Celebrating National TAFE Day
Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 128 No 7, 29 September 2023, page no. 10
On the morning of Wednesday 6 September, our AEU/QTU National TAFE Council delegation arrived at Parliament House in Canberra.
It was gratifying to hear the Minister for Skills and Training, the Hon. Brendan O’Connor MP, address TAFE as a matter of national importance. In his opening speech in the House of Representatives, he expressed the desire to celebrate National TAFE Day, the achievements of students, teachers, trainers and support staff, and the contributions made to our communities and country.
He acknowledged the AEU members and TAFE teachers in the gallery who were there “quite rightly, to hear how important TAFE is to this country.”
He stated that the TAFE sector is one of our greatest national assets and that it is vital to address the skills shortage facing the country if we are to meet the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
He reiterated the commitment to at least 70 per cent of Commonwealth VET funding going to TAFE, and he is seeking agreement from the states and territories to match this. The five-year $13 billion National Skills Agreement (NSA) with the states and territories will establish TAFE Centres of Excellence for critical needs in vital areas of our economy, including clean energy, sovereign capability, care, education and support, and digital technology. The NSA will also build a national TAFE leadership network to support the quality of teaching and learning.
The current fee-free TAFE arrangements include agriculture, care, construction, defence, early childhood education, hospitality and tourism, sovereign capability, and technology and digital. Fee-free TAFE enrolments have been strong across all priority sectors, with 215,000 enrolments and a further 300,000 fee-free TAFE places, starting from January next year.
The Minister acknowledged that none of this would be possible without the dedication and professionalism of our TAFE teachers and trainers. He declared that TAFEs drive social and economic development across the country and are vital to prepare the next generation of skilled workers, as a focal point for students, local communities, local industries, unions, employers, local governments, schools, and universities.
He stated that TAFE needs to be supported with strategic investment to address skill shortages in this country, and is the most important public provider of technical skills in this country.
Subsequently, 11 members rose to voice their support for TAFE as the premier public provider of vocational education and training and to thank its dedicated educators.
A further session in the party committee room presented an opportunity for feedback to the Minister, emphasising a critical need for a review of training packages to streamline content and development, and to address duplication, insufficient time for learning and the mass of assessment.
An independent feedback session with the GreenS Senator Mehreen Faruqui highlighted how passionate she was, as a former teacher, about supporting TAFE and educators in their vital role of servicing our students, industries and communities. The Senator felt that TAFE should be free to students.