tatt_winter22

THE AUSTRALIAN

TAFE TEACHER VOL 56/2

WINTER 2022

Building a stronger future

Repairing the skills pipeline VET in Schools State of Our TAFEs

01 Cover_Final.indd 1

19/8/22 2:09 pm

It’s time to invest in a positive future © AEU 2022 Authorised by Kevin Bates, Federal Secretary, Australian Education Union 120 Clarendon Street, Southbank, Victoria, Australia 3006

TAF073 PositiveFuture TAFETeacher Mag.indd 1 02-03 Contents.indd 2

9/8/22 10:55 am 19/8/22 2:38 pm

10:55 am

Contents 05 UPSKILLING

The Official Journal of the TAFE Division of the Australian Education Union VOL56 • N0.2 • WINTER 2022

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 Email: aeu@aeufederal.org.au facebook.com/AEUfederal @AEUfederal Editor Kevin Bates Publisher Fiona Hardie Account manager Christine Dixon Art directon & design Dallas Budde Printer Printgraphics Printgreen Circulation: 11,000

20

14

WOMEN TRADIES

REBUILD WITH TAFE

UPSKILLING The failures of VET marketisation and rebuilding with TAFE

08

STATE OF OUR TAFES Survey reveals the impact of resourcing and funding cuts

14 19 20

Federal TAFE Secretary Maxine Sharkey

22 25

VET DEVELOPMENT CENTRE Hope for second-chance learners NATIONAL AGREEMENTS Contestability and Australia's TAFE system

WOMEN TRADIES Building new careers

ACT Karen Noble aeuact@aeuact.org.au • 02 6272 7900 • aeuact.org.au NSW Philip Chadwick mail@nswtf.org.au • 02 9217 2100 • nswtf.org.au NT Vacant admin@aeunt.org.au • 08 8948 5399 • aeunt.org.au QLD Dave Terauds qtu@qtu.asn.au • 07 3512 9000 • qtu.asn.au SA Angela Dean aeusa@aeusa.asn.au • 08 8172 6300 • aeusa.asn.au

REBUILD WITH TAFE Our 2022 election report PERFECT PAIRING Why the provision of VET in Schools is vitally important

Your national TAFE Council Executive members: Federal TAFE President Michelle Purdy

Features

05

Copyright rests with the writers, the AEU and Heads & Tales.

No part of this publication 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.

Regulars

04

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

27

AROUND AUSTRALIA

TAS Simon Bailey support@aeutas.org.au • 03 6234 9500 • aeutas.org.au VIC Elaine Gillespie melbourne@aeuvic.asn.au • 03 9417 2822 • aeuvic.asn.au WA Gary Hedger contact@sstuwa.org.au • 08 9210 6000 • sstuwa.org.au

www.aeufederal.org.au T H E AU ST RALI A N TA FE T E AC H E R • 3

02-03 Contents.indd 3

19/8/22 2:39 pm

President’s column

From the president TAFE can build a better future for all.

Michelle Purdy AEU Federal TAFE President

T

he winds of change are blowing strongly across the Australian social and political landscapes. Not just because of a federal election that changed a government, and potentially the norms of our Australian political system, but because the voting public have found their voice and they are demanding something different.

Our Rebuild with TAFE campaign has its foundations in the very strong connection between communities and TAFE. In regional and remote communities, disadvantaged communities, cities and towns alike TAFE has a long history of providing high-quality vocational education for all.

Investment in TAFE must be at the core of every government’s policy agenda if real change is to be achieved.

Independent research by the Centre for Future Work has shown that the investment in TAFE delivers an 11-fold return to the economy.

The despised policy of contestable funding has seen TAFE courses and the teachers who teach them sacrificed in favour of profits for private providers of sub-standard qualifications. It has also led to a massive shift in the cost of delivering TAFE qualifications from public funding to student debt. Once a great leveller, TAFE courses are now beyond the reach of many who should be the primary beneficiaries of this public good. The fact is that businesses and industry also want a robust TAFE to mitigate labour and skills shortages and the government needs to act now.

The mechanism for change is clear. A principal objective of the Rebuild with TAFE campaign was the commitment to providing 70 per cent of all government funding for vocational education directly to TAFE. Our work now must be to encourage the new

“Once a great leveller, TAFE courses are now beyond the reach of many who should be the primary beneficiaries of this public good.”

federal government to deliver on its commitment and to lead all jurisdictions to the same outcome.

The loss of teaching and support staff in TAFE and the paring back of course offerings have done lasting harm but they can be reversed. The pandemic has revealed this damage through the denial of migration and the loss of overseas workers who filled the gaps in the employment market caused by these policies.

Despite all of this, the demand for TAFE qualifications remains high.

Critical skills shortages across the country are impacting economic recovery and growth. These are skills underpinned by the qualifications TAFE has always provided and can do so again.

Likewise, the future of climate change, and measures to urgently address the crisis it has generated, must include a just transition to a greener economy. TAFE is well positioned to support this change.

On the face of it, the only logical way forward is to invest in TAFE to rebuild our community. What we know of course is that the best arguments don’t always win a campaign. Our work to achieve the hope of our Rebuild with TAFE campaign will continue but now in the positive context of a new government, a policy platform and community demands that lead in the right direction, we can build a better future with TAFE. Thanks go to each and every one of our members, allies and supporters who contributed to our campaign to see a change in government. Every leaflet you letterboxed, conversation you held and social media post contributed to the election outcome.

Thank you!

4 • WIN TE R 2022

04-08_Pres_Erosion-of-VET_2.indd 4

19/8/22 2:17 pm

Upskilling

Fragmentation and Photo-Ops:

The Failures of VET Marketisation and Rebuilding with TAFE Article by Alison Pennington

S

trong vocational education and training (VET) systems are vital to the education and empowerment of workers, and the success of inclusive and innovative economies. Australia’s TAFE system once provided wellestablished and dependable educationto-jobs pathways, but decades of policy vandalism reducing funding to Australia’s TAFE system and diverting growing volumes of public spending to private for-profit providers has plunged the VET system into a lasting and multidimensional crisis. Several highprofile skills announcements at a cost of several billion dollars were made by the Federal Government during the COVID pandemic – with JobTrainer and Boosting Apprenticeships wage subsidies the largest programs implemented. Despite the high-vis photo-ops promising a skills bonanza, the programs have failed to repair the severely weakened system for vocational education and training.

The Centre for Future Work’s report ‘Fragmentation & Photo-Ops’ released in March this year presents comprehensive evidence of the continued erosion of the vocational education system in the COVID era, and why rebuilding comprehensive, job-qualifying training through TAFE institutes is critical to a genuine, broadbased economic recovery from COVID. The statistics paint a grim picture of a VET system starved of consistent funding or focus, fragmenting into scattered offerings of non-accredited and micro-credential courses, mostly

“TAFE staffing and funding have also eroded further. Over 8,800 full-time equivalent TAFE positions have been cut since 2012 across five states and territories.”

Throwing money at businesses, not real training

provided by private for-profit training companies. It shows the “contestable funding” project unleashed in the 2000s has deepened during the pandemic. VET’s effective privatisation has continued, with private VET providers receiving a growing share of all VET activity, and cheaper shortform, piecemeal training experiencing stronger growth than job-qualifying accredited training. Meanwhile, more TAFE institutes have been closed and enrolments have continued to decline.

The government’s signature $3.9 billion Boosting Apprenticeships Commencements program introduced in October 2020 has focused on lift ing the number of workers contractually defined as “apprentices”, but done little to guarantee genuine skills training is undertaken or completed. After almost a decade of collapsing in-training apprentice and trainee numbers, there was a moderate increase of around 74,000 over 2020-21, spurred by rich subsidies (up to $28,000 per apprentice per year) for employers taking on new apprentices and trainees. But empirical evidence shows rising apprenticeships “on the books” are not being matched by any rise in completions. The number of completions collapsed to a new low in the year ending June 2021, with just 77,000 apprenticeship and traineeship completions – down almost two-thirds (64 per cent) since 2013. Along with poor employment conditions on the job, major reasons why apprenticeship completions have not improved under Boosting Apprenticeships include the T H E AU ST RAL I A N TA FE T E AC H E R • 5

04-08_Pres_Erosion-of-VET_2.indd 5

19/8/22 2:17 pm

Upskilling

strong incentives on employers to recycle heavily subsidised short-term apprentices, no requirements on employers to ensure apprentices finish programs after the 12-month subsidy period, lack of jobs on offer after completion, and lower 5-10 per cent subsidy rates under the government’s companion program Completing Apprenticeships. This apprentice “churn” wastes precious public investments and failed to halt the crisis in skills.

There is no evidence the skills pipeline has been either “protected” or replenished under current government VET policies. Australia has one-third (173,000) fewer apprentices and trainees in training than it had in 2012. Short-form, piecemeal units of study have expanded, while accredited quality training has collapsed by over 500,000 enrolments since 2015. Shockingly, all VET enrolment growth over the last five years has been in non-accredited programs, which have grown by almost 70,000 enrolments since 2015. The weakening of the formal accreditation process to meet industry standards has created big opportunities for private sector organisations to expand their influence in VET. The consequences of eroding legitimacy in formal accreditation are profound for workers, businesses and government alike. Risks emerge from reduced skills policy planning capacity and declining employer trust in VET qualifications.

Meanwhile, workers risk financial penalties associated with course fees and time out of the workforce to train, only for their qualification to be unrecognised by other employers. This reduces worker bargaining power within that firm, and across the wider workforce too.

The report finds the number of apprenticeships and traineeships undertaken within the government’s own priority areas have contracted. In 2021 there were over 9,000 fewer human welfare services apprentices and trainees (covering training for the aged and disability care sectors) than at 2013 – a decline of 42 per cent.

Long-term contraction in feminised sector apprenticeships continued during 2021 (even under Boosting Apprenticeships), with men accounting for around three in five of all new apprentices in training in the year to June 2021. Once again, women’s jobs and the demands of feminised high-pressure industries have been deprioritised in favour of the optics of high-vis male tradies.

The game was rigged against TAFE Australia’s vocational education system underwent dramatic restructuring after 2012, with funding cuts to the TAFE institutes, expanded scope for private training providers, and delivery of large public subsidies through individual students. The subsequent collapse of many private providers, combined with declining capacity in the TAFE system, and scandals involving the misallocation of public subsidies, have deeply damaged once-reliable vocational pathways.

A recent index comparing education systems and labour market outcomes across 80 countries indicated that Australia’s VET system, once the envy of the world, had fallen to 20th. For mid-level skills capability, the ranking was even lower, falling to 38th.

The new funding regime built on public providers competing with private RTOs for funds was always rigged against the TAFE system.

After decades of delivering a full infrastructure of public vocational education, the TAFE system had ongoing fi xed and operating costs that private providers simply did not incur, making them “uncompetitive” in tendering. Higher costs borne by the TAFE system include the delivery of low-demand and high-cost courses critical to workforce needs, providing education and training to outer-regional and remote regions, infrastructure, capital projects, and the maintenance of industry and schools partnerships. TAFE institutes were stranded, operating with increasingly insecure funding as the proportion of contestable funds grew year to year, and public resources flowed to private VET provision – often to fly-by-night operations established with little capital or infrastructure. This forced the cash-strapped TAFE system to pare back offerings.

The result of this effective privatisation of VET is that by 2020, less than half (49 per cent) of all government-funded VET students were attending TAFE institutes, while 33 per cent attended private RTOs. The remaining government-funded students attended universities and schools (12 per cent) and community and enterprise education providers (6 per cent). TAFE staffing and funding have also eroded further. Over 8,800

full-time equivalent TAFE positions have been cut since 2012 across five states and territories. This represents a significant loss in Australia’s stock of trained educators. The necessary growth and repair of the TAFE system will be seriously hindered by this period of short-sighted, self-defeating policy-making.

Broken skills system lines up with weakening economy The continued collapse in TAFE enrolments and eight years of declining apprenticeship completions make it very clear: Australia’s domestic skills pipeline is in disarray. A broken skills system joins a growing list of worsening jobs, skills, wages and economic indicators that have accumulated in recent years. Since 2013, wages have grown at their slowest pace in the entire post-war era. The proportion of workers whose pay and conditions are determined by current collective agreements has dramatically declined, halving in the private sector from 22 per cent in 2013 to only 11 per cent in 2021. Business capital investment has

6 • W IN TE R 2022

04-08_Pres_Erosion-of-VET_2.indd 6

19/8/22 2:17 pm

also collapsed since 2012, falling to just 10.5 per cent of GDP by 2021 (a postwar low), despite billions allocated by government in tax breaks and other measures to stimulate a “businessled recovery”. Business investment in intellectual property also languishes at its lowest share of GDP this century, one-quarter below decade-earlier levels. In short, the deep failures of VET policy are just one major part of a broader failure of economic policy in Australia to motivate and encourage far-sighted investments of any kind in the economy: whether physical capital, innovation or skills.

Fortifying the house that TAFE built Australia desperately needs a more proactive, hands-on approach to workforce training and planning.

Despite chronic underfunding, our research shows the TAFE system continues to make a strong and disproportionate economic and social contribution to the Australian economy – underpinning over $92 billion in economic benefits accruing

to workers, businesses and governments every year. But TAFE is so much more than an economic powerhouse. It provides wide social benefits including greater participation and cohesion through the delivery of critical skills and education to low socio-economic, regional and indigenous communities, and providing “bridges” between school into post-school training for people whose needs aren’t met by the current education system. TAFE graduates are also more likely to identify themselves as leaders in the community upon completing their studies compared with graduates of private providers. Without renewed investment in TAFE, the significant annual economic and social benefits generated by the stock of TAFEtrained skilled workers in the workforce will decay.

All this confirms the TAFE system is critically important to rebuilding a broad-based, shared economic recovery, and addressing growing systemic inequality in Australian society.

Revitalising the TAFE system to its full potential, as the central element of

a broader strategy to rebuild a more coherent and effective VET system, is a vital prerequisite for Australia’s full post-COVID recovery. A new approach to training would support comprehensive, quality, accredited qualifications, rather than short-term fragments of training, with revitalised TAFE institutes leading the nation’s skills reconstruction process. The report proposes that a minimum 70 per cent of public VET funding be reallocated through the TAFE system, rather than be funnelled – directly or indirectly – to private providers.

Australia must commit to rebuilding the TAFE system’s leading role in reliable vocational education – the national skills policy infrastructure that can restore Australia’s long-term investment vision in its people, skills, and innovative sustainable industries.

ALISON PENNINGTON is a senior economist, Centre for Future Work at the Australia Institute.

T H E AU ST RAL I A N TA FE T E AC H E R • 7

04-08_Pres_Erosion-of-VET_2.indd 7

19/8/22 2:17 pm

State of Our TAFEs

State of Our TAFEs Annual Survey

Part two of the AEU research survey into the impact of resourcing and funding cuts to TAFE teachers’ workloads and working conditions.

Article by Jonathan Guy

I

n the last issue of The Australian TAFE Teacher we examined the State of Our TAFEs survey results in relation to the impact of the pandemic on TAFE teachers’ working lives. In this issue we will examine the impact of funding and resourcing cuts over the past few years, and how these have affected TAFE teachers’ working hours and workloads, how a lack of investment in buildings and equipment is hampering TAFE teachers and how cost cutting is undermining course quality.

Workload intensity Workload remains a key area of concern and campaigning focus for the AEU, and there were several key questions designed to identify the current workload burden for TAFE members, and how these have changed over the past two years. These questions were: • What are TAFE members’ current workloads, in terms of actual hours worked and allocation of duties?

• Has the size or intensity of workloads changed over the past two years?

• How has the composition of workloads changed over the past two years across different categories and types of employment?

• What are the main contributing factors that led to increases or decreases in workloads and their intensity?

“I feel like I am just keeping my head above water, trying to have something decent prepared for my students, rather than having the time to really have a high quality set of resources.”

SCIENCE LECTURER FROM NSW

Working hours Across all respondents working in TAFE, both full time and part time, working hours exceed contractual hours by at least one day per week on average. Full-time workers reported an average of 43.8 hours per week, average working hours 25.1 per cent above their average contractual working hours of 35 hours per week – this equates to more than an additional day of unpaid work every week.

As has been shown in international workload studies of further and higher education teaching staff, part-time workers reported that they are the most likely to work hours that substantially

exceed their contracted work time.

In this survey, the average part-time TAFE employees who stated that their work time exceeds their contracted hours by an average of 39 per cent (an average of 28.1 hours of work per week while contracted for an average of 20.2 hours per week) and those employed on very small fractions (0.2 – 0.4 FTE) are most likely to report working well above their contracted hours with many reporting that they are working double the amount of time they are paid for each week.

Those at the earlier stages of their teaching careers are working the most excessive hours. On average, TAFE members in their first three years of working in the sector are working an average of 28 per cent more hours each week than they are contracted to work and 35.3 per cent are working in excess of 45 hours per week on average, 18.5 per cent are working more than 50 hours per week and some early-career teachers have reported working in excess of 70 hours per week.

Survey respondents were asked “over the last two years, other things being equal, have your working hours increased, stayed the same or reduced”. Across the sector threequarters of people stated that their workload had increased over the last 5 years, with 41.6 per cent stating it had increased significantly and 32.9 per cent stating it had increased slightly. 19.6 per cent indicated that their working hours had not changed and less than 6 per cent stated that working hours had reduced.

See Figure 1 (overleaf): Changes in working hours over time.

8 • WIN TE R 2022

08-13_StateOfTAFE-2.indd 8

19/8/22 2:18 pm

FOOTNOTES 1 UCU workload study www.ucu.org.uk/media/8195/Workloadis-an-education-issue-UCU-workload-survey-report-2016/pdf/ ucu_workloadsurvey_fullreport_jun16.pdf (p5).

Workload intensity In addition to increased and unsocial and non-family friendly extended working hours, a significant and important component of workload pressure and stress can result from having to work at a continually high and unrelenting pace or intensity.

The vast majority of staff reported that the pace and intensity of their workloads had indeed increased in recent years. Two thirds of respondents reported that the pace and intensity of their work had increased significantly in the last three years, and another 25 per cent reported that it had increased slightly. In total, the vast majority – 90 per cent – reported that the pace or intensity of their work had increased over the last two years. Only 3 per cent said that it had reduced, either significantly or slightly. See Figure 2: Changes in intensity of workload

“I’m exhausted, over worked, I feel like I have no life other than working and sleeping … even though bosses talk about work-life balance the workload still remains and does not disappear.”

EDUCATION LECTURER FROM SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Are workloads manageable?

When asked whether they are able to manage their workloads day to day, 6.6 per cent said their workload is entirely unmanageable, 28.5 per cent reported that their workload is either unmanageable most or all of the time and 36.9 per cent said it is unmanageable half the time. In total, 65.4 per cent said their workload is unmanageable at least half the time and only 3.5 per cent of people said that their workload is entirely manageable.

See Figure 3: Manageability of workloads

3+4203340+F 1+372564+F 4+3137226+F

Figure 1 // CHANGES IN WORKING HOURS OVER TIME Over the last two years, have your working hours increased, stayed the same or reduced?

Reduced significantly 2.07% / 26 Reduced slightly 3.82% / 48 Stayed the same 19.59% / 246 Increased slightly 32.88% / 413 Increased significantly 41.64% / 523 Answered 1256 Skipped 315

Figure 2 // CHANGES IN INTENSITY OF WORKLOAD Over the last two years, has the pace or intensity of your work increased, stayed the same or reduced?

Reduced significantly 1.12% / 14 Reduced slightly 1.91% / 24 Stayed the same 6.93% / 87 Increased slightly 24.62% / 309 Increased significantly 65.42% / 821 Answered 1255 Skipped 316

Figure 3 // MANAGEABILITY OF WORKLOADS Which statement most accurately reflects your workload?

My workload is entirely manageable 3.51% / 44 My workload is manageable most of the time 31.08% / 390 My workload is manageable about half of the time 36.89% / 463 My workload is unmanageable most of the time 21.91% / 275 My workload is entirely unmanageable 6.61% / 83 Answered 1255 Skipped 316

T H E AU ST RALI A N TA FE T E AC H E R • 9

08-13_StateOfTAFE-2.indd 9

19/8/22 2:18 pm

State of Our TAFEs Table 1 //CHANGES IN WORK ACTIVITY COMPOSITION Has the amount of time that you spend on each of the activities below increased or decreased over the last two years?

Answered 1214

Skipped 357

Activity

Decreased significantly

Decreased slightly

Stayed the same

Increased slightly

Increased significantly

N/A

Teaching

9.12% 110

13.27% 160

34.16% 412

21.97% 265

17.66% 213

3.81% 46

Student consultation and individual communications

5.62% 68

8.75% 106

15.28% 185

30.97% 375

37.41% 453

1.98% 24

Pastoral care for students

7.40% 89

8.40% 101

18.45% 222

27.68% 333

27.02% 325

11.06% 133

Preparing and assessing re-sits

2.73% 33

2.32% 28

23.92% 289

27.32% 330

36.09% 436

7.62% 92

Administration

0.66% 8

1.16% 14

9.33% 113

21.14% 256

66.80% 809

0.91% 11

Preparing learning resources

3.72% 45

4.55% 55

14.97% 181

27.71% 335

46.15% 558

2.89% 35

Marking/Assessments

1.07% 13

1.98% 24

22.01% 267

26.96% 327

43.20% 524

4.78% 58

Personal tutorials

3.06% 37

3.47% 42

28.16% 341

27.91% 338

22.54% 273

14.86% 180

Online meetings

0.66% 8

0.91% 11

10.40% 126

25.27% 306

60.03% 727

2.73% 33

In person meetings

29.08% 351

18.72% 226

25.27% 305

13.42% 162

9.20% 111

4.31% 52

Supervision

7.21% 87

7.04% 85

37.45% 452

19.55% 236

11.76% 142

16.98% 205

Research and reading

10.48% 127

8.33% 101

29.13% 353

26.16% 317

23.18% 281

2.72% 33

Quality assurance

6.79% 82

8.04% 97

23.03% 278

22.95% 277

35.29% 426

3.89% 47

Routine course review and development

9.29% 112

8.13% 98

21.72% 262

24.46% 295

32.75% 395

3.65% 44

Course review and development to adapt to online delivery

5.24% 63

5.07% 61

13.97% 168

22.94% 276

45.47% 547

7.32% 88

Any other activity

1.72% 15

1.26% 11

24.51% 214

13.52% 118

23.14% 202

35.85% 313

Changes in work time composition In addition to quantifying the hours worked and intensity of work performed by staff each week, a primary purpose of the survey was to determine whether the composition of workloads has changed over the last two years, and whether any changes had altered the relative proportion of time that staff in TAFE spend on the various tasks that constitute the whole of their workload.

In order to gain greater insight into the impact of any changes in workload composition by primary activity, respondents were also presented with a list of frequent work activities. All respondents were also asked to indicate whether any changes to workload composition had resulted in an increase or decrease in the pace or intensity of their working practice for each activity over the last two years.

By far, administration was seen as having the largest increase as a component of total work time, with 87.9 per cent saying that it has increased as a proportion of total work time in

“If I spent the amount of time I was supposed to spend dealing with absurd compliance documents, I would have no time to prepare and deliver my classes properly.

I decide which activities are the most important and I deal with those first …”

LITERACY LECTURER FROM WESTERN AUSTRALIA

the last three years and 66.8 per cent saying it has increased significantly.

The impact of the pandemic on the composition of TAFE teachers’ work was clearly communicated in these results. Members responded that the time they spend on individual communications and student consultation increased significantly (68.4 per cent) as has time spent on online meetings (85.3 per cent) and course review and development for online delivery (68.4 per cent) and on preparing learning resources (73.9 per cent). Nearly two-thirds said that the time they spend preparing and assessing students re-sitting examinations has increased – a result that points to the failure of Competency Based Training as the dominant approach to learning in Vocational Education. It is telling the activities that members were least likely to have said increased as a proportion of their overall work: research, reading and time spent teaching. See Table 1: Changes in work activity composition

1 0 • W IN TE R 2022

08-13_StateOfTAFE-2.indd 10

19/8/22 2:18 pm

“The administrative and online burden consumes all of my energy so I have no energy or motivation left for refreshing teaching materials, or for creating new ideas or approaches.”

LITERACY AND NUMERACY LECTURER FROM NEW SOUTH WALES

Top factors affecting changes to workload We asked survey respondents to rank the top five contributing factors to changes in their workload over the last two years.

The most frequently selected contributory factor for TAFE members was, by far, increased administrative work. This was selected as the number one factor by more than half of respondents and selected as the top factor affecting workload by more than three times any other factor shown in the list below.

by the vast majority (89.9 per cent) as having a substantial impact on their work, followed by overall workload (86.6 per cent). The hours of work required was identified as a major contributor by 61.7 per cent of respondents, which suggests that the pace and intensity of work is a greater concern than excessive working hours. The approach of management toward staff was identified as a top contributing factor by 70.8 per cent.

More than half also selected a widening of duties considered to be within their remit as a major factor (58.5 per cent) and 54.6 per cent selected adapting to new systems required for working remotely.

See Table 2: Ranked factors contributing to workload See Table 3: Ranked factors that impact on overall experience of work We also asked respondents to select the top five factors that impact on their overall experience of work. Again, excessive administration was identified

Table 2 //RANKED FACTORS CONTRIBUTING

Table 3 //RANKED FACTORS THAT IMPACT

TO WORKLOAD

ON OVERALL EXPERIENCE OF WORK

Rank the top five contributory factors to changes in your workload over the last two years (by entering numbers 1 to 5 in the

Rank the top five factors that have the largest impact on your overall experience of work currently (by entering numbers 1 to 5 in the space below).

space below).

Answered 1166

Answered 1167

Skipped 405

Activity

Responses

Skipped 404

Activity

Responses

Excessive admin duties

89.89% / 1049

58.49% / 682

Overall workload

86.63% / 1011

54.72% / 638

Management approach to staff

70.78% / 826

Hours of work

61.70% / 720

Teaching load

59.47% / 694 38.90% / 454

Increased administrative work

86.36% / 1007

Widening of duties considered within my remit Increased online or blended course delivery due to COVID restrictions Adaptation to new systems for working remotely

54.63% / 637

Impacts of reorganisation or restructuring

50.51% / 589

Pay and progression

Increased use of technology for marking, communications and admin

48.11% / 561

Job security

37.79% / 441

Occupational health and safety

37.70% / 440

Reductions in the number of staff

45.71% / 533

Student expectations of staff availability

45.37% / 529

Funding cuts / changed funding requirements

36.79% / 429

Increased student numbers

33.36% / 389

Increased performance monitoring

30.45% / 355

Number of management/departmental meetings

30.02% / 350

Insecure employment status

27.62% / 322

Career development

35.99% / 420

Class sizes

33.68% / 393

T H E AU ST RALI A N TA FE T E AC H E R • 1 1

08-13_StateOfTAFE-2.indd 11

19/8/22 2:18 pm

State of Our TAFEs

Figure 4 // COURSE AND QUALIFICATIONS CLOSURES To your knowledge, has your institution stopped providing particular courses or qualifications in the last three years?

Figure 5 // CHANGES IN CLASS SIZES Over the last two years, has the size of your classes changed?

53+11+36F 53+11+36F Yes 52.90% / 630 No 10.83% / 129

Don’t know 36.27% / 432

Answered 1191 Skipped 380

Resources have declined, class sizes have increased and significant investment is needed We asked TAFE members if they were aware of how funding cuts and resource limitations had affected their institution. Of those who were aware either way, 83 per cent said that their institution had stopped providing particular courses in the last three years, and across all subject areas a lack of funding was the most common reason for course closure, followed by insufficient student numbers and a lack of qualified teachers.

See Figure 4: Course and qualifications closures

The most frequently defunded courses were Creative Arts, Engineering and Languages, Literacy and Numeracy and IT courses. More than two-thirds of those who were aware of their departmental budget said that it had decreased in the last two years and nearly half of those in teaching roles said class sizes had increased.

See Figure 5: Changes in class sizes See Figure 6 (overleaf): Changes to departmental funding

TAFE needs urgent investment in buildings and equipment Improved IT equipment on site (51.2 per cent) and IT equipment for remote working (46.3 per cent) were cited as requiring significant additional investment to be brought up to standard by the highest proportion

“Lecturers’ admin duties have significantly increased but lecturing hours have been shaved to the bone.

This means I spend a lot of my ‘spare’ time assisting students one-on-one.”

EDUCATION LECTURER FROM WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Increased 43.35% / 502 Decreased 20.12% / 233 Stayed the same 30.48% / 353 Don’t know 2.68% / 31 N/A (not in a teaching role) 3.37% / 39 Answered 1158 Skipped 413

of respondents and considered to require some upgrading by an additional 32.2 per cent and 30 per cent respectively.

The need for substantial capital works and equipment investment in our TAFE campuses is so great, that across the eight areas of resource that we asked about, an absolute minority considered current levels of investment to be adequate. For IT equipment, studio equipment, materials to support workplace delivery, technical and administrative equipment and trade equipment, the percentage of TAFE members who considered investment to be adequate was between less than 10 per cent to 11.5 per cent.

See Table 4 (right): Equipment requiring additional investment

Constant cost cutting is undermining education quality TAFE institutes are increasingly engaged in the practice of what is often euphemistically referred to as the “shaving” of teaching hours from their courses. In reality, this practice is the slashing of the amount of time that teachers are allocated for direct teaching contact with students, unusually without any commensurate decrease in the amount of content they have to cover. This slashing of course contact hours can only compromise the quality of education that TAFE teachers are able to deliver.

1 2 • WIN TE R 2022

08-13_StateOfTAFE-2.indd 12

19/8/22 2:18 pm

Figure 6 // CHANGES TO DEPARTMENTAL FUNDING Over the last two years, has the overall budget in your department changed?

Figure 7 // QUALITY OF EDUCATION Do you believe that students studying today are receiving the same quality of education as they did 2 years ago?

3+37+1248F 20+80F Increased

3.36% / 39

Decreased

36.58% / 424

Stayed the same

12.17% / 141

Don’t know 47.89% / 555

Yes 19.89% / 213 No 80.11% / 858 Answered 1071 Skipped 500

Answered 1159 Skipped 412

Table 4 // EQUIPMENT REQUIRING ADDITIONAL INVESTMENT Does your institution have enough capacity in terms of funds, course availability and materials and infrastructure to meet the needs of the local community?

Answered 1214

Skipped 357

Not sure

Activity

Investment is adequate as it is

Requires some upgrading and investment

Requires significant additional investment to bring up to standard

Classrooms

15.30% 176

36.78% 423

40.70% 468

7.22% 83

Trade equipment

7.94% 89

25.16% 282

36.22% 406

30.69% 344

Library/Learning centre

30.09% 340

29.65% 335

17.26% 195

23.01% 260

IT equipment on site

10.15% 116

32.20% 368

51.18% 585

6.47% 74

IT equipment for remote working

11.45% 130

30.04% 341

46.34% 526

12.16% 138

Material support for workplace delivery

10.77% 122

29.83% 338

39.63% 449

19.77% 224

Studio equipment

9.10% 100

14.38% 158

17.56% 193

58.96% 648

Technical and administrative equipment

8.94% 101

31.42% 355

33.98% 384

25.66% 290

63.8 per cent of TAFE teachers told us that they had had hours “shaved” from the courses they teach and nearly all (98.5 per cent) said they were still required to ensure that students cover everything required for their courses within the reduced hours.

97.8 per cent of those who have had hours slashed from their courses through “shaving” said that it will impact on the ability of students to successfully complete their courses, with the majority saying that impact will be significant (69.4 per cent).

On average, when hours were “shaved” from a course, direct contact

teaching time for that course was reduced by nearly a quarter.

The most telling impact of the reductions in teaching time, additional administration load, move away from practical lessons, poor assessments and equipment that TAFE teachers reported through the State of Our TAFEs survey is that 80.1 per cent believe that their students are not receiving the same quality of education as they were two years ago. Unsurprisingly, 81 per cent identified a lack of funding as the primary factor in the decline in course quality.

See Figure 7: Quality of Education

The State of Our TAFEs survey presents a candid picture of a sector that has borne the brunt of nine years of a reckless focus on marketisation and cost cutting at the hands of the previous Coalition Government. The recent election of the Albanese Government and its promise of fee-free TAFE, its focus on manufacturing skills and its commitment to guarantee at least 70 per cent of Commonwealth funding to TAFE is reason for hope and optimism, although there is still much work that must be done to repair the damage wrought on the sector over almost a decade.

T H E AU ST RAL I A N TA FE T E AC H E R • 1 3

08-13_StateOfTAFE-2.indd 13

19/8/22 2:18 pm

President’s column

Rebuild with TAFE 2022 Federal Election

The Australian TAFE system faced potential annihilation during the three terms of the Liberal-National Coalition government. Only the steadfast support of the community and action by AEU members in TAFE held them off.

Article by Correna Haythorpe

A

lthough the outcome of the recent federal election is being dissected and scrutinised, the importance of TAFE and vocational education as an election issue has gone largely unacknowledged.

We want to change that.

Campaign and context Launched in the first part of 2021 in the depths of the COVID pandemic, the AEU’s Rebuild with TAFE campaign began in the most challenging of circumstances. Building on the decade-long campaigns for full and fair funding for all public education, preschools, schools and TAFE, the new campaign captured a spirit of positivity about the capacity of TAFE to make a transformative contribution to the lives and wellbeing of Australians, our community and our economy.

The political landscape prior to the 2022 election was bleak. A three-term conservative government had wrought great harm on many institutions across our community and TAFE was a key target. During its time in government, the Liberal-National Coalition used the privatisation of the provision of

1 4 • W IN TE R 2022

14-19_RWT_Vetis-3.indd 14

19/8/22 2:33 pm

Rebuild with TAFE

“All across Australia people know that TAFE provides high quality vocational education and has changed the lives of millions.”

KEY ELECTION COMMITMENTS OF THE LABOR GOVERNMENT

$1.2 billion

vocational education – through policies begun under a Labor government a decade ago – to set about systematically shifting funding from TAFE to for-profit, private providers and placing crippling debt on TAFE students.

All across Australia people know that TAFE provides high quality vocational education and has changed the lives of millions. Polling prior to the federal election showed that 94 per cent of Australians want more funding to be provided to TAFE. With hundreds of campuses all around the country, TAFE can help Australia rebuild in response to the COVID crisis. The immediate future requires the education and deployment of 200,000 skilled workers, particularly in the care sector, without which the Australian economy will struggle and vulnerable members of our community will miss out. TAFE is perfectly positioned to provide skills, jobs, purpose and opportunities to millions more Australians, and help to create a positive future for all of us. The missing ingredient is funding.

The Rebuild with TAFE campaign set four clear goals to restore TAFE to its position as the premier provider of vocation education in Australia: • Guarantee a minimum of 70 per cent of total government funding for vocational education to the public TAFE system; • Restore funding and rebuild the system; • Re-invest in the TAFE teaching workforce; and • Develop a capital investment strategy for TAFE. Additionally, the AEU will be lobbying the government to address the casualisation of the workforce,

stagnant wages, tenuous employment, excessive hours, stability of programs and prioritising government-funded programs to be delivered by TAFE.

Attitude and action The impact of the COVID pandemic was projected to have a strong negative impact on the capacity of the community to mobilise in support of campaigns during the election.

While this expectation was borne out in some sections of the community and in some electorates, in many seats the election campaign was characterised by intense campaigning around social issues generated by the community: climate change, integrity in politics and equality for women.

The Rebuild with TAFE campaign tapped into a strong sense of “it’s time” in the public education community.

The call to action during the election was met by unprecedented commitments by AEU members and community members who stood up to be counted when it mattered for TAFE. There were many more volunteers to “Do Your Block” than at the last election, progressive politicians clambered to visit TAFE and be seen to be supporting a pivotal community institution and the major policy announcements on public education

by Labor were about TAFE.

Future Made in Australia Skills Plan focused on closing the gap on skills shortages by providing

465,000 fee-free TAFE places including

45,000 new TAFE places

$100 million

in New Energy Apprenticeships to encourage and support 10,000 apprentices to train in new energy jobs

$50 million

A TAFE Technology Fund to improve IT facilities, workshops, laboratories and telehealth simulators across the country

Optimism and outcomes The work of everyone involved in the campaign to Rebuild with TAFE has delivered cause for optimism.

The election of a majority Labor government with the capacity to pass legislation in the Senate with the support of the Australian Greens and one other senator provides a clear mandate for, and mechanisms for the delivery of, the policy commitments announced during the election.

Ensuring that

at least 70%

of all vocational education funding is for public TAFE.

T H E AU ST RALI A N TA FE T E AC H E R • 1 5

14-19_RWT_Vetis-3.indd 15

19/8/22 2:33 pm

C

0

SIGN OUR OPEN LET

Calling on the government to ensure that th their election commitment of a minimum of 70%

© AEU 2022 Authorised by Kevin Bates, Federal Secretary, Australian Educatio

TAF071 National Tafe Day TeacherTafe Mag DPS.indd 1 14-19_RWT_Vetis-3.indd 16

19/8/22 2:33 pm

CELEBRATE NATIONAL TAFE DAY! 06 SEPTEMBER 2022

N LETTER TO THE PM

hat the October 22 Federal budget delivers of 70% of total government VET funding to TAFE.

an Education Union 120 Clarendon Street, Southbank, Victoria, Australia 3006

14-19_RWT_Vetis-3.indd 17

18/7/22 2:21 pm

19/8/22 2:34 pm

Rebuild with TAFE

Labor’s key election commitments: • a $1.2 billion Future Made in Australia Skills Plan to focus on closing the gap on key areas of skills shortages by providing 465,000 fee-free TAFE places, including 45,000 new places; • $100 million in New Energy Apprenticeships to encourage and support 10,000 apprentices to train in new energy jobs and provide the additional support they need to complete their training; • a $50 million TAFE Technology Fund to improve IT facilities, workshops, laboratories and telehealth simulators across the country; and • ending the privatisation by stealth of vocational education, and ensuring that at least 70 per cent of all vocational education funding is for public TAFE. The policy principles of the past government can be changed. The active encouragement of students to abandon quality vocational education at TAFE in favour of sub-standard private, for-profit providers can be reversed.

The restoration of TAFE infrastructure can begin. A guarantee of funding for public TAFE equal to 70 per cent of all vocational education funding will enable TAFE to rebuild itself as it rebuilds our community.

There is still much to be done and the AEU’s Rebuild with TAFE campaign continues, emboldened with hope for a better future.

To sign our open letter to the prime minister, visit rebuildwithtafe.org.au/ NationalTAFEday and celebrate National TAFE Day on 6 September.

“The restoration of TAFE infrastructure can begin. A guarantee of funding for public TAFE equal to 70% of all vocational education funding will enable TAFE to rebuild itself as it rebuilds our community.”

CORRENA HAYTHORPE is AEU federal president.

1 8 • W IN TE R 2022

14-19_RWT_Vetis-3.indd 18

19/8/22 2:34 pm

VET in schools

A Perfect Pairing

TAFEs and VET in Schools

On the cusp of the Jobs and Skills Summit and as part of the Rebuild with TAFE campaign the provision of VET in schools is vitally important.

“It’s an opportunity for students to broaden their social and professional networks, to build independence through attendance at ‘off-site’ classes and it offers a separate nationally recognised qualification which improves marketability,” she says.

She says working with TAFE in VETiS delivery affords advantages such as industry partnerships, expert knowledge and bespoke facilities (such as auto mechanics, electrotechnology, hairdressing, etc.), which most private RTOs or schools can’t offer.

Yet TAFE as a VETiS provider has been diminished since 2018, with between 64,000 and 66,000 students each year after a big drop from 78,000 in 2017. This is a 14.9 per cent decline as government have pushed private providers on schools. This means that although total VETiS enrolments have increased by 1.9 per cent from 2017 private RTO enrolments have increased by 36.6 per cent – more than triple the rate of TAFE. Ian Hocking, curriculum leader technology at Whittlesea Secondary College, says VETiS is essential for students in Years 10-12 who want to move into the trades rather than go on to university. “VET in schools gives kids the opportunity to try things

Article by Diana Ward

A

s government funding for TAFE has declined, so too has the public provision of quality vocational education and training in schools (VETiS) for secondary students.

New AEU policy prioritises TAFE partnerships and pathways for VETiS over overpriced private registered training organisations (RTOs).

There is broad consensus that TAFE needs to be fully funded – but more than that, TAFE needs to once again be recognised as the anchor of the vocational education sector as a matter of urgency. The TAFE system was once the envy of the world when it came to vocational education and with proper funding it can be again, both for adult education, but also at the school level.

Louise Speirs-Bridge, applied learning leader at Wurun Senior Campus, says VETiS not only diversifies program delivery to include content that schools do not have the expertise to deliver, but also provides a genuine vocational and ‘real world’ context for students, delivered by trainers who have industry experience and bring that knowledge to their teaching.

out before moving forward into an apprenticeship,” he says. “Kids have a ball and learn… they get to visit industry, have work placements, which often leads to apprenticeships.

Hocking says students learn basics like turning up on time, hand skills and necessary skills for them to take on an apprenticeship. “We give them responsibility and run the program like a workplace so they are ready when they move on,” he says.

“VET in schools needs to be celebrated. It allows kids to stay engaged in education and a student who completes their certificate in Year 11 and goes on to take an apprenticeship is a success.

“I have kids that have very low literacy levels, but we give them handson skills and prepare them for a job and it keeps them engaged and coming to school and gives them a reason to get up in the morning. Not everything should be about the VCE. These kids haven’t dropped out, they’ve become certified and gone on to tertiary education.”

Access to programs in regional areas is another reason why VETiS is so essential – it allows kids in regional areas to learn new skills close to home, not hours away at the nearest technical college, which is not accessible for many teens in rural and regional areas.

A former TAFE teacher, as well as having worked in the private sphere, Hocking says that for schools without technical educators on staff, compounded by the teacher shortage, TAFE is much better resourced and set up to deliver pre-apprenticeship education. “Staff at TAFE institutes are best placed to offer this training as they are better resourced and offer stronger curriculum,” he says, adding that the RTO system is about paperwork and making sure boxes are ticked.

Both SPIERS-BRIDGE and HOCKING are clear that VETiS is most successful in partnership with TAFE.

VET in Schools Enrolments 2017-2021 Provider type

2017-2021 % change

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

Totals

370,775

341,500

349,925

358,535

377,685

1.9%

TAFE institutes

78,370

63,830

64,860

65,680

66,730

-14.9%

Universities Schools

5,580

5,200

4,875

5,380

5,845

4.7%

143,655

130,500

131,290

135,525

138,265

-3.8%

Community education providers

14,435

11,690

11,060

10,905

11,365

-21.3%

Enterprise providers

19,010

19,075

18,185

5,615

5,570

-70.7%

109,725

111,200

119,660

135,435

149,905

36.6%

Private training providers

T H E AU ST RAL I A N TA FE T E AC H E R • 1 9

14-19_RWT_Vetis-3.indd 19

19/8/22 2:34 pm

Women tradies

Women tradies building new careers Over the next three years demand for construction workers is projected to reach unprecedented levels thanks to all the funding promises for new public infrastructure projects.

Yet most of the newly created jobs will go to men as women still only make up 2 per cent of the trade workforce.

Article by Sarah Jones

I

nfrastructure Australia is projecting approximately one in three jobs in public infrastructure is going to remain unfilled over the new few years, so there has never been a better time for women to consider a career in construction – or for government and industry to look at breaking down their barriers to participation.

We’ve endured months of promises from both political parties who have invested time organising photo shoots and dressing up in high-vis vests to announce billion-dollar projects, but rarely did they speak about the vital role that TAFE will play as part of the infrastructure project and the need to encourage more women to enrol in TAFE courses.

Little change in 25 years Tradeswomen Australia, which works to improve gender equality across the trades, has undertaken research to identify the barriers that limit women’s participation as apprentices/trainees in the non-traditional trades, especially the core trades of construction, automotive and electrical, where their representation remains below 2 per cent and has changed little over the last 25 years.

The three major barriers to increasing women’s participation in the trades are: • Lack of information and engagement about the trades with career advisors and high school girls.

• Poor workplace culture and social misconception make trades unattractive as a career path.

• Lack of structural support systems for women working in non-traditional trade industries.

2 0 • WIN TE R 2022

20-21_Women tradies.indd 20

19/8/22 2:23 pm

Structural support Tradeswomen Australia CEO Janet Cribbes says women's lack of participation isn't because they don’t want to go into trades. “The average salary for a career in trades is $80,000, and for many women this can be a life-changing opportunity,” she says.

There’s no point announcing big contracts only to discover that it takes thousands of workers that are not trained up and ready to do the jobs and finding the project is at risk.

The Victorian Government has recognised this opportunity and it is taking steps to address structural support systems with its Free TAFE investment and a wage subsidy aimed at women.

There are more than 250,000 single parents in Victoria – around 80 per cent of those are women. They all face more challenges than most heading back to

“Female representation has remained below 2 per cent and has changed little over the last 25 years.” work or increasing their hours, often carrying the lion’s share of caregiving.

Single mum Chelsea Hinds, 29, was one of those parents who lost her job as an apprentice carpenter in December 2020 because her boss could no longer afford to keep her on the books when the pandemic hit.

“The wage subsidy means that I can pursue a career in construction while still prioritising my son, who means the world to me. It’s a great initiative that I hope encourages more people to hire single parents,” she says.

While Chelsea continued to look for work, she kept up the theoretical side of her carpentry apprenticeship and in November of last year through the wage subsidy scheme, she was offered an apprentice joiner position with Kubale Constructions based in Warragul.

Chelsea is now on track to complete her carpentry and joiner apprenticeships at Gippsland TAFE and pursue a long-term career in the construction industry.

Fully qualified tradies take years to educate and investment needs to be made now in the TAFE teaching workforce to make sure that they receive the best education.

T H E AU ST RAL I A N TA FE T E AC H E R • 2 1

20-21_Women tradies.indd 21

19/8/22 2:23 pm

VET Development Centre

HOPE

Vocational education is often seen as a place for second-chance learners to develop skills and training, and the future of work will require our learners to be third, fourth or even fifth-chance learners as the changing workforce requires new skills, knowledge and digital/technical efficiencies.

Lifelong learning can offer hope for many, especially those from our most disadvantaged communities, but first we need to equip ourselves as teachers to find new pathways to engage and give hope to our students.

Article by Trevor Bayley

I

write this article on the eve of the federal election and ‘hope’ seems an appropriate title and emotion. The last couple of years of pandemic, lockdowns, online teaching and learning have impacted on all in the community and have led me to ask a couple of questions: • Why is vocational education increasingly important in building hope?

• What does this have to do with vocational teachers/trainers?

• How do we give hope to the students engaging in vocational education and training?

Hope in the context of vocational education, skills shortages, skill gaps and pathways for second-chance learners is crucial to reengaging learners. Merryn Davies, Stephen Lamb and Esther Doecke in their Strategic Review of Effective Re-engagement Models for Disengaged Learners report commissioned by Skills Victoria in 2011 identified aspiration, access, application and achievement as key factors leading disengagement (see chart) and identified four areas for program focus to effectively intervene: outreach, learner wellbeing, pedagogy and pathways. The report says beyond the initial value in second-chance learners reaching qualification, studies have consistently shown that

students who reach qualification are significantly more likely to participate in lifelong learning.

Lifelong learning is connected with confidence and agency, and for economic participation, it will also need to be targeted to the occupations and skills of the future and communities most disadvantaged by access to education – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, people with disabilities, early school leavers, the culturally and linguistically diverse including refugees, low skilled older Australians without any qualifications, and those from socio-economically disadvantaged families.

As teachers, we have the opportunity to make the world better, not just though

Strategic Review of Effective Re-Engagement Models for Disengaged Learners ACHIEVEMENT • Poor prior experiences of learning • Early school leaver • Long periods without study • Language, literacy and numeracy needs

ACCESS • Poor knowledge of study options • No interest in finding out • Low aspirations and confidence • Constraints on access (distance, time, financial)

DISENGAGED LEARNER

ASPIRATION • No career plans • Limited networks • Poor information on work and opportunities • Lacking careers advice or planning

APPLICATION • Income support needs • Family commitments • Disability/health problems • Poverty • English language needs • Refugee status • Living circumstances

Chart source: Strategic Review of Effective Re-Engagement Models for Disengaged Learners, commissioned by Skills Victoria for the Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development by Davies, Lamb and Doecke, August 2011.

2 2 • WIN TE R 2022

22-25_VET_Dev_Centre-2.indd 22

19/8/22 2:24 pm

teaching skills to second-chance learners, but through activism and giving hope. As Jill Scott in Finding Critical History (2009) says: “I learned that teaching was a form of activism: the transmission of knowledge for a purpose beyond itself, a purpose animated by caring relationships and politics, shaping the way people thought about the world in order to make it a better place.”

Prior to the pandemic the Department of Education, Skills and Employment’s five-year employment outlook to May 2024 was projected to increase in 16 of the 19 broad industries.

The top four industries projected to grow are:

1 Health Care and Social Assistance

(15 per cent) Health services like hospitals, GPs, dental and ambulance services, as well as services like childcare, disability and aged care.

2 Professional, Scientific and

Technical Services (15.1 per cent) University qualified/higher skilled roles such as scientists, accountants, advertising and marketing specialists, lawyers, management and other consultants.

3 Education and Training

(12.2 per cent) Teachers, instructors and support staff – who, along with many others, had to learn new skills, tools of engagement and digital literacy as we transitioned online.

4 Construction (9.7 per cent)

Still growing above average for all industries but at lower rate than 2014-2019.

Context of COVID

In terms of employment the top four current and future industries of employment continued to both work and grow during the pandemic and as we emerge those top four industries are in greater demand and the future of employment in these skills/ qualification-based industries is “hope filled”. The demand for workers in skill-shortage areas has increased with educators, industry and governments all recognising the need to “build a bridge” over the gaps between the skills required in the increasingly qualified and skills-based employment market and the existing skills of the

traditional second-chance learner engaging with vocational education.

Lessons from the field

A couple of years back I attended a professional development workshop delivered by Gray Poehnell, a visiting Canadian careers expert who was talking about his framework outlined in his book Hope-Filled Engagement: New possibilities in life/career counselling.

The framework identified through conversation and storytelling: • Knowledge, resources, skills, tools and hope • That uses everyday language • Engages in exploration and discovery • That encourages hope This framework has been useful in my teaching and professional development. Reflective practice supported by professional development that explores and finds solutions to what are the knowledge, resources, skills, tools that I need to be the effective, engaging teacher – a teacher that, as Scott says, is also built on caring relationships with the aim of making the world a better place.

Following is an example of an informal discussion that engages the learner in the exploration of their existing knowledge, resources, skills and tools using a strengths-based storytelling approach that rewires a new narrative: Teacher: So, tell me, you are on parole currently for stealing cars, is that right?

Student: Yes, mainly Holden Commodores, ‘cause there is lot of ‘em and they are easy to break into Teacher: Right, so you have got some research skills. What else do you do in this activity?

Student: Go with my mates, look out for cops, yell out if anyone is coming, take some meat in case there is a dog to distract them, hot wire the car Teacher: You have been explaining communication, teamwork, problem solving and technology skills. What a great base to start from.

Reframing and strength-based practice has been utilised in social sciences for a while but is increasingly a skill set required in education settings. It takes imagination and practice and contributes to the process of neurological change (rewiring of the brain with a new narrative) and helps learners to firstly understand the

strengths and skills that they already have and explores the application of these skills to a different objective – completing a vocational course.

Vocational education promotes the development of knowledge, skills, tools and resources within the curriculum, helping to bridge the gaps in all these facets as we progress students towards competency and engagement is the key. Traditionally, engagement is looked at through the lens of those with the power – that the students are disengaged. Gray encourages looking at engagement through a power lens and asking yourself, as the educator, 'what am I doing to engage my students on a pathway to future learning, engagement with career planning, and future employment based on a new narrative of hope?'

Flipping the framework and applying the knowledge, skills, resources and tools questions to my teaching led me to ask myself, 'what do I need to know?

What skills do I need to develop? And what tools and resources do I need?'

Knowledge

Frameworks that underpin the teacher-student relationship and promote engagement: knowing about my learners and their journey, understanding the labour market and workforce future. As well as knowledge of social capital approaches to transitions that highlight the importance of the bonding-bridginglinking continuum and the application of a cognitive apprenticeship framework.

• Coaching: assisting in the development of new skills • Modelling: professionalism, employability related attributes • Mentoring: guide on the side • Scaffolding: building the supports around the student that promote success.

Resources

All of the above. The need to continue to build my resource portfolio that enables me to teach and engage across multiple platforms. Networks/communities of practice are a key resource that both trainers and learners need to expand to increase agency, currency and opportunity. Our learners need additional resources focused on social capital, expansion of networks linked to T H E AU ST RAL I A N TA FE T E AC H E R • 2 3

22-25_VET_Dev_Centre-2.indd 23

19/8/22 2:24 pm

VET Development Centre

opportunities to apply new skills learnt, build confidence and, importantly, expand employment networks.

Increasingly it is hard to get independent, free career advice in the community and vocational education students need to be provided the skills, tools and resources to align their future, aspirational hope-filled thinking with employment futures and skills required in the changing world of work.

Skills

Engagement skills built around theoretical and practical approaches like strength-based reframing.

Understanding brain-compatible approaches to learning and advances in neural science and its implications in the teaching and learning space, neuroplasticity and bonding-bridging and linking, building relationships with our learners and then walking over the bridge together to link up with new networks and opportunities.

Research from the Foundation of Young Australians (FYA) identified the top in-demand skills from employers across the country and these include

digital literacy and presentation skills.

Skills that are central to the learner and teacher experience. Further enterprise skills including confidence and agency, enthusiasm for learning and creativity and critical information analysis skills.

Skills that our learners need to develop in vocational education.

FYA identified the importance of career management skills in the future workforce journey. These include selfawareness and decision-making skills to build a career, ability to use career services and information along with job seeking, and capacity to embrace ongoing learning.

Tools

Digital literacy and the swift transition to online during the pandemic resulted in a steep learning curve. There is so much professional development that I could do in this area that would both help my teaching practice and keep me current in a digital literate world – and access to tools that allow us to teach effectively is essential.

As teachers, we take on a huge job, but with support and resources I have

hope we can deliver meaningful change and hope for our students' futures.

As a leader in the development of the vocational education and training sector, the VET Development Centre prides itself on delivering quality, professional and relevant programs for the vocational education workforce.

REFERENCES

Alexiades & Morey-Nase (2003) “Deconstructing 'The Classroom': Situated learning on the Great Barrier Reef” Davies, M, Doecke, E & Lamb, S (2011) “Strategic Review of Eff ective Re-Engagement Models for Disengaged Learners” Foundation for Young Australians (2015) “How Young People are Faring” Karmel, T & Semo, R (2011) “Social Capital and Youth Transitions: Do young people’s networks improve their participation in education and training?”

Poehnell, G & Amundsen, N.E (2011) Hope Filled Engagement: New possibilities in life/career counselling Roberts, J (2002) “Beyond learning by doing: The brain compatible approach” Journal of Experiential Education

ills

vity

o n

ure

RE-EMERGING

NOVEMBER 17-18 | ONLINE

s

es

s

s

at re

24 • W IN TE R 2022

22-25_VET_Dev_Centre-2.indd 24

19/8/22 2:24 pm

National Agreements

On the 10th anniversary of the 2012 National Agreement for Skills and Workforce Development:

Contestability and Australia’s TAFE system The following article is an edited extract of Pat Forward's keynote address at the Centre for Public Education Research TAFE symposium.

Article by Pat Forward

O

n 27 July 2020, the Prime Minister and the Premiers and Chief Ministers of the state and territory governments signed a new Heads of Agreement which is supposed to be the basis of the next national funding agreement for the Australian VET system.

The new agreement was due to be in place by 1 January 2022 but has not yet been finalised, presumably because the parties cannot agree on its content. However, all Australian governments have indicated that they support: “a viable and robust system of public, private and not for profit providers, with contestability in VET markets, to ensure high quality training and student choice.”

Ten years after the signing of the 2012 National Agreement for Skills and Workforce Development (NASWD), and the National Partnership Agreement for Skills Reform which first introduced contestability as a requirement for access to commonwealth funds for the TAFE system, it is clear that governments at all levels have learnt nothing from the damage done to the system by contestability and market reforms.

It is timely to remember what was in these agreements, where the policy came from, and what damage these policies have done, and continue to do, to the TAFE system.

In April 2012, all states and territories and the Federal Government signed the National Agreement for Skills and Workforce Development, and the National Partnership Agreement for Skills Reform. The agreements were supposed to deliver almost $9 billion to the VET sector over the following five years. This funding was the Federal Government’s share of funding in the sector. The mechanism contained in the agreements which forced the introduction of contestability was a requirement to implement three key “structural reforms” in order to access a component of the funding. These reforms were:

“TAFE was not mentioned once in the 2012 National Agreements, but these agreements changed the TAFE sector forever.”

•

•

•

The introduction of a national training entitlement for the first qualification up to a CIII, to be accessible at any RTO, public or private.

Increasing the availability of income contingent loans (ICLs).

Encouraging responsiveness in training arrangements by facilitating the operation of a more open and competitive market.

The first reform – entitlement funding – effectively removed funding from TAFE and attached the funding to individuals, who could then expend the “vouchers” at a public or private provider of their choice. Private providers were incentivised to cherry-pick cheap and easy to deliver training. The second reform – making income contingent loans more easily available – was a mechanism to increase the uptake of a student loan system introduced with the support of both major political parties in the period of transition between the Howard and Rudd governments.

The introduction of these loans was a bipartisan project aimed at shifting the costs of vocational education from governments onto individuals. These loans were perceived to be an important way to encourage the development of a competitive market.

The third and final reform was an overarching condition to require competition for funding and for students perceived as a mechanism to break TAFE’s monopoly on vocation education.

TAFE was not mentioned once in the 2012 National Agreements, but these agreements changed the TAFE sector forever.

T H E AU ST RAL I A N TA FE T E AC H E R • 2 5

25-32_FirstNations_Around Australia.indd 25

19/8/22 2:25 pm

RESOURCES

National Agreements

What followed was a wholesale shift in delivery from the TAFE to private for-profit providers, who moved rapidly into the market, offering incentives like laptops and cash to students in return for enrolments. Students' hopes and dreams were destroyed, TAFE teachers lost their jobs, and communities lost their TAFE colleges.

The VET FEE-Help scheme grew exponentially because of this weakening of conditions of access in the 2012 National Agreements, from a $25 million allocation in 2009 to more than $4 billion in 2015. More than 75 per cent of the funding for VET FEE-Help went to private-for-profit providers. There was no fee regulation in vocational education (providers could charge whatever they wanted), and the only limit students had on what they could be charged, and therefore have to borrow, was the $100,000 individual cap. In many cases, no training was delivered, and no qualifications issued. It took many years for some of these debts to be cancelled, as a reluctant Federal Government refused to take responsibility for the fraud that occurred.

Those who signed the 2012 National Agreements could not say that they did not know what would happen. Victoria had already led the way, introducing full competition for government funding through a student voucher system in 2007 and 2008. Following the introduction of this policy, Victorian TAFE’s share of this artificially created market declined from an already comparatively low 66 per cent in 2008, to only 45 per cent in early 2012. During this same period, the private provider share of the market grew from 14 per cent in 2008 to 46 per cent in 2012 – an increase of 370 per cent. For the first time in Australia’s history, TAFE became a minority provider in one state, with several others following suit.

This resulted in the proliferation of fly-by-night private providers, delivering training in a fraction of the time it took in TAFE colleges and the growth of highvolume, low-cost training (such as fitness

For more on the Centre for Public Education Research symposium, visit: www.cper.edu.au

“The impact of the 2012 National Agreements continues to be felt to this day. The proportion of funding allocated contestably was close to 50 per cent in 2020, despite policies such as ‘free’ TAFE places.” instructors) in areas of the economy that were distinguished by their reliance on insecure work, and in which there were no identified skills shortages. The costs of training for individual students, often the most disadvantaged in society, rose by many thousand percentage points, with a whole generation of young and mature age workers forced to incur debt for qualifications which were of dubious quality, and which had no use in the economy.

The Victorian Government experiment effectively led to the massive growth of large private providers who gamed the system and used their Victorian funding and experience to position themselves to move into interstate markets as every state and territory in Australia implemented the market reforms required in the 2012 National Agreements.

What followed were punitive and damaging cuts to TAFE which undermined the capacity of TAFE colleges to successfully compete for funding and resources in the increasingly deregulated market. In many states, funding cuts to TAFE preceded the implementation of 2012 National Agreement reforms, weakening and diminishing the capacity of the public system.

State government budget cuts to TAFE in Victoria were quickly followed by budget cuts to TAFE in NSW, South Australia and Queensland, as these states moved to position their own TAFE institutions to meet the conditions of the then newly signed 2012 National Agreements. Following the lead of Victoria, these jurisdictions actively incentivised the private VET sector at the expense of the public TAFE system.

The impact of the 2012 National Agreements continues to be felt to this day. The proportion of funding allocated contestably was close to 50 per cent in 2020, despite policies such as “free” TAFE places (in restricted areas of so-called skills shortage).

This is because the mechanisms for allocating funding have changed so dramatically, even if, under some state governments, the funding currently favours TAFE. There is nothing in the current arrangements to give TAFE colleges any certainty over future resourcing, and indeed, in many states, funding continues to be cut.

PAT FORWARD is the former AEU Federal TAFE Secretary.

2 6 • WIN TE R 2022

25-32_FirstNations_Around Australia.indd 26

19/8/22 2:25 pm

Around Australia

Around Australia ACT KAREN NOBLE

CANBERRA Institute of Technology (CIT) continues to look mostly like ‘business as usual’ but scratch the surface and it is not.

COVID-related matters include teacher and student absences in a system with no relief or replacement staff and increasing levels of fatigue. Once again, teachers are repeating learning and assessment many times to support students to get through. COVID-related fatigue is evident and there is a sense of just keeping going as best we can.

Following the national trend, CIT's 2022 enrolments are lower than usual, but the workload hasn’t eased as many teaching departments continue to work with students from the last two years, supporting their completions.

The ACT Government required CIT to conduct a body of work now known as ‘discontinuation and reconfiguration of courses’.

Mixed reactions, as expected, are evident. On one hand, a steady process rolled out with teaching departments and their local industry contacts reviewing courses to determine what is needed, what could discontinue and what needed to change.

Teachers were mostly very positive about these conversations and welcomed the opportunity to do this important work. But, as the process continued, some have been very disappointed to

find that the conclusions of these discussions were not fully considered. For some, there is a sense that there were forgone conclusions.

Loss of permanent teaching positions is not forecast at present although significant repositioning will be required for some. Non-permanent staff are likely to have hours reduced.

Skilled to Succeed: Skills and Workforce agenda for the ACT was launched at a CIT Campus on 29 March 2022 with four key priorities: • Delivering skills inclusively to provide all Canberrans a foundation for lifelong learning • Building a more responsive, flexible and future-focussed skills system • Assisting employers to build, attract and retain the right workforce • Strengthening skills sector foundations.

The ACT Government restates its commitment to CIT as the cornerstone of Canberra’s training system and we look forward to the roll out of these priorities.

Because of COVID and ACT public sector wide bargaining in 2021, the AEU ACT agreed to a 12-month rollover of the enterprise agreement covering our TAFE members (with salary maintenance) and this decision has worked to our advantage as we have seen rapid changes to the economic landscape over this period. With inflation and interest rates now clearly on the rise, members have been left confronting the very real rising costs of living every day.

In this uncertain environment,

we have now taken the opportunity to revise our pay claim upwards to 5 per cent per annum, OR CPI (5.4 per cent in the ACT) +1 per cent, whichever is greater.

In addition, our members have been clear that strong competition with pay and conditions in the trade skills industry is making it difficult to attract and retain highly skilled teachers to TAFE. Teachers in the trades (e.g. plumbing) are dual qualified: they’re TAFE teachers, hold industry qualifications and have a wealth of experience in their field. Members deserve a competitive pay scale that reflects the environment in which we live and work.

Other than the revised pay claim, all previous claims stand including an increase to 15.4 per cent superannuation, maximising secure employment, extensions to family violence leave, mental health first aid allowances, a review of teaching load models, greater local consultation and strengthening the new teacher support mechanisms.

Given the recent federal election results, we look forward to further details on the new government’s election commitment to support fee-free TAFE, including when and how this will be implemented.

To galvanise and drive our bargaining claims we are launching a new campaign ‘CIT: IT Matters’ and reinvigorating our TAFE council – watch this space!

NSW PHIL CHADWICK

TO MARK THE 10th anniversary of the signing of the 2012 National Agreement on Skills and Workforce Development, the NSW Teachers Federation hosted a TAFE Symposium to highlight the failure of 10 years of contestable funding. The Symposium, conducted by the Centre for Public Education Research (CPER), kicked off the NSW federal election campaign. Other election campaign events included ‘Do Your Block’ in marginal T H E AU ST RAL I A N TA FE T E AC H E R • 27

25-32_FirstNations_Around Australia.indd 27

19/8/22 2:25 pm

Around Australia

seats such as Reid, Macquarie, Gilmore and Robertson.

Community forums with a focus on TAFE were held at Belmont and Cessnock.

Activists in the seat of Macquarie, Australia’s most marginal seat (Labor 0.2 per cent), continue to campaign to stop the closure of the equine teaching sector.

The impact from January’s enrolment debacle continues to cause issues for members in NSW TAFE colleges. Nontrade-based sections are reporting dramatic reductions in student enrolments.

Teaching sections such as Business Studies and Creative Arts are examples. Teaching sections such as General Education are reporting that while they have students, the enrolment period has now expired and the students that have been attending for the last few weeks cannot be enrolled in the course they applied for.

TAFE campuses in the Far North Coast NSW have had to close for several days following extreme weather events and extensive flooding.

Ballina, Casino, Macksville and Maclean TAFE campuses were closed due to minor flooding at the start of March.

Lismore and Murwillumbah Connected Learning Centre will stay closed until further notice. Lismore TAFE campus experienced flooding up to the second floor of its three-storey buildings.

Wollongbar TAFE is located on high ground adjacent to Lismore and is being used to house emergency service workers.

In the Sydney region Miller and Richmond TAFEs were closed due to flooding, parts of Mount Druitt and Wetherill Park colleges were closed due to storm damage and flash flooding. In flood-affected colleges, teachers were given the option of working from home, working at another college or special leave.

QLD DAVID TERAUDS

WRITING IN THE post-2022 federal election context, the focus is on gearing up to ensure that promises made pre election are implemented at the state level and are felt within the public providers of vocational education.

Queensland has had a Labor Government that has strived to overturn the 2012/13 Neuman-era funding models to no avail. There has been a departmental reticence to change what was bureaucratically developed to conform to a national funding agreement which should by now have been replaced.

In the meantime, the Central Queensland University (CQU) enterprise bargaining process continues less frenetically. The changing financial situation as COVID restrictions on international travel are lifted, is being watched carefully by all parties. CQU is not out of the woods with regards to long-term sustainability and is carefully managing expectations amongst staff in relation to pay increases. That said, CQU vocational teachers and tutors are falling further and further behind while negotiations continue.

One upside is the acceptance of the QTU/AEU(Q) call for increased flexibility and work-life balance with key clauses about ordinary hours being operationalised through a Team Based Working Arrangement. The CQU College of Trades voted overwhelmingly to adopt practices which will allow a more flexible approach to weekly timetabling and working from home.

Within TAFE Queensland, significant work has been undertaken following the inclusion by regulation of the organisation as a public service office, thereby

extending the effect of public service directives to TAFE. Queensland employees. Of note is the directives regarding maximising permanence of employment. Many long-term casual, fixed-term contract and higher-duties educators are being identified for transition to permanency. This is significant with some staff employed systematically as casuals for so long that they are due long-service leave.

As Term 3 commences, the QTU will start consulting with members regarding the union’s log of claims for the upcoming bargaining process to replace the 2019 agreement.

The current certified agreement has a nominal expiry date of 30 June 2023.

Bargaining is anticipated to commence at the beginning of April next year.

SA ANGELA DEAN

OUR ONGOING ATTEMPTS to bargain in good faith with the employer were dashed again, when, prior to the state election, TAFE SA attempted to push through a new Education Staff Enterprise Agreement that did not meet the original offer of a ‘rollover’ agreement with limited changes to terms and conditions.

The AEU’s review of the first draft of the proposed TAFE SA Educational Staff Enterprise Agreement 2022 noted inconsistencies in the pay scales and excessive changes to the terms and conditions. TAFE SA fixed initial errors that the AEU had found and indicated that they were willing to work with the AEU to help rectify other inconsistences prior to signing off on the new agreement.

With the members’ support for the rollover offer, and an understanding that the employer would address the errors in the draft agreement, the AEU supported a Yes vote

in the employer’s ballot of educational staff However, after the Yes from educational staff, the employer was less willing to address the AEU’s ongoing concerns, and the AEU chose not to sign off on the draft agreement.

The employer chose to hold a second ballot of all educational staff to appoint three non-union TAFE employees to act as signatories to a flawed agreement. This union-busting ballot failed and TAFE members voted to support stopwork action on 17 March.

The No vote in the employer ballot, and TAFE members’ willingness to take industrial action, forced the employer back to the negotiating table with the AEU, and subsequently they provided a proposal that addressed our concerns and reversed changes to the original wording from the 2016 agreement.

Without collective action, the employer would likely have continued to ignore the AEU’s call to address our members' concerns.

This third and final draft of the enterprise agreement was presented by the employer, and, after a thorough review by the AEU, finally lived up to the original terms and conditions of the true rollover offer the TAFE SA educational staff voted in support of.

Therefore, the TAFE SA Educational Staff Enterprise Agreement 2022 was signed off by all parties and endorsed by the South Australian Employment Tribunal on 14 April 2022.

Our state election saw a major shift to the Labor party and in the future of TAFE in South Australia.

In the lead up to the election, the newly elected Premier Peter Malinauskas stated his party “has a commitment to support TAFE” but failed to match the federal commitment of guaranteed funding to TAFE of any

2 8 • WIN TE R 2022

25-32_FirstNations_Around Australia.indd 28

19/8/22 2:25 pm

kind. However, shortly after taking office the new Labor Government announced that it planned to reintroduce courses cut from TAFE SA by the Liberal Government in 2020.

Subsidised courses in aged care, disability service, early childhood educational and care will be reinstated to all metropolitan TAFE SA campuses from semester 2 2022. Courses in business administration will also be returning to metropolitan campuses, but only as full fee paying in semester 2 2022.

Additionally, the Labor Government announced that the additional course cuts planned by the outgoing Liberal Government will not go ahead. The 14 courses that were due to be cut included education support, health administration, dental assisting, food processing and

building and construction.

This reinstatement of TAFE SA's ability to compete in the so-called fully contestable VET market in South Australia has been encouraging for the AEU and its members. But our concerns that the continued business model of education at TAFE SA will still fail to truly deliver the quality vocational education and training that our state needs to address the ongoing skills shortages.

Another key component of the state Labor Government’s vocational education and training (VET) policy is firmly centred on building five new technical colleges, although part of their plan allows for these colleges to work in association “with a TAFE campus for direct support in the quality of vocational education and training courses.” But there is yet to be any confirmed details on how

this association will work.

We cautiously await the release of 2022-23 State Budget to see further details on how the Malinauskas Government will live up to their election promise. But a lack of commitment to guaranteed funding for the public TAFE system in SA has our members asking how committed our state government truly is to all sectors of public education.

TAS SIMON BAILEY

I’M VERY GRATEFUL to all AEU members at TasTAFE for fighting to keep TasTAFE working for all Tasmanians.

While 2021 was a tough year in many ways, I’ve seen great strength in our membership, we’ve had more members act than ever before and

we have won important concessions from government through our campaign. I also feel the strong participation of TasTAFE members places us in a good position for continuing negotiations and campaigns for improving working conditions at TasTAFE postJuly under the new business model of transitioning to a government business.

The new TasTAFE Teachers Agreement has now been registered with the Tasmanian Industrial Commission. Under the agreement, members will receive a 2.35 per cent pay rise backpaid to the first full pay period in March 2022. A further 2.5 per cent will follow in March 2023.

As well as pay rises, the new agreement delivers other improvements such as treating online teaching as direct teaching time hour for hour and providing teachers with a

We’re a bank founded by teachers… for teachers just like you.

We understand your unique needs and aspirations. And we take those learnings to make your savings and investments grow.

For over 50 years, we’ve proudly supported educators across the community. And we’re especially proud to support the Australian TAFE Teacher magazine.

This information does not consider your objectives, financial situation or needs. Consider the suitability of this information and refer to the Terms and Conditions or Product Disclosure Statement before acquiring a product, available at our branches or call 1300 654 822.

T H E AU ST RAL I A N TA FE T E AC H E R • 2 9

25-32_FirstNations_Around Australia.indd 29

19/8/22 2:25 pm

Around Australia

career path with an Education Team Leader classification.

Importantly, members retained all their current conditions including their leave entitlements. With the threat of a 38-hour week, removal of yearly teaching loads and an increase to a maximum of 25 hours a week teaching being mooted for post-July 2022, it was important that we were able to safeguard all current conditions for members.

The AEU was forced to lodge an application at the Tasmanian Industrial Commission as TasTAFE failed to undertake the consultation clause of our various staff agreements and this application has now forced TasTAFE to consult with the AEU and members.

Despite TasTAFE promising open consultation about the transition to a government business, it wasn’t until the last minute that unions received an update on the planned changes. Our AEU Industrial Team is reviewing documents received and has provided damning feedback on the proposed changes relating to code of conduct policy and proposed employment practices. We are also working on further legal avenues to protect the awards and conditions once placed under the fair work system.

The AEU and its members are left wondering what happened to the consultation process that the government stated would happen as part of this process. Members have also received a letter informing them of the terms of employment with TasTAFE post-July and were not afforded the possibility of being able to review this offer before it was formally made.

The cost-recovery, forprofit agenda of the TasTAFE business changes were further revealed in TasTAFE funding cuts contained in this year’s state budget. The Rockliff

Liberal Budget lists an $8 million cut to TasTAFE funding in 2025, reducing state funding to below pre-COVID levels – a dramatic cut in real terms.

You can see where this is heading – cutting funding forces TasTAFE to sell assets and recover more money from students and employers.

We always knew this was an attack on public education and training.

VIC ELAINE GILLESPIE

IN TERM 1, the log of claims process for the next Victorian TAFE Teaching Staff Agreement, which covers all teachers and educational managers in the 12 standalone TAFEs, commenced.

Each of the 12 sub-branches held member meetings and put in submissions using the existing agreement as the starting point. The feedback also included a survey that both members and nonmembers were invited to participate in. There was significant participation of the survey by members as well as non-members, who not only identified what they hoped to see in their next agreement but also those who would like to become members and or be

more active union members.

The themes to come out of the meetings and survey were consistent: • Excessive workloads and issues with workplans • Better pay to attract more industry professionals to become TAFE Teachers • Tighten the conversion clause to further reduce insecure work again making teaching in TAFE more attractive • Improve professional development opportunities • Teacher to student ratios for all teaching, especially online, where the variation in class size is enormous, ranging from eight participants to 250 greatly impacting the quality of learning and the student experience.

However, by far the most commented and strongest requested requirement for the new agreement was to ensure that teaching includes assessment, following the outcome of the Bendigo Kangan Institute (BKI) court case. The log of claims was endorsed at an extraordinary meeting of the Victorian TAFE and Adult Provision Council before being submitted to the Victorian TAFE Association, which is bargaining on behalf of the standalone TAFEs.

Negotiations are yet to begin, despite the commencement date being 11 April, six months prior to the end of the agreement. This is due to a delay in getting the management log of claims, however it is expected that negotiations will commence with the issuing of the Notice of Employee Representation Rights (NERR) prior to 1 June.

Negotiations for the Swinburne University of Technology – Pathways and Vocational Education Agreement (PAVE) commenced in early 2021.

Despite COVID disruptions, negotiations at Swinburne were able to proceed, however in August it became clear that the process was stalling and not moving in a direction that was acceptable to members. The AEU and the NTEU both applied to the Fair Work Commission for Protected Action Ballot Orders which were granted in early September with members commencing action in October. With the bans in place and new management at the bargaining table it was hoped that a new agreement could be reached early in 2022.

Although we appeared to have several productive meetings, there were a number of significant issues that we could not agree on, the main being the pay offer that would see Vocational Education (VE) teachers at Swinburne being the lowest paid in the state.

Then, without discussion, management arrived at the bargaining meeting on 7 March with a final offer.

Swinburne confirmed that they were putting a non-union agreement out to vote. The AEU as well as the NTEU both ran strong Vote No campaigns that resulted in 84 per cent of eligible employees voting No against their employer's proposed agreement. Plans to recommence bargaining are currently underway, with many industrial bans still

3 0 • W IN TE R 2022

25-32_FirstNations_Around Australia.indd 30

19/8/22 2:25 pm

in place.

Negotiations were due to commence early 2022 for a new RMIT Vocational Education Teachers Agreement. However, RMIT has requested to postpone the commencement of negotiations until early 2023. This proposed delay is due to commencement of a new chancellor and vice chancellor who are in the process of developing a new strategic plan and longterm vision for RMIT, which will not be finalised until later in the year. To ensure that VE teachers are not disadvantaged by the delay, RMIT has confirmed that VE staff will receive a 2 per cent pay rise in November 2022 as they did in the expiring agreement. In the meantime, RMIT has confirmed that all entitlements, benefits and protections outlined in the current enterprise agreements will remain in place after expiry dates, until new agreements are agreed and implemented.

The Victorian Skills Plan is the main piece of work of the Victorian Skills Authority (VSA) and is in its final drafting stages. The plan will focus on the state’s areas of economic growth and help to identify workforce trends, challenges and opportunities.

All 10 Industry Advisory Groups (IAGs) have been provided with their final draft to provide feedback to the VSA before going to government for final approval and sign-off.

The Office of TAFE Coordination and Delivery (OTCD) within the Department of Education is in the process of making changes to TAFE legislation that will focus on the development of a TAFE network. This change follows a recommendation in the Macklin review to address the competition between TAFE institutes that resulted from the marketisation of VET funding.

The purpose and benefits of a Victorian TAFE network is to enable: • Quality improvements and workload improvements • Design and development of TAFE Curriculum • Consistency of course materials and teaching resources • ASQA re-registration • Data collection and analysis In addition, other initiatives such as operational systems, IT and licences will be rolled out gradually across all 12 standalone TAFEs and possibly include the four dual-sector universities.

The OTCD is also in the process of implementing a new TAFE funding model that recognises the additional funding costs associated with being the public provider. The funding model will consist of the following: • The Victorian Training Guarantee (VTG) – the funding provided to all TAFEs and eligible RTOs • TAFE Service Fund – targeted funding to support TAFEs to deliver on the specific services and requirements of the public provider • TAFE Network Improvement Fund – targeted initiatives to provide specialist capability to support TAFE collaboration.

Unfortunately, these changes do not involve an increase to the Student Contact Hour funding, which still remains one of the lowest in Australia.

WA GARY HEDGER

THE UNION SERVED our log of claims to the employer on 13 August 2021. At the request of the department, the union explained each claim item in detail during negotiations last year but has been waiting for a first offer since.

Our agreement expired on

15 December 2021. Initially, the employers indicated that they were unable to provide a first offer while official government wages policy, and details, had not been released.

This was confusing as the teachers whose agreement expired on 5 December 2021 had received an offer from the government in January 2022.

Despite assurances that an offer was imminent, no date was given for its receipt until 5 May, when the Department of Training and Workforce Development (DTWD) wrote and indicated that, after providing feedback to the state government, TAFE members proposed industrial action (as a result of not having received an offer) that an offer was expected to be provided on or before 13 May 2022. Members held meetings to plan what industrial action they were going to take if an offer was not forthcoming.

The department provided an offer to the union on 13 May. It lacked content and placed demands on the union that it was a package and must be agreed to within 14 days in its entirety or it would be withdrawn.

The offer contained absolutely no movement on workload issues, which had been a major focus of the log of claims. In rejecting the union’s requests, the department said that anything that involved a cost “will result in a reduction in training places for students” as their justification.

As a result of the perceived contempt contained in the offer, stop-work meetings and stoppages have been held at TAFE campuses across the state. This has forced the department back to the negotiating table with the understanding that if the offer is not improved that lecturers are prepared and willing to take industrial action in support of improved working conditions.

In the recent state budget,

in relation to TAFE, the government has maintained its commitment to reducing TAFE fees, but again there is no obvious funding to increase the number of lecturing staff. The following specific commitments were included in the budget: • An additional $38.4 million to maintain the lower fee commitment • $14.3 million to support training in the construction industry (not all of which will go to TAFE as the public provider) • $216 million towards capital works projects in TAFE. While all this additional funding is welcomed, TAFE will be unable to meet the anticipated rise in demand.

TAFE colleges are already stretched to their limits in providing the required classrooms and workshop space for students as is. There is lack of lecturing staff for a number of critical courses, which have been identified under the government skills shortages initiatives.

As a result of these staff shortages, colleges in a number of areas have resorted to cutting student contact hours for units and running classes at higher-than-stipulated safe levels to maximise and cater for student and employer demands for training.

The unrealistic expectations by management that these dramatic increases in workload are sustainable by lecturing staff is causing an increasing detrimental effect on lecturers' health and wellbeing. It is not sustainable and the relative short-term 'gains' in student enrolments is being offset by the long-term impact on lecturing staff in the colleges. Many of the affected areas are reporting practices such as the cancellation of classes and merging of classes (with different units) to cover the increasing numbers of lecturers who are unable to cope.

T H E AU ST RAL I A N TA FE T E AC H E R • 3 1

25-32_FirstNations_Around Australia.indd 31

19/8/22 2:25 pm

INVEST IN A POSITIVE FUTURE

© AEU 2022 Authorised by Kevin Bates, Federal Secretary, Australian Education Union 120 Clarendon Street, Southbank, Victoria, Australia 3006

TAF059 National Tafe Day Poster TeacherMag A4 v2.indd 1 25-32_FirstNations_Around Australia.indd 34

8/8/22 1:35 pm 19/8/22 2:26 pm