the option of targeting only profitable areas of delivery. The reputation of the sector overall depends on a sustainable and quality TAFE network.
3. Ban on subcontracting delivery of courses to unregistered providers
If contestable models remain, the proportion of government vocational education funding allocated contestably should be capped at 30%, with the remainder reserved for TAFE. This will stabilise the sector and provide certainty for students while still permitting sufficient competition to drive innovation in course design and delivery, where this is required. State Governments should also continue to provide or re-establish block funding for TAFE to maintain infrastructure, support services for at-risk students, and to support the many other roles it plays in the community.
Based on the practices that have already come to light, there is a strong case for prohibiting crossselling between business divisions, and subcontracting delivery to other providers, particularly those who are not registered RTOs. Moreover, rather than solely audit individual RTO brands, an enhanced quality framework would consider enterprises as a whole, to seek better visibility of where responsibility for each component of training delivery lies.
4. Better regulation of RTOs’ recruiting practices and business models
AEU TAFE Secretary, Pat Forward
If it is not possible to regulate for profit providers effectively because of the way they structure their operations then at the very least, quality assurance should also scrutinise the business models of for-profit providers. This would include how they market to and recruit students.
5. An end to governments manipulating subsidies for private RTOs
Jurisdictions should abandon the practice of regularly manipulating subsidy levels for particular courses or units of competency in response to distortions in the market and rent seeking behaviour by providers. This only rewards gaming and punishes providers that invest the subsidies in quality educational delivery. A preferable approach is to limit access to subsidies in the first place by requiring RTOs to meet quality requirements that are stricter than the Australian Quality Training Framework. This article is an excerpt from a report prepared for the Australian Education Union in January 2015. The full report can be accessed at www.aeufederal.org.au. //
ACT Educator Magazine \ AEU ACT Branch
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