Blog archive
Pushing the TAFE4All message
![margie bike sticker [margie bike sticker.jpg]](pics/margie_bike_sticker.jpg "margie bike sticker [margie bike sticker.jpg]")
— Posted by Margie Frye
more...
TAFE4All campaign focuses on the review of changes
As the TAFE4All campaign gears up towards a review of the Victorian Government's TAFE changes, the campaign continues to gain momentum in 2010, fighting to return TAFE education to the hands of all Victorian students - not just those who can afford increased fees.
The TAFE4All campaign is about to get even bigger and louder. If you're not sure how to use your voice, click the Take Action button on the website homepage.
Those of you who have subscribed to the TAFE4All website now number several thousand - and rising. If you haven't signed up to stay up-to-date with the campaign,you can do it by clicking 'Subscribe to updates' at the homepage.
Sign up, stay informed and voice your opinion. In the lead up to the review, let's show that we will not accept increased education fees to be dumped onto students who can't afford it.
And in what is a State Election year, let's make it clear we will vote against the changes if they are not repealed.
more...Higher fees have halved our enrolments
Brumby Government spokespeople still equate "Skill Reform" with "increased training places" and "encouraging people to take up Vocational Education and Training". Yet I have not yet heard anyone explain satisfactorily the mechanism that would actually translate Skill Reform's sharp fee increases, reduced or abolished concessions and HECS style millstones into increased enrolments.
Introduction of higher fees for Diplomas at the Melbourne metropolitan TAFE campus I work at appear to have actually cut our enrolments by about 50% - the numbers for our Diploma are about half what they normally are.
Already last year the TAFE was acting defensively to try to protect itself from anticipated hefty falls in enrolments, despite government ministers claiming skill reform would increase the numbers accessing TAFE education.
The department I work in voted with its feet. Anticipating sharply reduced funding, it decided to head down a slippery slope. All our year-long subjects (which allowed clusters of competencies to be done in parallel as they are actually practised in industry) have been replaced by semester-long subjects which combine the competencies into smaller clusters.
more...Where you can stick the TAFE fee hikes
![tafe bumpersticker [tafe bumpersticker.jpg]](pics/tafe_bumpersticker.jpg "tafe bumpersticker [tafe bumpersticker.jpg]")
Have you got a car or bike? Then email your postal address to Anna to grab your free "Stop TAFE fee hikes" bumper sticker and show your support for affordable, quality TAFE education.
THEN, send us a photo of where you've proudly displayed your sticker and we'll publish it here at the TAFE4All website. Let people know you don't support increased TAFE fees and abolished study concessions - AND make your car/bike famous. You can't lose.
— Posted by Anna Kelsey-Sugg
more...HECS in TAFE - a single mother's perspective
Ongoing pressure and lack of confidence and finance are just some of the barriers faced by many single mothers wanting to return to study, and wanting to provide our children with opportunities.
The daily grind: Get kids up. Breakfast - who's having what. Remind kids of before school routine. Make the beds. Lunch boxes. Remind kids of their activities/responsibilities. Make sure they brush teeth, hair and wash face. School run. Washing. Cleaning. Cooking. Shop for food (no luxury items).
Pay the bills. Budget. Take the bins out. Recycle. Dishes (lots of single mums live without dishwashers). Go to work/school (sometimes both in one day). Pick kids up from wherever - if you are lucky enough to find affordable care for your kids. School bags out of the car. Go into cold dark empty house. No dinner yet - start thinking. Kids tired and hungry. Pets are at your feet. Bills/mail to sort. Unpack school bags. Help kids with homework while dinner is cooking.
Dinner with kids. Bath/shower kids. Organise kids into PJs - settle them down for quiet time. It's not quality time, it's stressful because you want to sit down and relax for a minute too. Bring washing in/out some times at 9-10pm. Arrange clothes on horse overnight so kids have clean uniform for next day. Kids to bed (finally). Tidy up kitchen. Start your own homework.
Ongoing responsibilities. Car maintenance - oil, water, brake fluid. Home maintenance. Changing light globes. Fixing heaters/hot water service. Cleaning gutters to stop the roof from leaking. Chop/stack the firewood. Technical things - computers, DVD players, TV, antennas. Garden maintenance. Walk the dog. Mow the grass. Weed the garden. Take the bins out.
Remember we are the tooth fairy, Easter bunny and Santa - putting trampolines, swing sets, bikes together at midnight.
more...New video: don't mess up our TAFEs!
Check out our new TAFE 4 All video on the difference between public and private for TAFE students.
more...Making TAFEs work or making them worse?
The new Brumby ‘skills reform' is bad education policy.
It is meant to make the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector more ‘efficient' (read 'competitive'). But changing the education system into a money-making exercise is bad for students and eventually bad for our society.
It's effectively a voucher system; the government will allot a subsidy per student that a training institution will receive if a student enrols in their course. It pits government-funded TAFEs against private training organisations. The government argues that the system is good because it offers increased competition (which is meant to keep course costs low) and increased effectiveness (because people can choose the course that suits them best).
But when providers know they are guaranteed a subsidy for every student they attract, there is more incentive to increase costs and less incentive to provide high-quality education.
This policy change follows a global trend. But what has happened overseas after the introduction of a voucher system?
Before 1999 the Labour-National coalition government of New Zealand introduced market forces to the tertiary sector with a voucher system. This was criticised for lowering the quality of training services, large numbers of students chose popular courses and graduated with skills in areas where there was no job shortage, resulting in an fall in income levels because there were no jobs available for the newly trained.
more...Why the arts will suffer under TAFE changes
Premier Brumby has been on a bit of a rampage in the last year, killing off our art with legislation that stabs at the heart of Melbourne's thriving art scene by abolishing government-funded places for TAFE students. Students with equivalent or higher qualifications are now forced to pay full fees, which many are unable to afford. This hurts the arts because many people study art when they've matured and come into themselves, usually after having studied and worked in another industry.
According to the government's skills reform website, the new TAFE funding structure will create ‘more opportunities for training throughout your adult life and flexible fee arrangements'.
But this couldn't be further from the truth.
In fact, many students will have to start paying full fees if they don't meet certain criteria. Essentially what the government is doing is opening the TAFE sector to competition with private education institutions.
How much TAFE costs today depends on which basket you fall into. Take my TAFE diploma, Professional Writing and Editing. Before the changes, government-subsidised places were a maximum of $877 a year or $55 for concession-card holders. Now, if you're under twenty or have no qualification at the same level or higher, fees for the diploma have increased to $2000.
more...A new year and new voices for the TAFE4All campaign
My name is Jo Fogarty and I'm the new vice president for TAFE at the Australian Education Union. Let me say first of all that I wish everyone a healthy, happy and fulfilling 2010.
Last year I spoke at a conference discussing, from a TAFE teacher's perspective, the impact of the Brumby Government's skills "reforms" on TAFE teachers and students. (You can read my blog post from the conference here: http://bit.ly/8X8L2).
While my role has changed, (as TAFE vice president my job is now to lead the TAFE4All campaign), my bewilderment at the government's Skill "Reform" agenda has not.
We need to continue the TAFE4All campaign in 2010, and we need to be as loud and as active as ever.
As I write, many TAFE students will be enrolling, or preparing to enrol, and facing substantial fee increases. Students enroling in diplomas and advanced diplomas who are concession holders will find that they are not eligible for the $55 concession rate and that, instead, the fee has hiked to around $2000 - or even higher.
Students will be faced with the decision to take out loans, or not to enrol at all.
Imagine the strain that having to find this extra money will put on individuals and families. It means some students will be unable to attend TAFE.
more...Thanks from TAFE4All - and stay tuned!
THANK YOU from all of us here at the TAFE4All campaign.
As students, teachers, parents and concerned community members you have joined TAFE4All to stand up for what is fair.
You have spoken out against what is unfair: the Victorian Government increasing TAFE fees, scrapping study concessions and forcing TAFEs to compete with private colleges for funding - when Victorian TAFEs are already the lowest funded in the country.
Through the TAFE4All website, Facebook group and Twitter page, you have raised your voices and helped get the message to government that its changes to your TAFEs are unacceptable.
And you have been heard.
The TAFE4All campaign has hit television, radio, the newspapers and the online world. The public is listening.
As the government's review of the TAFE changes draws closer, the campaign will accelerate and we'll need you to join in.
Next year we'll be asking for more of you to share how the TAFE changes are affecting you, to comment online and to spread word about the campaign.
more...Speaking up for my friends and for a fair go
The decision to increase the TAFE fees will mean that more people will have less say over how they live their lives.
The decision to train or retrain in order to work in an environment where you see a future is a really important right, which is going to be taken away by these changes.
I have friends who are currently at TAFE who would never have been able to study if they had enrolled in 2010. Instead they would have had to stay unemployed or work in low-paid, temporary jobs that weren't going anywhere.
I believe that everyone should have a right to free or at least affordable education and to pursue careers or interests at any time in their lives.
more...Imagine life without study - I'm being forced to
I have been a TAFE student for about six years now - four years part-time and one year full-time - studying Aged Care and Home and Community Care (Cert 3) and now Professional Writing and Editing (Cert 4).
This has meant not being able to work full time - so I have appreciated having excellent, regular tuition at an affordable cost.
I have held down casual work around study and even knocked back quite a lot of callouts for the sake of keeping up my attendance to class. Now the prospect of having to pay high fees and incur a HECS debt if I choose to go on to a Diploma level is something I dread.
While I want to develop my skills further and give myself some chance at employment in the future (I am 58) I don't want a debt to worry about paying back. TAFE has been for me not just training and a regular social group but the justification to get on and do things to break the unemployment doldrums and anxiety that goes with being out of a regular job.
I can't really imagine a life without study now - of recognition and of meeting goals - being single and without children or close friends in the district. I tree-changed 10 years ago and work, work, work has meant there's not been much time for making new friends - so it is also very important to maintain social contact and interaction through classes.
more...Expect rise in mental health issues and drain on government's purse
We are concerned as Career Facilitators about the advice that we are giving our young people....and our own sons and daughters.
Some of our students have completed Cert III Hospitality and Retail Certificates in large scale organisations that get financial incentives from the government for signing students up in this current year.
These young people will no longer have access to their own hopes, dreams and aspirations as the government in its wisdom has taken away their right to their own pathway....
Who has told who about the enormous fees our children will have to pay?
Low SES families from fringe metropolitan suburbs, are going to be:
• Unemployed
• Unskilled, and
• Disillusioned
I don't want to take dollars from the family food budget
Has the government thought about this?
What about women who are trying to return to work from being a parent? Women who are trying to retrain after having children?
There's no good avenue for this now.
There are lots of mums out there like me and, you know what? We don't put ourselves first. I won't spend money at TAFE; on me getting ahead before I spend money on my children.
If I paid increased TAFE fees I'd have to rearrange the family budget - and spending that sort of money on my education would be hard to justify. Where do I find the dollars? From the family food? From the kids sports lessons?
more...My job: to burst students' bubble
I work in a TAFE assisting mature learners and sole parents. At this time of the year, I'm flat out meeting with potential students for 2010 to find appropriate course options, and navigate application procedures and help them plan for study including the financial implications.
What a nightmare it's been this year!
I pick up the phone receiver in one hand and have a pin in the other, ready to burst their ‘study fantasy' bubble, if need be. I steel myself for when we get to the bit about the financial implications of various course options. After breaking the bad news, weighing up the pros and cons, mature students with so much to offer in skill shortage areas are choosing certificate IV over diploma level qualifications ($120 vs $...12,000).
The response to the new fees is absolute dismay and disbelief. I have to field questions such as, "Why would they do this?", "Who is responsible?", "How can I improve my life?", "I don't believe it!", "You must be mistaken", "I really thought I might be able to do it".
more...I think our most disadvantaged will suffer
I completed my Diploma of Welfare studies at the Geelong TAFE in 2004. I was a single mother and dependant on welfare payments at the time of my decision to choose this course as a career path.
I also had a clear interest and desire to obtain employment in this sector when I had completed my studies.
If the fee changes, which are now imposed, were in place when I was considering applying, I know that I would not have been able to proceed with an application. The reality is that I would not have been in a financial position to do so and I suspect this would be the case for many people who access TAFE.
The course I did provided all the students with the knowledge, skills and values required to perform competently as professional social welfare workers. There was a balance between theory and practice, providing classroom and community-based learning environments, that made my transition into the workforce realistic and manageable.
My teachers' dedication, their support to delivering an honest, realistic, hands-on curriculum, and their depth of knowledge, experience and understanding of the welfare sector was invaluable.
I will be forever grateful to the TAFE system, for I gained employment in Child Protection DHS Footscray. I am now a senior worker in the Long Term Out of Home Care Youth Team.
I also attribute my achievement of being awarded Child Protection Worker for North Western Metropolitan Area in 2007 to the standard of their course, teaching skills, professionalism, knowledge and skills imparted to me.
My ability to participate in and complete the TAFE course, and then gain employment, assisted my family and myself - financially, socially and emotionally.
more...'The choice is yours'? Bloody tough choice now, Minister.
A new brochure from the Victorian Government mailed to careers teachers says their new skills reform policy will bring in TAFE changes, which are great because "the Government will pay up to 90% of your tuition fees for your chosen course if you are eligible."
UP TO 90%. What does this mean Minister Allan?
Doesn't it sound like one of those sale ads where we are offered discounts of "up to" whatever per cent?
What the Government really means here is that the vast majority of TAFE students will now actually pay loads more to study at TAFE.
This is because:
- Approximately 80% of all TAFE students are part time and every hourly enrolment fee for ALL award-level courses has increased affecting ALL part-time, award-level students
- Next year all Cert 3 & 4 course enrolment fee caps will increase by 14% (43% by 2011)
- All Diploma course enrolment fee caps will increase by a shocking 128%*.
The Government needs to come clean and admit that the only award-level students to pay less under this policy are Certificate 1 and 2 full-time students. And they get a massive $2 per year reduction. Unbelievable.
So yes, the government is "technically correct" in saying they will contribute up to 90%. Before these reforms, TAFE students got at least 88% government support for studies. Few will get anything like that now.
Hard to believe it's a Labour government doing this isn't it?
more...Represent and protect us Jacinta, we'd prefer to sing your praises
Ms Allan,
How could you possibly think that we wouldn't work out that TAFE fees are in reality increasing, that all TAFE users (excluding a few) will be disadvantaged by your policy changes?
Let alone the fact that YOU are singling out the most disadvantaged in our community and in particular those impoverished constituents within your own electorate.
As educators and Careers Teacher it is our role to emphasise to students that their life is a journey and that they are LIFE LONG LEARNERS.
What can I tell students now?
- Be careful at year 9 and 10 and don't do a traineeship at your workplace
- Don't ‘dilly dally' after year 12 and take a gap year
- Don't get a degree before you have studied a Diploma or Advanced Diploma before you are 21, and
- NEVER choose a lower qualification than what you have done; in particular, don't up-skill and don't retrain to learn new skills while you are in the workplace. Actually DON'T get educated after high school because it's actually going to cost you....BIG TIME!
You are our elected representative. You are supposed to serve those who have elected you.
more...My meeting with the Skills Minister
On Friday 6th November I was one of ten students who met with Minister for Skills Jacinta Allan at her office in Bendigo .
The Minister attempted to convince us of the merits of the new skills reforms but like many of the other students in the room I was not convinced.
I was given the opportunity to share my own story and views on the changes. I told the Minister that in my opinion fees should have been removed completely not increased or made completely unattainable.
I explained that now that I am about to complete my Diploma I am interested in expanding my skills base into other areas, and that I am concerned that the financial burden will be too much.
As a young mother of one with another on the way I will not be returning to work for a fair time and the general costs and expenses involved in getting educated are enough of a burden on their own without massively increased fees: things like food, books, fuel and parking all add to the cost.
It is not appealing to live constantly in a state of debt and never be able to dig your way out.
I explained to Minister Allan that I dropped out of High School and come from a welfare dependant background. After gaining my Diploma I will be the highest educated person in my immediate family.
I told her that I feel completely disempowered by these changes.
more...Welcome to Jacinta's Bistro
Head Chef: Jacinta Allan
Menu: Beef & Reef (only the best will do!)
Price: $65 (Usually $35)
Ingredients: Flour & Water (nothing else)
Discounts: Pensioners not welcome
Conditions: Customers are advised not to successfully eat the same or a more expensive meal at another bistro or we will charge you a non-loyal client fee of 500%.
About our bistro!
Our bistro has been around for a number of decades. The new owner, Mr John Brumby, and the recently employed head chef, Jacinta Allan, have made widespread changes in an effort to vastly improve the quality offered to clients. These changes were rushed through before Christmas last year without consulting you, our customers.
Our bistro is renowned Australia-wide for producing magnificent cuisine without the chef actually purchasing any real ingredients. Previously our staff have complained about this, so to fix the problem we've decided to charge you, the customer, more.
more...My students with disability will lose out
The proposed rises in TAFE fees will cut most of my students out of their preferred courses for next year.
I teach Year 12 students at a special school - they have mild to moderate intellectual disabilities. They complete their VCAL certificate in Year 12 and move to TAFE for a Certificate 1 course. This has been at a reduced price in the past years but I am worried that the rise in fees will prevent them participating in these courses. They are on a disability pension and some have parents with disabilities or come from low socio-economic families, so finances are tight all the time.
The other issue is that as fees go up, the likelihood of "not profitable" courses such as these disappearing will also rise. If TAFEs are run to make money rather than to cater for students' needs, courses for concession or disabled will disappear, as they have to be subsidised.
Please consider these issues as it will become very important to many of my students.
more...The Minister for Skills shirks responsibility
College collapses? Ineffective college auditing? Not my problem, says Victorian Skills Minister Jacinta Allan.
Interviewed by host Jon Faine on ABC Radio on Friday after yet another private college collapse, the Minister was asked: "Where does the buck stop?"
Jacinta's response? "The buck stops with the state regulator having oversight of this sector."
The TAFE4All campaign echoes Faine's incredulous response: But Minister, "Why not with YOU?"
As Faine told her: "You are responsible for the regulation of this marketplace and time and time and time again it's been found to be wanting."
Faine told the Minister it would be "laughable" if the college "had just been audited and passed that rigorous process and then collapsed a minute later" - a point the Minister was quick to agree with. "That's why I'm making inquiries right now," Allan said.
But what the Minister apparently didn't know - but should have - and what The Age revealed the next day, is that the private college that closed on Friday had been audited for financial viability by the State Government LESS THAN TWO MONTHS AGO.
more...Is this really what you want for Victorian students, Minister?
Four more private colleges have just gone to the wall. Thousands of students have been left in limbo, with no idea when or where they'll be able to complete their courses.
That makes nine colleges that have collapsed in barely four months in Victoria alone, stranding local as well as international students. It's clear that the state and federal governments' promises of tough regulation have been utterly meaningless.
Students at the latest colleges to close are furious and demanding their money back - check the story on The Age website and the comments at the end.
Isn't it time our state government heeded the warning signs?
While dodgy providers are going bust, Skills Minister Jacinta Allan and Premier John Brumby are forging ahead with their plans to divert unprecedented levels of public funding to private colleges.
These are colleges that have no obligation to employ qualified teachers - and apparently no obligation to prove that they're financially viable either.
We've spent a lot of time in this TAFE4All campaign highlighting the terrible impact that Minister Allan's fee hikes will have on our students and communities.
more...I can't afford a study loan
I am an independent student living in Bendigo. I didn't complete year 12, instead I started working in a call centre. Today, 5 years later I am still there. I do not really like the work I do, yet I need to be able to support myself.
My heart has always been in the environment so I decided to look at what I could do for a career. Everything I searched for requires an education and there was no way I could afford university, so TAFE was the cheap alternative.
I am currently completing my Certificate IV in Conservation and Land Management, which has provided me education and training in the career path I want to take. If it wasn't for TAFE and the fact it is cheaper than university, I would be still sitting in a job I hate and with no idea what to do with my life.
It has been a rough year for me, working, studying and trying to survive financially has taken a toll on me this year. I plan to do the diploma next year, but at what cost? I cannot afford a loan to study, I have too much on my plate to think about another loan.
more...I've already lost students to the new fee structure
Many years ago my grandfather said to me, "You can have all the money in the world, but if you're not happy in what your doing then it's not worth it". Seven years ago, I found what makes me happy. Teaching IT whilst helping others to change their lives.
Teaching is what I'm passionate about; therefore, like most other passionate teachers, you tend to do the little extra things to help your students because the reward is often 10-fold.
In a Certificate III course quite recently, I had four of my best students inform me that they don't plan on continuing into the Certificate IV because of the new fees in 2010.
One student in particular already possesses a degree in commerce but can't work in that industry due to illness. That student wished to retrain with the outcome of working in a different industry and not being reliant on the pension he was awarded. It's quite simple really: if, as a training provider, we can't retain our best students then everything is in vain.
more...I'm a young single mum and I want a say in where I'm heading
I'm a young single mum studying a certificate in mental health at TAFE. If I had to pay what the government is asking now I wouldn't be able to afford it - I'd just be on parenting payments for a whole lot longer.
I couldn't even afford the healthcare discount for TAFE. My mum's on disability pension. I had to borrow the money from my grandfather.
At 24 you want to have some independence and I just won't be able to have that with the increased fees.
TAFE is a stepping stone to better opportunities and now you can't even access that.
As a young mum, my daughter's three years old and as she grows I'm going to have a big debt on my hands. All I want is a secure job where I have a say in where I'm heading.
more...Just Ask Jacinta - but brace for some creative responses
If you haven't seen it, the Little Paper (Herald Sun) ran an eight-page ‘Victorian Government feature', Skills for Life, on Wednesday. Good on them for promoting TAFEs and the VET system in general.
Hopefully the cost of the lift-out was covered by the $316 million allocated to the Skills Reform policy; promoting TAFE and VET is a good thing.
However, out-of-pocket Victorian students - from whom the money spent on such promotion will quickly be recouped - want to read about something more useful than the fee reductions that the lift-out talks about, that will only affect a very small proportion of students.
Contained in the feature is an article: ‘Just Ask Jacinta', where swimmer Leisel Jones quizzes the Minister over her TAFE and VET reforms. Sadly, for me, the article seemed to raise more questions than it answered.
At one point, Leisel ponders: ‘Why is the government reforming the TAFE and training system?'
Jacinta answers that it's because ‘life is changing faster than ever'. Huh?
She goes on to say that's why 'we decided to reform training, ensuring there are more approved training providers and a greater choice of courses'.
I don't know that increasing the number of private providers will produce a ‘greater choice of courses'. Won't private providers simply focus on the most profitable (ie the most popular and cheapest to run) courses? Won't regional areas with their smaller populations suffer even more from the higher running costs and lack of economies of scale that you get in the country?
That's certainly what happened when Telstra was privatised.
more...National TAFE Day - good news needed
Today is National TAFE Day, and I'm up in Canberra, waiting to hear the Deputy Primary Minister Julia Gillard address TAFE representatives and politicians.
I'm hoping we're going to get some good news for a change.
It's about time our governments - in Canberra and Victoria - matched their rhetoric about opening up access to vocational education and training with some real action.
I'll be listening hard to what the DPM has to say, and how it marries up with what our state skills minister Jacinta Allan is doing here in Victoria.
Everything is at stake now for TAFE. Our politicians are so quick to say there should be no barriers to people getting the vocational education and training they need. VET is the foundation of a good solid economy, and it's part of the democratic right of our people.
Yet we've seen the amount of our nation's wealth spent on public VET fall for the past decade, and the spending per student hour drop by almost 10% between 2003 and 2007.
Across the country, the number of students completing diploma courses has been falling - and these aren't my figures, they're from Skills Australia.
more...TAFE gave me a career - more HECS would've stopped me
Encumbered already with a HECS debt from a previous degree that wasn't helping me find a job, I began the Diploma of Professional Writing and Editing at RMIT very glad that it wasn't going to put me further out of pocket.
What I came away with, aside from an entire world of contacts, friends, acquaintances - fellow professionals in the world of publishing, writing and editing - was a career.
Without the confidence and advice, training (not just in the classroom, but compulsory on-the-job training), skills and education that I gained in my two years at RMIT, there is little chance that Zoe Dattner and I - who met on day one of the diploma - would have ever had the capabilities required to publish the books we do.
If the diploma had cost me as much as it does under the TAFE changes, I wouldn't have been able to afford to do it; it is as simple as that.
more...Jacinta misses our big day out - but invites conversation
A hugely successful day in Bendigo today! There were nearly 100 TAFE students at Minister Jacinta Allan's office this morning, chanting "no fee hikes" and carrying backpacks with $2000 bills from the Bank of Jacinta to show the debts students will be left with.
While the Minister wasn't in her office, she acknowledged students' discontent at the increased TAFE fees with a letter handed out to the pack of protesters.
The large group of students - some angry, some worried - converged at the Minister's Bendigo office today to say one thing:
We don't want you to make it more difficult for us to go to TAFE.
Check the photos at http://tiny.cc/gUIK9. There were students who were single mothers trying to get retrained after their children had grown; several students who spoke of TAFE as the stepping stone that helped them get back into mainstream society after struggling with mental illness; there were families, elderly students, young men studying IT.
more...We're on our way to Bendigo
TAFE 4 All will be taking the campaign to Bendigo today with a rally outside Jacinta Allan's own electorate office to bring home to the skills minister the human cost of her policies.
more...Wouldn't happen at TAFE: students left in lurch as Geelong college collapses
The pattern is by now well established: dodgy private education provider goes bust; shell-shocked students lose their money and their places; local TAFEs absorb the load.
more...Regular school-leavers who change courses will be stung
The disadvantaged and disengaged young learner is going to be at great risk with the TAFE changes.
more...Minister tries (and fails) to fool angry Victorians
How else can we interpret Skills Minister Jacinta Allan new YouTube post? The video tries to defend the TAFE changes and sugar coats the increased fees and abolished concessions.
more...People will be stopped from taking steps forward
The most exciting thing about a TAFE campus is the diversity of learners.
more...Young people I teach need more opportunities - not more hurdles
Young people I teach need flexibility in education.
As a Youth Worker (8 years) and TAFE Teacher (4 years), in the last couple of years I have interviewed 600 early school leavers under the age of 19.
more...Minister's Waffle for Breakfast
Who heard Jacinta Allan this morning spruiking her government's TAFE changes on ABC breakfast radio?
more...Wake-up call for Jacinta Allan
The wellbeing of young Australians is declining, a new report by the Foundation for Young Australians (FYA) has revealed.
more...Sign our TAFE4All petition - now online
Nearly 2000 of you have already signed a hardcopy of the TAFE4All campaign petition to stop the Victorian Government's TAFE changes. This is great - but we're aiming for many more, which is why the petition is now online.
more...TAFE4All takes to the radio
Why is Minister for Skills Jacinta Allan putting TAFE out of reach for her own constituents - some of Victoria's poorest students?
more...TAFE changes scary for low-income families
The community sector knows about the impact of "user pays" on people living on low incomes and we're particularly concerned about user pays in Victorian TAFEs.
more...My son and I are both students - and can't afford a loan
These changes have hit both me and my son. We are both students, and we cannot afford a loan. My son recently completed a Diploma in Sports and Recreation and now he wants to undertake a Diploma of Business, for a better chance at a job.
more...Seeking the truth, not shiny propaganda
If you visit the government's "Skills Reform" website you may be excited by phrases such as ‘new funding to create over 170,000 new training places' or ‘upgrade TAFE facilities' and the one I love most ‘more opportunities for training throughout your adult life and flexible fee arrangements'.
more...International students know folly of Victoria's radical TAFE experiment
Congratulations to all those involved in TAFE4All for all your efforts so far.
So much is at stake in this campaign - not just in Victoria.
more...Shifting the cost of education - onto your shoulders
When we meet students in new secondary schools and TAFEs we are still finding that they are hearing about the changes to TAFE for the first time. They have no idea what's coming - and they are furious.
more...Others won't have the opportunity I had
As a single parent I would not have considered TAFE with such high fees. The Diploma of Welfare has opened so many doors not just for me, but for my children too.
more...This is my piece of paper
Marketisation reforms won't stop here
A hearty congratulations to the AEU for its TAFE4All campaign.
These TAFE changes not only affect TAFE teachers and TAFE professional, administrative, clerical, computing and technical staff, which the NTEU covers - but they have a direct impact in the higher education sector.
Accessible TAFE is critical to deliver new jobs
TAFEs have an important role as Australia faces the pressing challenge of skills for a growing workforce as well as the transition to a clean energy economy.
more...Folly to risk a national treasure
I've heard whispers about the TAFE fees and am appalled to think what such elevated fees will do to Professional Writing and Editing and the other writing programs. Especially since writing students can't usually look forward to earning a great deal of money on graduation with their new skills.
more...TAFE teachers will walk away
I've been a TAFE teacher for 20 years and I'm personally bewildered by the government's Skills Reform Agenda, and what it means not just for TAFE students, but for TAFE teachers too.
The reforms are an attack on the professionalism of TAFE teachers.
more...Reality hits home
We left Chisholm TAFE yesterday - 280 sausages later! - after meeting lots of young men and women who've already started hearing about the fee increases and abolished concession rates. Young students came along to find out more - and they were listening very intently.
more...Thousands to be shut out of education and training
The ACTU is a supporter of the TAFE 4 All campaign and of the provision of high quality, affordable and accessible training through the TAFE system for all Victorians.
TAFE is a cornerstone of the vocational education and training delivery systems.
more...Under TAFE changes I wouldn't be here
I'm at Gordon Institute in Geelong and I've nearly finished my Diploma of Community Welfare. The course changed my life; through it I've gained skills for life as well as for work.
more...
It's time for hypocrisy
Wait just a MINUTE.
Is Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard so confused as to not be able to see the lesson in her own message?
She says free education is the way to go - so why is her government supporting the Victoria Government introducing TAFE fees that are now many thousands of dollars?
more...Changing your mind just got a lot more expensive
Have you seen the new uni ads around town? They play on something that everyone seems to know except Jacinta Allan - that choosing a career is a tough call.
more...
Market approach will fail
The government’s idea that we should all have the entitlement to broader education and training opportunities sounds fair – it is a good thing to have a greater proportion of the population with higher levels of qualifications, and it is a good thing to broaden access to education and training. But we should be asking ourselves what training, and at what price?
more...Study was already difficult - now it's impossible
I come from a family where everyone's on welfare, in an area where everyone's on welfare and I've been trying really hard to get myself educated and out of the welfare system. It's hard work to stay in TAFE and study and pay for food and petrol and parking and books.
more...
Tough questions for Minister Allan
Did you see the advert in today's editions of the Herald Sun and The Age? We thought it was time to ask the Skills Minister Jacinta Allan directly why TAFE fees are almost tripling for many courses.
more...
Disabled students shut out by TAFE changes
I applied at Swinburne TAFE in the Diploma of Community Development after completing a leadership program for people with disabilities.
There were between 25 and 30 people doing the leadership program and to my knowledge I'm the only one continuing with education this year. A few people I've spoken with from last year's leadership group say the TAFE fees have really changed their mind with regards to continuing studies.
more...
Not happy Jacinta: message clear at TAFE4All conference
The TAFE4All conference on Friday 21 August kicked off the second phase of the TAFE 4 All campaign.
more...
TAFE changes need a serious rethink
Vocational education is an important sector in the community - it's an entry level for a lot of people and the government changes will see a door to education shutting for the people who really need it.
more...What do students say about the TAFE fee hikes?
Here's what:
more...
Doors close at open day
Open Day at our college was really tough. I met several mature aged potential students who were upset and angry to hear that they would be hit with over $10,000 in fees to re-train for work.
more...Take the TAFE survey
If you're a TAFE student the TAFE 4 All campaign would like to know your views on the Brumby Government's changes to the TAFE system. We are inviting you to complete a short survey - it takes less than five minutes to complete - and your responses will remain strictly confidential.
more...Heading home after a big week on the road
It’s been a big week for TAFE4All, as a week of visiting secondary schools around the state wraps up.
more...Angry public isn't afraid to speak up
Have you joined the TAFE4All Facebook group? If you have you will have seen even more stories from Victorians who are angry and worried about how the government's TAFE changes are affecting their education choices.
more...Secondary teachers riled up over TAFE changes
This week I've been hitting the secondary school campuses to talk to teachers and school staff about the hikes in TAFE fees and the scrapping of concession rates - and I can tell you, they're just as angry about it as the students and teachers I've met on TAFE campuses.
more...Claims of cost free a con job
I'm off to Kurnai College in Morwell today as the next leg of our TAFE 4 All campaign kicks off.
more...Minister Allan's misinformation
Skills Minister Jacinta Allan was pulled up by ABC Goulburn Murray Morning's host Joseph Thomsen for claiming low income earners will pay "zero" dollars for a TAFE diploma, when the changes she's responsible for will see them hit with a bill for $2500.
more...Students stand together against these changes
The Young Unionists' Network stands in solidarity with the AEU, TAFE teachers and students in opposing the Brumby Government's unfair reforms to the TAFE system.
more...Check out the TAFE4All truck
![Mobile billboard [debt truck 1.jpg]](pics/debt_truck_1.jpg "Mobile billboard [debt truck 1.jpg]") |
The TAFE4All mobile billboard is spreading the message across Victoria. Watch out for it on our visits to TAFE campuses in Shepparton, Warrnambool, Geelong, and Wodonga. The truck is out there telling the public what the government won't - that its changes to vocational education and training are going to cost you money. |
Frustration across Victoria
In Bendigo last week I met a 60-year-old woman as disappointed as she was furious.
more...TAFE out of reach
Deciding to quit my job and study writing, at the age of 44, was like stepping out of a plane and going into free-fall - a fantastic but terrifying thrill.
more...Locked out of the workplace
The Brumby Government's changes to the TAFE system will have a devastating impact on mature unemployed people (the over-40s) who are retraining to return to work, people who have been parenting, carers, injured and so-forth.
more...Sense of disbelief on campus
I've just come back from central Gippsland and the Newborough TAFE campus, talking to students and teachers about the Government's skills reforms.
more...System we need to protect
Did you know 80% of Victorians are unaware of exactly what the State Government is doing to the TAFE system?
more...Young people told to skill up - but pay more
In a display of incredible hypocrisy the Federal Government has told young people they need to skill up - just as increased Victorian TAFE fees kick in.
more...Wouldn't happen at TAFE: students left in lurch as Geelong college collapses
The pattern is by now well established: dodgy private education provider goes bust; shell-shocked students lose their money and their places; local TAFEs absorb the load.
more...New video: don't mess up our TAFEs!
Check out our new TAFE 4 All video on the difference between public and private for TAFE students.
more...Proudly funded & supported by:
