TAFE folly: privatisation fears for SA

Educators are mounting a fierce campaign against the privatisation of TAFE in South Australia, fearing it will bankrupt the sector just as demand for skills is set to soar.

AEU Federal TAFE secretary Pat Forward is making a flying visit to Adelaide to address educators and politicians about the risk of throwing vocational education to the marketplace wolves.

Ms Forward says Victoria was the first state to adopt fully contestable Vocational Education and Training funding. It’s proven disastrous.

“Since Victoria opened up its vocational education sector to private Training Organisations – that is, competition with private providers hungry for profits – 16 of that state’s 18 TAFEs are running at a loss and face collapse.” 

“The private providers cherry pick the lucrative, low cost training sectors for maximum profit, stripping funds from the already financially stressed TAFEs which are left struggling to provide the high cost trades training required to overcome skills shortages.”

“The Victorian government says it has created more student places, but these places are not in areas of industry demand and therefore have fragile employment outcomes. There are significant questions about the quality of courses. Some offer diplomas in as little as 4 days. Students think that because the course has received government funding it must be legitimate, but the sad reality is standards are falling and the sector’s reputation is at risk. Private providers in Victoria are trashing the brand.” 

“South Australia is the next state to head down that path with its Skills For All ‘reform’ which, despite Minister Tom Kenyon’s protestations, follows an eerily similar blueprint to that pursued in Victoria. South Australia should not rush lemming-like after them.”

Ms Forward says under the Howard government there was an imperative for states to open up Vocation Education and Training to competition or lose federal funding. That requirement appears to have eased since Labor’s election, giving South Australia a crucial opportunity to reassess and avoid the pitfalls of their neighbor.

“Already we’ve seen TAFE workers here taking a stand to stop governments from ruining the TAFE system. Last term more than 350 of them wrote to their state MPs and it clearly touched a nerve, with the TAFE bureaucracy threatening disciplinary action.”

“Perhaps most damning of all, this fixation by governments on pursuing a ‘market’ agenda and forcing TAFEs to compete for ever reducing funding with private-for-profit providers is not addressing skills shortages.

“South Australia is regenerating its economy with a renewed focus on mining and defence and will need skilled workers – but if the training system collapses locals will be locked out of jobs and skills imported from overseas. That hardly meets new Premier Jay Weatherill’s objective of sharing the wealth” Ms Forward says.

Follow this link to the AEU's Invest in Quality, Invest in TAFE campaign page for more information.

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