaching] how to tackle an assessment, how do you answer a question and break the question down and how and where to do the research; and then of course you have to write to academic conventions including referencing.”
Flexible approaches
Sanders, who has been teaching at TAFE Queensland for 39 years is proud of how strong TAFE is on access and equity and addressing additional needs via student support o cers.
“TAFE is a chance for students and for a lot of people it’s a second, third chance,” she says.
“Most of our students are working, have families and have other responsibilities and study is an additional responsibility, and an additional challenge. While many students thrive with face-to-face learning, the online delivery allows students that otherwise wouldn’t be able to study to still participate.”
She’s also excited by Fee-Free TAFE and what that has been achieving: “We get students who would never have been game to throw their hat in the ring without it. It’s quite confronting facing a study loan and especially as many of our students are parents and to put that additional nancial burden on their family is a huge thing for them. To have that one impediment removed has made a big di erence and I’ve seen the demographic change in the classroom.”
She says TAFE also o ers a variety of pathways and steppingstone approaches that many students nd useful. “For example, a student who does the [Cert III] in Health Services Assistance or
“One of our students is in her 70s and she hadn’t been in school for 50 years or more.”
Individual Support/Aged Care and Disability, can then get evening or weekend work so they can live while they study. It also means that students who would have stopped there are more likely to throw their hat in the ring and study further,” she says.
Community ties
“We are about growing people, and of course growing them towards work,” says Sanders, who began her teaching career as an early childhood and primary teacher.
“I didn’t set out to work at TAFE, I was home rearing two small children a er having worked for eight years for Education Queensland in the primary sector,” she says.
She came across TAFE a er supporting a neighbour with her distance education studies to become a teacher’s aide. Shortly therea er there was an ad in the paper for TAFE for early childhood quali ed teachers who also had childcare experience.
“I was doing playgroup one a ernoon a
week for a local kindergarten, so it was a unique combination of skills, and I was hired along with two other women,” she says. “At the time training for childcare workers was relatively new and we introduced the Diploma in Early Childhood.”
Sanders has had a notable career at TAFE across several roles, and she has relished the variety of positions she has held: “I love it and the people I worked with,” she says.
When she retires this year, she’s looking forward to spending more time sewing and volunteering with her local chapter of the Zonta Club.
Currency of skills
Nicole Vest, Diploma of Nursing teacher has been at TAFE Queensland North for 10 years. She trained in 1986 and has been nursing ever since, starting her career in Townville and working along the East Coast over a number of years before returning to Townsville.
Moving between nursing and teaching, Vest began teaching intensive care (ICU) nursing and became the intensive care course coordinator at TAFE until the university took over intensive care education in Townsville. She continued coordinating the students for them before returning to TAFE in 2014. She’s seen many changes over the years.
“When I started, they made us wear the little white dresses and somehow they still made us wear petticoats and stockings despite the heat, and back then there was no air-conditioning in hospitals, it was all open, we even used fans which is a big no-no now,” she says. “We’ve gotten a little better at that now, with pants and polo shirts and air-conditioning.”
Like all nursing teachers at TAFE, Queensland she also does stints nursing as part of teacher industry release to stay current. This year she’s thinking of doing cardiac rehab for a week and potentially a week back in the ICU.
“The ICU certainly keeps me current and on my toes. I’m still learning, every day. Nursing changes on a daily basis, you have to keep reading, going to conferences and going out into the world,” she says. “I’ve been teaching for a lot of years, and I still love it and will do 10 more years down the track.”
“When I trained, nurses began in the pan room, cleaning pans, thermometers and making sure all the technical things were clean and those basic things before
we could even think about taking on patient load. Whereas now it’s a much more holistic approach and there’s an expectation that the knowledge behind their practical work will be there,” she says.
Back then people relied more on their clinical skill rather than having the knowledge behind why they have those clinical skills: “We really want the students to understand the why behind the skills they are learning.”
“The reward of seeing the students understand what they are learning – and reiterate that back – and them having critical thinking at the end is a reward.”
Boosting the workforce
She sees many bene ts to TAFE Queensland teaching the next generation of nurses – both in terms of the academic rigor of the course and the practical skills gained, but also in alleviating local nursing shortages. “We have six groups of 40 plus students currently, most of whom end up as a nurse – so we ll a huge void out there, and that void is only going to get bigger as oldies like me begin to retire,” she says.
When TAFE students graduate from the Diploma of Nursing they are quali ed as an EN. Vest says from there “they can go on and get a job, they can go on to university to become an RN or take on additional courses”. Those with the Diploma that go to James Cook to become an RN will go straight into year two of the degree.
Supportive practices
As a union member Vest sees the value of membership in enterprise bargaining (EB) and the support you get and knowing that “when things aren’t going right you can jump on the phone and get some advice”.
“The EB is really important for us - that we ght for what we deserve. You need to look a er the sta here and the union does that, you need that body to be your voice,” she says.
That extra support is also something the teachers give their students and is part of what makes TAFE education so unique: “Students have one teacher the entire semester, so we get to know each other. We’re very hands on, every week we spend an entire day in the lab and the students get to practice their clinical skills and have assessments. Likewise, the team here supports each other, and
“The reward of seeing the students understand what they are learning and make sense of it all and reiterate that back to you.”
we work together really well and that ows down to the students.”
The TAFE Queensland nursing laboratories are a highlight of the stateof-the-art teaching tools Vest and her colleagues make the most of: “They really do mimic a hospital setting – what the students see in here is what they will see out there – the facility really is second to none,” she says. The classrooms are brilliant – there’s a display screen they can see all around the room, they have access to a library, to learning support, to computers whenever they need.
They can reach the library online 24 hours a day and they also have access to Clinical Key which provides all their textbooks, so they are well set up pursue their studies and to do well.”
“Teaching and nursing are my absolute passion and I get the best of both worlds. It’s so rewarding seeing the students do so well like happened today,” she beams.
PICTURED Nicole Vest, in red, with a student (above); opposite: Vanna Sanders.
THE OVERALL WINNER WILL WIN $5000 AND PUBLICATION IN THE TAFE TEACHER MAGAZINE. Each state based winner will win $1000 and a trip to Canberra where their work will be displayed in an exhibition. For terms and conditions visit aeufederal.org.au/photography-comp
ENTRIES CLOSE 10 JULY 2024
Green from the get-go
A champion for TAFE and sustainability has led to the first TAFE campus designed in alignment with the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
Article by Alex Landragin
Ask Karen Dickinson, general manager for TAFE Queensland on the Gold Coast, what drives her, and she doesn’t skip a beat.
“Sustainability is important to me. It’s a journey, one where you are learning all the time,” she replies. “I am not perfect, but I am persistently and consciously trying to improve my commitment to sustainable practices.”
She hopes her sta and students can share in that commitment: “I think we all have a role to play when it comes to creating a better world where we live in harmony with nature and better care for each other.”
Opening in July 2022, the Robina TAFE campus was designed from the ground-up in alignment with the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These commit signatories, including Australia, not just to eradicating poverty but also to improve education, reduce inequality, spur economic growth, tackle the climate crisis, and preserve oceans and forests. “Everything we do relates back to the SDGs,” says Dickinson.
This commitment is re ected across the board – in the curriculum, campus design, student experience, live training venues, Sustainability Committee, and organisational culture. The campus has incorporated all of the SDGs, with a particular focus on good health and wellbeing, quality education, gender equality, decent work and economic growth, responsible consumption and production, and climate action.
“When we were doing the t out, we worked largely with carbon neutral and sustainable suppliers, we used recycled carpets, recycled building materials including recycled timbers from old power poles and railway sleepers. We introduced plants and moss walls and created an environment that would stimulate students to think about the word around them. We generate our own power," she says. Currently more than a third of the campus' power needs are self-generated.
Dickinson says the building is designed with sustainable waste management practices in mind. “All sta and students are educated on waste management practices,” she says.
“We also have a Containers for Change program and the pro ts from this support scholarships and sustainability initiatives.” As part of an e ort to keep paper waste down, there are only two printers in the building and sta and students are encouraged to ‘Be Green and Keep it on the Screen’.
“We have an organic composter that takes all the organic waste from the kitchen. We have a great partnership with a local farmer who also operates a community garden plot located close to the campus. The compost generated from the kitchen is used at the community garden where our students get to learn sustainable practices. We also grow our own herbs and want to expand to grow our own crops.”
For those sta and students who prefer not to use a car, the building has easy access to public transportation and, for cyclists, end-of-trip facilities that include bike storage and showers. And from a tech perspective, the entire campus is designed to be state-of-the-art. “We have some of the best tech in the country for supporting learning, particularly for those people who want to study from a distance,” Dickinson says. “Throughout the campus, there are beautiful images on the walls relating to the environment and sustainability. All images have a QR code that can take you to a video that provides more information.”
The intention is to get sta and students to start thinking beyond their study about the environment and world around them. “All of our sta have a good understanding of sustainability, having gone through orientation and courses that broaden their knowledge. We have embedded the concept of sustainability in every unit of every course we o er – and that’s over 600 units.”
Behavioural change
More than a buzzword or slogan, Dickinson’s focus on sustainability is something she says is being driven as much by industry as by students: “From hospitality and commercial cookery to early childhood education, they’re all wanting to expand what they’re doing in sustainability, including how to reduce waste and energy consumption. Our educators have a great relationship with industry partners and part of our work is to share what we’re doing with them.”
“I think we all have a role to play when it comes to creating a better world where we live in harmony with nature and better care for each other.”
Dickinson has high hopes for the campus and what it can do to shi people’s mindsets to thinking more about the world around them. “We think it’ll lead to students and sta being more aware of the SDGs and sustainability issues such as climate change and be more motivated to change their behaviours.
The campus is also winning accolades. It’s the rst Australian vocational institution to achieve a Silver rating under the renowned Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS). It was the only TAFE among the 12 nalists in last year’s Australasian Green Gown Awards and for the second year running, Robina TAFE was awarded Silver in the Sustainable Goals Category
PICTURED TAFE Queensland Robina was designed to stimulate students to think about the world around them.
for the 2023 World Federation of Colleges and Polytechnics World Congress Awards.
Creating community pathways
Dickinson has weaved nurturing people and governance throughout her career, starting as a nurse in Western Australia. Her desire to travel and her curiosity about the world led her to look further a eld. She quickly gravitated away from patient care towards governance and project management. Her desire to travel and her curiosity about the world led her to look further a eld.
learning, encouraging critical thinking, problem-solving, and peer connections while promoting numeracy, creativity, and conservation values. The concept is heavily aligned to respecting and understanding Indigenous culture.”
When she took up her rst role in the vocational education and training sector in 2009, as managing director with the then Kimberley TAFE, 60 per cent of the students were First Nations and campuses were scattered across hundreds of kilometres at very remote locations like Halls Creek, Fitzroy Crossing, Kununurra and Derby.
Dickinson remembers her time
“I grew a level of appreciation for Indigenous People … I was privileged to learn so much about life in these communities, hear some of the stories and meet some incredible people.”
She says when it became clear that existing facilities were no longer meeting demand, Queensland TAFE decided to develop a new campus in the area. “At the time we had absolutely outgrown our commercial cookery and hospitality facilities in Southport,” she says, adding that establishing a presence in Robina made sense because it’s a high-growth area that lacked vocational training facilities.
As a low-lying, coastal city, the Gold Coast is particularly vulnerable to the e ects of climate change. “We are seeing changes to rainfall patterns, increased re danger, and rising sea levels,” Dickinson explains. This, alongside wanting long-term usage of the facility is why her team set about creating a worldclass sustainable campus.
The Robina TAFE is close to a train station, shopping centre, major schools and hospitals to maximise accessibility for the community. From the start of the t out in 2020, Dickinson and her team had two overriding objectives: “We wanted a campus that would engage with students in a di erent way, and we wanted to build students’ understanding of the world around them, particularly their understanding and commitment to sustainability.”
“I had a bit of sea change,” she says. “I took up a role in the Northern Territory, working with remote Indigenous communities as a solutions broker for the Australian Government.” Later, she moved to remote Western Australia, where she spent seven years working with people living in remote Indigenous communities in educational delivery. “We met with the local Indigenous People to include their ideas in the t out and curriculum,” she says. During this period she saw the true value of cooperation, inclusion and sustainable practice which bene ted not only First Nations communities but educational outcomes: “A great example [is the] early childhood program where we introduced a bush kindy concept that fosters nature-based
working in remote Australia as a period of learning and development. “I grew a level of appreciation for Indigenous People,” she says about learning about Culture. “I was privileged to learn so much about life in these communities, hear some of the stories and meet some incredible people.”
Rebuilding TAFE
In her current role with TAFE Queensland, Dickinson has her plate full – she oversees six campuses and over 560 sta across the Gold Coast, including Robina.
The Gold Coast is the sixth-largest city in the country, and one of the fastestgrowing. Much of that growth is taking place in southern suburbs like Robina, a new suburb even by Gold Coast standards.
As for what comes next, Dickinson says she wants to continue working on sustainability. “Our focus at the moment and into the near future is to build on the good work that has been done and continue to build a dynamic culture where a commitment to sustainability is embedded in everything we do at the campus,” she says.
She hopes that her e orts will change minds, values and behaviours: “We’re about encouraging people to have conversations, trying to make a small dent to help them create a better world. It sounds like a big thing to say, but it’s true. It’s about creating a better, more sustainable world.”
ALEX LANDRIGAN is a Melbourne-based writer and musician.
A caring economy
Why caring for children and ghting for gender equity is TAFE business.
Article by Diana Ward
Access to early childhood education and care (ECEC) is intrinsic to the fabric of workforce participation for women, addressing skills shortages and the economic growth of Australia. In addition to the signi cant long-term individual bene ts for children, investment in highquality ECEC also has signi cant bene ts for families and for the social and economic bene t of whole communities, which is why ECEC is a primary focus of Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA).
The past decade has seen copious reports, inquiries and reviews into the provision of ECEC, yet few recommendations been implemented thus far – especially in regard to the ECEC workforce, which is largely underpaid, undervalued and overworked.
Within this renewed focus on ECEC provision in Australia, TAFE has an important role to play if Australia is to catch up with its Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) peers and address deeply ingrained inequity.
It’s about systemic inequity
At the Jobs and Skills Summit in 2022, business, union, and academic leaders all expressed the urgent need for Australia to address gender inequity in workforce participation, remuneration and bene ts. Central to that was access to a ordable childcare and quality early childhood education for all.
Key gures presented – that the percentage of Australian women aged 25-54 employed full-time is 10 per cent less than the OECD average (69 per cent in Australia compared the OECD average of 79 per cent), the high cost of childcare (Australian families spend 31 per cent of their household income on childcare, compared to an OECD average of 11 per cent), lack of access to childcare and especially in regional areas, and the wage gap between men and women all play a part in women not participating in society economically as much as they may wish to.
Considering women typically earn less than men, women o en are forced out of the workforce to care for children.
“…the average total remuneration gender pay gap is 21.7 per cent, meaning for every $1 on average a man made in 2023, a women earned 78 cents.”
The Workplace Gender Equality Agency 2023 annual survey found the average total remuneration gender pay gap is 21.7 per cent, meaning for every $1 on average a man made in 2023, a women earned 78 cents, which over the course of a year on an average salary adds up to a gap of $26,393. The Child Care Subsidy (CCS) system and high cost of childcare further disincentivises women from returning to fulltime work compared taking on part-time roles.
Yet in 2021, according to Workplace Gender Equality Agency gures, only ve per cent of employers o ered subsidised childcare, and despite government subsidies for childcare, Australia still only spends about 0.6 per cent of GDP on ECEC compared to an OECD average of 0.8 per cent, meaning the high cost and scant places continues to keep women out of work.
In women-dominated industries such as Education and Training (78 per cent women across preschools, schools and TAFE) which are facing acute workforce shortages, this means access to a ordable childcare is even more imperative if women are to return to work or move into full-time roles.
This is evidenced by recent reports of teachers moving to the Fleurieu Peninsula in South Australia and to Sydney from the UK and then not being able to work due to lack of childcare places for their own children.
It’s about pay
ECEC teachers are paid signi cantly less than their schools-based colleagues with the same quali cations, and quali ed educators earn less than o en lower quali ed roles in other elds of work. ALevel 3.1 Certi cate III quali ed educator earns $26.18 an hour for example, which is less than the average cashier wage in Australia.
The Productivity Commission in its A path to universal early childhood education and care dra report stated that governments need to prioritise the workforce challenges saying: “The pay and conditions o ered to the ECEC workforce – which are critical for recruitment and retention – may be improved through processes arising out of recent changes to the Fair Work Act. But more work is required to improve career and quali cation pathways within and into ECEC professions.”
Unions hope that the new Aged Care
“A Level 3.1 Certi cate III quali ed educator earns $26.18 an hour for example, which is less than the average cashier wage in Australia.”
Maranoa and Western Downs regions of Queensland found there are nearly twice as many people with relevant childcare quali cations as there are employed in the childcare industry in these regions, with pay and work conditions cited as core reasons quali ed ECEC educators were leaving the profession.”
It’s about access
In addition to more typical workforce and vocational education and training needs, as part of its skilling Australia mandate the JSA could look at recommending all TAFE campuses provide free childcare on site for sta and students, as well as servicing the broader community for example, and for TAFE ECEC programs to be expanded in regional centres and provide additional support and services in areas considered childcare deserts. This would also allow ECEC students who live in childcare deserts much needed work placement opportunities closer to home. The Mitchell Institute’s 2022 report on ‘childcare deserts’ found 35 per cent of Australians live in childcare deserts –which is where children outnumber available places by a ratio of at least three to one. Lack of access to childcare is a key barrier for women accessing tertiary education including TAFE and returning to work full-time.
In Victoria, the announcement of the forthcoming closure of Timboon’s only early childhood centre due to sta shortages highlights the urgent need for action on early childhood education and care for every community given the failure of for-pro t ECEC services to meet community expectations.
Award pay rates con rmed by the Fair Work Commission which are 23-24 per cent higher than Certi cate III ECEC educator wages, will serve as a base line for increases for the Modern Award in the May budget, but the government has yet to commit to increasing ECEC sector funding.
The Regional Education Commissioner annual report 2023 also weighs on the urgent need for better wages and conditions for ECEC workers: “In some cases, addressing workforce shortages may include attracting quali ed locals back to the profession. A study into childcare in the
By providing access to VET for communities most at-risk of being ECEC deserts, public TAFE institutes develop a local ECEC workforce invested and interested in working with their local community. Complementarily, the increased public provision of ECEC services would both deliver for communities neglected by private ECEC services and would be advantaged by having access to a locally available ECEC workforce educated in local public TAFE institutes, that would also be culturally appropriate for local communities.
This is especially important if the government plans to meet its Closing the Gap priorities. According to the Commonwealth Closing the Gap 2023 Annual Report and 2024
Implementation Plan, the “Department of Education will lead work to refresh Target 3 to improve enrolment and participation of First Nations children in Early Childhood Education and Care and focus its e orts on improving Target 4”, which is to see First Nations children thrive in their early years. To achieve this, the government will need to also attract signi cant cohorts of First Nations people to take on ECEC quali cations.
This was echoed in the Productivity Commission’s dra report, which recommended the government prioritise support in locations where providers were unlikely to invest and roll out a new universal system and commission to address the issue. This provision could be supported by TAFE working with Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs) for example and improving the cultural capability of all ECEC services through publicly funded professional development for sta . The report said if barriers to local training and recruitment were all addressed, an extra 44,000 full-time workers could be added to the labour supply.
It’s about legislation
This is also something the Thrive by Five, of which the AEU is a supporting partner, is campaigning for – that the gaps in access and outcomes that exist between children in the regions, and First Nations children, in comparison to children growing up in major cities to be addressed. The Every Child’s Right to Thrive by Five Make It Law campaign asks all levels of government to work together to pass legislation that creates a guarantee of access to early childhood services for young children across Australia including three days of early learning per week for every child, capped at a cost of $10 a day.
In addition to entitlements to parental leave, healthcare and education, the proposed legislation includes de ning a high-quality, inclusive and integrated early childhood development system that crosses sectors, location and tiers of government, de ne a nationwide entitlement for all Australian young children and families, establish a joint statutory body between the Commonwealth and state/territory governments and legislate a 10-year timeline for delivering a high quality, universally accessible early childhood development system and early childhood entitlement.
It’s about quality
The Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority’s (ACECQA) National Children’s Education and Care Workforce Strategy (2022-2031) identi es that the ECEC sector’s workforce demands include requiring an additional 16,000 education support personnel and 8,000 teachers by November 2025.
This can only be achieved by the ECEC sector training and retaining cohorts of highly skilled, well-remunerated, and well-respected ECEC teachers and education support personnel. TAFE is best placed to achieve this, as stated in the Carmichael Centre analysis of the ECEC workforce needs Educating for Care: Meeting Skills Shortages in an Expanding ECEC Industry:
“To meet the needs of a world-class ECEC system, Australia’s VET system would need to dramatically ramp up its capacity to train highly quali ed ECEC workers.”
natural complement to the parallel goal of building a public and accessible ECEC system to meet the needs of Australian parents, children, and employers into the future,” the analysis says.
TAFE ECEC programs too are well known to be fulsome and robust. Maintaining the integrity of early childhood teaching quali cations is critical to li ing the status of the profession and helping the community appreciate that early childhood teachers, like those in schools, are quali ed teachers.
It’s about supporting communities
For the ECEC workforce to develop skills and capacities to meet the needs of diverse communities and complex needs children, the ECEC workforce must be expanded to be available to work in geographic areas currently underserviced by the largely private, for-pro t ECEC providers.
TAFE institutes based in regions which are largely under-serviced by private for pro t registered training organisations allow local students to study without the cost and social burden of moving away from the region and allow students and workers to maintain work and social connections to the local community. As a result, public TAFE institutes have been found to have higher rates of enrolments of students from regional and remote areas, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, students with disabilities, and students from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Being able to support and serve local, diverse communities on a local level is an imperative for successful ECEC provision and student outcomes.
“To meet the needs of a world-class ECEC system, Australia’s VET system would need to dramatically ramp up its capacity to train highly quali ed ECEC workers. And our review of the existing performance of VET providers in Australia makes it equally clear that the only institution with the capacity to meet that task is the TAFE system. Australia’s state and territory TAFE institutes are the anchors of quality, public, accountable vocational education in Australia… In this context, enhancing the ability of TAFE to train future ECEC workers, by developing a powerful and reliable skills pipeline, is a
Alongside public provision of vocational education to the ECEC workforce, the increased public provision of ECEC services is a key opportunity to improve candidates’ attraction to and the retention of the ECEC workforce, not only for the better pay, conditions and employment stability public providers o er over most private for pro t providers, but also for the reason most people become ECEC educators – to allow them to prioritise the wellbeing and education of children over pro ts.
VET Development Centre
Starting with success
The “first five minutes” is often heralded as the most crucial, and underappreciated, moment to promote student motivation and engagement.
Article by Karen Dymke
Harvard Graduate School of Education research tells us that the start of a lesson is the best time to engage the learner. If you use this time to take the attendance roll or take too long setting up the classroom, then that moment has passed, never to return.
Raymond Wlodkowski’s research shows if you spend two minutes a session for 10 classes casually chatting with students, and especially underperforming students, it can result in an 80 per cent improvement in behaviour, and a 60 per cent improvement in the whole class.
Here are some tips to get your class engaged and motivated from the get-go:
1 Get there ve minutes early to greet your students at the door. This allows your students to be seen as individuals rather than a big class. Research shows that when you build relationships with students by getting to know them and allowing them to know you, they will learn more.
2 Don’t wait for your students to arrive. Set an expectation at the start of the year that you will start on time every time. If students are running late, set a protocol for them to notify like emailing you. If students do run late and enter the classroom also set a protocol for this to enter the classroom quietly. Welcome them in with a minimum of fuss and follow up why they were late in the break.
3 Intermittently check-in with the class and get to know them. Use ice breakers throughout the year. Adults learn best and are most receptive when they are comfortable with the people around them. An example of an ice breaker is People Bingo because it's easy to customise for your group and situation and even easier to learn. For example, each square on the bingo card features a characteristic
such as "goes shing" or "travels for more than 10 kilometres to class" and participants must nd a person that this is true for and get their name on the Bingo sheet.
4 Find some common ground with your class and individuals within the class. Asking students how their weekends were, or what hobbies they have or music they like. Or you can do it by using a ve-minute activity in the class to get to know each other. This is a great way to build trust. Trust is like a bank account – one deposit at a time. Trust is the door mat to learning.
5 Go slow to go fast. Although Educators commonly have too much content to get through, if you build the base of trust and relationships at the start of the class, your class will trust you to ask questions, make mistakes and collaborate. It’s the key to engaging learners.
6 Be respectful and con dent in your demeanour. Over time, work to be a good role model. Lots of students don’t know what respect looks like.
From doing to learning
Clarity is important. Outlining what we are learning today, not doing, can double the speed of learning.
Share learning outcomes by making a simple statement on the PPT or board such as:
•We are learning to…
•Ask yourself…
Or by communicating:
•What do I want students to know?
•What do I want students to understand?
•What skill do I want students to develop?
•Create learning goals in terms of what can be assessed.
Using a verb to describe what we are learning as all learning is active. Blooms taxonomy of verbs is a good reference (see gure 1).
Understanding success
Most importantly, what does success look like when students have achieved the learning outcome? Make it explicit and unpack the steps to success by creating “I” statements:
•I can... [and also use a verb]
Following is a worked example for “We are learning to serve responsibly”. Note the learning outcomes move from surface learning, or easy tasks, to deep learning or more complex tasks.
• I can identify what is a standard drink.
• I can recognize the signs of intoxication.
• I can interpret behaviour to protect sta , patrons, venue and community.
• I can articulate the laws around RSA4I can judge if a customer should not be served.
• I can ask for proof of ID.
• I can refuse service without o ence or criticism and di use a situation.
Activate prior knowledge
Adult learners bring life experience and knowledge to learning and harnessing this bene ts learning. As educational psychologist David Ausbel says: “The most important single factor in learning is what the learner already knows. Ascertain this and teach them accordingly.”
You can activate student knowledge by either using a mind map by students writing all their ideas down about what they know about the topic or subject on butchers paper. Alternatively, you can do a “Think, Pair, Share”, which involves getting your students to think about what they know about the particular topic, write it down, then pair up with another student to share their knowledge on the topic, then form a larger group of four to discuss the topic.
Keep it accessible
Rather than ask a question to a new class cold, allow them to rehearse for response by allowing students time to think or prepare themselves before responding. Use this strategy when you ask questions of your group early on, until they learn that it is good to make a mistake! When introducing new or industryspeci c vocabulary and acronyms to your learners – be mindful that we can hold
1. Gehlbach, H., Brinkworth, M. E., Hsu, L., King, A., McIntyre, J., & Rogers, T. Creating birds of similar feathers: Leveraging similarity to improve teacher-student relationships and academic achievement. Journal of Educational Psychology 2015.
2. Wlodkowski, R., Ginsberg, M. Enhancing Adult Motivation to Learn: A Comprehensive Guide for Teaching All Adults. Jossey-Bass 2017.
3. Peterson, D. Adult Ice Breaker Games for Classrooms, Meetings, and Conferences 2019. Retrieved from thoughtco.com/classroom-ice-breaker-31410
Write Learning Outcomes/ intentions on the board or PPT
Write success criteria on the board or PPT
Activate student prior knowledge.
Introduce any new vocabulary.
Provide a ‘hook’ into the learning.
approximately ve words or concepts in our working or short-term memory until it transfers to our long-term memory. Keep it to three to ve key words each session to ease in your students’ brains when they rst start. This allows you to create e ective learning experiences for students and not to overwhelm them by too many complex words.
Curiosity
counts
Finally, set your students up for success by creating a hook into the learning. Get them curious about what they will be learning. Curiosity sets dopamine o in your brain. You can do this by either by telling a story or dilemma relevant to the subject matter or connecting the subject matter to student’s lives or vocational outcomes.
One example is to play a short, funny video. You can also play a podcast or TV show, pro le a case study or an article, play music or show a photograph and get your students to do a thinking routine: “What do you see? What do you think? What do you wonder?” This is a low-risk question where there are no right or wrong answers.
A popular way of providing a hook is to show a prop of what you are making or tell a personal anecdote or story. You can do a values continuum – do you agree or disagree with a statement where everyone lines up in accordance with their opinion on the topic. Or you can pose a provocative question, such as “If there were no constraints, what does your ideal solution/outcome look like?” It’s all about being creative, fun and it only takes about ve minutes to instill con dence and hook your students into learning. Find out more about Thinking Routines from Harvard Graduate School of Education Project Zero’s Thinking Routine Toolbox 2022 here: pz.harvard.edu/thinking-routines
KAREN DYMKE is a writer for the VET Development Centre (VDC). VDC prides itself on delivering quality, professional learning and relevant programs for the vocational education workforce across Australia.
PICTURED Karen Dymke leading a mind map exercise.
Achieving a just transition to net zero
Achieving essential climate goals doesn’t have to leave workers behind, but governments must act now to ensure a fair and socially equitable approach and the ability for communities and businesses to transition and thrive into the future.
Article by Bianca Nogrady
The facts of climate change are hard to ignore, such as 2023 being reported by the World Meteorological Organization as the warmest year in recorded history, with planetary average temperatures nudging 1.4 degrees Celsius above pre-Industrial temperatures. Earth is now just a whisker away from the 1.5 C threshold the global Paris climate agreement of 2016 set as one that should not be crossed.
The cause is also impossible to ignore; skyrocketing atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations – especially carbon dioxide – caused by the burning of coal, oil and gas.
The world has been gradually but too slowly shi ing away from fossil fuels as the major source of energy and towards cleaner, more sustainable alternatives such as solar, wind, hydro and wave power. The ultimate goal is to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions, where the sum total of greenhouse gases emitted and greenhouse gases absorbed is zero, or close to it. For the planet to remain below 1.5 C degrees of warming, net zero needs to be achieved worldwide by 2050.
Although whole industries, especially the fossil fuel mining and energy sector, are undergoing a profound change, change brings disruption to the lives of those working in and around those sectors and a civilisation that has been dependent on fossil fuels for more than
two centuries doesn’t just turn on a dime. This is why Just Transition is important. It recognises that while the shi to renewable energy will bring many new employment and economic opportunities, the demise of the fossil fuel sector will also mean substantial job losses and economic impacts on communities with close ties to the industry. Hence the focus on a ‘just’ transition; one that is fair and socially equitable, where there are sustainable, long-term plans to support workers, businesses and communities a ected by the upheaval.
Earth is now just a whisker away from the 1.5 C threshold the global Paris climate agreement of 2016 set as one that should not be crossed.”
“This is something that unions in Australia have been campaigning for many years, understanding that the impact of the climate crisis was going to a ect every worker in every job in every sector, in the country and the world,” says Michele O’Neil, president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions. “We needed to make sure that the changes that are necessary to be made to our economy, and consequently to jobs and the future of jobs, are done in a way where workers are respected, and that we don’t leave people behind.”
Skills in demand
Just transition is not as simple as transferring all the workers from one industry to another. Some professional skills will be more in demand than others, according to Dr Dominic Davis, a research fellow in mechanical engineering at the University of Melbourne’s Melbourne Energy Institute.
“The biggest employers in the net zero transition are building, constructing, and installing wind and solar and electricity transmission,” Davis says. “Those activities need engineers, electricians, labourers [and] construction workers.” While construction jobs have traditionally been boom-and-bust, he says the transition to net zero is going to require a solid 20-30 years of construction e ort. That means a scenario where, once one renewable project is completed, workers are “straight on to the next one in a new nearby location.”
As Australia’s energy system becomes more electri ed, particularly transport, buildings and industry, that will mean
huge demand for people with skills and know-how in electrical engineering, he says.
This will place a premium on educating and upskilling workers in these professional skills and that’s where organisations like TAFE can play a vital role, O’Neil says: “We don’t want short xes that might skill up someone to do a temporary job but without thinking about what the long-term future for that person is.”
Supporting lasting change
Associate Professor Sally Weller, an economic geographer and economic sociologist at the University of South Australia, says it’s important to consider what is meant by upskilling or retraining. She has studied what happened to workers in the automobile and textile industries who were laid o when the industries shrank and says there is a broad range of scenarios for helping workers to transition to new jobs in a new industry.
“If we’re in Germany, and someone was just being tagged for retrenchment in Volkswagen, they’d be doing a three-year course in electric powertrain engineering funded by Volkswagen [as a transition],” Weller says. Similarly, when Australian textiles workers were laid o in the 1980s, workers were o ered two years of education in TAFE colleges and were paid a substantial proportion of their original wage for the entirety of that two years. “There was a very generous living allowance that made it an attractive option,” Weller says.
However there has since been a shi in political attitudes and approaches towards retraining retrenched workers. “The labour market policy people now think that getting people back into a job quickly is the best alternative,” she says.
Weller says issues can then arise with workers not being matched to employment options relevant to their workplace skills or interests. “There’s been a lot of push in some states to move workers into ‘skills-in-demand’ occupations, which o en is in NDIS or aged care,” she says. However not everyone is capable or suited to that kind of work and working in care also requires education.
“For the market to work properly, everybody should be striving to maximise their use of their own skills and aptitudes,” she says.
Employers should also recognise the
“For the planet to remain below 1.5 C degrees of warming, net zero needs to be achieved worldwide by 2050.”
skills a worker may have regardless of their job title. During the automotive industry closures, some companies also o ered skills audits to their workers, which provided them with recognition for the skills they may not have had o cial evidence of. It ensured they le the job with comprehensive skills inventory.
Whole community approach
One of the pressing issues facing workers caught up in the net zero transition is geography.
“Labour markets are not really how they’re imagined by economics, as shapes on maps,” says Weller. “Labour markets, as far as people are concerned, are the distance they can drive in a day and still get to pick kids up from childcare.”
Workers in coal mines or coal- red
power stations may have partners with jobs nearby, elderly parents living nearby and children in school in the local town. They can’t simply pick up and relocate from where the coal mine is located to where the wind farm is being constructed. “We should not have an expectation that the solution is moving,” she says.
That also presents a challenge, Weller says, because completing new quali cations or reskilling opportunities must also be accessible within those geographic areas.
She highlights the approach taken in the Latrobe Valley, which was to set up as a “one-stop shop” for workers a ected by the closure of the Hazelwood power plant to provide them with all the information and support they needed to navigate the upheaval. The initiative was funded by the
Victorian government, in partnership with the Gippsland Trades and Labour Council, and linked workers with everything from nancial advice and counselling to subsidised vocational education.
Another initiative is the establishment of clean energy centres of excellence for vocational education. The Queensland government supported the creation of a Renewable Energy Training Facility at Pinkenba, in partnership with the Electrical Trades Union and Master Electricians Australia, to create a skilled workforce in electrical, solar and telecommunications. “Having those centres of excellence run through the TAFE system, but with union involvement, we think is critical to getting them into regional and remote communities,” O’Neil says.
O’Neil also stresses the need to ensure that First Nations workers and communities are centred during the
transition to net zero. “One of the things that’s critical is realising that o en the renewable companies and investment is going to happen on land that is owned by Aboriginal people,” she says. That means ensuring that First Nations people and communities fully share in the economic bene ts of the shi to renewables, including the opportunities for jobs and vocational education.
Planning starts now
With these initiatives, it’s vital that things aren’t le until the last minute, because education and quali cations can take years to achieve, Davis says. “If we’re serious about this energy transition, then I think we should be planning for that in terms of education.”
He’s concerned that Australia could face a skills shortage as it transitions to net zero, if there isn’t enough forward planning to ensure that there are workers trained in the skills that will
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be needed to power Australia with renewables. That shortage could become even more acute if Australia invests in becoming a global renewable energy superpower, exporting its excess renewable energy around the world in the form of hydrogen.
Australia, and the world, faces enormous challenges in achieving the target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 – but it’s a challenge that humanity must rise to meet in a way that no one is le behind, says O’Neil.
“We’ve got a lot of fast catching up to do if we want to get this right,” O’Neil says. “But if we don’t do it in a way that ensures good quality jobs, you won’t have the social licence or the support for the change.”
BIANCA NOGRADY is a freelance journalist.
Around Australia
ACT
Karen Noble
Q What are some key priorities for 2024?
A Developing a new strategic direction, preparing for re-registration with ASQA, renewal of the TAFE Executive, sub-branch renewal, and reviewing all policy and procedures.
Q What are you excited about?
A The Enterprise Agreement (EA) is now in implementation phase with detailed processes to be developed.
Q What’s important for members to know?
A For members they should be aware of the EA implementation, re-registration and training package work, and our work to monitor teacher workload. We will continue ghting for the high support needed for FFT and drawing attention to teaching department issues – especially the need for a signi cant resource boost for teachers, classrooms, equipment and support teams.
NSW
Phillip Chadwick
Q What are you excited about?
A Over the last eight months the NSW government has been conducting a review of vocational education and training (VET) in NSW. Phase 2 of the review consultation posed four questions to prompt feedback and engagement across four key themes: ·boosting student success ·placing TAFE NSW at the heart of thesystem ·delivering VET in NSW ·preparing VET for the future.
The interim report from Phase 2 consultation was delivered to the government for consideration at the end of 2023 with the nal report due mid 2024. The recommendations have the potential to end contestable funding in NSW.
Q What’s important for members to know?
A Following on from EA negotiations in 2023 and the implementation of the Managing Directors Recruitment Directive we are starting to see a noticeable change in sta ng in NSW. As of the end of 2023 TAFE NSW have advised that they have recruited and lled slightly more than 2100 Permanent or Temporary Full Time or Part Time teaching positions.
In the bargaining, we’ve locked in 1 per cent pay increase backdated to July 1, 2023 as part of the state government’s good will measure for all public sector workers and a 3 per cent increase on 2023 EA rates from Feb 1, 2024.
Around Australia
QLD
David Terauds
Q What are some key priorities for 2024?
A · Properly resourced and funded schools and TAFE
· Safe and healthy workplaces re WHS, zero tolerance and teacher shortages
· Members engagement in campaigns, training, protecting, and enhancing working conditions.
Q What are you excited about?
A Implementation of the TAFE Qld and CQU agreements continues with TAFE Queensland Foundation Educator Joint Statement signed by the parties and the Non-traditional Delivery Modes review has commenced. At CQU the LVT Peer Review Panel TOR’s have been submitted to the JCC and implementation is underway.
Q What’s important for members to know?
A As a part of the focus on safe and healthy workplaces an emphasis is being placed on identi cation of workgroups in workplaces and the election of HSR’s. New WHS legislative arrangements signi cantly increase thepowers of the HSR.
Q Are there any new TAFE faces?
A A temporary TAFE Project O cer role has been established by the QTU as rst point of contact for enquiries regarding working conditions for TAFE Queensland and CQU VET educators and Clare Holmes has been appointed.
SA Angela Dean
Q What are some key priorities for 2024?
A Sta Shortages - there are reports of sta shortages across a majority of programs at TAFE SA. However, the employers awed budgetary model for sta allocation is impacting the recording of actual sta ng needs. Determining the exact level of the shortages will be a key component in the roll out of the Instruction and Assessment Framework, as this will reveal the true workload requirements in each program area.
Q What’s important for members to know?
A We will be commencing the enterprise bargaining process in 2024, where the key emerging issues that our members would like to focus on in this round is addressing workload issues, revising job role duties, secure employment and meaningful remuneration.
Across the coming months, we will be undertaking forums with members across the state, to help determine the key areas that we will focus on in the development our log of claims in preparation to commence bargaining this October.
TAS
Simon Bailey
Q What are you excited about?
A General Employees agreements now registered and teaching agreement is being voted on now. The teachers agreement whilst will provide some good wage increases this will come at a loss of conditions, Increases teaching loads from 760 -800 and weekly hours increases from 70 to 72.6 hours a fortnight.
Q What’s important for members to know?
A Elections may be upcoming due to the high number of vacancies in the TAFE Division as well across the Branch. If you know someone who would make an excellent rep, please encourage them to apply and run.
VIC
Shane Wright
Q What are some key priorities for 2024?
A Bargaining for better wages and sustainable workloads for teachers is the key priority with the 12 stand alone Victorian TAFEs, Victoria University and Federation University all having agreements that have either expired orare up for negotiations.
Q What are you excited about?
A Recently AMEP teachers have had their TESOL quali cation recognised at one Victorian TAFE Institute as being suitable for progression to the top of the pay classi cation structure, with the lower level ceiling now gone.
Q What’s important for members to know?
A Negotiations at the 12 stand-alone TAFES have been going for 18 months and the issues of workload, quali cations and salaries remain unresolved, a series of meeting will soon be held at TAFE campuses to consider the next steps in achieving the outcomes teachers deserve. RMIT has walked away from negotiations and have just put out an unauthorised management agreement for its teachers to vote on. The AEU is running a vote no campaign as this management agreement does not deliver adequate improvements in workloads or salaries.
Q Are there any new TAFE faces?
A The Victoria branch has a new TAFE organiser with Marylouise Chapman taking up a dedicated TAFE organiser position, Marylouise previously worked as a TAFE teacher.
WA Gary Hedger
Q What are some key priorities for 2024?
A Ensuring that class sizes are reduced to manageable levels and that we are given the full enrolled hours to deliver the units that students have paid for, alongside recruiting more sta to reduce the workload of current teaching sta .
Q What’s important for members to know?
A The requirement for a 160 hrs of release from teaching to complete the TAE Cert IV has now been loaded into new starters Employee Self Service (payroll), which means that now an accurate record of how much time they are being released to do the training is being recorded.
We are currently considering possible industrial action to be rolled out across the state regarding the of bargaining with the government. Members have indicated that they are not going to wait for the same amount of time as the last EBA took to be nalised. The last EBA was delayed for such a period that the last date for the last pay increase in the two-year agreement had been exceeded and we received two years backpay.
