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On Friday 28 October, World Teachers Day will be celebrated in many States of Australia.
The TAFE teaching workforce represents the huge number of courses TAFEs have on scope. This creates amazing diversity of teachers who are current in their trades such as plumbers, carpenters, hairdressers and electricians. 
It also includes teachers who have transitioned from the health industry to deliver nursing, aged care, and other health related courses. Both trades and health teachers work side by side with teachers of creative industries, teachers of technology, and teachers of business and finance. The list goes on.
The brand of TAFE gives students and industry confidence that their teachers are current in the industry area where they are delivering vocational education and training. Teachers develop strong partnerships with employers for customised outcomes. A great example is the story of the Queensland Future Skills Partnership where BHP Mitsubishi Alliance identified a need requiring the fast-tracked development and delivery of automated technology pathways, skill sets and qualifications This resulted in new training products in automated technology. Teachers were fundamental to this development and delivery. Read about the case study on www.tda.edu.au.
Responding to industry and creating innovative solutions for delivery is part of a teacher’s role. So is supporting students and continuing to deliver through challenging times. At the TDA Convention 2022 next month we will hear from teachers and how they adapted their delivery to respond to COVID lockdowns, we will hear from teachers about the steps they take to support marginalised students, and we will hear from teachers who are collaborating with other TAFE teachers across the country to develop great outcomes for their industries. All great stories that demonstrate why TAFE is the heart of the training system.
At the TDA Convention 2022 we will also be recognising teachers at the inaugural TAFE Staff Recognition Awards. Many of the finalists for these awards are teachers from different TAFEs, while others are those who support teachers in their roles.
The TAFE brand is about the quality of the TAFE workforce. On Friday, as part of World Teachers Day, TDA celebrates the TAFE teaching workforce.
A host of TAFE institutes, teachers, students and industry partners feature in the finalists for the Australian Training Awards, announced last Thursday.
Canberra Institute of Technology and Bendigo TAFE and Kangan Institute are in the running for the Large Training Provider of the Year Award.
Box Hill Institute’s Augmented Reality in Construction initiative is a finalist for the Innovation in VET Award.
Two TAFE industry partnerships are finalists for the Industry Collaboration Award. One is the Queensland Future Skills Partnership that includes BHP Mitsubishi Alliance, CQUniversity and TAFE Queensland.
The other is a WA Department of Justice project that includes Central Regional TAFE, North Metropolitan TAFE, South Metropolitan TAFE, South Regional TAFE and multiple industry partners.
Kangan Institute’s Susan Shaw is a finalist in the Excellence in Language, Literacy and Numeracy Practice Award.
TAFE teachers, Richard Lindsay (CIT), Ronelle Sheehan (TAFE Queensland), Matthew Fraser (TasTAFE) and Rebecca Toleman (South West TAFE) are finalists for the VET Teacher/Trainer of the Year Award.
TAFE students are well represented in the Apprentice of the Year, Trainee of the Year and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Student of the Year Awards.
Winners will be announced at the Adelaide Convention Centre on Friday 18 November.
See a complete list of the 2022 Australian Training Awards finalists
The Australian Skills Authority (ASQA) has had its authority for the assurance of training packages removed, just months before it was due to commence.
ASQA announced on Friday that “The Australian Government has decided (in consultation with states and territories) that the Training Package Assurance function will not transition to the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA).
“Instead, the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations will establish an independent Training Package Assurance function to ensure training products meet national standards.”
Last March, the former government announced that ASQA, as the independent body, would be responsible for training package assurance from 1 January 2023.
Friday’s announcement says that DEWR is well placed to undertake the training package assurance function due to the collaboration to date with ASQA.
DEWR’s role in the assurance of training packages will be in place for when the new Industry Clusters are formed. It is expected DEWR’s ongoing role will be reviewed during 2023.
The number of apprentices and trainees jumped in the March quarter, coinciding with the final months of the Commonwealth’s apprentice wage subsidy.
Apprentice and trainee commencements increased by 23.6%, to 85,470 in the year to the March quarter, the highest quarterly level since the June quarter 2012 when it hit 126,180, according to NCVER.
Commencements in non-trade occupations were up 41.1% over the year, while trade commencements were up 7.8%.
The accommodation sector had the largest increase in commencements (51%), followed by manufacturing (37.7%), and administrative and support services (21.7%).
The Commonwealth’s Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements (BAC) wage subsidy ended at the end of June.
The figures show that completions increased by 11.5% to 22,310 in the year to March, while cancellations and withdrawals increased by 28.2%, to 29,870.
With just over three weeks to go until the TDA Convention 2022, TDA is very much looking forward to welcoming its members, partners and supporters to Adelaide from 15-17 November to be part of the conversation on Courage, Change and Challenge: The Future of TAFE.
TDA would like to warmly thank all of the sponsors and exhibitors supporting the TDA Convention 2022 as well as the host partner, TAFE SA.
In addition to a keynote address from Danielle Wood, CEO, Grattan Institute, and a panel of industry experts focusing on skills solutions, the first day of the Convention will feature a media panel reflecting on the Commonwealth Government’s response to Australia’s skills challenges and the outlook for the future of TAFE. The panel will include:
Further information on the TDA Convention 2022 is available here.
TasTAFE has launched a new 10-year Strategic Plan that will to guide the future of Tasmania’s public training provider.
Reimagining TasTAFE is TasTAFE’s guide to becoming a future-focused, market-aligned training provider and provides a roadmap to what success will look like in 2032.
Launching the plan at an event with industry and community representatives and TasTAFE, TasTAFE CEO Grant Dreher said: “What, where and how people want to learn has informed our strategic plan, along with feedback from industry around their workforce needs.
“Increased automation and industries wanting a more flexible approach to training has influenced TasTAFE’s future direction. It is not about changing what we do well, but recognising the world of work is changing, especially as we emerge from COVID, and we need to prepare our learners for the future.”
Mr Dreher said the plan would benefit Tasmania through its three main purposes:
“The plan puts the Learner at the Centre, it recognises that if TasTAFE’s learners succeed, everyone benefits. Learners get meaningful employment; industry gets skilled workers; the community get productive citizens and young Tasmanians have great role models and can clearly see how our training can set them up for success.”
Image: TasTAFE CEO, Grant Dreher, with Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Business Services Manager, Stacey Joseph, who hosted a question and answer session at the southern launch of TasTAFE’s 10 year Strategic Plan.
Approximately 13,000 students are impacted by the collapse of Inspire Education.
The Brisbane-based RTO was placed into liquidation on 12 October. The liquidator, Worrells, has published a notice to students.
“Unfortunately this means your course through Inspire Education has been halted,” the note from Worrells advises.
“We are currently exploring if another Registered Training Organisation is interested in taking over the provision of services,” it says.
Inspire delivered certificate and diploma courses in areas such as child care, aged care, disability, accounting, and business administration, largely online.
The ABC reports that about 13,000 students and 40 local staff are impacted by the collapse.
Relaxed regulatory arrangements for international students that were put in place during the COVID pandemic will come to an end by mid next year.
In March 2020, TEQSA and ASQA announced flexibility in regulatory arrangements for international higher education and VET students studying either in Australia or offshore.
In particular, ASQA and TEQSA relaxed the requirements in the National Code for students to attend face-to-face learning and enabled providers to deliver their courses on-line, in recognition of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
ASQA now expects that all providers will transition to normal regulatory arrangements by 30 June 2023, where it is safe and practical to do so.
“ASQA expects that providers will actively adjust modes of delivery and student support services to comply with the National Code,” ASQA says.
The Human Services Skills Organisation (HSSO) is hosting a series of free events around Australia to address critical issues for the care and support sector.
The event, ‘Confronting the Challenge: The future care and support workforce’, will take place in capital cities and online between October and December.
The half-day sessions bring together prominent speakers from Australia and the United Kingdom with industry leaders to discuss how to attract and retain the right people with the skills to meet current and future demand.
AVETRA OctoberVET
October 2022
More information
2022 National VET Conference
Velg Training
3-4 November 2022
Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre
More information
TDA Convention 2022
Courage, Change and Challenge – the Future of TAFE
15-17 November 2022
Adelaide
More information
VDC Teaching & Learning Conference
VET Development Centre
17 & 18 November 2022 (Online)
More information
TEQSA Conference
23-24 November 2022
Sofitel Melbourne on Collins (and online)
More information
AVETRA 2023 Conference
27-28 April 2023
Melbourne
More information
World Federation of Colleges and Polytechnics (WFCP) 2023 World Congress
23-25 April 2023
Montréal, Canada
Journal of Vocational Education and Training (JVET) Conference
13-15 July 2023
Keble College, Oxford, UK
More information
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