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Paul Keating once famously said John Hewson was “simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up”!
Today, TAFEs are the spine waiting for the shiver.
At its meeting in Hobart last week the TDA board renewed its commitment to working with the government of the day to grow the effectiveness of tertiary education in Australia.
There’s enough of a platform under the Morrison Government. Minister Dan Tehan is charged with re-tuning the Melbourne Declaration for schooling, responding to the review of the Australian Qualifications Framework and contemplating whether to adjust the higher education provider category standards to generate greater diversity in higher education. Senator Cash and Assistant Minister Irons need to contemplate the import of all of Joyce’s recommendations, quite apart from those taken up in the Budget.
TAFEs are central in all these areas – the stepping off point to a career and the scaffold for people wanting to re-enter work, change career and build their education credentials on the way to higher education. Everything hangs off a strong backbone.
One thing clear from Joyce’s recommendations on VET is the problem doesn’t rest with TAFEs. Often cited as the reason for introducing competition in the sector, TAFEs, nor their supposed laggard-ways, don’t rate a mention. Apart from lamenting some poor private provision under VET FEE-HELP, he points to failings in planning, regulation practice, accreditation and poor leadership.
As institutions established and governed by states and territories (including TAFE divisions of dual sector universities) they are the power for good in economic advancement of the state and the regions they serve through applied learning.
They leverage off their stock for the public good, whether it’s their operational footprint, the industry relevant facilities or in their expertise.
That’s why the theme of this year’s TDA convention is The Power of TAFE. If there’s a network of institutions upon which to rebuild the sector, then its TAFEs.
TAFE leaders were also hosted by Jeremy Rockliff, Deputy Premier, Minister for Education and Training, Infrastructure, Advanced Manufacturing and Defence Industries, and the chair of the TasTAFE board, Mike Blake.
In the Deputy Premier’s speech he reflected on the role of TAFE in Tasmania as a key agent for economic advancement and transformation. And importantly, while recognising the role fulfilled by the range of providers in Tasmania he said, “People across Tasmania respect the TAFE brand,” a sentiment he felt is echoed across the land. “People want their TAFE to succeed,” he concluded.
In other news this week it was confirmed that VET functions move departments to the new Department of Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business, with the Adult Migrant English Program transferring to the Department of Home Affairs.
Responding to questions during the week about the impact of the move on an integrated or coherent tertiary sector, Minister Tehan said there’d be good collaboration with Ministers Cash and Irons.
TAFEs can be the link as they serve students across the two sectors. TDA will advocate for cohesion in the policy settings.
‘The Power of TAFE’ is in Brisbane on Tuesday 3 September to Thursday 5 September. Put the dates aside in your calendars.
Left to right: Mike Blake, Chair of TasTAFE; Jeremy Rockliff MLA Deputy Premier; Craig Robertson; Jenny Dodd, CEO of TasTAFE; and Mary Faraone, Chair TDA.
There are significant changes afoot for the administration of VET following the transfer of portfolio responsibilities from the former Department of Education and Training to the new Department of Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business.
The new Administrative Arrangements Order sets out the scope of the departmental changes which follow the appointment of Senator Michaelia Cash as Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business, and Steve Irons as Assistant Minister for Vocational Education, Training and Apprenticeships.
The Department of Education and Training becomes the Department of Education. Its key personnel with responsibility for VET and apprenticeships will transition to the Employment portfolio under Secretary Ms Kerri Hartland.
The Employment portfolio, previously overseen by minister Kelly O’Dwyer who retired ahead of the federal election, will lose responsibility for industrial relations, which moves to the Attorney-General’s portfolio.
Meanwhile, Education also loses responsibility for migrant adult education which shifts to the Home Affairs portfolio. TDA acknowledges the collaborative spirit with which Michele Bruniges, Secretary of the Department of Education and Training, engaged with TDA and TAFEs.
Where VET international education will be housed is not yet clear.
Labor’s former deputy leader, Tanya Plibersek, has retained the education and training portfolio in the new frontbench lineup, announced yesterday by Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese.
Ms Plibersek relinquished the deputy leader’s position to the new Shadow Minister for Defence, Richard Marles after the election, but remains in charge of education and training.
In the outer shadow ministry, Graham Perrett was appointed Shadow Assistant Minister for Education and Training, and Ged Kearney as Shadow Assistant Minister for Skills.
Other changes see Kristina Keneally appointed Shadow Minister for Home Affairs; Bill Shorten made Shadow Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme and for Government Services; Dr Jim Chalmers as Shadow Treasurer; and Chris Bowen the new Shadow Minister for Health.
See the ALP Shadow Ministry list.
Three leaders in vocational education and training have given their insights into what could be expected under the new Morrison government in the area of tertiary education.
VET consultant Claire Field interviewed the sector leaders as part of a new series of podcasts – the first titled ‘What Now? What Next? Insights into Australia’s tertiary education sector’.
The CEO of TDA Craig Robertson addressed the proposal for a National Skills Commission as recommended by the Joyce Review of VET and accepted by the government in the Budget in April.
“I think it is important that we do have that skills commission as proposed. The question is, is it a skills commission in terms of forecasting labour market demand? Is it about bringing together the qualification requirements of a particular industry? Or, in fact, is it a purchaser? I think as a good first step, they should be looking at what’s the nature of the change in the economy and then going from that point onwards,” he said.
The National Executive Officer of the National Apprentice Employment Network, Dianne Dayhew welcomed new incentive payments to both employers and apprentices to drive the uptake of apprenticeships and traineeships, but warned that recruiting mature age apprentices is increasingly a challenge for employers.
“Sometimes the incentive (payment) is just not enough in relation to the award wage that a mature-aged apprentice needs to be paid.
“Often, we have these amazing candidates that are applying for apprenticeships, but they have to compete with the lower cost of taking on a younger apprentice.”
The chair of the Independent Tertiary Education Council Australia (formerly ACPET) Alexis Watt said he was “pretty underwhelmed” with the policy offerings from both major parties at the federal election.
“There’s a really marked lack of valuation, is how I describe it, of VET as a sector of our economy, as an engine room of economic contribution, productivity, social value, human capital development.
He singled out the area of training package development for reform, saying that while the current process was “structurally logical”, it had become unwieldy and was not keeping pace with the needs of the economy.
It’s likely to be small steps toward VET reform under the newly elected Morrison government, rather than the wholesale change expected under Labor, according to two leading tertiary education experts.
In their latest newsletter, KPMG’s National Education Sector Lead, Professor Stephen Parker and Director, Management Consulting, Andrew Dempster say TAFEs, universities and private providers now have certainty about who they will be working with over the next three years – even if the overall vision for tertiary education is still taking shape.
They say that “big bang” reform of the tertiary sector now appears off the agenda, with Labor’s promised inquiry into post-secondary education consigned by voters to history.
“In this term of government, reform is likely to be more incremental in nature – a series of small policy changes, each of which is difficult to take issue with, but which overall add up to significant change in the tertiary landscape,” they say.
They note that the demise of uncapped funding for public universities will be “a disappointment to many but a mixed blessing for some”.
“A restoration of the demand-driven system for public universities in the absence of broader funding reform would have further exacerbated the differences between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’.”
The VET sector will continue to experience challenges, they say.
“Public TAFEs find themselves competing against a range of fast-moving training providers with lower cost bases and more productive workplace arrangements, and they have been less successful than universities in balancing the books with international student revenue.”
The Federal Court has found that the failed private training college, Vocation, and its former key executives including chair John Dawkins, CEO Mark Hutchinson, and CFO Manvinder Gréwal made misleading statements regarding the company’s financial position.
Last Friday, the court delivered its judgement in ASIC’s civil penalty proceedings against Vocation, which is now in liquidation.
The proceedings relate to statements made to the ASX and in documents relating to a fully underwritten placement to institutional and sophisticated investors in 2014 and a review undertaken by the Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD) into two of Vocation’s registered training organisations.
Under the terms of the settlement reached between Vocation and DEECD, Vocation lost almost $20 million in government funding and the two main RTOs (BAWM and Aspin) relinquished their funding contracts.
The court found that Vocation made misleading and deceptive statements to the ASX and UBS and contravened its continuous disclosure obligations.
It found that Mr Hutchinson and Mr Dawkins contravened section 180 of the Act by causing or permitting Vocation’s contravention of the continuous disclosure obligations.
Also, Mr Hutchinson and Mr Gréwal contravened section 180 of the Act by causing or permitting Vocation’s contravention of continuous disclosure obligations in relation to an ASX announcement and a due diligence questionnaire.
ASIC Commissioner Cathie Armour said: “ASIC regards statements that mislead or withhold material information as risking serious damage to the integrity and operation of the Australian market.”
The court will hear further submissions as to penalty on a date to be fixed. ASIC will be seeking pecuniary penalties against the officers, disqualification orders and costs.
While Australia grapples with possible tertiary education reform, the UK government has been handed a sweeping review, launched by Prime Minister Theresa May, that examined the entire post-secondary education sector.
The Review of Post-18 Education and Funding (the Augar Review) describes post-18 (tertiary) education in England as a “story of both care and neglect, depending on whether students are amongst the 50 per cent of young people who participate in higher education (HE) or the rest.”
The report identifies critical factors that effectively discriminate between universities and further education (FE) colleges, saying there are essentially two different systems for funding universities and the college sector.
“The one allows uncapped student numbers, is unrestricted in the application of funds and until recently did not have to be recognised in the public accounts for 30 years. The other caps numbers, is restrictive in the use of funds and has to be accounted for upfront in public expenditure,” the report says.
In addressing deepening skills shortages and the relatively small number of people attaining higher level skills, it says “The much needed increase in higher technical and intermediate skills provision will only occur if FE is equipped and able to provide it; moreover, for adults at all skill levels, opportunities will only open up through high quality locally accessible institutions.”
The Chief Executive of the Association of Colleges in the UK, David Hughes, said that whoever becomes the UK’s next prime minister has a tough task ahead with widening skills gaps and stagnating social mobility.
“The recommendations in this report tackle both head on and should be a priority from day one in the job,” he said.
See the Association of College’s checklist of how the review measures up against priorities.
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