Written by AEU Wednesday, 12 May 2010 10:34
TAFE Must Be The Focus of Skills Investment
The Australian Education Union said today the Federal Government must maximise the TAFE share of the $660 million skills training package announced in the Budget.
AEU Federal President Angelo Gavrielatos said the package included $200 million over four years for 39,000 training places in sectors facing high skills demands, $120 million for adult literacy and numeracy and $130 million in reward funding for large training organisations including TAFE.
Among that spending $527 million is brought forward or redirected from existing programs.
“It is critically important that the TAFE share of this funding is maximised because that is where the money is needed most,” Mr Gavrielatos said.
Written by David Kelly Monday, 03 May 2010 12:32
Thousands of people are being turned away from TAFE in WA each year due to a lack of funding and resources, a new survey of staff reveals.
Released today, the survey shows student demand is above the national average with 65 per cent of teachers and managers reporting an increase in the last two years.
But 56 per cent of teachers and managers said they had to turn away students. The number one area where students were turned away in WA was engineering and related technologies.
The survey results were launched today at Thornlie TAFE by AEU Federal TAFE Secretary Pat Forward and State School Teachers’ Union of WA Senior Vice-President Pat Burke.
Ms Forward said the results showed TAFEs were being starved of the resources required to tackle skill shortages in WA and meet future workforce demand in critical areas such as mining and energy production.
Written by Don Rowe Thursday, 29 April 2010 08:00
Thousands of people are being turned away from TAFE in WA each year due to a lack of funding and resources, a new survey of staff reveals.
The survey shows student demand is above the national average with 65 per cent of teachers and managers reporting an increase in the last two years.
But 56 per cent of teachers and managers said they had to turn away students. The number one area where students were turned away in WA was engineering and related technologies.
The survey results were launched at Thornlie TAFE by AEU Federal TAFE Secretary Pat Forward and State School Teachers' Union of WA Senior Vice - President Pat Burke.
Written by AEU Tuesday, 16 March 2010 09:54
The Australian Education Union will today release two new reports which reveal the extent of the under-funding of TAFE and the consequences for thousands of people who are missing out on training and education as a result.
The reports are a survey of over 2,600 teachers and managers working in TAFEs around the country and a research paper prepared by the Centre for the Economics of Education and Training (CEET) at Monash University.
“There will be no education revolution in Australia unless we invest substantially more in TAFE," AEU Federal President, Angelo Gavrielatos said.
AEU Federal President, Angelo Gavrielatos also said the TAFE survey showed:
Written by AEU Thursday, 25 February 2010 13:12
The theme of this year’s National TAFE Council Annual General Meeting (NTC AGM) was “INVEST IN QUALITY INVEST IN TAFE” the title of our campaign for this year. Six delegates and observers attended the meeting that was held in Melbourne, to listen to a variety of speakers who provided us with background information which we used to inform our debate and discussion during workshops.
Angelo Gavrielatos, the AEU Federal President opened the meeting by pointing out the hypocrisy of Kevin Rudd’s rhetoric and speeches repudiating neo-liberalism and market fundamentalism as the cause of the Global Financial crisis and the Rudd government’s policies in relation to TAFE. Angelo illustrated this by pointing out that the privatisation of TAFE agenda of the former Howard Government and continued by the Rudd government has resulted in the collapse of private VET providers, leaving thousands of students and their parents out of pocket and with nothing to show for the money they invested in their training and education. No more so than in the Australian overseas VET student market.
Further, Angelo argued that marketisation of VET had not in any way benefited our TAFE students and that between 2003 and 2007, these policies have lead to a steady decline in the percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) spent on public vocational education and training and a fall in expenditure per student hour. On top of this, the major area of VET funding, the productivity places program (PPP), by the Rudd Government has provided such a low level of funding per student contact hour that the result has been that TAFE colleges have only received 2% of places. Angelo finished his address by urging all members to get behind the INVEST IN QUALITY INVEST IN TAFE campaign and put pressure on the government to increase TAFE funding in the next Commonwealth State Funding Agreement in 2012.
Read more: National TAFE Council AGM - Invest In Quality TAFE
Written by Gary Hedger Friday, 06 November 2009 00:00
Gary Hedger was in Canberra for National TAFE Day, last week, and gave us this report:
National TAFE day was launched at Parliament house in Canberra, by AEU federal president Angelo Gavrielatos and the Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard. During the speech, the Deputy Prime Minister came across as being very passionate about the role that TAFE plays in supporting the Australian economy, and that a strong TAFE system is integral to assisting Australia come out of the economic downturn, with the capacity to take advantage of changes to world markets.
As part of this capacity building, TAFE will be taking a vital role in integrating a “green “capacity into the nation’s skills training and workplaces. As a result of this, $200 million have been allocated to the TAFE network to provide resources that are required to put these “green” skills in place.
However ,it was the conclusion of the speech that highlighted what TAFE is about, it’s not the buildings that make it great but the teachers that work in them. Julia stated that “it is the educators and teachers that make the difference and you have one of the most important tasks in this country to provide opportunities for working people and an economic future for the entire country”.
Written by Deb Olds Thursday, 29 October 2009 17:24
Wednesday 28th October was the first ever National TAFE Day.
Western Australian TAFE staff and students joined with their colleagues and other students from around Australia, to celebrate the great work of TAFE teachers.
Pat Burke, the Senior Vice President of the SSTUWA, visited Perth local campuses and had this to say about the day and the TAFE ‘situation’:
“...this is a day to highlight the in-put our valuable public TAFE system makes to the future of our TAFE students, and the economic wellbeing of our State. Our public TAFE system provides access to education and training opportunities to students from a diverse range of backgrounds and, in particular, is crucial in providing education and training to some of the most disadvantaged citizens in our state.
TAFE’s critical role as a public education provider is being celebrated at a time when the Rudd Government is supporting increased competition between TAFE and private, for profit, training providers.
Written by AEU Wednesday, 28 October 2009 09:11
The Australian Education Union said National TAFE Day (Wednesday, 28 October) was a day to celebrate the achievements of one of Australia’s great institutions and acknowledge the need to invest more in it.Written by Deb Olds Monday, 27 July 2009 15:14
Last week, the 22nd, the SSTUWA held a TAFE “Know Your Rights” course, here at the Perth office. Tony Mullen, union Organiser, took the course and gave this report:
“Twenty two members from various TAFE campuses arrived at the Education & Training Centre to learn about their new General Agreement.
The profile of the group could be summarised as a pretty damn good group of unionists, with the interests of their fellow members at heart. They came from branches which were not particularly active but which had issues simmering away below the surface.
Too many TAFE campuses are managed in an inept manner. Fear is the tool of choice to keep a casualised workforce in-line. Flexibility is the buzz word, as management continues to cut costs in the education budget, so that there is more fat for the administrative arm of TAFE.
Written by Deb Olds Friday, 17 July 2009 07:32
The West Australian newspaper reported (16 July 2009) that there has been an increase of 72% for applications to study full-time at TAFE, in the second semester.
Pat Burke, SVP of the SSTUWA, stated that this increase reflects the confidence that the WA community has in the public TAFE system:
“During the boom times, potential TAFE students were able to obtain employment with little in the way of qualifications.
“However, with the economic downturn, the increase in TAFE enrolments reflects the need people see in obtaining a qualification, particularly from TAFE.
Written by Deb Olds Monday, 29 June 2009 15:45
A recent visit to Swan TAFE, Balga Campus, uncovered an exciting project that is underway, down in the Carpentry & Joinery area.
Robert Moseley, Carpentry & Joinery Lecturer, was one of the originators of the planning, organising and building of transportable demountables, to be used as half-way houses which are put into the community by the government, after completion. Pre-apprentices doing Certificate 1 get to cut their teeth on this project by gaining valuable tool and worksite experience. Apprentices have the task of fitting out the buildings.
Written by David Kelly Friday, 01 May 2009 12:04
The Western Australian TAFE Lecturers’ General Agreement 2008, has now been registered in the WAIRC effective as of the 28th April 2009. The registered Agreement will posted on the union website www.sstuwa.org as soon as we receive a digital version from the WAIRC.
In the meantime, we have commenced preparations for publication of the new edition of the “little red book”. These will be posted to members at the home address on the membership database. Members are reminded to ensure that their contact details, including postal address are up to date.
Written by Administrator Friday, 12 December 2008 11:01
Written by John Kaye Tuesday, 11 November 2008 04:49
The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) has embarked on a program that will radically and irreversibly change the face of TAFE and trades training. The nation’s leaders are abandoning public vocational education and training without community consultation. Their goal appears to be the eventual destruction of the state-based TAFE system and its replacement with a series of private providers, increasingly funded by fees through HECS-like income-contingent loans.Written by AEU Wednesday, 29 October 2008 05:53
The Australian Education Union is calling on the Federal Government to
abandon changes to TAFE funding that would undermine quality and push
the burden of cost onto students.
The call comes with the release of new polling conducted for the
Australian Education Union that shows 93% of Australians agree that
providing extra funding to TAFE is essential to meet the skills crisis
and ensure all Australians have access to low-cost training and
education.
AEU Federal President Angelo Gavrielatos said that the Federal Government’s proposal to force TAFE to compete with low-quality private training facilities for all funding would undermine the TAFE systems ability to provide community services like libraries and quality low-cost training.
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Troy Buswell and the State Government have appointed a former Howard Government industrial relations advocate to review Western Australian workplace laws and will soon announce changes that could affect up to 300,000 Western Australian workers.
Public schools are a foundation stone of our society. They are places of learning, of inspiration and opportunity where every Australian child can get the education they deserve. It's the key to a strong economy, a skilled workforce and a socially cohesive society.
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Public education should be free and open to all to ensure non-selective and non-discriminatory access to education. Every child has a right to be educated, to develop as a human being. This capability should not be denied to anyone, either by design or neglect.
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