System we need to protect

Mary Bluett

Did you know 80% of Victorians are unaware of exactly what the State Government is doing to the TAFE system?

Are you one of them?

There's too little information out there about the government's skills reforms and their impact on TAFE students. This blog is here to fill you in on the news you're not getting.

Enrolment fees for diplomas and advance diplomas have risen substantially - and will continue to do so. By 2012 fees will be up 160%.

TAFE students on low incomes have had the $55 concession rate abolished, and costs have increased to $1500.

Students who already have a degree and want to up-skill with a diploma will be slugged the full cost of further training - in some cases around $10,000 per qualification.

The government's changes do not respond to what the public wants - according to an AEU survey published today, 93% of Victorians believe that TAFE fees need to be kept low to ensure all Australians have access to training and education.

The State Government's reforms make further education access inequitable, and put retraining out of reach and private competition on the agenda.

These changes kicked in on 1 July - but this doesn't mean it's too late to fight them.
We need to campaign louder and stronger to have them reversed.

Victorians are proud of their TAFE system, and so we should be. It's a system that offers education and vocational training to more than 400,000 students every year.

It's a system we need to protect.

Join the TAFE4All action to stop increased TAFE fees and fewer education choices - tomorrow's students are depending on our action today.

— Posted by Mary Bluett, AEU Vic Branch President

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As a sessional teacher (currently semi retired) from TAFE, I was contemplating returning to study and complete a Diploma of OHS. Unfortunately I have a Diploma in HR already, so I have to pay huge fees.

Simply cannot afford it. So the TAFE system will not have my experience as a OHS consultant, because I need the Diploma of OHS to teach it.

Just for the record, I have real experience in heavy industry.

Mr Brumby you are making a huge mess. And you are losing my family's six votes, all in marginal seats. Goodbye ALP.

Georges Bernard, Smithsgully, 01 AUG 2009 11:03

I learnt my trade in TAFE 20 years back and reckon I have paid back the investment 100 times over.

Look after TAFE and its students will look after us.

John, Ballarat, 31 JUL 2009 15:22

This is just outrageous. So much for a skills crisis hey.

Shame Mr Brumby.

Jeff Dixon, Marysville, 30 JUL 2009 15:04

Billions spent on pipelines, desalination and dredging; is that why there is non for education?

Tim, Mornington, 30 JUL 2009 09:27

After nearly 2 year of studying full time in the TAFE sector, I will graduate with a Diploma of Community Development. Due to undertaking extra classes and choosing an elective of financial counselling, I will have around 4 modules left to gain my diploma of financial counselling. If I choose this path, it will cost me Thousands to gain the extra diploma. This is an industry that can�t get enough people trained up, I�m will to do the learning, but can�t afford to, due to the changes of fees in the VET sector.

Rai Weller, Dandenong, 28 JUL 2009 20:37

The OECD ranks the USA as having lower educational outcomes than Australia.
The OECD ranks Finland as the best.
Who does the Victorian Government turn to for advice on how to run TAFE?

Look down not up!
That's right: follow the pontifications of the Boston Group for advice on how to run the system.

We've already seen how the Harvard Business model has failed spectacularly and that the Milton Freedman approach to society is destructive to say the least.
Opening the "education market" up to 'more competition' is behind the recent (over the last 10years) plunge in the quality of outcomes within Australia.
Higher Education has become Hire Education and Hire Education has now become "Certificates R Us".
One might be tempted to suggest that student Jacinta Allen should be sent to the the bottom of the class.

D.J. Webb, Melbourne, 30 JUL 1009 11:05

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