TAFE

Within days of Kevin Rudd's federal election win on the promise of an education revolution, the NSW Government has launched plans to restructure the TAFE system and slash key services.

Linda Simon, secretary of the TAFE teachers union in NSW, said the jobs of staff who support students with disabilities, refugees and women returning to work were under threat.

Plans to lift the school leaving age from 16 to 17 in 2009 and open the first of 10 new Trade Schools for the Future were outlined by Premier Mike Rann today as part of wide ranging measures to ensure all young South Australians are in school, training or work.

The $79.3 million ‘school to work’ reform measures to have all young people ‘learning or earning’ include:

The public vocational education and training (VET) system is now one of the few areas in Australia’s tertiary education system where students are required to pay up-front fees without access to loan assistance. These arrangements may lead to sub-optimal educational outcomes to the extent that prospective students reject a VET education on the basis of short-term financial constraints.

University graduates are increasingly being forced to enrol in TAFE courses to improve their job prospects, with students armed with arts and science degrees finding they do not have the skills to enter the workforce.

New data shows one in five students enrolled in some technical courses had completed university but required further study to obtain employment in their desired field.