tatt_spring2021

THE AUSTRALIAN

TAFE TEACHER VOL 55/3

SPRING 2021

The Future is TAFE Respect at work Improve your practice – latest and established strategies

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Recognising and rewarding Nominations open for the

Arthur Hamilton Award This is your chance to celebrate AEU members who are making an outstanding contribution to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education.

The Arthur Hamilton Award commemorates the achievements of Arthur Hamilton, a Palawa man who was active in promoting social justice, fostering the voice of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander educators and campaigning for the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to access a high-quality public education.

The winner will receive a $1500 prize and their work will be recognised by the AEU in an appropriate public forum in 2022, depending on COVID advice at the time.

All nominees will receive a certificate from the AEU.

Get nominating!

Download your nomination form at: aeufederal.org.au/our-work/indigenous or request a nomination form from Suzanne Lowndes: (03) 9693 1800 slowndes@aeufederal.org.au

Pictured from top: Jeanene Booth from Caulfield South Primary School in VIC and Kayla White from Camden Haven High School in NSW were the joint winners of the 2020 Arthur Hamilton Award.

Closing date for nominations is Friday 17 December 2021.

Find out more

Visit aeufederal.org.au/our-work/indigenous or contact AEU Federal Secretary, Susan Hopgood: aeu@aeufederal.org.au

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Contents 05

CELEBRATING

The Official Journal of the TAFE Division of the Australian Education Union VOL56 • N0.3 • SPRING 2021

Australian TAFE Teacher (ISSN: 0815-3701) is published for the Australian Education Union by Heads & Tales.

The magazine is circulated to all TAFE members of the AEU nationally.

Heads & Tales, Ground Level, Building 1, 658 Church St, Richmond 3121 Tel: (03) 8520 6444 • Fax: (03) 8520 6422 Email: tafeteacher@hardiegrant.com

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PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY IN TEACHING

AEU and subscription enquiries: Australian Education Union Federal Office, PO Box 1158, South Melbourne Victoria 3205 Tel: (03) 9693 1800 • Fax: (03) 9693 1805 Email: aeu@aeufederal.org.au facebook.com/AEUfederal @AEUfederal Editor Susan Hopgood Publisher Fiona Hardie Account manager Hannah Louey Art director Dallas Budde Design Natalie Lachina Printer Printgraphics Printgreen Circulation: 11,000 Copyright rests with the writers, the AEU and Heads & Tales.

No part of this publication may be reproduced without the prior permission of the copyright holders. The opinions expressed in the magazine are not necessarily the official policy of the AEU.

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CHANGES TO AMEP FLAGGED

Your national TAFE Council Executive members:

Features

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THE FUTURE IS TAFE Education is not a business NEW CENTRE FOR VET RESEARCH Launch of the new Carmichael Centre NEW TAFE APPROACH TO GENDER EQUALITY Free evidence-based tools CHANGES TO AMEP FLAGGED AEU rejects outcomes based funding model NATIONAL TAFE DAY A round-up of the festivities IN CONVERSATION WITH SALLY MCMANUS ACTU Secretary talks TAFE TASTAFE PRIVATISATION FEAR TasTAFE must remain in the hands of Tasmanians

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Federal TAFE President Michelle Purdy

PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY IN TEACHING What why and how?

TRICKS OF THE TRADE A TAFE teacher shares teaching tips LESSONS FROM SCOTLAND The Education Institute of Scotland faces a double-edged sword LESSONS IN VET What Australia can learn from Scotland, England and Finland

Regulars

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PRESIDENT’S REPORT

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AROUND AUSTRALIA

Federal TAFE Secretary Maxine Sharkey

ACT Karen Noble aeuact@aeuact.org.au • 02 6272 7900 • aeuact.org.au NSW Philip Chadwick mail@nswtf.org.au • 02 9217 2100 • nswtf.org.au NT Vacant admin@aeunt.org.au • 08 8948 5399 • aeunt.org.au QLD Dave Terauds qtu@qtu.asn.au • 07 3512 9000 • qtu.asn.au SA Vacant aeusa@aeusa.asn.au • 08 8172 6300 • aeusa.asn.au TAS Simon Bailey support@aeutas.org.au • 03 6234 9500 • aeutas.org.au VIC Elaine Gillespie melbourne@aeuvic.asn.au • 03 9417 2822 • aeuvic.asn.au WA Gary Hedger contact@sstuwa.org.au • 08 9210 6000 • sstuwa.org.au

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President’s column

From the president

Everyone has the right to feel safe, equal and respected at work.

Michelle Purdy AEU Federal TAFE President

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And from a Prime Minister who famously said on a past International Women’s Day that he did not want ‘women to rise only on the basis of others doing worse’.

That means it is up to us to change the story.

Our Watch has also developed a number of free, accessible evidencedbased resources that can support a whole-of-TAFE approach to making sure we are doing the most we can to tackle gender inequality, for students, educators and the entire TAFE community. See our story on page 7 in this issue for more details.

I’m not suggesting that a few activities are going to create the cultural change that we need, but it is a step in the right direction and one way of sending a message that Enough is Enough.

Pictured: AEU women at the March 4 Justice

“It’s a huge failure, but not surprising from a government that spent 30 times more on tax cuts than economic security for women in the last budget.”

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Photography: istockphoto

s TAFE educators and support staff we have a huge influence over what we teach students, the way students learn and their learning environment. We can create safe, equal and respectful classrooms for students and develop industry placements that promote and influence community attitudes to gender equality.

We also have the right to a work environment where we are safe from violence, harassment and sexism, one where we feel respected, valued and treated as equals. The latest national survey by the Australian Human Rights Commission shows that one in three people experienced sexual harassment at work in the past five years – and the education sector is not exempt from this.

The AEU conducted a survey last year which was used to inform the AEU’s submission to the Respect at Work National Inquiry into Sexual Harassment in Australian Workplaces.

When asked “Do you think your employer is doing enough to prevent sexual harassment in your workplace”, 75% of respondents answered “No”.

Employers have a legal responsibility to create safe work environments and the National Inquiry went as far as to recommend that a positive duty be placed on employers to eliminate sexual harassment by tackling the underlying

causes, in recognition of the fact that women will only be safe at work if employers take steps to actively prevent harassment and not just react to it.

Despite thousands of women marching on parliament and a constant stream of stories in the media about women facing sexual harassment and domestic violence, the federal government passed legislation that only addressed six of the 12 legislative changes recommended by the report – notably, not the onus on employers.

The Morrison Government’s Respect@ Work Bill will continue to place the burden of addressing workplace harassment and violence on the shoulders of individuals.

It’s a huge failure, but not surprising from a government that spent 30 times more on tax cuts than economic security for women in the last budget.

Elevate TAFE

The Future is TAFE Young people are doing it tough during the pandemic, but their employment prospects don’t have to be bleak.

It is a matter of political choice.

Article by Correna Haythorpe

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Photography: istockphoto

ven before COVID-19 upended the lives of young people, they were already having to face the disruptions of the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) with its changes to the way we work, live and study. Advances in technology and increased automation were making it more difficult for young people to find entry level positions in an already highly competitive job market.

It’s hardly surprising that the youth unemployment rate was already twice the national unemployment average pre-COVID. Then with the lockdowns hitting the biggest employers of young people hardest – the hospitality and retail industries – more young people lost their jobs and life became even more uncertain.

So, it’s surprising to hear the government spruiking a national unemployment rate that is falling, but don’t be fooled, it’s not due to signs that job market prospects are looking up.

Alison Pennington of the Centre for Future Work has pulled together the unemployment rate, and importantly the underemployment rate, to reveal the underutilization rate. It shows a fifth of the population – 20 per cent – are not working as much as they would like.

Young people particularly are taking up casual work and working fewer hours, meaning they don’t get counted in the official statistics as unemployed. Some have reportedly even given up looking for work all together. As Alison puts it in a media interview, “The official unemployment rate is just the tip of the

“The official unemployment rate is just the tip of the iceberg. Underneath that iceberg is a great chasm of people falling behind in the labour market that’s failing to put them into jobs” Alison Pennington Centre for Future Work

iceberg. Underneath that iceberg is a great chasm of people falling behind in the labour market that’s failing to put them into jobs”

Neoliberal solutions

Listening to the Morrison Government you would think the answer to youth unemployment is simple: young people should make an investment in themselves and undertake a short course in a new skill area. Preferably

one that helps plug the gaping skills shortages that have become progressively wider over the last eight years of Liberal Governments.

The money that is being shovelled into short courses is astonishing – as if it is the panacea to full employment. But as Professor John Buchan highlighted at the recent 2021 NCVER VET Conference, while everyone is talking of skills shortages and VET reform, the issue of job scarcity remains ignored.

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Elevate TAFE

Elevate TAFE

Last month I visited the TAFE SA Giles Plain campus to meet with some of the teachers and students in the Early Education and Care program. I spoke to the students about why they chose a longer TAFE qualification and, not surprisingly, their response was the opportunity to get a well-rounded, high quality education. They valued the learning experience, support services and chance to become part of a community as much as the qualification.

They also felt their TAFE course was highly respected in the ECE community.

Unfortunately, the SA Government has decided to privatise these courses in Adelaide, which means TAFE will no longer provide these courses from next year. These students can no longer undertake a diploma at TAFE after their Certificate III. As one student, Yang Gao, studying for her Certificate III, summed up, “Education is not a business.

We need qualified and professional educators, who have studied at TAFE”.

I couldn’t agree more.

by all governments. TAFE institutes should be cherished as places where communities of practice can flourish and deep knowledge can be developed with a personal touch, rather than tying funding to outcomes or churning out short courses.

The infrastructure is already there, TAFE already has the teaching staff prepared to go the extra mile and the wrap-around services to give personal support to students, get to know them, advocate for them, and assist them on their lifelong, life-wide education journey.

New research by Monash University ‘Life, Disrupted: Young people education and employment before and after COVID-19’ backs up the power of this approach, concluding: “It is our contention that the job of educators is not just about developing in individuals the skills to navigate uncertainty, but to work with our students to imagine and create the conditions for a better, more secure life.”

On National TAFE day, AEU delegations lobbied MPs to ensure they understand that TAFE should not be relegated to just another business in a competitive market, but elevated out of the market and respected as the anchor vocational education institution, system or provider, attracting the best of industry to educate future generations and help them prepare and re-imagine their futures.

TAFE must be viewed as repositories of expertise. A vocation takes years of dedicated practice to master and the act of passing down a rich history of knowledge and skills to the next generation should be better appreciated

Pictured: (below) AEU President Correna Haythorpe with ECE students at TAFESA Giles Plain campus.

The future is what we make it

While the Federal Government continues to push the message that all you need is a quick credential, it’s interesting to look overseas and see that post-secondary colleges like Lambton College in Canada are already pivoting skills training to look beyond Industry 4.0 and take a new direction.

They are questioning the place of machines in society and prioritising humanisation and inclusivity. As a public college, they are committed to creating a fairer society by embedding Indigenous knowledge across their curriculum to prepare students for an interdependent world. They are calling this approach Industry 5.0, and supporting their students to redefine the future.

Australia should also be taking this opportunity to redefine our future. We know that society works best when it maximises the potential of all its citizens and there is opportunity for all, so equity should be our top priority as a society. We can make this an equitable and youth based recovery post COVID. It’s just a matter of political will. TAFE is ready to meet this challenge but needs funding and the backing of all governments to do so.

It’s time for a new social contract. One that puts the emphasis on government to provide the conditions for the safe and secure, well-paid jobs of the future.

Governments need to leverage fiscal policy to support employment growth and, rather than meddling in VET reform, invest in TAFE to give students a high-quality education and a chance to determine their future.

CORRENA HAYTHORPE is Federal President of the AEU.

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Photography: National Library of Australia

We need to be focusing on the real issue of how safe, secure and well-paid jobs for young people will be created.

Yet, in times of high unemployment, it is easy for governments and employers to push the issue back onto workers by selling them the idea they need to get ‘rackable and stackable’ credentials to prove their skills. But, this is doing young people a disservice.

These shorter qualifications limit education to the teaching of narrowly defined skill sets. They deny people the broader education they gain from a longer qualification to enable them to deal with the complexities of the modern workplace and become better prepared for their future.

Carmichael Centre

AEU supports new centre to advance vocational education research A new research centre dedicated to one of Australia’s greatest union leaders, Laurie Carmichael will advance research relating to his legacy, including vocational education.

Article by Mark Dean and Jim Stanford

F Photography: National Library of Australia

or decades, Australia’s union movement has fought for a public Vocational Education and Training (VET) system that would contribute both to a stronger economy and a stronger democracy. Our goal is a VET system accessible to all, adequately funded, rigorously protected from market forces, and equipped with the best resources to supply highly skilled and qualified workers to our future labour force.

Australia’s TAFE, of course, is the best embodiment of those goals.

Throughout the latter decades of the twentieth century, these demands from the union movement for a comprehensive, democratic, and public VET system were linked to a broader working-class vision of social progress, founded on decent jobs and industrial democracy. The legendary trade unionist Laurie Carmichael was one labour leader who understood these links particularly well – and focused his life’s work on the fight to realise them.

To honour and continue Carmichael’s legacy, a new Carmichael Centre has been established at the Centre for Future Work within The Australia Institute. Supported generously by major sponsors the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union

(AMWU), and the Australian Education Union (AEU), the Carmichael Centre will carry forth Carmichael’s vision for innovative, union-linked research.

The Centre has also created a special new position, the Laurie Carmichael Distinguished Research Fellow, to conduct and publish research on industrial relations, social policy, industry policy, vocational education, and international labour solidarity.

The inaugural Distinguished Fellow, who started in this role in April, is Dr. Mark Dean: a researcher with a strong background and publishing record in the area of vocational education.

The legendary trade unionist Laurie Carmichael was one labour leader who understood these links particularly well – and focused his life’s work on the fight to realise them

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Carmichael Centre

The workers, educated

The legacy of Laurie Carmichael’s vision of democratic workers’ education still influences our struggles to defend TAFE and improve vocational education today. During the 1980s, the labour movement developed an active and visionary campaign for training and skills reform. Carmichael’s experience in engineering and metalworkers’ unions, prior to their amalgamation as the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU). Carmichael’s experiences in engineering and metalworkers’ unions, prior to their amalgamation as the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU), instilled in him a philosophy of education that held all workers should be empowered to shape their knowledge development and career trajectories, with full and free access to education available as a democratic right.

Throughout his time as a union leader, Carmichael’s beliefs in the importance of industrial democracy and workers’ access to education drove his advocacy for a training system that could evolve in step with economic and industrial restructuring. At the centre of this system were the polytechnics – later the TAFE institutes – that provided free and accessible education to workers, and thus contributed to building a knowledgeable working class. Carmichael imagined a TAFE system that would educate workers not just with technical skills, but with broader economic, political and social knowledge that could underpin classconscious responses to economic and political events. This enhanced the resourcefulness of Australian workers and their capacity to adapt to changing conditions. Workers would become ‘generalists’, not ‘specialists’, opening diverse possibilities for participation in public life and intellectual pursuits – breaking through class, gender, race and other barriers to social justice.

VET and industrial democracy

During the 1980s Carmichael headed union efforts to restructure the VET system to reflect these progressive goals.

It was hoped that this process of reform would link training and qualifications to job and wage classifications in the Awards system, effectively tying skills development to the industrial relations system, and ensuring workers’ efforts to learn and become more productive would translate into higher wages and gratifying career paths. In this way, working Australians could participate more fully in life. This vision also recognised and facilitated mobility for workers to carry acquired skills and experience from job to job, receive recognition for their know-how and advance through secure career pathways as their abilities grew.

Carmichael’s vision of training reform eventually became one of the key pillars of the Prices and Incomes Accord – which he helped to negotiate.

The Accord implemented progressive social welfare reforms in exchange for industrial wage restraint, and it initially set out a vision for a robust and inclusive education system that would help build the bridge between both.

Unfortunately, however, the enterprise

Carmichael’s vision can help us to rebuild a more inspiring and democratic vision of vocational education

bargaining system which eventually took effect in the 1990s (as part of the Accord’s final phases) swiftly restored control over the training system back in the hands of employer associations and state education bureaucracies. The resulting damage was amplified by subsequent ill-advised policies, such as the privatisation of VET delivery and ongoing funding cuts for TAFE. Today the union movement fights to preserve TAFE as the high-quality, publiclyaccountable anchor of the VET system that Carmichael envisioned.

Opportunities lost, but not forgotten

Indeed, since the 1990s Australian governments (of all political stripes) have emphasised a supposedly consumeroriented approach to vocational and lifelong learning. They have commodified training and skills, to the detriment of democratic principles that should serve as the foundation for workers’ education. The shift from sectoral to enterprise-based bargaining further curtailed the power of workers to organise beyond their specific workplaces, taking on industry-wide training and skills issues and fighting for broader cooperation between TAFE, employers, and unions. All this obscured workers’ ability to imagine how training and skills development might improve their quality of work – and the quality of their lives.

Carmichael’s vision can help us to rebuild a more inspiring and democratic vision of vocational education. We can start by counterposing that vision to the Howard government’s attacks on collective bargaining, and the Coalition’s parallel actions to undermine the TAFE system: both were aimed at disempowering workers and unions. In contrast, Carmichael sought an industry policy founded on technological advancement to produce high-value and high-income jobs, based on world-class and ongoing training and education. In that view, collective bargaining (even

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REFERENCES 1. See, for example, the ACTU’s National Economic Reconstruction Plan, Australia’s Economic Reconstruction After COVID-19: A National Jobs Plan, and Five Ways to Get Started

www.actu.org.au/media/1449194/nationaleconomic-reconstruction-plan.pdf.

at the enterprise level, but preferably across entire sectors) was just one step on the path to industrial democracy and the full liberating potential of workers’ education.

Realising Carmichael’s vision

The work of the Carmichael Centre will emphasise rediscovering and advancing this vision of public, democratic vocational education, and highlighting the failures of the business-dominated VET system we face today. Our research and education initiatives will help build educational and advocacy capacity among union delegates, officials, and activists: to support workers’ intervention in all aspects of economic and social policy, and their fight for reforms to realise the aspirations of workers.

VET reform and strengthening the TAFE system will thus be a major priority in the Carmichael Centre’s research agenda. Education is a public good, so the delivery of education should neither exclude workers, nor make individuals compete in a marketplace to build their skills and knowledge. As a public service for all Australians, the training and skills system must be supported with well-funded TAFE at the centre, capable of equipping workers with the skills, knowledge and opportunities they need to prosper in a world that will continue to be wracked by crisis and restructuring.

TAFE, ECEC and pandemic recovery

The COVID-19 pandemic has reminded us how education as a public good could fulfil the key role of driving a sustainable and equitable recovery. The pandemic is necessitating enormous changes in jobs, skills, and sectors; some industries will never recover from this catastrophe, while others will prosper.

Weakened by years of disastrous market-driven policy errors, Australia’s training system must now be repaired and equipped to respond to the challenges of recovering from COVID – and TAFE must play the leading role in

The work of the Carmichael Centre will emphasise rediscovering and advancing this vision of public, democratic vocational education, and highlighting the failures of the business-dominated VET system … that reconstruction.

One Carmichael Centre initiative that will highlight the importance of TAFE to post-COVID recovery is a research project to explore the role of TAFE in the expansion of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC).

Women’s employment and labour force participation were disproportionately affected by the initial lockdowns, in part because of the impossibility of combining paid work with family care responsibilities (given disruption to schools, childcare centres, and other social infrastructure). Moreover, Australia faces a longer-term challenge in enhancing women’s labour force participation, which lags well behind comparable industrial countries – largely because of the absence of quality, affordable childcare. Many advocates have stressed the importance of expanding ECEC as part of a broader post-COVID recovery plan. Realising that goal, however, will require the training of tens of thousands of qualified ECEC workers – and for that to happen effectively, TAFE must play the central role. In the words of AEU Federal President Correna Haythorpe, “It is our members in preschools, schools and TAFE who educate the next generation of unionists and workers.”

As the publicly funded, high quality,

and democratically accountable anchor of Australia’s VET system, TAFE must take the lead in building the universal ECEC program that Australia so badly needs.

Pairing the expansion of accessible ECEC with demands for accessible and public training (through the TAFE) of ECEC workers, can strengthen the campaign to defend and strengthen the TAFE system in general. This is a timely opportunity to apply Laurie Carmichael’s vision of how democratic, public VET is essential to enhance workers’ opportunities for decent jobs, and decent lives. Our project on TAFE and expanded ECEC will draw heavily on insights from AEU delegates and leaders in the TAFE sector.

The Carmichael Centre is grateful to the AEU for its support and partnership in launching this new initiative. We look forward to working closely with the AEU and its TAFE Executive, to strengthen the fight for quality public vocational education as a right provided to all Australians.

DR MARK DEAN is the Laurie Carmichael distinguished research fellow at the Carmichael Centre.

DR JIM STANFORD is an economist and director of the Centre for Future Work, based at the Australia Institute.

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The New TAFE approach set to shake up gender equality Respect and Equality in TAFE is a step-by-step process to support TAFE in preventing violence against women.

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s places of learning, work and community engagement, TAFE institutes are in a unique position to promote gender equality and prevent violence against women.

When gender equality becomes embedded as part of all our TAFE policies, not only on paper, but in all actions and communications we can contribute meaningfully to a society that is respectful, equitable and free from violence.

To support this progression, Our Watch, with the support of the Victorian Department of Education and Training, has released Respect and Equality in TAFE, a free, evidencedbased, whole-of-institution approach to tackling gender inequality and discrimination that can be used by all TAFE institutes nation-wide.

Pictured: (above) Respect and Equality in TAFE campaign posters

“…there is a huge opportunity to challenge the stereotypes that only men should learn a trade, or that women are better suited to studying caring roles like nursing or childcare.”

Game-changer

Our Watch CEO Patty Kinnersly says that the Respect and Equality in TAFE approach is a game-changer for TAFE institutes that want to use their influence as workplaces, educational institutions and community spaces to prevent violence against women.

“The research is clear – gender inequality sets the underlying context for violence against women.”

Kinnersley believes that with the support of these resources, TAFE institutes can take the lead in challenging gender expectations: “With 85 per cent of traineeships and apprenticeships being delivered to men, there is a huge opportunity to challenge the stereotypes that only men should learn a trade, or that women are better suited to studying caring roles like nursing or childcare.”

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Gender Equality

She adds that it also means making structural changes, “Such as increasing women in leadership and decisionmaking roles and encouraging more women to undertake apprenticeships and go into higher paid trades roles, which can promote women’s financial independence.

“These resources provide more opportunities for TAFE institutes to take strides towards equality and play their part in creating a society where everyone, regardless of gender, sexuality, ability or cultural background, can live free from violence.”

Free and evidence-based

RESOURCES The Respect and Equality in TAFE approach and free resources are available at respectandequalityintafe.org.au

The resources include a national guide, key messages, posters, a guide to digital communications, social media tiles and a video, all based on evidence to help TAFE institutes embed and promote gender equality and respect within their organisations, programs, curriculum and services.

The approach was developed through a pilot that engaged five Victorian TAFE institutes – SuniTAFE in Mildura, Bendigo Kangan Institute, Melbourne Polytechnic, Swinburne University of Technology and Chisholm Institute – and resulted in positive feedback from staff and practitioners.

Melbourne Polytechnic CEO Frances Coppolillo said that the approach provided TAFE institutes with the crucial foundations needed for preventing violence. “Respect and Equality in TAFE promotes a whole-of-institution methodology to ensure it impacts widely across workforce, students, teaching and learning, communications, and industry and community.

“It provides a platform for change across every area of our operations.

It also enables TAFE institutes to tackle gender inequality and gendered violence at individual and organisational levels, and to influence change at systemic and societal levels.”

Respect in TAFE TAFEmeans... means...

Respect and and Equality in Respect and Equality in TAFE means...

LESS LESS LESS MORE MORE MORE To find find out To out more more visit visit RespectAndEqualityinTAFE.org.au RespectAndEqualityinTAFE.org.au To find out more visit #RespectEqualityTAFE #RespectEqualityTAFE RespectAndEqualityinTAFE.org.au #RespectEqualityTAFE Our Watch acknowledges Our Watch the support of acknowledges Victorian thethe support of Our Watch Government. the Victorian acknowledges Government. the support of the Victorian Government.

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AMEP

AMEP outcomes-based funding model spells failure

The AEU has strongly rejected proposed government changes to this long-standing humanitarian settlement program.

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or migrants and refugees, settling into a new community can be difficult if they don’t speak the language. For decades, TAFE institutes have provided English language education through the Adult Migration English Program (AMEP) to support participation in Australian society and unlock the existing potential and knowledge of migrants to benefit our community.

Last year, the Australian Government announced major legislative reforms to the AMEP under the pretext of making tuition more accessible. This year a discussion paper was released outlining changes to the business model and proposing an outcomebased payment, based on a student’s language progression.

While the AEU welcomes some of the changes in the overhaul of the AMEP, including lift ing a cap on class hours and removing the time restrictions, the AEU has totally rejected the outcomes payment model as a viable model for the efficient provision of this program.

The outcomes model would see the majority of funding (67%) withheld until the successful completion of a course. In reality, this means that TAFE will bear the significant cost of partial student attendance and issues that are beyond its control.

“Providers that receive funding based on outcomes will not take the time to expand learning or cater for difference, instead, they will narrow learning content and steer non-achievers away, so they can meet funding targets and increase profits.”

“Governments are failing to understand that many humanitarian students are not literate or numerate in their own language, which makes it harder for them to master a secondlanguage. Migrants need the support and attention of qualified teachers who can build student-centric relationships of trust. That’s much more effective to achieving strong outcomes than withholding funds.”

“TAFE institutes need the funding to be able to plan effectively and resource qualified teachers. Those teachers then plan programs – and that planning occurs whether the student is able to turn up or not.”

Correna Haythorpe AEU Federal President

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Photography: iStockphoto

TAFE to bear the cost

AEU Federal President Correna Haythorpe slammed the proposal, saying, “The AEU demands the Federal Government provide upfront AMEP funding for TAFE.” “TAFE institutes need the funding to be able to plan effectively and resource qualified teachers. Those teachers then plan programs – and that planning occurs whether the student is able to turn up or not.

Teachers also plan to meet the individual needs of students, monitor engagement, change pace and re-engage students that are struggling and apply their pedagogical knowledge and skill to change programs.”

RESOURCES The AEU’s full response to the Department of Home Affair’s AMEP reforms discussion paper is available on the AEU website.

More flawed logic

In AEU feedback sessions on the proposed changes, members immediately drew negative comparisons with the VET Fee Help Scheme and the New South Wales Smart and Skilled programme, which only served to waste public money while increasing compliance and lowering student enrolments.

This proposal is based on the same flawed logic that facilitated a provider’s ability to rort the payment model. Less reputable organisations will look to selectively target the most educationally prepared students who speak languages that are closer to English and/or are more likely to pass. These providers will then be disproportionally rewarded for this skilful gaming of the system.

It will further degrade the VET system at a time when a strong VET system is vital for Australia’s long-term recovery from the impact of the pandemic.

Moreover, it will subject the respected AMEP to a race to the bottom.

Lower quality outcomes

Photography: iStockphoto

The proposed model diminishes quality teaching and learning by narrowing the curriculum to only include content that will be graded to achieve the financial reward. This runs contrary to the very aim of AMEP to settle a diverse group of migrants – each with differing needs and goals – into Australian society.

Teaching to assessment will inevitably result in valuable conversations and lessons about socialisation being discouraged over any activity that is not directly related to assessment. It also risks reducing education to simple activities that will not allow students to leverage their prior learning and competence.

Migrants may leave courses with certificates but not having dismantled the language barrier or leverage their existing skills in order to participate effectively in society. Once employers discern the failings of the system to provide quality outcomes it will result in a lack of credibility for the certificates and a lack of respect for AMEP in the wider community.

Diminish participation

It is easy to see that low performing students will be steered towards a lower level of English learning for the sake of providers attracting funding in outcomebased models. This could hold back those struggling to look for work by denying

…This could hold back those struggling to look for work by denying them access to the level of language education to help attain their goals. them access to the level of language education to help attain their goals.

Members had concerns that women/ mothers could be most vulnerable to being pushed into lower-level conversation classes and left behind.

They shoulder the majority of caring responsibilities, and this can often impact on their ability to attain qualifications or successful assessment outcomes.

Repeating policy failures

Unsurprisingly, the outcomesbased model demands that provider performance be closely regulated to investigate matters including recruitment and marketing practices, allegations of corruption, rorting and financial mismanagement, falsification of reporting data, student complaints, employee complaints, and provider complaints.

The recent record of for-profit private providers in the VET sector will mean that accountability is a significant concern to ensure the policy failures of the past are not to be repeated.

Yet again, mitigating the consequences inherent in the payment system will necessitate expensive and intrusive oversight with time consuming admin for compliance and detract funding and teacher time from achieving student outcomes.

Ultimately, this overhaul of the AMEP program which is intended to address concerns about its effectiveness will see even more public money, that could be invested into education, now spent on increased regulation of providers under the auspices of making sure that public money is not wasted.

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8/10/21 3:06 pm

National TAFE Day

CELEBRATING NATIONAL TAFE DAY It’s one of the AEUs biggest events of the year, but while the events had to be scaled down, TAFE supporters stepped up.

By Michelle Purdy

O

n 11 August 2021, as the first National TAFE Day (NTD) under our new #RebuildWithTAFE campaign got underway, AEU deputy federal president Meredith Peace said, “Today, on National TAFE Day, the AEU is inviting the community to support our Rebuild with TAFE campaign and sign an open letter to the Prime Minister calling for a guaranteed minimum of 70 per cent of total government funding for the public TAFE system”.

She went on to say, “Without proper investment in TAFE, the federal government will fail to provide the education and training that workers need to get real jobs. They will also fail to ensure critical industries have the highly skilled workforces they need to deliver the services we all rely on”.

As Australia continues to battle COVID-19, federal and state

governments must recognise that TAFE is in the position, as it always has been, to provide vocational education opportunities for students, employers and communities to grow and meet the economic needs of this country before or as they arise. Nationally, many NTD activities went online and our members gathered, through whatever means they could, to celebrate and spread the message.

Never let it be said that a good activist can be kept down by a pandemic! With lockdowns in several states, COVID-19 restrictions and the uncertainty of where actual physical celebrations could occur our branches and associated bodies stepped up to ensure that this year’s National TAFE Day activities would go ahead and did it with style.

Celebrations kicked off early in South Australia where TAFE members were invited to join a virtual breakfast

via Zoom with Lara Golding AEU SA branch president, Maxine Sharkey AEU federal TAFE secretary and Dale Beasley SA Unions secretary and TAFE graduate. The session highlighted how TAFE can be a vital part of Australia’s COVID-19 recovery through vocational education and training.

Elizabeth TAFE staff and students celebrated NTD with Blair Boyer MP while members at Adelaide TAFE were joined by Tammy Franks, Greens MLC and Robert Simms MLC. In New South Wales COVID-19 restrictions didn’t stop members organising local events or joining the online webcast. Grafton, Moruya, Wagga and Moss Vale colleges contributed to the day with NTD cakes and pizza and were active on social media. An event was organised for Dubbo only to be cancelled that morning due to restrictions impacting on western-NSW.

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with two members speaking about how TAFE, “creates opportunities for Tasmanians every day.”

In some regions of Queensland gatherings were not possible due to COVID-10 restrictions, which led to several celebrations being postponed. The Bundaberg, Hervey Bay and Emerald Branches were not impacted by restrictions and took the opportunity to celebrate what makes TAFE great with staff and students.

The Emerald Branch called upon the government to ensure a guaranteed minimum 70 per cent of VET funding goes to TAFE as the public provider and members were encouraged to sign the open letter to the Prime Minister.

At a BBQ in Hervey Bay, QTU TAFE council representative and TAFE teacher, Franco Laviano spoke of his experience. “When I was an apprentice some years ago, TAFE was the training provider that helped me get qualified.

There were no fees and more practical work than theory and we enjoyed being there. Today TAFE is still as relevant; during and after the COVID-19

We need a strong TAFE system to give people the skills to respond to this pandemic and rebuild our economy.”

Rounding out the day, our National TAFE Council Executive and AEU leadership were joined by the ALP Education Caucus in a Zoom meeting that evening. Deputy leader Richard Marles and a dozen other Labor MPs, all strong supporters of our public TAFE system, spoke of their commitment to rebuild TAFE and were seeking knowledge. Deputy president Meredith Peace informed the caucus of our National TAFE Day activities. I then spoke about how our TAFE teachers, students and campuses were fairing on the ground. A lively Q&A session followed, with MPs seeking further insights into the barriers that prevent our public providers from fulfilling the needs of everyday Australians and industry. All were in agreement that the chronic underfunding of TAFE continues to undermine our ability to help rebuild Australia’s economy through providing quality vocational

“…during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, TAFE has a significant role to play in upskilling our workforce and rebuilding our economy.”

Franco Laviano / QTU TAFE council representative

Aboriginal TAFE members, led by the relief Aboriginal Coordinator, organised and delivered a wonderful webcast about the future of Aboriginal education in TAFE. This entertaining discussion is still available on the Federation website at nswtf.org.au/ national-tafe-day-special-webcast.

Tasmania stepped up to the challenge by commemorating the day across seven TasTAFE campuses.

Elected MLC members joined lunch time events held at Hobart City, Clarence, Bender Drive and Burnie with Claremont, Devonport and Alanvale campuses providing opportunities for staff and members to come together and be recognised for their ongoing commitment. Simon Bailey, TAFE President AEU TAS, acknowledged that, “National TAFE Day is a great day to build solidarity and collective spirit at our workplaces.”

TAS Branch also released a short video

pandemic, TAFE has a significant role to play in upskilling our workforce and rebuilding our economy”.

There is a growing acceptance of National TAFE Day by TAFE leadership. For the first time, TAFE SA’s chief executive acknowledged NTD in his TAFECOMs and TasTAFE’s new CEO wrote in the CEO update, “It’s a great opportunity to reflect on and celebrate the important contribution that TAFE makes across Australia.”

As always, social media had a long reach with many photos and stories going up, not only on the #RebuildWithTAFE Facebook and Twitter accounts but also by members, activists, branches and supporters who called for a properly funded and supported public TAFE to create a positive future for all. Long term TAFE advocate Tanya Plibersek tweeted, “Happy National TAFE Day to all our TAFE Teachers, staff and students.

education qualifications in both identified skills shortage areas and upskilling across the board.

Appreciation goes to every teacher and support person who works in our public TAFE institutes around the country. National TAFE Day is only possible through your collective efforts. Without each of you doing your best to overcome the challenges that working in a vocational education setting that is ever changing, we would not be able to provide the positive learning environments that we currently do. That is in despite of COVID-19 and despite the funding, staffing and compliance issues that abound. The positive stories that continue to come from students and industry happen because you care and work hard to pass on your specialised knowledge to educate students from all walks of life and skill levels.

Thank you.

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8/10/21 3:17 pm

In conversation

In conversation with Sally McManus

Susan Hopgood, AEU federal secretary, sat down with ACTU secretary Sally McManus to talk through the issues facing workers in these unprecedented times of change.

Article by Susan Hopgood

Susan Hopgood:

The Rebuild with TAFE campaign calls on the government to invest in a positive future for all of us by ensuring that TAFE can deliver high quality vocational education. We know that TAFE has an important public value and social purpose and is not “just another provider” as some governments would like to suggest.

What does TAFE mean to you?

Sally McManus:

The pandemic and the lockdowns have put lives and jobs on hold, especially for young workers. To recover we will need more skills in more ind ustries than ever before. Young people entering a depressed labour market will be desperate to find concrete pathways into decent work. TAFE must be central to all of that.

This will mean the approach of governments has to change. The diversion of public money to private providers and the gutting of TAFE right across the country has to end.

Both my brothers went to TAFE, to learn their trades. They might not have liked high school very much, but they loved TAFE. It allowed them to get the practical skills to get a start in their careers that allowed them to support their families.

TAFE changes lives. The politicians who’ve overseen the damage done to TAFE don’t see that – but hopefully they now can’t avoid seeing that privatising vocational education and training has been a disaster. The country needs TAFE and our young people deserve it.

The AEU has been tireless in its efforts to defend TAFE from the privatisation agenda. TAFE’s importance in the post-

Pictured: ACTU secretary, Sally McManus (left) with AEU federal secretary, Susan Hopgood (right); photographed pre-pandemic.

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pandemic recovery is an opportunity for governments to change tack – and it really is time to turn a corner. We must rebuild with TAFE.

Susan Hopgood:

The pandemic has pushed the importance of workplace safety, skills-based training and job security higher up the political agenda and workers need protection more than ever, yet in the midst of the crisis the Morrison Government choose to focus on industrial relations reform.

You’ve described proposed changes as ‘dangerous and extreme’ can you explain what you mean by that?

Sally McManus:

It says a lot about the government and its priorities. Maybe they should have spent less time working out ways to kick essential workers in the guts and more time on the phone with Pfizer.

The ‘Omnibus Bill’, that the government was trying to bring in earlier this year, was a massive attack on workers. It was dangerous and extreme because the bill was basically just a wish list from some of the most aggressive parts of big business. For example, it would have allowed agreements that left workers significantly worse off.

After we campaigned against it the government was pretty quick to get rid of that idea. They might have even thought they could use that terrible idea as a way to make the rest of the bill not look as bad. But the other measures would still make it easier for jobs to be made casual, allow wage cuts, and the proposed wage theft laws would have taken us backwards in Queensland and Victoria where stronger laws exist.

Just imagine – with all of the lack of job security we already have, and the government’s plan was to make it worse.

But here’s the thing, union members weren’t going to let it happen. Union members are the essential workers who have gotten us through the pandemic, they weren’t going to just watch their rights get taken from them.

Union members told their stories at the senate enquiries, they spoke to their workmates, and they called their senators and MPs to make sure they understood how damaging these laws would be.

Because of this we were able to head off most of the worst changes that they were proposing, but not all of them.

The government were absolutely

dedicated to making things worse for casual workers. One of the new rule changes that they did get through was to let employers define what a “casual” job is. This doesn’t have to reflect what a worker does on the job.

So even if you are working ongoing, regular hours, over a long period, you will not necessarily qualify as a permanent worker, with the security and rights that entails. This strips casual workers from one of the few rights they did have, to have some hope of transitioning into more secure work.

How dangerous and extreme is that?

Clearly, we can’t expect this government to take the action that is needed to create more secure jobs. So, we’re going to be mobilising union members to take action to win more secure work in a big national campaign in workplaces across Australia in the coming months. So, keep your eyes out for that.

Susan Hopgood:

The pandemic has accelerated the adoption of technology into daily life.

Digitisation can bring benefits, but it is not without its risks. The government’s own data shows that automation is set to displace over 2 million Australian workers. What are your concerns about the impact of automation on the workforce?

Sally McManus:

The introduction of new technologies and the change this brings is as old as work itself. The point is that as a society we have choices about what the impact of new technology can be. If technology achieves a better and more productive way of completing a task and replaces unfulfilling or dangerous work with better paid, more secure work and even more leisure time, then it needn’t be something to be afraid of. But time

and time again over recent decades, the gains from new technology have gone into company profits instead of translating into better wages or working conditions. The share of national income that goes to labour is at its lowest level in 50 years. Meanwhile, the share of national income going into profits has increased dramatically since 1990. And one example of automation in the hands of this government is in the disgrace of the Robodebt scandal, where Government wrongly served debt notices to many thousands of welfare recipients, which caused immeasurable harm to some of the most vulnerable in society.

If implementation of new technology is going to be different and actually work to improve living standards, educating workers and equipping them with the skills that will be in demand is crucial. And that’s exactly what educators do, and exactly what TAFE does. It’s a choice to support and invest in education that is a crucial part of the choices that determine whether new technology can improve lives or increase inequality.

Susan Hopgood:

Superannuation is one of the biggest wins in union history. It wouldn’t exist had it not been for the campaigns fought by union members in the 1970s and 1980s. Yet retirement savings are under attack again by a new package of laws, should workers be worried?

Sally McManus:

The government is pretty obsessed with attacking superannuation. It is another great example of just how terrible its priorities are. This is the time for serious government action to protect working people and to bring us together. Instead they are obsessed with undermining our retirement system.

“Union members are the essential workers who have gotten us through the pandemic, they weren’t going to just watch their rights get taken from them.”

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In conversation

We need all 55 recommendations from the Respect@Work report to be introduced, and 10 days paid and family violence leave, but these will just be the vital next steps towards the far-reaching cultural change we need.

Susan Hopgood:

The UN International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report released recently warns of increasingly extreme heatwaves, droughts and flooding, and global warming will increase by 1.5C by 2040 if emissions are not reduced in the next few years. Without action now, Australia faces becoming uninhabitable, yet The Morrison Government refuses to commit to emission targets. What action is the ACTU taking in the face our government’s continued negligence?

What can AEU members do?

Sally McManus:

The superannuation system isn’t perfect. Unions are the first to say this.

But we campaigned for and won it because we believed that all workers should have a dignified and secure retirement. Our member-run system continues to get better results for their members than for-profit funds – this is the case year after year.

But the government is obsessed with attacking the system to the benefit of for-profit funds. The recent benchmarks it proposed were all about how to help for-profit funds cover up their poor past performances. And we all know who will benefit, and who will bear the cost, of that.

If the government was serious about making superannuation work better they would be tackling the superannuation gender gap, or raising the superannuation guarantee to ensure that lower-wage workers have enough to retire on. These are the kind of things the union movement wants to take seriously and try to change to get super working better for everyone.

Susan Hopgood:

Sexual harassment and assault at work is dominating the national debate at the moment. The Federal Government has conducted an inquiry to changing workplace culture – but will that be enough?

Sally McManus:

Based on its actions, it is hard to think the federal government is serious about

tackling sexual harassment and sexual assault at work and achieving genuine change in workplace cultures.

We’ve seen the National Summit on Women’s Safety wrap up recently, and the government has not committed to all 55 of the recommendations from the Respect@Work report or to legislate for 10 days paid Family and Domestic Violence leave.

There wasn’t even a single representative of working women on any of the panels for the Summit.

Just think about that. Unions won the legal right to equal pay, maternity and parental leave, family and domestic violence leave, and so many more things that have fundamentally transformed women’s working lives, and the government did not have a single one of us represented in the discussions. Plenty of business reps and David Koch though.

How can we possibly take the government’s rhetoric seriously when it won’t match it with action?

The closest they’ve gotten is when they legislated for six of the 55 recommendations from the report.

Only six. When Labor, the Greens, and members of the Cross Bench introduced an amendment to adopt all of the legislative recommendations the government ganged up with One Nation to vote against it.

Working women have had enough.

We know what the problems are, what we need now is positive action.

This is deeply concerning for all workers. It is clear that the window to limit warming is almost closed. We have already seen the major impact climate change is having on working people. Just think about the bushfires earlier last year – it was workers who fought the fires, did the emergency clean up, and offered the support to people who had lost their homes. And there were all kinds of effects people hadn’t thought about before – like the terrible and dangerous effects of the smoke that choked towns and even the big cities. This was a serious workplace health and safety issue, without any precedent.

The stakes are high, and the federal government is just refusing to take the type of action that would make a difference. So, unions are determined to be strong public advocates for the type of action that is going to make a real and concrete difference and won’t leave workers to bear the cost of climate change. Moving to a clean economy is also a massive opportunity for Australia to create new world leading industries powered by renewables and creating secure and well-paid jobs - an opportunity this government seems intent on missing.

I’d urge unionists who are looking to get more actively engaged in this advocacy and campaigning to join the ACTU’s Climate, Justice, Jobs network.

SUSAN HOPGOOD AEU federal secretary.

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TasTAFE

The future of TasTAFE

TasTAFE must remain in the hands of the Tasmanian people.

Article by Simon Bailey

T

here’s an old saying, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. I reminded my son, Jepson, of this recently when he questioned whether my trusty 14-year-old garaged mountain bike needed replacing.

I love that thing. Someone who hasn’t been out mountain biking might not see its value, but it provides great fun and performs well. It is fit for purpose.

Sure, like most things, it could probably do with some fine-tuning, but I’ll let the repair shop staff – the experts – deal with that, rather than listen to an inexperienced casual observer.

Sorry Jepson.

Like my beloved mountain bike, TasTAFE – our state’s important public vocational education and training provider – has, in recent years, ridden down a bumpy mountain, while its value and performance has, at times, gone unheralded.

Proven performer

I am proud to work at an organisation that was named last year’s State Training Provider of the Year and was a finalist in the national training awards.

TasTAFE students also took out National Apprentice of the Year and Vocational Student of the Year in 2020.

TasTAFE is a proven performer in the education sector – recently recording Australia’s highest apprentice completion rates – yet its future remains clouded amid radical, baseless privatisation plans for the organisation.

Premier Peter Gutwein’s bomb drop announcement that TasTAFE

would be privatised as a government business and teachers removed from the public service was arrived at without any stakeholder consultation or expert advice.

It took only one submission from the Premier’s Economic Social Recovery Advisory Council (PESRAC) for Mr Gutwein to propose stripping TasTAFE of its public status – a status that ensures our focus is on students, industry and community, not profit-making.

In fact, the only submission to PESRAC calling for TasTAFE structural change was from a lobby group formed by the PESRAC Chairperson himself.

Amateur advice

The submission from the shadowy lobby group called for a “Jetstar model” for TAFE. Given this is the only

submission acted on by PESRAC and the Gutwein Government, is that what we can expect? A cost-cut model that compromises the quality of training and education in Tasmania?

I hope Mr Gutwein seeks better qualified advice when it comes to his mountain bike or car servicing (TAFE-qualified mechanic perhaps?), otherwise adopting such amateur advice could prove quite costly.

Since announcing a proposed shift to a privatised TasTAFE business model, Mr Gutwein, despite several union requests for information, has been unable to provide any specifics of what this model is, let alone how it would improve TasTAFE for students, industry or staff.

Where is the evidence or research to support the case for a privatised government business model? I listened T H E AU ST RAL I A N TA FE T E AC H E R • 1 9

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TasTAFE

to the TasTAFE CEO on radio this week saying he was also waiting to see what the government’s proposed model was, but somehow, he knows it will be a good thing?

Just like the mystery bike Jepson wants me to buy – the salesman won’t even let me look at it and can’t explain its features.

Ideological agenda

One explanation for such a sudden and radical policy shift is offered by Independent MLC Meg Webb, who suggested TasTAFE may have fallen victim to an ideological agenda that is operating under the cover of COVID. In her response to the Premier’s State of the State address she said, “… as a solution it remains unclear to me at least the exact nature of the problem.

Undoubtably there is always room for improvement, however, unless we are clear on the exact nature of any problem or identified areas for change, how are we meant to evaluate whether the proposed solution is a good fit?”

The pattern in states that have pursued a privatisation agenda, such as

South Australia, is one where publiclyowned TAFE property and courses are handed over to the private sector who are then able to win public VET funding over TAFE – a policy called “contestability”.

Such ideologically driven political agendas inevitably result in shrinking funds available for TAFE as taxpayer money is siphoned off to private sector providers where a privileged few make profits.

This rorting of public money results in TAFE cutting courses and staff, which forces students into the private sector to complete their training. Private, for profit, Registered Training Organisations have a long and inglorious record of high fees, poor quality training and unethical conduct. Public funding of private RTOs has been a disaster – the federal government was forced to wipe out $500 million in bad debts in one year from students caught up in the deception of VET funding rorts by unscrupulous private training companies.

Public Good

Public education should always place students at the centre and serve the public good, not private profit or the interests of a single business with good political connections.

TasTAFE expert teachers and their representatives stand ready to negotiate – as a matter of urgency – a plan to strengthen TasTAFE, address any evidence-based issues and build its capacity to serve the community, industry and employers into the future.

TasTAFE must remain in the hands of the Tasmanian people – the people we serve – and must be recognised as a provider of quality public education and training.

It’s TasTAFE teachers and staff who deliver our big successes and know all about the issues within the organisation.

Let’s address the dings and scratches our experts know how to fix before rushing out to replace it with the “Jetstar” model that’s looking more like a rip-off than a good investment every day.

SIMON BAILEY is TAFE division president of the AEU Tasmanian Branch.

We’re invested in the future of those who care.

To all the educators and healthcare professionals who work tirelessly to make a difference – we’re here to help you.

Bank First

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Teaching insights

Psychological safety in teaching: what, why and how

The VET Development Centre specialises in professional development for the vocational education workforce. Ahead of their 2021 Teaching and Learning Conference, we asked them to set out some of the latest thinking for TAFE Teachers.

Article by Chemène Sinson

I

thank my 18-year-old son, Ben, for the inspiration behind this article.

When I began thinking about what I could write that would be useful to TAFE teachers, a galaxy of ideas began swirling through my head. Ben picked the brightest of these.

He is working towards his Certificate III in Electrotechnology at TAFE, so I asked him what he valued the most about his best teachers. I was amazed by how effortlessly he responded.

Ben told me that his best teachers, “… relate to kids. They don’t make friends or anything, but [they] listen to us and relate to us. They offer support, like [sic] my best teacher tells us to email him after class if there’s something we don’t understand but don’t want to ask about in class. They want to be there just as much as we do.”

What Ben values the most from his teachers has nothing to do with their skills or knowledge. Of course, these are important, but what matters most to Ben is how his teachers feel about him and act towards him. This, in turn, impacts how Ben feels about learning with them.

Ben’s responses reinforce current research, which tells us that we perform best when we feel safe (multiple sources including Google, 2012 - 2014).

What is psychological safety?

Amy Edmondson is a renowned researcher and expert in psychological safety. She defines psychological safety as, “A belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns or

mistakes” (Edmondson, 2020).

Psychological safety is not about being nice or making things easy for students.

Learning isn’t meant to be easy. On the contrary, developing new skills requires passion and perseverance.

Angela Duckworth calls this, ‘grit’ (Duckworth, 2016). Psychological safety is a prerequisite for perseverance.

So how do we establish psychological safety in training?

“Establishing psychological safety is…somewhat messy and difficult to implement.” (Duhigg, 2016). I think there are two reasons for this. First, psychological safety is not a static condition – it is the sum of many small things that we and others do to create and sustain a safe learning environment. Second, different students need different things to feel

psychologically safe.

Distributed work and virtual learning became even more prevalent in the COVID-19 pandemic and are, “… making us realise we have to be more deliberately – more proactively – open.

We have to be explicit in sharing our ideas, questions, and concerns, because we can’t just overhear what’s happening…” (Kosner, 2020).

Despite these challenges, there is much we can do to establish and maintain psychologically safe training.

Amy Edmondson suggests three key steps: set the stage, invite participation, then respond productively (Edmondson, 2018).

Set the stage

Setting the stage means helping students recognise the importance of what they will learn and prepare for the challenges and uncertainties of learning.

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Teaching insights

“The first time a student shares a question, idea, concern or mistake, acknowledge and then thank them for their contribution. ” To set the stage, try these strategies at the start: Help learners uncover the purpose of the training and the importance of this.

Explain the program outcomes and help students acknowledge what they stand to achieve from the program.

Be candid about challenges and uncertainties students may experience.

Reassure them that working through these challenges is normal and essential for successful learning and help them establish strategies that will help them persevere with learning.

Work with students to establish behavioural expectations that promote safe and effective learning. Explain that these expectations apply to you, as well as to them. I often ask students to be: 1. Curious – ask questions early and often 2. Brave – share concerns and mistakes early and often 3. Imperfect – give themselves permission to make mistakes and learn from these 4. Generous – share knowledge and ideas, even when unsure 5. Supportive – acknowledge others’ efforts and achievements; share feedback with the intent to improve 6. Respectful – be open to feedback and thank those who offer it; maintain confidentiality 7. Accountable for their learning.

Invite participation

Inviting participation means giving students a voice – inviting them to speak candidly with questions, ideas, concerns and mistakes, without fear of being punished or humiliated.

Invest in a strong warm-up at the start of training. We don’t expect athletes to race without warming up and nor should we expect students to participate fully in activities, without warming up. Effective warm-ups help students engage with training, clarify goals, and build rapport with you and

other students.

Model the agreed behavioural expectations and expect the same from others.

Use open questions to invite participation. For example, instead of asking, “Do you have any thoughts about this?”, ask, “What are your thoughts about this?” This open question implies that having and sharing thoughts is normal and to be expected.

At first, offer students safe, indirect ways to ask questions and share ideas, concerns or mistakes. For example, in live, online classes invite students to: • respond anonymously to questions using a polling or annotation tool • contact you after class with questions, as Ben’s teacher does.

Once students feel safe with you and with each other, you may direct questions and invite comments from specific students. This way, you ensure that everyone’s voice is heard.

Respond productively

Responding productively is about responding to students’ ideas, questions, concerns or mistakes in a way that acknowledges, empathises and promotes learning.

Acknowledge contributions. The first time a student shares a question, idea, concern or mistake, acknowledge and then thank them for their contribution.

Your response will show others that they may speak candidly without fear of humiliation or punishment.

Model imperfection and failure.

People fear the humiliation, cost, and other repercussions of failure. Failure is threatening, but it is also enlightening.

We learn more from mistakes than from successes and for this reason, we must help students acknowledge and learn from failure.

Start by acknowledging your imperfections. Students will trust and

relate better to you if you present your real (imperfect) self to them. To do this: • give students permission to identify your imperfections – for example, say, “I may miss something, and I need you to tell me when I do.”

• share examples of mistakes you have made, or times when you have failed, and describe how you managed your emotions and learned from these situations.

Respond productively to student failure. First, acknowledge and empathise – use statements like, “I can see that was hard for you.” Next, move forward – offer something like, “What might make it easier next time?” or, “How can I help?”. Finally, reinforce the value of the experience – for example, say, “If this hadn’t happened, we might not have learned that.”

Do not: • Sympathise – don’t say, “At least you tried”.

• Lie – don’t say, “That was better” if it wasn’t. Students will lose their trust in you.

• Judge or dwell on the past – don’t say, “What should you have done?”.

In conclusion

Teachers must manage many things – what to teach, how to assess, what records to keep, what digital tools to use, and more. Through this noise, my son Ben reminds me that the single most valuable thing we can do to support our students is ensure they feel safe. The rest will follow.

2021 VDC Teaching & Learning Conference.

Chemène is the MC for the 2021 VDC Teaching & Learning Conference. Join us for a highly interactive virtual conference that will combine professional learning sessions as well as high-profile keynote presentations discussing the critical themes of Creativity, Connectivity, Productivity in the VET sector.

Don’t miss this engaging and professionally enriching experience for VET practitioners from public, private and community providers.

CHEMÈNE SINSON is a leading facilitator at the VET Development Centre, the professional learning organisation established by the Victorian Government in 2005, that specialises in professional development for the Vocational Education Workforce in Victoria and across Australia.

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Classroom tips

Tricks of the Trade A few teaching tips from the classroom.

Article by Chris Poppell

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heard a statistic last week that 67 per cent of people who seek a ‘professional’ are looking for someone knowledgeable, but 88 per cent of people also wanted to see someone who they thought liked them. Make sure your students think you like them, get to know their favourite sport, team, favourite take away even.

Watch your students’ eyes. If they look up with their eyes (not lifting their head), you may find they are trying to find information or a place for that information in their memory or to process the challenging information.

You will see when they have processed it, so wait, and then move on.

When you have behaviour issues, don’t tell students what to do, use William Glasser’s theory and give them a choice, you choose the options,

“Set a target of knowing all names in the month, or three months (if you are average)...” so make the outcome you want the most desirable choice and they will appreciate they ‘got to choose’, when you actually chose.

Use names, everyone loves to hear their name. Set a target of knowing all

names in the month, or three months (if you are average), but set it and do it (unless you are teaching a two day first aid course, then, good luck!).

If you are outdoors, always teach looking into the sun so the students don’t have to. If you are indoors, always start delivering the content from the same location. When you walk to that location, students will already be aware you are about to say something new.

Go back to the good old days and put butchers paper all over the walls, with those fat art pens (in the art section of the store not permanent markers) in multiple colours. Our job is to have the information stay in the students’ heads, not blend in with everyone else’s white board erased writings.

They may review their bookwork three times, but they will look at that piece of paper on the wall every damned lesson.

Don’t speak at your usual volume all the time, speak quietly, students will have to better tune into what you have to say to hear you, even finish the odd sentence with the words, ‘full stop’.

If students need a bit of a laugh late in the day, just add the word chicken, or dog or any other word mid-sentence so they wonder if their hearing is okay.

Use humour: if you’re not good with humour, use the default ‘I’m going outside to wait for you in the carpark’ option.

Bring in a guest speaker fortnightly.

Students want to see outcomes of their labour in your classroom. Bring guest speakers from the sectors they want to get to, or that may inspire them elsewhere, to tell them what it is like on the other side. At the end, have questions taken and then ask the guest, based on what they have seen from your class, who would they employ.

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Once chosen, explain this is why we have to talk to people and ask questions, so people/employers know we are interested and that can help lead to a job.

Use think, pair, share: have students think of an answer, discuss it as a pair and then share what they came up with to the class, it can be the best answer, the best combined answer or the best answer from two pairs developing their answer together. Relationships/ friendships = attendance.

Plan, plan, plan, and then don’t stick to it. Have the outcome planned and enable the students to detour so they too have ownership of the lesson. Ask for examples so it is their input also.

Develop something that belongs to the class. When my class was forming this year, they all learnt the dance ‘Jeruselema’. To start a day I would pull out my speaker and we would randomly do the dance. Other weeks, as the students’ eyes were glazing over, I’d pull out my speaker and they would dance again. If they don’t dance, revert to William Glasser’s theory, “We don’t have to dance, but I’m going to ask you to dance (eg. come up with another

class activity), it’s your choice”.

Open loops – a loop is a circle that is closed, usually we want to make sure we close a loop. That is how we usually teach, to ensure something is completely understood and the most amazing thing about loops is that when they aren’t closed. It’s amazing, I’ll explain more later.

Make bets with students, if you lose, and they win, you have something to laugh back on – which means you win.

Never have an empty glass bottle in the bottom drawer of your work desk.

When we leave a loop open, it intrigues people, making them want to know more about it. We can leave the students wanting to know what is so amazing about it.

Surround yourself with people that will support you and challenge you to never be a ‘content’ educator. There is always a way to improve today. It could be a new online speaker, a self-reflection to act differently, challenging a negative thought and flipping it into a positive: ‘maybe they don’t think it’s a good idea’….

Becomes, ‘maybe they are so protective of the idea they don’t want it to fail, it’s

great they are so passionate about the topic’, AND THEN TEACH THAT! Set lesson outcomes (expect to learn) and deliberately leave things off so at the end students say ‘hey, we didn’t learn about this yet’.

Regarding loops, the last thing we say before we close off the lesson can be the bit that finalises the loop. It can even start out as ‘the most amazing thing happened to me on the way to work this morning’… at the end of the lesson, you will be asked, what happened on the way to work at the end ‘NO RED LIGHTS ALL THE WAY’, or ‘nothing, I just wanted your attention for 90 minutes’… leave the loop open and you will leave them wanting more.

Be the teacher students want to follow, not the teacher who just speaks.

Have students dream of the job. Talk it up, your positivity will flow into the workplace, their community and will come back to you.

CHRIS POPPELL is a senior teacher in sport and fitness, North Region, TAFE Queensland.

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Learnings from abroad

Lessons from Scotland

COVID-19 and Brexit has led the Scottish Government to recognise vocational education as a key means of supporting the economy, but for the Education Institute of Scotland (EIS) it’s a double-edged sword.

Article by David Belsey and Stuart Brown

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he Further Education (FE) sector (aka college sector) plays an important role for communities, students and employers in Scotland.

It makes a significant contribution to Scottish civic life, and is well regarded.

FE Colleges provide an avenue for young people and adults of all ages to continue education, to re-engage with education, to reskill, as well as providing opportunities to start a new profession or a pathway to access university.

Second chance

Scottish FE colleges deliver a wide range of academic and vocational courses to a diverse range of students. College provision ranges from non-award bearing courses for students to access further education, to higher education qualifications equivalent in level to year two of the Scottish four-year university degree. Colleges also have partnership agreements with local universities that allow students to transition from them directly to year two or three of a four-year university degree course. Colleges have sometimes been considered as a second chance for pupils that did not thrive in school, but many college students at 16 years of age seem to prefer the range of courses available in colleges and a pedagogy that suits their learning style.

The second major track for colleges is vocational education. There has been a greater emphasis from a government level on vocational education in Scotland in recent years, with the acknowledgement that schools need to raise the status of vocational pathways.

Colleges deliver technical training and qualifications and have long established links with local employers to do so.

Most vocational courses involve an element of work experience and in recent years, there has been a push for

apprenticeships and raising their status to become a degree.

The third track for colleges is to support their communities by providing courses that the local community may benefit from. Such provision is varied, and examples range from modern languages to flower arranging and more. Historically, many of these courses have given people the confidence to subsequently study award bearing courses.

Teaching mix

To deliver such a range of FE provision there is a diverse lecturer workforce: with graduates delivering the academic courses and vocationally qualified lecturers, who have industry experience, delivering vocational courses.

A professional registration programme for lecturers, with the General Teaching Council for Scotland, is currently being implemented, bringing college lecturers a similar professional status to those teaching in schools.

The Further Education Lecturers' Association (EIS-FELA) is a selfgoverning association within the EIS. EIS-FELA is the solely recognised trade union for lecturing staff in Scotland’s colleges, and negotiates terms and conditions nationally and locally with college managements.

Strike action

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Learnings from abroad

led to a large variation in pay and key conditions of service. The years since 2014 have seen EIS-FELA engage in strike action nationally on several occasions. Following strike action to ensure harmonised pay across the FE sector in 2016, a further campaign of national strikes was undertaken in 2017. The strikes were regarding the lack of implementation of the national pay harmonisation agreement that had ended the action the year before. This was followed by further national strike action in 2019 to secure a decent living pay rise. These national campaigns of strike action saw college lecturers and EIS-FELA members continually stand up for collective bargaining in the face of intransigence and strong opposition from their employers.

The financial crisis of 2009 hit the UK hard, heralding an ‘age of austerity’ of widespread public sector funding cuts. Funding for the FE sector in Scotland was reduced by the Scottish Government and the FE sector was increasingly refocussed to training young people for work (or university).

Many part-time courses and non-award bearing courses were cut. As a result, female students, workers and mature student numbers fell.

Challenges of COVID & Brexit

The COVID-19 Pandemic and Brexit related challenges have also led to the Scottish Government recognising FE colleges as a key means of supporting economic recovery – by seeking to refocus the work of colleges on preparing young people for work and to upskill/ reskill workers for new careers. For the EIS, this is a double-edged sword – while we welcome the key role colleges have in supporting economic recovery, we also believe that colleges need to meet individuals’ learning/training needs.

Colleges need to deliver courses that meet the needs of local employers and national policy, but also the dreams and aspirations of their students in the local community.

The second area of concern for EIS FELA is the fact that many colleges operate deficit or close to deficit budgets.

This has led to colleges exploring some fairly dramatic ways to reduce costs – online courses, larger classes, and employing ‘instructors’, as opposed to lectures, since they are paid much less.

Some colleges used ‘fire and rehire’

“Colleges need to deliver courses that meet the needs of local employers and national policy, but also the dreams and aspirations of their students...” type tactics to push through the replacement of lecturers, with one college making lecturers redundant and then re-hiring them as instructors.

Through 2020 and into 2021, EIS-FELA again campaigned nationally with national strike action taking place – against the introduction of instructor type positions that undermined the role of the lecturer in further education. The EIS-FELA secured a national agreement to cease, or certainly reduce, the practice of replacing lectures with other roles on weaker terms and conditions.

Looking to the future

The future role and structure of the FE college sector in Scotland is also a subject of contention at the moment, as the Scottish Funding Council, the body responsible for funding both HE and FE, recently published a tertiary review.

This publication brought forward the differing visions for the role of FE in Scotland. The EIS sees the national FE sector serving the needs of students and employers by delivering a large range of academic and vocational courses.

However, there is a view among some college principals that colleges need to

refocus on employers’ needs and skills for employability, and that colleges should recruit international students and deliver full degree programmes – in other words, to move into the space occupied by the newer universities in Scotland The former role would see the colleges remain within the public sector, but the view of (some) principals would take the colleges out of the public sector and allow them to run as a business, serving the needs of businesses – i.e. a neoliberal agenda.

Although the future no doubt holds further fights on terms and conditions – remembering that the working conditions of college lecturers are the learning conditions of college students – there may also be a fight looming for the shape and soul of the FE sector of the future.

DAVID BELSEY is EIS Assistant Secretary and Stuart Brown is EIS National Officer.

The EIS is the oldest education trade union in the world, and will be celebrating its 175 anniversary this year.

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VET

Lessons in VET

What Australia can learn from Scotland, England and Finland.

Article by Meredith Peace

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n 2019 I was fortunate to join the Victorian Minister for Training and Skills along with other stakeholders for a study tour of vocational education systems in Finland, England and Scotland. Our task was to evaluate these different systems with a view of reforming our own sector. In all systems, there was much to be learned – both improvements for us to adopt and risks to avoid.

The Scottish VET system left a positive impression on me. Their system is overseen by two national bodies: The Scottish Funding Council, which is responsible for funding colleges and universities; and Skills Development Scotland (SDS), which is responsible for skills forecasting, career information and the administration of apprenticeships. The two bodies work together to respond to the government’s strategies in the VET sector.

I was impressed by the genuine engagement and direct involvement of key players in the Scottish vocational education (which was also evident in Finland) – teachers, industry, unions, and government. There were also strong connections between schools, vocational colleges and higher education. The student is at the centre, with all parties working together to give them the best opportunities to develop skills and knowledge that meet the current and future labour needs of governments and industry.

Scotland’s career information advice and guidance is equally impressive.

Students have the opportunity for informed learning and career choices, to provide effective learning pathways into work.

Importantly, this work is enshrined in a Career Management Skills Framework for Scotland, which extends

“In all systems, there was much to be learned – both improvements for us to adopt and risks to avoid.” careers guidance from primary school through an entire career. Students can meet with a careers guidance person at least five times before they finish school, helping them to identify career management abilities and areas to develop. This was about giving young people the skills to ‘navigate the system’ – a highly fluid job market where many will need to continue learning new skills for new jobs as their careers progress.

The experience in England was not so positive. Many vocational institutions were showing the effects of years of underfunding and austerity measures – something we have endured here in Australia too. In England, this has resulted in staffing redundancies and low pay levels with no pay increases.

It has also impacted the quality of course delivery, including less contact hours and less student support – sound familiar?

There were also concerns that the English funding system incentivised schools to hang on to students, causing significant problems with integration between colleges and schools. Greater control had been handed over to employers, resulting in a focus on qualifications that might get a student a short-term job, but left them without

future options. Competencies were too narrowly focused and did not provide the skills students need to successfully navigate a rapidly changing job market.

New technical qualifications, known as T-levels, were being developed for trial in selected English schools. This so-called ‘high quality’ technical option would sit alongside A-levels for 16–19 year old students. T-levels are designed to raise the prestige of technical education – but they are developed by employers, and edu-business Pearsons have secured contracts to finalise the qualifications and to assess them. In an arrangement where the government has privatised both the curriculum and assessment of programs, what exactly is the role of the teaching profession?

More broadly across Europe, apprenticeships play a strong role in vocational education, with qualifications extending beyond the traditional trades we have here.

Importantly, the strength in many European countries lies in genuine collaboration between vocational institutions and industry – not simply handing VET systems over to industry.

The trip also made one thing very clear to me: raising the status of vocational learning is an issue many countries are grappling with. But there are opportunities here for us to learn – both improvements to adopt, and risks to avoid. It is worth looking beyond our borders, to see what we can learn to genuinely Rebuild with TAFE for a positive future.

MEREDITH PEACE is president of AEU Victorian branch.

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Around Australia

Around Australia ACT

KAREN NOBLE

THE ACT was swift to lockdown on 12 August and CIT Campuses closed by 5pm. Over previous weeks we were reminded to ‘be ready’ and we were much better prepared than last year. Messaging has been fairly consistent for students and staff; business continuity seems quite good. ‘All staff’ communication sessions occur twice a week, we are probably more connected now than ever before. A balance of information and input from all parts of CIT is being achieved as is a strong focus on the wellbeing of students and staff. Teaching and assessment has shuffled with practicals and placements delayed and training and assessment suited to online brought forward.

Additionally, most teaching areas were still working on the catch up from 2020 and now we know there will be a similar catch up for 2021.

This is a tough workload.

Many teaching areas are also working on training package updates with varying resource allocations and no idea if national timeframes will be changed to account for the pandemic.

The chief executive has been talking with all staff about the CIT Strategic Compass, now released to 2025 with similar directions to the previous one.

In approving the Compass, the ACT Government asked for more information on course costs, cost drivers and course offerings. No doubt this information is needed

to respond to the Australian Government and the partnership discussions.

A part-time organiser has re-joined the ACT AEU team, which is welcomed at this time. Gerard Dwyer is working on membership mapping, connecting with members, and has boosted our capacity to respond to CIT and member issues. Unfortunately, EA bargaining is not moving forward because the whole of service negotiation is at a standstill.

The organising team report that recently, work, health and safety concerns have emerged for some members in the trades skills area. Oversized classes, specifically in practical lessons, are a good example of the ways in which physical and psychological health and safety risks can intersect.

Nearly all our CIT trade skills members come from industry and it's no surprise they bring with them a sophisticated understanding of the physical hazards and risks relating to the courses they teach. Examples will be familiar to those who work across any TAFE: exposure to dangerous materials, live electricity, operation of power tools and light and heavy machinery, etc. What's not always so easily recognised and acknowledged are the risks to mental health that arise alongside these.

Serious anxiety and stress can develop for teachers with responsibility for supervising and educating too many students at once, all working with potentially dangerous equipment and many of whom are learning

to use such tools for the first time. The configuration of the workspace, the number of students within it and the line of sight by their teacher are all important contributing factors. If that’s not enough, large class sizes generate excessive workload, compounding work stress further.

Affected members recently met with CIT’s work health and safety management representatives to raise their concerns directly and talk through the extent of the hazards. The good news is that early efforts have been met with an encouraging response.

We've kicked off a constructive dialogue, resulting in a shared commitment to investigate the extent of the risks and how to mitigate them. An important first step has been observations by WHS managers of high-risk classes, with a view to modifying workspaces. It’s also opened an important conversation about the number of students that can be safely taught at any one time.

With the introduction of the snap lockdown in the ACT and the shift to remote learning, progress has been momentarily interrupted, but these particular hazards have been mitigated for now. Nonetheless, whenever a return to the workplace occurs, members will be ready to monitor their situation and continue to work with management to ensure their physical and mental health and safety remain.

NSW

PHILLIP CHADWICK

TAFE TEACHERS and related employees have voted YES to accept a new enterprise agreement. Following approval by the Fair Work Commission the new EA will provide: • a 2.04 per cent increase in

salary and allowances (back paid from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2021) • a duration of only 12-months with a nominal expiry date of the 30 June 2022 • preservation of all existing working conditions.

A 0.5 per cent increase in the superannuation guarantee charge (employer contribution) from 9.5 per cent to 10 per cent was effective from 1 July 2021, as mandated by federal legislation.

Federation’s TAFE members are to be congratulated for defending their working conditions in this new EA; however, members’ attention should now turn to the future. The New South Wales government is to be condemned for its opportunism in using the global pandemic to again deny NSW TAFE teachers of a fair and just salary increase.

This new EA’s nominal expiry date of 30 June 2022 is only nine months away.

NSW TAFE members will now need to shift their focus to the campaign for salary justice in EA 2022 and justice is rarely achieved without considerable effort. In the coming months in the lead up to the start of bargaining, Federation will be holding branch meetings and conducting trade union training events in preparation for the task ahead, please keep an eye out for notification of these events. Members should encourage non-members to join their union whenever the opportunity presents.

Towards the end of June there was an outbreak of the COVID-19 Delta variant in Sydney’s Eastern suburbs. This coincided with the start of the student winter vacation period, so initially there was little impact on classes.

However, it did cause the postponement of Federation’s 2021 Annual Conference.

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During the student winter vacation, the COVID-19 Delta variant spread into Sydney’s Western suburbs.

By the start of term three, in mid-July, the local government areas of CanterburyBankstown, Fairfield and Liverpool were under even stricter public heath order restrictions than in 2020. The LGAs of Bayside, Blacktown, Burwood, Campbelltown, Cumberland, Georges River, Parramatta, Strathfield and some parts of Penrith quickly followed. Schools and TAFE colleges in the Greater Sydney area were closed and classes moved once again to virtual delivery. In the 12 identified LGAs all but essential workers were ordered to stay at home.

Federation responded quickly to ensure that TAFE NSW, as a responsible employer, maintained a connection with part-time casual teachers, ensuring a viable workforce once restrictions are lifted.

TAFE teachers once again rose to the challenge of quickly swapping from face-to-face to online learning. Many students struggle in an online learning environment or don’t have adequate technology to access online classes. Teachers again went the extra mile on a daily basis to support students in this difficult period of time. By the middle of August, the outbreak spread to western NSW, closing Dubbo TAFE colleges and forcing teaching online.

The following week the rest of the state’s TAFE classes had also moved online.

At the start of September, with only a few weeks of term three left, the NSW Government announced its plans for a phased return to face-to-face learning in term four. We are closely monitoring the constantly changing circumstances and continue to work to ensure that a return to face-to-face learning occurs following sound health advice and

ensuring it is safe for students and teachers to do so.

QLD

DAVID TERAUDS

NEGOTIATIONS CONTINUE in the CQU enterprise bargaining. This is in the context of the significant impact of federal government policies on higher education providers. Without the opening of the international borders, the business environment for universities remains bleak.

Matters pertaining specifically to VET Educators are still live for discussion but there is common ground in the establishment of a foundation educator position to ensure a pipeline of appropriately qualified educators available into the future.

There has been significant discussion regarding performance review and professional development and currency and competency requirements for VET educators, including a focus on establishing requirements within the agreement.

This has reinforced the importance of the professional development entitlement of 10 days minimum per year.

There is no diminution of entitlement.

CQU are annualising educator contact hours as part of its log of claims. This is opposed by the QTU. The claim is aimed at reducing overtime liabilities. The danger of implementation is high levels of delivery in successive weeks, resulting in fatigue and noncompletion of noncontact duties including RPL. It is opposed based on WHS and reduction in overall attractiveness of CQU VET working conditions. The QTU supports agreements under the Team Based Working Arrangement clauses of the EA instead, which require agreement between

management and employees and could be negotiated under existing working conditions.

Negotiations are in hiatus during September, due to planned absences of key negotiators and resume in October.

The QTU has provided strong representation to the Queensland Government, calling for VET educators to be prioritised in the rollout of the state’s COVID vaccinations.

In August, the Queensland premier announced schoolbased employees will be included as a priority. The QTU calculates this is 155,251 workers but, at the time of writing, doesn’t include TAFE Queensland’s 3,979 FTE workers. The QTU is advocating for TAFE workers’ inclusion as eligible for priority vaccination.

SA

ANGELA DEAN

THE BEGINNING of the new financial year witnessed the next step in the Marshall Government’s plan to privatise VET in our state.

The newest aspect of their plan has been outlined by the release of updated Subsidised Training Lists from the Department of Innovation and Skills, which included the second round of courses added to Minister Pisoni’s VET Commissioning Project.

Phase 2 of the VET Commissioning Project contained a list of 206 courses and 5 skill sets across Agriculture, Horticulture, Land Conservation and Management and Trades areas. This is in addition to the 37 courses and 45 skill sets that were listed in Phase 1 last year, which saw courses in Business Administration, Community Services and Early Childhood Education and Care cut from delivery at all metropolitan TAFE SA campuses.

Given that Phase 1 has

already caused a significant reduction in new student intake at metropolitan campuses, student complaints, industry complaints and lecturing job losses, we can be sure that any additional plans the Marshall Government has for VET will have a devastating impact on the future TAFE SA. Therefore, our Branch Council has endorsed the following TAFE State Election Demands, as recommended by the TAFE Divisional Council.

AEU SA Branch Council calls on all political parties to ensure that everyone in South Australia has access to high quality vocational education through TAFE SA. We call on politicians to commit to the following actions: 1. Stop the ongoing course cuts and re-instate the courses that were cut as part of the VET commissioning project.

2. Guarantee 70 per cent of public funding for vocational education to TAFE. 3. Re-instate the Small Regional Communities Funding to allow equity of opportunity for regional students.

4. Return TAFE to public management and public ownership.

5. Improve working conditions for TAFE staff to enable quality vocational education including reasonable workloads and secure work.

6. Fund equipment and facility updates to meet current and future industry needs.

7. Be explicit about when public money is being used for private profit.

These demands will form our key asks from all political parties in the lead up to our upcoming state election.

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hours. Along with the decrease in leave entitlements and removal of workload consultation requirements.

Then the AEU found the entire enterprise bargaining process on shifting grounds when the employer proposed to removal the educational managers position as a part of a business unit structure in early 2020, which included a proposal to replace educational managers with the lower paid position of senior business managers.

Due to this move by the employer, the AEU lodged a legal case in the South Australian Employment Tribunal (SAET), opposing the removal of the educational manager position. There was an initial victory, with TAFE SA being ordered not to take any further steps towards filling senior business manager positions, and not to declare any additional educational manager’s excess.

Subsequently, the AEU also notified the employer that they would cease enterprise bargaining as the removal of educational manager positions will have flow-on implications for other educational staff classifications and subsequent workload proposals. Making it unlikely a new agreement could be formed until the matter is formally resolved

by SAET. After almost 12 months, the employer is still fighting the matter before the tribunal despite conceding defeat by retaining the educational manager position in TAFE SA educational structure and restoring an additional seven ongoing educational manager positions. Throughout this case, the AEU has continued to assert that the employers haste to remove the educational manager classification from the organisation was outside of due legal process.

Despite this, the AEU has been in recent correspondence with the employer in a bid to recommence the enterprise

bargaining. In this bid, the AEU is seeking the employer’s commitment to return to bargaining in good faith, with a legal assurance that there will be no significant changes to the educational staffing structure or conditions outside of the enterprise bargaining processes. However, this assurance is yet to be given Throughout enterprise bargaining process, the AEU has continued to fight for the preservation of all current entitlements except where improvements are agreed.

The AEU will continue to call on the employer to return a transparent enterprise bargaining process, that promotes best educational practices throughout the organisation and ensures all educational staff members at TAFE SA have fair and reasonable workloads.

TAS

SIMON BAILEY

THE TASMANIAN branch of the AEU is currently managing three campaigns across the state. TasTAFE workplace agreement (EBA) campaign, the SaveTasTAFE (stop privatisation) campaign and the federal ‘Rebuild With TAFE’ campaign all come together and may appeal to members and others in different ways.

The focus for the Save TasTAFE campaign is to organise meetings with members of the Tasmanian upper house to educate them about TasTAFE and help them understand why the Government’s proposals are misguided and damaging rather than useful.

We are also engaging members in the TasTAFE Teachers EBA campaign – the member log of claims developed includes a range of improvements to pay and conditions for members, as well as putting in place

protections against attacks on conditions resulting from the government’s plan and push back against the general attack on public education and training the privatisation plan represents.

AEU negotiators attended the first EBA meeting fully prepared with the log of claims presented to TasTAFE which provides improved flexibility for the delivery of programs and wages in line with industry expectations.

However, TASTAFE were not prepared at all and were unable to provide in writing what they were seeking.

We did learn that they want members to increase their working week to 38 hours, give back two weeks leave for professional development, increase weekly teaching hours, remove the weekly cap on teaching hours, encourage teachers to sell back up to four weeks leave, remove the sessional cap as well as the cap on how many hours a sessional can teach and the removal of overtime provisions for out of hours work. No details were provided on what teachers would get in return for agreeing to these items and or enough detail to understand the need for these items to be included.

We have asked that TasTAFE provide in full writing why they feel that employees should give up any conditions when the employer cannot provide any details about the need for this to happen.

TasTAFE’s log of claims is a direct attack on teacher’s conditions, they want workers to increase their working week but are not willing to acknowledge that 50 per cent of their teaching workforce work between 40 and 50 hours per week and receive no renumeration from the organisation for doing so.

Rather than supporting their workers to have a good work life balance they are

seeking to pull workers away from their families by having them work longer and more often, not exactly the right way to go about attracting new employees into the organisation.

I urge all members to attend members meeting being planned for their campuses and to speak with non-members about the importance of being an AEU member.

VIC

ELAINE GILLESPIE

THE ANDREWS’ Labor Government investment of $383.8 million, announced in the state budget to put skills and training at the heart of Victoria’s economic and social recovery will be used to establish the following reforms: 1. The establishment of the Victorian Skills Authority (VSA) is part of a strategy to ensure: quality teaching and learning, affordable accredited training and improved pathways. The VSA will replace the skills commissioner and lead the development of an annual Victorian Skills Plan and provide a more integrated approach to teaching and learning that will hopefully promote further collaboration between TAFEs and less competition.

The VSA is an independent entity with a CEO, Craig Robertson, who will formally commence in this role on 23 August, and an advisory board of approximately 15 independent board members with high levels of VET skills and experience. The VSA will report to the Minister for Training and Skills.

2. The establishment of the Office of TAFE Coordination and Delivery (OTCD), which is designed to improve collaboration and coordination across

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Victorian TAFEs. The aim is to coordinate sharing of resources, assist with governance, performance and accountability, overseeing TAFE finances and guide the TAFE network and institute responses to the Victorian Skills Plan.

3. New investment in TAFE to boost affordable accredited training to get more Victorians into jobs.

4. Continued investment in Adult and Community Further Education (ACFE).

Regular workshops and webinars have been established for stakeholder consultation and feedback which will continue until the new framework is well established. The AEU Victorian branch will continue to push for a full review of the current Victorian VET funding system to ensure that the actual cost of course delivery is funded and that shaving of delivery hours stops to improve quality and outcomes.

The AEU Victoria Branch is continuing to receive questions from TAFE members about attendance on site for students and staff.

The Victorian branch are in regular discussion with the Department of Education and Training (DET) in regard to the advice they are providing to TAFE, consistent with health advice. DET’s advice states clearly that ‘TAFE, training, university and adult education campuses across Victoria are closed and can only deliver remote learning. The only exceptions for on campus learning are essential adult education and training as specified in the authorised provider and authorised worker list.’ All non-essential staff members are required to work from home during this period. There are some categories of trainees and apprentices on the authorised provider and authorised worker list. DET has advised

the AEU Vic branch that the inclusion of apprentices on the authorised worker list does not mean that all apprentices can be or should be required on site at TAFE. There should be an assessment made regarding whether the TAFE training component for any apprentice on the authorised worker or provider list needs to be conducted on-site at TAFE (even for those continuing an onsite work placement). If a student's learning can be delivered remotely, then they should not be on site at TAFE. The only exemption may be any essential assessments that can only be conducted on site.

Although most TAFEs, like many members, have found the information confusing.

Most have erred on the side of caution and had little to no staff and students onsite.

Unfortunately, however, there have been a small number of TAFEs who have tried to find loopholes in the advice to get staff and students on site for non-essential practical classes and even theory which could and should be delivered remotely.

This has caused several OHS risks and much stress to many members. As the lockdown extends many people are becoming lockdown weary and while we can all understand the want and need to try and get back to work and study it must be done safely and without health risks. We have had members raise many concerns from the need of certain students being on site such as sport and fitness students, to large class sizes making social distancing impossible, students not wearing masks and being out in high risk communities during breaks. Providers should, to the extent possible, ensure that students have access to digital and remote learning classrooms, and materials to enable learning from home.

This year due to COVID-19 restrictions, the TAFE and Adult Provision (TAP) biennial conference will be an online event. It will be held on 21 October with registration now open. There will be a keynote speaker on Psychological OHS issues and workshops on building union power, strengthening your sub-branch and fun ways to build union culture. Further information can be found on the AEU VIC Branch Website.

WA

GARY HEDGER

THE RESULTS of the reduced and fee-free courses across the TAFE system in WA have increased enrolments by up to approximately 27 per cent so far this year. The results of this, while good for TAFE students, have had an unfortunate impact on lecturing staff.

We have not seen a corresponding increase in resources for these areas, nor an increase in staffing levels.

This has led to an unrealistic increase in class sizes and a reduction in unit contact time for students. This is to allow for a larger than anticipated take-up of training by students upskilling or gaining qualifications to improve employment prospects.

The union is dealing with TAFE colleges who are interpreting the General Agreement in ways that they see fit to cover this shortfall in staffing. This has resulted in an increased pressure on lecturing staff to increase their unpaid overtime to enable them to respond to students in a timely manner.

The results of COVID-19 lockdowns is still having a ripple effect across the system, staff are now expected to catch-up the time with unpaid overtime and we have one extreme example of staff being recalled from leave to

deliver to classes.

This is a negotiating year for a replacement agreement (current agreement expires 15 Dec 2021) and a log of claims has been served on the employer, with negotiations to begin shortly.

The membership has rejected the government’s enforced salary cap of a $1,000 per annum and will be asking for a salary increase of 4 per cent, per annum. To further this wage claim, the public sector unions have joined together to launch a campaign (branded “This is the only cap I will wear”) to pursue the wage increase.

The SSTUWA is one of the few individual unions that was represented at the state government’s Skills Summit.

This gave the SSTUWA the opportunity to emphasise the key role of public education in addressing long term skill shortages in the WA economy as well as representing our fellow unions. The union strongly endorsed the vital role state schools and TAFE play in educating over 70 per cent of WA's future workforce, reinforcing the need for full and fair recurrent funding for both of these crucial sectors.

Skills summits will be held in 10 major regional centres across the state, with the emphasis of training being made available locally to retain apprentices, trainees and other skilled workers in the regions. No mention of increased funding for TAFE colleges staffing and infrastructure has been made to ensure that these government initiatives can occur.

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INVEST IN A POSITIVE FUTURE

© AEU 2021 Authorised by Susan Hopgood, Federal Secretary, Australian Education Union 120 Clarendon Street, Southbank, Victoria, Australia 3006

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