Arte-non-Vi

Tag: TAFE

  • Skills, Gender and all that stuff….

    At a time when Gender equity is so prominent in much media coverage, both within Australia and across the Globe, it is also sobering to consider the structural challenges faced by girls entering the workforce and adult-hood for the first time here in Victoria.

    This graph shows Vet is Schools [VETiS] enrolments for Girls as a ratio of the Boys enrolments. 0% would mean there is an equal percentage of both boys and girls enrolled. A negative percentage [i.e. Building and Construction] shows girls are under-represented. A positive percentage [i.e. Community Services and Health] shows girls are over-represented.

    VETiS Gender Bias 2011 - Victoria
    Gender Bias – VETiS – Victoria 2011

    Where are future opportunities for girls?

    Where are the proposed cuts being made?

    The current and proposed cuts to TAFE programmes, listed here [PDF] by the AEU,   further enforces an already structural disadvantage for girls and young women.  Compounding rural and regional disadvantage and the already stark labour-market inequities that have occurred over the last twenty years, there is little or no defence in my view for the changes as I understand them.

    These changes do not encourage or address the growing lack of job-ready individuals and further solidifies a structural bias that I doubt few inside “urban” policy contexts seem to  really understand. Given the responses to these announcements, it does not appear Gender issues were considered appropriately.  This is a matter of both social cohesion and stark regional economic development that should be reconsidered with the highest priority.

    There is nothing like good public policy to improve regional and rural competitiveness;  these proposed cuts are nothing like good public policy.

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  • Vale Professor Jack Keating

    Vale Jack Keating.

    A teacher, colleague, mentor and friend; Jack, you will be missed.

    Those that have had anything to do with post-compulsory education in Victoria, Australia or around the world, will understand the loss to our field.

    Thank you Jack.

    Lector si monumentum requiris circumspice

     

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  • VET docs available online

    A collection of vocational education and training (VET) related research and policy documents from various regions of the world are now available online on VOCED, including many of the older print-based copies.

    VOCED is the international research database with over 35,000 documents available.

    Link: New international documents available on VOCED.

  • VET Priorities 2009

    The National Quality Council has identified five Action Groups to work on achieving 5 priorities for 2009. They are: Vet Products for the 21st Century, Quality of Assessment Action Group, Skills for Sustainability Action Group, International VET Action Group, and National Consistency Action Group.

    National Quality Council agrees on priorities.

  • VET FEE-HELP Information 2009

    New information has been added to the VET FEE-HELP web pages.

    This booklet gives the most current information about accessing VET FEE-HELP assistance to pay for all or part of VET tuition fees. It is applicable to full fee-paying students in one or more of the following courses: a diploma, an advanced diploma, a graduate certificate, and a graduate diploma.

    Link –

    Download PDF
    PDF

    VET Fee Help 2009

  • SA Tafe numbers fall

    Fall in TAFE applications in South Australia. The overall numbers of applications to TAFESA have fallen by about nine hundred. There is high demand for courses in nursing, teaching, police studies and graphic design. However, only 10% of students are admitted through the SA Tertiary Admissions Centre (SATAC); many other students gain entry through a different process. [Vocational Education & Training Headlines -ABC]

  • HECS and TAFE

    Structurally, this has been coming for a while and I can see some value in this if it is done correctly. There are dangers however, most notably in setting a price hurdle that will stop many from undertaking the very skills path they need because the risk/reward equation of deferred loans in this sector will be based on a lower average income stream over time than those in degree and higher ed pathways…

    Farah Tomazin in The Age writes:

    TAFE students could soon pay for their courses through a HECS-style loan scheme under radical plans by the Brumby Government to tackle the skills crisis.

    As part of a massive shake-up of vocational education and training, the State Government is considering whether to introduce an income-contingent loan scheme similar to the HECS system offered at universities.

    Link: HECS-style system flagged for TAFE students.

  • TTF – Tasmanian Tafe’s Future

    TAFE sees future success in company partnerships.

    The head of TAFE Tasmania says the future of the organisation lies in working with local corporations to create unique training courses. [ABC News: Business Stories]

  • HECS for TAFE ?

    Merit, yes… Although assumptions about future returns are predicated on current labour-force structures? The debt/liability is permanent!  Jobs… not so much?

    HECS for TAFE: the case for extending income contingent loans.

    In this paper, a case is argued for introducing an income contingent loan to the VET sector. The economic underpinning is similar to the Higher Education Scheme (HECS) which is identified as a useful guide. It is established that there is significant returns from a VET qualification.

    For example, diplomas and associated diplomas are associated with rates of return of around 8-10 per cent per annum for men, and about 10-14 per cent per annum for women. These statistics are comparable to those investments that are usually cited for undergraduate higher education degrees. [edna education news]