tt_autumn22

THE AUSTRALIAN

TAFE TEACHER VOL 56/1

AUTUMN 2022

Big push for secure jobs State of our TAFE survey results Strategies for student centred learning

TAFE in focus It’s a vote winner

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It’s time It’s to invest time in a positive a future positi

It’s time It’ to sinvest time in a positive a future positi

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

© AEU 2021 Authorised by © SusanAEU Hopgood, Federal 2021 Secretary, Authorised Australian Education byUnion Susan 120 Clarendon Hopgood, Street, Southbank, Victoria, Federal Australia 3006 Secret ary, Aus

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Contents 05

REBUILD WITH TAFE

The Official Journal of the TAFE Division of the Australian Education Union VOL56 • N0.1 • AUTUMN 2022

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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SKILLING FOR THE FUTURE

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PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

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 Robert Bertagni 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.

Your national TAFE Council Executive members:

Features

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REBUILD WITH TAFE Latest from the campaign WHY TAFE WILL HELP AUSTRALIA GROW BACK STRONGER Deputy Labor leader, Richard Marles MP explains

Federal TAFE President Michelle Purdy Federal TAFE Secretary Maxine Sharkey

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SECURE JOBS WORTH FIGHTING FOR The time for a big push is now!

QUALIFICATIONS FOR TAFE TEACHERS Is there hope?

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Strategies for student centred learning

CLIMATE CHANGE Skilling for the future with renewables

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 Angela Dean aeusa@aeusa.asn.au • 08 8172 6300 • aeusa.asn.au

SHARE YOUR STORY STATE OF OUR TAFE Survey results revealed

ACT Karen Noble aeuact@aeuact.org.au • 02 6272 7900 • aeuact.org.au

Regulars

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PRESIDENT’S REPORT

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AROUND AUSTRALIA

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

www.aeufederal.org.au T H E AU ST RALI A N TA FE T E AC H E R • 3

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President’s column

From the president It’s going to be a huge year as TAFE shapes up to be one of the key election issues.

Michelle Purdy AEU Federal TAFE President

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ach of the parties has a different policy, that’s not new. But for the first time TAFE is capturing everyone’s attention.

The skills crisis is affecting everyone.

It’s impossible to get a tradie at the moment, the business sector is calling out the shortages in the construction industry and there are delays on infrastructure projects. The hospitality industry is struggling to find staff and the lack of aged care workers is so acute the sector is resorting to the military and volunteers to help out.

It’s obvious that we need a strong TAFE system more than ever. We need to return TAFE to its position as the trusted vocational education provider and make sure Australians are skilled for the jobs of today and tomorrow if we are to rebuild our nation.

The Labor Party recognises this is what Australians want and has responded with a solid policy. Funding for TAFE is one of the very few policies Labor have announced which means they must think it is a vote winner.

Under their $621 million plan, seventy per cent of all VET funding will go to TAFE and they will provide more than 465,000 free TAFE places to skillup Australians to fill jobs.

As usual the Australian Greens have stayed true to their commitment to fully fund free TAFE places for everyone and restore funding to the sector.

Meanwhile, the Morrison government continues to insist that they are spending more on TAFE funding this year (easy to say when you have been underfunding the sector for years). They continue to wash their hands of any responsibility for the skills shortage, refusing to properly fund TAFE and banking on the borders staying open and providing temporary visas for skilled workers to fill the gaps.

The fact that Morrison Government continues to frame the debate as one of cost, when we are staring down the biggest deficit in recent history, is frustrating.

Small change when you consider the Morrison Government spent $60-70 billion on a fleet of nuclear powered submarines – despite wasting $2.4 billion on the aborted program with France.

It just doesn’t add up.

Perhaps Scott Morrison should consider studying at TAFE? – Certificate II in Skills for Work and Vocational Pathways covers basic numeracy and if he does study at TAFE he can be assured he will be learning from a qualified teacher and be able to access our excellent wrap-around student support services.

We can’t let our national TAFE system crumble further under another three years of an inept Morrison Government. It’s up to us to make sure that voters understand that we need a change of government to protect TAFE. This might be our best chance to restore TAFE as the jewel in the crown

“Funding for TAFE is one of the very few policies Labor have announced which means they must think it is a vote winner.”

We need to make sure people understand that Rebuilding with TAFE is an investment. One that the federal government needs to make alongside the states and territories – and it is a small investment. We know from research conducted by the Centre for Future Work that it only costs $5.7 billion to fund a strong TAFE system.

of vocational education. TAFE belongs to all of us. Millions of us got our first start or changed the course of our lives thanks to TAFE. Let’s not waste this opportunity.

Be part of the team on the ground and help get the word out. Let’s make sure that after the election Australia can #RebuildWithTAFE.

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Rebuild with TAFE

Rebuild with TAFE

Since the last election the AEU has lobbied hard for the federal government to take responsibility for rebuilding TAFE so Australia can Rebuild with TAFE. Article by Correna Haythorpe

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atching the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, playing hairdresser in a marginal electorate recently was just revolting on so many levels. In another of his staged, awkward photo-opportunities he talked up the number of young people starting apprenticeships and getting work.

But the reality is that hairdressing is just one of the 153 professions on the skills priority list that is experiencing a critical shortage of apprentices according to the National Skills Commission.

Far from addressing the skills crisis, which began before the pandemic and has only been exacerbated since, the Morrison Government has also overseen youth unemployment grow to twice the rate of the national

unemployment rate – and that’s before you take into account all underemployed and casual workers.

AEU analysis of federal government’s Labour Market Information Portal shows there will be a shortage of more than 207,600 workers in the next five years across critical industries including childcare, aged and disability care, hospitality, carpentry, plumbing, and ICT. Investing in a strong TAFE sector would ensure a sustainable supply of skilled and capable Australians ready to fill workforce shortages. Instead, the federal government refuses to properly fund the public provider of vocational education, with the 2021 budget again silent on TAFE despite National Cabinet determining skills to be one of the six key priorities for the government during the pandemic.

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Rebuild with TAFE

“We have had enough of governments and politicians putting TAFE last and letting a critical part of Australia’s economy and education sector waste away.”

It’s exactly why the AEU launched the Rebuild with TAFE campaign, because we have had enough of governments and politicians putting TAFE last and letting a critical part of Australia’s economy and education sector waste away.

Failure to act A shocking result of the federal government’s lack of investment in TAFE is of course the impact on the aged care sector. While individual aged care facilities are legally responsible for the safety of their residents, the federal government has responsibility for this sector as a whole – and that includes making sure there are properly qualified and trained staff.

Aged care is in “complete disarray”, and it has been made worse by the surge in cases with Omicron, says Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) assistant federal secretary Lori-Anne Sharp in an interview with the Australian Educator magazine.

It has got so bad that the Prime Minister has had to consider calling in the Australian Defence Force to support the sector.

The Morrison government should have had a plan, Sharp says.

“They were warned. We had a royal commission that found chronic understaffing in the sector. They’ve done nothing in two years to address any of that,” she says.

“Staffing levels are so low that just

three staff are often left to manage as many as 120 aged care residents at night.”

One of the royal commission’s most crucial recommendations, she says, was for a mandated safe minimum level of staffing in aged care, but the Morrison government has failed to act.

“These are our elderly citizens who deserve so much more dignity and respect. And the workers who are looking after them are the good humans in the world, they’re the ones who care.

They are doing it for low pay, and this government’s just not showing them any respect.

“We’re seeing preventable deaths and it sits squarely on the Morrison government. They’ve just completely failed.”

Lack of vision It is clear there needs to be an effective national strategy for workforce renewal, yet the federal government prefers to react to problems rather than get out in front of them.

The Prime Minister lacks vision, an ability to plan for the future and fails to see that the answer to this crisis is right in front of them.

“Before the funding cuts, TAFE employed senior educators who were closely involved in future-proofing industries,” says Maxine Sharkey, federal TAFE secretary.

“Those educators would liaise with industry to help predict skill shortages

up to 10 years ahead. We need to return to a proactive VET system and a proactive public education system to rebuild our economy and reskill people,” says Sharkey.

Over the past two years the AEU has used every opportunity to call on the government to launch a co-ordinated effort to put TAFE at the forefront of an urgently-needed national plan.

The first step of the plan would be to restore the more than $3 billion of funding that has been cut from TAFE and training since 2013, including the nearly half a billion in cuts from 2018 and 2019.

Last year, the AEU commissioned research from the Centre for Future Work that proves TAFE is responsible for $92.5 billion per year in annual economic benefit to Australia, 16 times more than the annual cost to maintain the provider, but these longstanding and ongoing benefits will be permanently lost if governments fail to rebuild with TAFE.

Secure work Far from a proactive, well-funded public vocational education system, the Morrison Government has overseen extraordinary levels of casualisation and job losses in the TAFE sector.

The pandemic demonstrated the resilience and agility of TAFE teachers and education support staff. Despite working longer hours, many unpaid and overtime, teachers did their best to

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Pictured L to R: Rebuilding with TAFE means more people taking up training in struggling fields such as aged care work and trades; Michele O’Neil.

move swiftly and smoothly between on-site learning and online learning, ensuring students were able to continue their education.

But in return, the federal government’s trumpeted amendment to the Fair Work Act, which was supposed to require employers to grant ongoing employment to casuals, had no impact in the TAFE sector, with TAFE NSW in particular, refusing outright to convert any of its 7,700 casual staff.

Last year, the AEU gave evidence at the Select Committee on Job Security Senate Inquiry which has now recommended that the Fair Work Act amendment should be replaced, whilst revealing that it was more likely for a cleaner to achieve a permanent job than a TAFE teacher.

The AEU also welcomes the other recommendation in the Select Committee’s report to define “job insecurity” as a “workplace hazard” in occupational health and safety laws.

Safe Work Safety at work is paramount and at the outset of the pandemic, the AEU wrote to the federal health minister, Greg Hunt calling for teachers and support staff across all education settings to be included in the COVID-19 vaccination priority groups.

We sought a commitment that the education workforce would have priority access to the protection of

the vaccination in recognition of their status as essential workers providing an essential service and to prevent the likelihood of further education closures.

And, as far back as October, the AEU joined other unions in calling for free rapid antigen testing, but the Morrison Government prevaricated again.

As ACTU President Michele O’Neil said, “once again PM Morrison dodged federal government responsibility during the pandemic, leaving Australians to the lottery of lack of supply and differing state and territory approaches to rapid antigen testing.

“Right now, a single test can cost up to $20, if you’re lucky enough to find a chemist that still has them. That’s $100 for a family of five. That might be small change to the Prime Minister, but it’s out of reach for many families.

“Unions and businesses have been calling on the Morrison Government to provide free rapid antigen testing since October, instead they’ve done nothing. Australia is lagging behind the developed world, including the USA’s chaotic healthcare system, in providing free and accessible testing.”

TAFE key to federal election The AEU commissioned independent polling in 2020 that proved our message is already getting through to voters. The national survey revealed 94 per cent of Australians want to see more federal funding for TAFE.

And it seems the ALP is listening to TAFE members. AEU lobbying efforts resulted in firming up commitments from the ALP of 465,000 free TAFE places, $50 million for new facilities and equipment and a guarantee of 70 per cent of total government funding for TAFE. If delivered, these commitments will rebuild and restore TAFE as the anchor institution of vocational education.

They will ensure vocational students have access to more courses and more opportunity, to high quality new facilities and state of the art equipment, and importantly more teachers and greater individual attention.

The ALP commitment places TAFE at the centre of the federal election debate.

It is a key point of difference between the parties meaning voters will have a clear choice when they head to the polls.

The Morrison Government’s privatisation-by-stealth agenda has seen students lose education opportunities through course cuts, campus closures and higher fees. Alternatively, Labor’s commitments will ensure TAFE teachers have the resources they need and that students have the skills they need to get a secure job. It recognises the concerns of TAFE teachers and recognises them as the experts in vocational education.

Most importantly, it means that Australia can rebuild with TAFE. CORRENA HAYTHORPE is AEU federal president.

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Rebuild with TAFE

Why TAFE Will Help Australia Grow Back Stronger Over nearly a decade in power, Scott Morrison and the Coalition have taken a blowtorch to TAFE funding, but In order to strengthen Australia, we need to be training more of our own.

Article by Richard Marles MP

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nowledge is power – an old proverb but a good one, and it’s something I strongly believe in. Access to good education isn’t just the opportunity to broaden your mind (though that’s important too), it’s the chance to develop new skills and open doors to great job opportunities.

TAFE is undoubtedly at the heart of that.

Skills training can set a person up for a solid career, a decent wage and a good life. In fact, TAFE graduates can earn on average $19,000 a year more than those who don’t study, according to the Australia Institute. And those graduates are benefiting their communities too, contributing $85 billion to the national economy in 2019 alone.

In the cities, in the regions, everywhere you look TAFE graduates are making a difference.

That’s why we must fight to protect it.

Underfunded and under appreciated Over nearly a decade in power, Scott Morrison and the Coalition have taken a blowtorch to TAFE funding.

Around $3 billion has been ripped out of the TAFE system. It’s been underfunded and under appreciated by a short-sighted government who can’t work cooperatively with the states and who don’t understand that protecting Australia’s tertiary education system requires long-term planning, and long-term funding.

An Albanese Labor Government will end Scott Morrison’s privatisation by stealth on the TAFE sector and protect its future with a 70 per cent public funding commitment. A recent scroll through the online jobs ads is telling.

Of every job vacancy advertised in Australia, 87 per cent required some form of tertiary training, mostly at TAFE level. That means for most Australians these days, getting into a job will mean spending some time in a classroom (or, increasingly, on a laptop remotely).

So if it’s such a cornerstone to employment, why is it TAFE has been so undervalued for so many years?

Scott Morrison, always hungry for a headline and always chasing the quick fi x, is now trying to gloss over a decade of skills shortages in the span of an election campaign. A flashy headline and zero delivery from the Liberals’ top marketing man won’t cut it.

Free TAFE That’s why Federal Labor has announced our Free TAFE plan, to deliver fee-free TAFE placements to students wanting to enroll in an area of skills shortage.

By targeting the support at the industries where more workers are desperately needed, through the National Skills Commission’s Priority List, we can ensure students will have jobs and businesses will have muchneeded workers for decades to come.

Labor will also fund 45,000 new free TAFE places and establish a $50 million TAFE Technology Fund to upgrade equipment, refit workshops and classrooms on TAFE campuses.

Everyone deserves a high-quality education, regardless of where they live.

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Pictured: Richard Marles visits a building site and talks with workers.

were nine years ago. Let that sink in – despite nearly a decade of population growth, under this federal government skills and training is going backwards. That means in the years to come there will be 70,000 fewer qualified and skilled workers – like tradies, hairdressers, chefs and early childhood educators – ready to fill gaps in the workforce.

In order to strengthen Australia, we need to be training more of our own.

By having people trained up with the skills we need for the jobs of the future, Australia will be more resilient.

Rebuild with TAFE It’s fair to say the COVID-19 pandemic has forced Australia into a reset. This is the biggest moment to re-imagine Australia that we’ve had since the end of World War II. And the pandemic has been, in many ways, a report card for Australia. Some has been good, like the way we’ve worked together as a community and adapted to a rapidly changing world where Teams meetings, face masks and fist bumps are now the new norm. But the pandemic has also lifted the rug on Australia’s shortcomings, including a crippling skills crisis. We desperately need skilled workers, and frankly there aren’t enough of them in Australia.

There are 70,000 fewer apprentices and trainees in Australia than there

“This is the biggest moment to re-imagine Australia that we’ve had since the end of World War II.”

Morrison missing in Action TAFE is fundamental to Australia’s prosperity, and the Morrison Government have been missing in action for too long, proving the Liberals and Nationals cannot be trusted, whether it is at the federal or state level.

This tired old government has never valued TAFE like it deserves and it’s time to show them the door.

Only Labor will protect public assets like TAFE, and only Labor can be trusted when it comes to safeguarding Australia’s skills future.

RICHARD MARLES is the Deputy Leader of the Australian Labor Party, and Shadow Minister for National Reconstruction, Employment, Skills & Small Business.

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Secure jobs

Secure Jobs – Worth Fighting For: The time for a big push is now

At the end of last year, ACTU secretary, Sally McManus joined members of the AEU National TAFE Council for the first in a series of webinars in response to areas of concern raised at the National TAFE Council AGM.

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ecure, permanent jobs with paid sick and annual leave used to be the norm, but over recent years employers across Australia have destroyed these rights as a way to cut costs and erode bargaining powers. And TAFE has been leading the charge.

Sally McManus held up TAFE as emblematic of the growing crisis of casualisation acknowledging that TAFE teachers have suffered enormously over many years.

“TAFEs are systematically converting permanent jobs into casual jobs – exploiting loopholes in legislation that allows them to do it,” she said.

The public is on side But ‘working people have had enough” according to Sally and she urged the council to see that the times are changing and – for once – in a positive way for us. She outlined how the pandemic had been a big shock for many Australians, who saw for the first time how vulnerable the country is with so many insecure jobs.

“All the insecure workers who lost their livelihoods overnight as lockdown happened, aged care workers who didn’t have sick leave because they work for labour hire companies, people who had to go into work on the frontline because they had no choice. [everyone saw] how far our country had gone in the wrong direction,” she said.

Sally highlighted how much public opinion has shifted over the last 18 months saying that Australians ‘now have sympathy and understanding’.

She pointed to the ABC Australia Talks

survey which backs up the ACTU’s own research, and states 88% of people think insecure work is a problem for Australia. “The public is on side,” she said.

“We need to use this moment to push our campaigns forward. AEU campaigning is being backed up by the wider ACTU campaign ‘Secure Jobs Worth Fighting for’, but the AEU is in prime position to demonstrate the case,” she said.

Big Push “The time is right for a big push.

The election could lead to a new government and then the possibility of new laws,” she said, while cautioning the council not to be complacent.

“Labor need to know that to be on the side of working people they have to be campaigning for secure jobs. And if there is no change in government, then the Morrison Government need to understand that there will be a public backlash so they won’t touch this issue,” she said.

The only way to change the situation is to change the legislation so that employers are not able to reject conversion to permanent positions, but as Sally explained, at the moment “employers are driving trucks through the loopholes in the conversion laws.”

“This is typical of the Morrison Government. He says he is going to do something and then he makes it meaningless. People are told that it is the free market, you can’t change things but governments can always act to fix these problems – when they want to,” Sally said.

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Pictured: Sally McManus

The stark facts Phil Chadwick, NSW National TAFE Executive member laid out the case in TAFE. Unfortunately, there is a paucity of data for TAFE employment figures.

The NCVER report from 2020 has the most up-to-date figures, which reveal that TAFE has a permanency rate of 38% while private providers achieve 47.9% illustrating that “TAFE is relying on the casualisation of the TAFE workforce to keep it hungry and lean,” Chadwick said.

Even the Productivity Commission recently commented that the rate of casualisation in the TAFE workforce at 38% is higher than the general labour market average at 22%.

“Our students have a better chance of getting a permanent job at the end of their course than the teacher who provided that education,” Chadwick said.

“Until funding is guaranteed, casual work will always be the go to option.”

TAFE NSW is one of the prime culprits. Last year TAFE NSW advised that it was not obliged to offer permanent jobs to any of the more than 7700 part-time casual teachers in its workforce. “Why? Because our industrial instruments are lacking. Just as Sally said, when there is a loophole an unscrupulous employer can drive a truck through it – and NSW TAFE are doing just that and getting out of their obligations,” Chadwick said.

It’s in stark comparison to Queensland, where they have a

requirement for the employer to consult on the number of casual employees and, as a result, the figures are around 57% permanent and 23% temporary, which is in line with the general workforce. Employees in Queensland can request conversion after 12 months in line with the intent of the federal legislation, but there are no state loopholes for the employer to exploit.

“We need to advocate for a consistent application of law and consistent reporting,” Chadwick said.

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Secure jobs

years at TAFE NSW and corrective services Sharon Usher dispelled the casualisation myth the LNP would like to have us believe; that casual work is a choice that people, especially women, appreciate for the flexibility.

“It’s not a choice. For some it’s the only option on offer,” she said. As a part-time casual teacher Usher does exactly the same job, the same responsibilities, the same requirements to maintain currency and competency and yet is not afforded the same security of employment. When the year came to an end, her income ceased and she won’t start to get paid until March this year.

As she explained, with 16 weeks of non-teaching this means there are four months of zero money. Often classes don’t start on time, and additional weeks of delay mean additional weeks of no income making it difficult to plan.

Fluctuating pay does not assist rising living costs or secure a home loan with an income that is not guaranteed. It creates stress and intensifies anxiety.

“I have irregular and unpredictable working hours. We are always the first teachers to have employment hours cut,” she said.

Usher spoke to the need for change explaining that the precarious nature of employment silences the voice of many casual teachers. With compliance and limited access to union meetings, many are unaware of their rights.

Her colleagues have reported feeling pressured into unpaid work, anxious that they may have their hours cut if they refuse.

Usher took on precarious employment thinking that it would be a stepping stone to permanency but is starting to realise this dream may never eventuate. “Until funding is guaranteed, casual work will always be the go to option,” she said.

Positive news from Victoria A more positive situation is emerging in Victoria, explained Elaine Gillespie, Victoria’s National TAFE Executive member.

The AEU has had great success in reducing casuals in TAFE. They won changes to the number of hours that casuals could be employed. Previously, it was 72 hours a year – almost a full-time workload – now a casual can only be employed for 13 weeks before conversion.

Their other big win was to reverse the onus. Rather than employees having to

Pictured: Sally McManus during a webinar.

go cap in hand to ask for permanency, TAFEs now have to report to the union each year on the number of eligible positions and number of staff converted and reasons why. This is making a significant difference. Gillespie gave the example of SuniTAFE which at one point had 221 casual workers but is now down to 9.9 to prove the clauses work.

WA breakthrough Gary Hedger, WA National TAFE Executive member spoke about their breakthrough – any casual who has more than six weeks teaching must be offered a contract for the timetabled period.

This has led to 20-week contracts, with access to sick leave and annual leave and helped with paid leave over Christmas. They are now fighting for people to have long service leave backdated, which for some people means having 20 years of service recognised, but they are only fighting for union employees of course.

Queensland empowers Another good news story came from Queensland’s Emily Taylor. She works full-time in the Learning Skills Team.

When she started in TAFE she was a casual tutor with six different classes in three different campuses plus doing AMEP assessing, which meant she had six different employee numbers.

At that time, QTU was starting to be vocal about permanency and workload and their campaigning resonated strongly with Taylor. She got involved in union actions and at the

start of semester two she was offered a permanent contract which she believes was due to the strong vocal actions and advocacy of QTU. She felt seen by the union, supported to advocate for herself and be ‘a bit cheeky’.

Now she is ready to apply for a mortgage “feeling empowered to approach lenders with confidence” and credits the union for “continuing to fight for all of us at TAFE.”

Join the campaign At the end of the webinar, Phil Chadwick summed up saying: “TAFE teachers change people’s lives for the better. We make such a contribution to the community and economy and it’s not good enough that we don’t get the same secure work as our students.

It’s not good for people’s health or way of life. We need to change both federal and state laws – we can’t let one level of government play the blame game against another.”

The National TAFE council will continue to campaign against this abhorrent decision of the Morrison Government and pursue opportunities for a political campaign to increase the employment security of TAFE teachers.

All TAFE members of the AEU are encouraged to participate in the ACTU Secure Jobs campaign. Campaigning with other workers experiencing the same attack on work security will strengthen our aims for increased TAFE teacher permanency and assist other workers. securejobs.australianunions.org.au

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Rebuild with TAFE

Share your story Stories are the best way to humanise a public policy issue and the Rebuild with TAFE campaign needs your help to put faces to the funding story.

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he Rebuild with TAFE campaign has done all the hard thinking to come up with policy solutions that would give all Australians access to quality public vocational education and build a strong foundation for Australia’s pandemic response.

But, for the federal government to take the necessary action and implement these solutions, they still need to be convinced of the benefits.

Politicians need to hear from people in the community about the difference TAFE makes to their lives and understand why increasing funding to TAFE is so necessary.

The website has lots of great stories from Australians who got their start at TAFE and went on to become leaders in their fields, but what about the students who are studying at TAFE now?

To find out, the AEU enlisted the help of Youthworx, a Melbournebased social enterprise that trains and supports young people experiencing homelessness or disadvantage through film-making and creative and commercial media production.

They interviewed some very articulate Melbourne Polytechnic students about what Rebuild with TAFE means to them.

See rebuildwithTAFE.org.au

ADD YOUR VOICE The Rebuild with TAFE campaign is collecting stories from the community on the campaign website. You can use the online form to share your story now. Not sure what to say? Here are some things to think about: • Did TAFE help you follow your career dream or help retrain?

• Where would you be in life if you didn’t go to TAFE? • Would more funding help build new high-quality facilities and start of the art equipment? What specifically could be improved?

• What would more TAFE teachers and personnel mean for current TAFE teachers and students?

• Are there currently courses that are not available that could provide more opportunities for students?

• Do you live in a rural or regional area and have to travel a long way to college?

• Would additional TAFE colleges help young people stay local?

There’s no wrong thing to say!

It’s just important that politicians hear about real experiences.

And remember to share stories online by tagging #RebuildWithTAFE on Facebook or Twitter.

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State of our TAFEs

State of our TAFEs Annual Survey 2021

The AEU’s recent survey reveals a workforce of extraordinary dedication and skill that has been pushed to brink by expectations to do more with less, in less time.

Article by Jonathon Guy, Federal Research Officer

Figure 1 // Qualifications of respondents Answered: 1,565

Skipped: 6

T

he AEU’s recent State of Our TAFEs survey, completed throughout November and December 2021, gave TAFE members an opportunity to tell us of the profound changes to their working lives over the past two years of the pandemic, and provides us with an opportunity to compare their responses with those from the last survey conducted in 2019.

Secondary School Certificate IV Diploma Bachelor's Degree Graduate Certificate/Graduate Diploma Masters PHD

Respondents from every TAFE The survey was open to all AEU TAFE Division members for four weeks from late November 2021 and we received 1,563 responses in total, 20% of the AEU’s total TAFE membership with responses coming from every TAFE institution in Australia.

Respondents were 49% female, 50% male, and 1% non-binary and most were middle aged, with nearly three quarters (72%) aged between 46 and 64 years of age. 2% of respondents were of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander descent.

Two thirds (68%) of respondents were teachers/lecturers and an additional 14% were lead or principal teachers. In terms of qualifications, the survey respondents have a high level of experience with an average of 17 years in the TAFE sector and an average of 15 years with their current employer. More than three quarters of respondents are employed permanently and full time.

Other (please specify)

Answer Choices Secondary School Certificate IV Diploma

Responses 0.45%

7

12.84%

201

17.89%

280

Bachelor's Degree

26.33%

412

Graduate Certificate/ Graduate Diploma

23.00%

360

15.14%

237

Masters PHD Other (please specify)

1.41%

22

2.94%

46

Answered

The members who responded to the survey have a wide range of qualifications, with a 26% holding a Bachelor’s Degree, 23% having a Graduate Certificate or Diploma, and 13% having a Certificate IV qualification. 15% of respondents have a Master’s Degree and 1% hold PhDs.

1,565

Pandemic impact How much support have teachers received? Prior to 2020, 82% of teaching was delivered in person, 8% through blended delivery and 10% was delivered online. This has shifted substantially over the last two years and in 2020 and 2021 just over half of teaching was delivered in

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Q18 // Assuming that workplace safety is assured, what would be your preferred method of working in the future?

Answered: 1,258

Skipped: 313

Remote Onsite Hybrid

Answer Choices

Responses

Remote

6.84%

86

Onsite

60.02%

755

Hybrid

33.15%

417

Answered

1,258

Table 1 // Level of support to deal with pandemic challenges Adequately supported

No support at all + minimally supported

Very well supported + well supported

Supporting students during periods of social isolation

13.20% 168

82.60% 1,048

4.20% 53

1,269

Supporting students who have fallen behind

16.90% 221

78.60% 1,031

4.50% 59

1,311

Supporting the mental health of all students

16.10% 211

77.80% 1,021

6.20% 81

1,313

Supporting the mental health and well-being of all staff

18.60% 247

76.50% 1,017

5.00% 66

1,330

Adequate time to learn to use remote learning and working platforms

19.00% 251

74.70% 988

6.30% 83

1,322

Supporting student engagement during online delivery

18.90% 245

75.80% 982

5.30% 68

1,295

Supporting students with additional needs

18.80% 244

74.70% 972

6.50% 85

1,301

Provided with time to develop the skills required to work under these circumstances

20.80% 278

71.40% 954

7.80% 104

1,336

Provision of ongoing pastoral care for students

20.20% 246

73.80% 900

6.00% 73

1,219

Adequate ICT equipment

23.90% 319

65.50% 873

10.50% 140

1,332

Access to Professional Development in online pedagogy

26.00% 345

63.10% 838

10.90% 144

1,327

Support for new students enrolling through government programs (e.g. JobTrainer)

23.50% 228

70.00% 680

6.50% 63

971

Maintenance of contact with your colleagues and mentors

35.40% 470

45.80% 608

18.80% 250

1,328

Ensuring your on-site working environment is COVID safe

35.60% 462

34.00% 442

30.40% 395

1,299

Total

person (51%), 12% was delivered through the blended model and 36.5% was delivered entirely online.

When asked what would be their preferred method of working in the future 60% said they would prefer to return to entirely onsite delivery and 33% preferred a blended or hybrid delivery model – this is triple the amount of blended delivery from the 10% of teaching delivered through that model pre-pandemic.

However, substantial TAFE teachers also told us that additional technological and staff resources will be required if an equitable and manageable blended learning model is to be widely taken up.

While TAFE teachers retain a preference for onsite learning with the option to continue blended/hybrid models of delivery, respondents were also clear about the impact on themselves and their students of the move to majority online delivery and learning, and of the shortcomings experienced by many in the level of support received throughout the adjustment.

Online and increased blended delivery has created a whole host of new challenges including developing the skills and having access to adequate equipment to teach remotely, access to professional development, maintenance of contact with colleagues and supporting the wellbeing of staff and students and keeping students engaged.

As shown in the table below, across nearly every challenge presented

by COVID-19 (with the exception of ensuring COVID-19 safe workplaces and maintaining contact with colleagues and mentors) a very clear majority of TAFE teachers ranging from 63% to 82% said they had received only minimal support if no support at all from their employer.

“If blended is the new way of teaching then there needs to be better technology, more training in online engagement and educational feedback, more hours allocated for units so that the face-to-face practical and tutorial times are adequate” Natural and Physical Sciences Lecturer, NSW

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State of our TAFEs

Table 2 // Impact of online delivery throughout 2020 and 2021 Very beneficial

Somewhat beneficial

No impact

Somewhat detrimental

Very detrimental

Working hours

4.37% 61

11.60% 162

24.19% 338

38.44% 537

21.40% 299

1,397

Workload intensity

0.86% 12

6.03% 84

16.08% 224

42.43% 591

34.60% 482

1,393

1.51% 21

4.03% 56

19.65% 273

43.77% 608

31.03% 431

1,389

Marking burden

0.86% 12

4.54% 63

33.93% 471

34.22% 475

26.44% 367

1,388

Admin burden

0.50% 7

2.30% 32

20.49% 285

36.38% 506

40.33% 561

1,391

Ability to support student engagement

1.22% 17

4.80% 67

13.05% 182

37.63% 525

43.30% 604

1,395

Ability to provide pastoral care to students

0.86% 12

2.95% 41

20.45% 284

34.41% 478

41.32% 574

1,389

Morale at work

“Management need to understand how much more effort time and energy online requires.

They expect the same output with the same hours which is completely unrealistic.”

IT Lecturer, Victoria

Total

The impact of the rapid shift to online learning is also plainly evident from the consistency of responses shown in the table below.

More than three quarters reported a detrimental impact on their teaching across a range of factors including the intensity of their workload (77%), their work morale (75%), administrative burden (77%), their ability to support student engagement (81%) and their ability to provide pastoral care to students (76%). Additionally, 59% reported a detrimental impact on their working hours.

Given these results, it is not surprising that 63% of TAFE teachers said that they had received minimal support or no support to develop their online pedagogy.

In contrast, less than 10% reported that online learning has had a beneficial impact for any factor with the exception of working hours for which 15% responded positively.

Wellbeing impacted TAFE teachers also reported a significant impact on their students and colleagues.

72% of TAFE teachers said that they have noticed a decline in student wellbeing over the last two years and 74% noticed a decline in student engagement.

Despite lowered student engagement, 63% of teachers responded that online learning has resulted in an increase in student’s expectations of teacher’s availability.

87% said that they noted a decline in teacher morale and 85% noted a decline in teacher wellbeing. Students

“They need to give teachers extra paid time to revisit their delivery strategies and student pastoral care instead of expecting us to do it all in our unpaid time and just telling us what a great job we have done – management are condescending and it builds resentment.”

Science Lecturer, NSW

suffered inordinately over the last two years of this pandemic and TAFE teachers have been pushed to the brink.

In order to recover and rebuild there must be increased recognition of the huge additional burden that COVID-19 has wrought on TAFE students and staff, and that must be followed by a detailed resourcing and support plan to mitigate against the damage already done and to prevent further decline.

Pandemic pressures 90% of respondents told us that the pace or intensity of their work has increased over the last two years, with 65% saying that it has increased significantly.

Three quarters of respondents told us that their working hours have increased over the last two years and 42% said that the increase has been significant.

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s

Table 3 // Over the last two years has the pace or intensity of your work increased, stayed the same or Reduced significantly

Reduced slightly

Stayed the same

Increased slightly

Increased significantly

1.91% 24

6.93% 87

24.62% 309

65.42% 821

1.12% 14

Total

Weighted Average

1,255

4.51

Table 4 // Over the last two years have your working hours increased, stayed the same or reduced?

Reduced significantly

Reduced slightly

Stayed the same

Increased slightly

Increased significantly

3.82% 48

19.59% 246

32.88% 413

41.64% 523

2.07% 26

Total

Weighted Average

1,256

4.08

Q27 // Have COVID adjustments contributed to these changes to your working hours?

Answered: 931

Skipped: 640

Yes No

Answer Choices

Responses

Yes

64.23%

598

No

35.77%

333

Answered

931

64% of TAFE teachers said that COVID-19 adjustments contributed to changes in their workloads, and among those who identified COVID-19 adjustments as the trigger, an increase in the pace and intensity of work (99%) and hours worked was the identified change.

On average, TAFE teachers estimated that they worked an additional 8.7 hours each week due to adjustments required as a result of COVID-19 related measures.

This is on top of the additional 9.7 hours per week above contracted hours that full time teachers told us they were already working.

This first tranche of results from the State of Our TAFEs survey 2021 shows the huge additional load that TAFE teachers shouldered over the past two years. They have adapted quickly to new delivery modes and produced new learning materials while working to keep students engaged and learning. They have taken on this work while often receiving minimal support from management and enduring higher than ever workloads and working hours.

These additional burdens come on top of those suffered in a system that has been systematically under resourced and underfunded for decades. In the next issue we will examine what the State of Our TAFEs survey tells us about the impact of policy and funding changes to TAFE in recent years.

“Preparing and finding materials appropriate for online and remote learning, and providing instructions to or giving help to enable students to access these materials has increased my workload. Trying to figure out how to get students to actually learn online and how to keep them engaged when they are extremely stressed has also been hard and led to extra work trying to keep things interesting yet simple.”

Literacy and numeracy trainer, ACT

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Skilling the future

Rebuild with TAFE: skills of the future

As the world embraces net zero emissions, Australia should be leveraging TAFE to develop the skills of Australian workers to create good, secure jobs as a leader in green energy production.

Target funding Australia has easy access to rich, green natural resources, with more solar energy potential than any other continent, making us the envy of the world. Yet, Australia is failing to harness these resources, paying ever increasing household energy bills and not pulling our weight when it comes to addressing the climate emergency.

With the election looming, the Clean Energy Council has charted a way for Australia to become a clean energy superpower. Central to its plan is the call for a $200 million clean energy skills package that offers targeted support for training facilities to upskill workers for critical transmission and renewable energy infrastructure development, particularly in the regions.

Research by the National Skills Commission backs up their vision of the renewable sector as a huge source of potential future jobs. They are calling jobs in this sector ‘emerging occupations’ – ones where they are seeing a new trend in frequent advertisements for jobs with new skills. In this case it is solar installers, energy efficiency engineers and wind turbine technicians. Yet, according to the Clean Energy Council, the renewable energy sector is experiencing significant difficulties recruiting workers with the right skills right now and this is stalling future projects. They argue existing training systems are not providing the right skills and say the fault lies with the federal government.

“This is the time to invest in the renewable energy labour market with targeted funding to support a growing and diverse regional workforce,” said Clean Energy Council Chief Executive, Kane Thornton.

While state and territory governments have become the torchbearers of policy ambition for Australia’s clean energy transition in recent years, the Clean Energy Council argues that it is the federal government that needs to take

the lead on a strong and co-ordinated renewables strategy.

“This should include establishing a taskforce involving governments, unions, regulators and training and research bodies to understand and map future workforce needs and gaps and establish clear strategies to address them” says Thornton.

Skills crisis AEU federal president Correna Haythorpe agrees; “the clearest strategy we need is to rebuild the renewable sector by providing targeted funding to TAFE. Instead of overseeing a skills crisis in this and so many other sectors on their watch, the federal government should have responded to the clear needs of the market by rebuilding with TAFE. Instead we have jobs that can’t be filled and projects that can’t get off the ground.”

The Clean Energy Council reports that only three major projects were signed off in the second quarter of last year which is 70% below 2018 levels. While a lot of the blame can be placed on the Morrison Government’s failure to understand the

urgency of climate change and commit to national targets, it is also his government’s failure to support emerging markets.

The Australia Institute’s chief economist Richard Denniss told Renew Energy Magazine that much of the problem comes down to the fundamental flaw in how infrastructure projects are conceived. “We’re pretending the real skill of infrastructure is cooking up the contracts and financing. We’ve got every merchant bank in the country saying ‘oh yes, we specialise in getting new infrastructure projects by successfully bidding to do something… Oh we’ve won the bid! Does anyone have ten thousand skilled staff willing to start? Oh, I thought you did’.”

TAFE leading by example Despite nearly nine years of policy vandalism by the federal coalition governments and constant bickering over climate change policy, TAFEs are already demonstrating they can lead the way in skills training and education for this sector.

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Setting students up for the future Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT) is one example of TAFEs stepping up to meet the need. They offer training in solar technology including Solar Photo Voltaic, Battery Storage Systems, Small Battery Training and Grid Connection Training for electricians and apprentices. CIT is also an exclusive provider of Global Wind Organisation (GWO) certified training in the ACT and surrounding regional NSW. Ilsa Stuart, Senior Manager, Renewables at CIT said; “We offer training in renewable energy technology these courses include Grid Connected Photovoltaic systems as well as Battery Storage Systems Training for electricians and our apprentices can choose to do solar training as their elective during their apprenticeship.

Students also undertake training with wind power generation installation and maintenance.”

“Training as an electric vehicle technician is also a growing area of interest as more people embrace electric cars, training includes some online learning with workplace simulations for apprentices.”

CIT student, Grant Napier, who studied a Certificate III in Electrotechnology including training in solar and batteries, says the course is setting him up for a future career in renewables.

“I am studying because I know it is a career where I am challenged to find solutions and where my skills are tested constantly.”

“The CIT training is preparing me for all I face at work. I am currently working in mechanical electrical installing mechanical services and plant equipment, and maintaining building management systems and doing electrical upgrades, and new installations. The training will help me shift into renewables work.”

WA leading the charge in the battery value chain With demand for batteries forecast to accelerate up to 10-fold over the next decade, a research collaboration involving the WA State Government, South Metropolitan (SM) TAFE and the Future Battery Industries Cooperative Research Centre (FBICRC) is working to give Australia a competitive edge in the growing battery value chain.

A key partner in the collaboration, SM TAFE already works closely with BHP’s Nickel West, providing training for workers at its nickel sulphate plant. SM TAFE also trains electricians in battery energy storage systems installation, applied engineering, and in light automotive (mechanics) to de-power and initialise electric vehicles. The SM TAFE campus located at Munster in the Kwinana Industrial Area and Western Trade Coast precinct means the college is well placed to assist companies moving into battery minerals refining and chemical production to skill and reskill workers for future jobs.

North Metropolitan (NM) TAFE is training Western Power and Horizon workers in the installation and maintenance of standalone power systems; and is moving into training for the maintenance and management of network battery, wind and solar power. NM TAFE is also training mining workers in minerals extraction, both relevant to the mining and processing of battery minerals.

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

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

Bank First

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Upskilling

Qualifications for TAFE teachers: is there hope?

Let me say at the outset that I have the highest respect for TAFE teachers. They do a magnificent job under difficult circumstances, in an increasingly complex environment, and make a real difference to the lives of their students and to the skills available to employers in Australia and, indeed, around the world.

Article by Erica Smith

O

ver the past thirty years I have taught many hundreds of TAFE teachers in university VET teacher-training programs in three states, and I always learn as much from them as they (I hope) learn from me and my colleagues. I have seen how they welcome the chance to discuss, with each other and with their university lecturers, their teaching practice, and seize on the theories and other matters learned in their studies to help understand and improve what is happening in their teaching spaces and why. Articles in recent editions of this magazine show teachers’ interest in matters such as teaching for diversity, including indigeneity, and the psychological safety of students, matters which are covered in university studies in VET teaching.

So, there is no questioning the ability and commitment of our TAFE teaching workforce. The depressing question is why Australia does not see fit to provide all VET teachers with appropriate teaching skills and qualifications. Why, instead, has there been a constant push to depress the qualification levels of the VET workforce for the past 25 years, without even a cursory look at what is actually involved in VET teaching? Why, to be blunt, are Australia’s VET teachers among the least qualified in the world, and the least educated among all sectors of education? It is not the teachers’ fault – they are told that a Certificate IV level qualification is all that is required for their occupation.

Why does this concern me?

As well as having had a prior career as a TAFE teacher, briefly in the U.K. and for several years in Australia, I have also worked in several other roles within the VET sector, such as managing a State Industry Training Advisory Board, as a researcher in VET, and have been involved in VET sector policy and practice development in Australia and internationally. I have seen that the voice of VET teachers is neglected in such discussions. I do my best to remind people that VET would not exist without its teachers, and that VET is an

education sector, not a service provider to employers from the non-education sector. But the qualification level of the VET workforce is proof that VET is not highly regarded in these circles.

I had a sad and revealing conversation, around six or seven years ago, with a federal VET minister with whom I had requested a meeting to discuss VET teacher qualifications. He asked me, ‘Why would you need a degree to teach someone how to make coffee?’. I am often struck dumb by such questions (and one can’t contradict a minister) But I could have replied that it’s like saying

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“On the downside, this report unfortunately persists in calling VET teachers ‘training and assessors’. Constant reminders have not succeeded in changing this nomenclature, which downgrades the work that VET teachers do.”

‘Why would a nurse need a degree to take a patient’s temperature?’ – except that nobody questions the need for degree-qualified nurses. In my view, the comment also shows a disrespect for, and lack of knowledge of, not only VET, but also of the industries and occupations for which VET teachers train people.

What is this paper about?

I will revisit briefly the history of TAFE teacher qualifications and pick out some key arguments from previous papers I have written on the topic, including one for this magazine in 2010. There have been others working alongside me in this struggle, and only the word limit prevents me from citing all of their work.

But I am well aware that many readers of this magazine will have only recently joined the TAFE teaching workforce and so I will try not to dwell too much in the past, but to focus on the present and what can be done by individuals and institutions within the VET system.

Before I proceed, I also need to emphasise that TAFE teachers’ relevant industry qualifications and experience are also vital. It is unfortunate that sometimes talking about VET teaching leads to an angry response that industry qualifications and expertise have been forgotten. In this paper, those qualifications and expertise are taken as a given.

What’s wrong with the Certificate IV, anyway?

You yourself may have done a good Cert IV course. You may be a good teacher of the Cert IV. There are certainly many dedicated teachers

of the Training and Education (TAE) Training Package doing their best with this deeply flawed qualification. The problem is that the Cert IV is narrow, and in its current form has little focus on actual teaching or on student learning. There are many reasons for this, which cannot be explored here.

Berwyn Clayton, a well-respected figure in VET and VET research, once said in a research report, that the Cert IV is OK if you already know how to teach, and that pretty much sums it up for me.

Much other research has pointed out both the inadequacies of the Cert IV and the need, even if it were perfect, for a higher-level qualification.

The past and the present In 1993, when I began work in VET teacher-training, all new full-time TAFE teachers were required to enrol in a university qualification in VET teaching which they undertook while working.

Thousands of teachers were enrolled in these programs, and there was a vibrant community of VET teachereducators who were able to carry out vital research, write textbooks for VET teachers, and work with people in the VET sector on events and professional development activities. Teachers went through their teacher-training, whether face to face or online, with a cohort of peers, which often persisted for the rest of their TAFE teaching career. If you’d like to know more about this history, I recommend that you read Roger Harris’s report, commissioned by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER), Landmarks in the development of the VET workforce.

But now, according to an NCVER report (Knight, White & Granfield, 2020),

in 2020 only 16% of VET teachers have qualifications in VET teaching higher than the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment, with only 10% at degree level or above. There are some issues with the data in their report, but even if the figures are only approximate, they are deeply worrying. As older, more highly educated teachers retire, the proportion of properly qualified TAFE teachers will fall even further.

While some TAFE teachers still choose to study at university, there are only around a thousand students nationally, and most teachers miss out on this experience and this camaraderie. I have charted these events in a chapter about to be published in an international book on VET teacher education: Australian TVET teaching training: Once flourishing but now neglected.

What has my own research shown?

My 2010 paper (TAFE teacher qualifications, too little, but it’s not too late) for this magazine, using my own research in VET and in industry, came to these four conclusions: 1. We need to acknowledge the inadequacy of the Certificate IV to provide the skills and knowledge that 21st century VET teachers need, even to commence their careers with.

2. As a direct consequence of this, there is reduced capacity to deliver a better Cert IV, as the VET teaching workforce become progressively less qualified.

3. We have seen resistance from TAFE systems (and other RTOs) to demand better-qualified VET teachers, and need to know the cause of this resistance.

4. The low status of VET teaching as an occupation is connected to the qualification needed to enter it. The esteem in which jobs are held is often bound up intimately with the levels of qualification required.

Rays of hope My 2010 paper said that improvements to TAFE teacher qualifications were ‘too little but not too late’. I did think about using the title ‘definitely too late’ for this current paper. But I decided that there are still rays of hope.

As part of current commonwealth government VET reforms, a VET workforce quality strategy is being developed. The consultation paper (September 2021) flagged an intent to improve qualification levels of teachers.

While it involves a non-directive role, ‘promoting to RTOs’ the value of T H E AU ST RAL I A N TA FE T E AC H E R • 2 1

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Upskilling

higher-level teaching qualifications for their workforce, it is still a major step forward. On the downside, this report unfortunately persists in calling VET teachers ‘training and assessors’.

Constant reminders have not succeeded in changing this nomenclature, which downgrades the work that VET teachers do.

Across the world, other governments are undertaking initiatives. The OECD undertook a recent international project on ‘Teachers and leaders in VET’, in which the Australian government participated. A webinar on the project in April 2021 featured U.K. and US initiatives on raising the status of VET teachers. These ideas could be considered by our Commonwealth and State governments.

Several states now encourage higher level qualifications for their TAFE workforce, through access to higher pay scales.

My own state of Victoria took this step in the 2018 TAFE Teaching Staff Agreement. Having been the first state to abandon higher-level qualifications for its teachers, it was pleasing to see this reversed, albeit after two decades.

The Victorian branch of the AEU played a major role in this agreement, and is to be congratulated. One hopes that all states will follow suit.

There is a good piece of news for individual TAFE teachers from the Commonwealth Government, in the reduced price of university study in Education courses. The ‘HECS’ contribution for Education, as for some other disciplines, was more or less halved during 2020 due to COVID, and remains at the lower level. This makes completion of a VET teachertraining university qualification relatively inexpensive, especially considering the substantial credit almost always provided for Cert IV TAE, industry qualifications, and sometimes also for the Diploma of VET. The change also reduces the burden on those individual TAFE Institutes and other RTOs who choose to pay their teachers’ university costs.

Finally, evidence continues to be gathered on the usefulness of higherlevel qualifications, but is often ignored or derided by those with other agendas.

One day, however, the weight of evidence may push down the gate and allow common sense to prevail!

What are some current blockers?

At the moment there are two further problems. One is a Productivity Commission report (2020) on the National Agreement for Skills and Workforce Development. Last year, in The Australian TAFE Teacher, Claire Field discussed some aspects of this report. In its section on the quality of VET, the Commission saw fit to use misleading information to try to discredit research findings (including my own) on the beneficial effects of higher-level VET teaching qualifications. An earlier, 2011, report by the Productivity Commission on the VET workforce had also argued against higher level qualifications. The Productivity Commission’s reports are quite influential, and therefore dangerous. Secondly, as a member of the Education Industry Reference Committee, I am finding in the current TAE Training Package review that there appear to be substantial barriers to attempts to radically improve the Certificate IV qualification.

But is there hope?

A paper I delivered to the NCVER conference in 2021, an overview of the history and the current state of VET teacher qualifications, ended with the following stark choices: • ‘We can return to expecting our VET workforce to be appropriately qualified for the complex job of teaching and training in VET in their different industries and disciplines.

We can make VET teaching a visible job that’s sought after.

• Or… we can stand by and watch the continued decline of quality and standards in VET, with VET teaching being something that people stumble into, not aim for … after all, VET is only for ‘other people’s children’, as is sometimes said, despairingly’.

While there were some very positive responses to my paper, it would have been nice not to have felt driven to present on that topic. I would love to switch the conversation about higher level qualifications completely, to questions like ‘What TAFE teachers and managers would like to see in university qualifications on VET teaching?’ and ‘How can there be clearer pathways between the VET teaching qualifications the TAE Training Package qualifications and those at universities?’

It would be wonderful to imagine that my next task will be to facilitate such matters, rather than attempting to repair the damage done to the VET teacher qualifications system in the past 20 years.

AFTERWORD: Acknowledgements I WISH TO ACKNOWLEDGE the work of all members of the Australian Council of Deans of Education Vocational Education Group – the university staff delivering VET teachereducation from Associate Degree to Graduate Diploma level.

They have worked tirelessly for the last decade to advocate for, and improve, higher level qualifications for VET teachers and contribute to VET teacher quality in many other ways, both nationally and internationally. As a group, we are often consulted by governments, funded agencies, and consultants working for governments, but we find that the voices of other, less knowledgeable bodies with different agendas often outweigh our contributions.

The ACDEVEG website acde.edu.au/networks-andpartnerships/acde-vocationalgroup includes papers from our previous conferences, including some on VET teacher-training in countries whose governments require their VET workforce to be appropriately qualified.

For example, even struggling countries like Laos and South Africa, as well as wealthy nations like Germany, require degree qualifications of their VET teachers. In Germany’s case, the requirement is for a masters degree.

ERICA SMITH is Professor of Vocational Education and Training at Federation University.

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Professional development

Emerging trends and imperatives in teaching and learning in Adult Education

The COVID-19 crisis has led to challenge and opportunity.

It has put the E back in VET – Education.

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The Learning Pit Successful learning

Facing a challenge You may feel anxious, nervous, scared, or excited

You should feel excitement and pride

Deep learning You may learn a sense of collaboration and concentration

Let’s work together It’s too hard.

I want to quit

I don’t understand

I’m not good at this

Good learners go into the PIT!!

We all thought it would go away, didn’t we?

It was called ‘the new normal’ but we hoped it was just a phase.

However, learning from a distance – blended learning, hybrid learning, polysynchronous learning – is here to stay. The emerging trends and imperatives brought to us by this digital transformation have a lot in common with our earlier work as adult educators but is has been a big challenge.

Article by Karen Dymke

The learning pit The Learning Pit, described by James Nottingham, has seemed very relevant.

We have faced a challenge, and some have felt anxious or scared. At times it has felt too hard, and we have wanted to quit.

Learning new digital tools, connecting to learners online when they won’t turn their cameras on, and the technology fails.

We have had a real sense of what it can be like for our learners. We have fallen into the pit. Learning is indeed hard work. But by working together, sharing ideas and collaborating with our colleagues (and students) when you don’t understand, bit by bit by working together, we have crawled out of the pit and have felt a sense of pride at our achievements. This is a key message we can also share with our students – good learners go into the pit!

Some educators have reported increased learner engagement through blended learning, and opportunities to get through content more effectively.

Let’s use what we have learned and continuing to learn whether it is face to face or by distance.

This article will outline high impact teaching strategies that are evidence based for successful learning for you and your students.

We may well fall back into the pit, but when we and our learners know that this is what good learning is about, we can shift from a fixed mindset of ‘I can’t do this’ or ‘when I’m frustrated I give up’ to a growth mindset where ‘I know that challenges make me grow and my effort and attitudes determine my abilities’(Dweck, 2019). So, whether you feel like you were pushed or shoved, or jumped in, or are slowly sinking into the learning pit of digital transformation, the teaching and learning imperatives which have emerged are going to stay with us and we are improving – and maybe, beginning to enjoy our new learning.

Digital transformation The plunge into digital learning has a wide array of options and approaches.

Online, blended, polysynchronous or hybrid learning.

Whatever approach you or your TAFE choose to take, technology can be a challenge, but it also allows educators to be flexible in their teaching and learning. What has re-emerged as an imperative is the need to do intentional planning for sessions.

We may feel overwhelmed by all the different digital tools we are faced with.

Just start with one and master it until

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you move on to try others. Whether it’s breakout rooms, video recordings or annotation, start where you are at with technology. What is far more important are the methods of instruction that spark learning, not the medium (Fisher, 2021).

Recent and ongoing research has highlighted what teaching and learning strategies have the greatest effect to progress student learning and achievement. It makes sense to incorporate them, purposefully, into remote learning (Hattie, 2018).

Some of the top impacts are: • Investment in building a continuous learning community • Clarity from educators • Well-designed collaborative learning • Giving and receiving effective feedback • Fostering student self-regulation.

Student centred learning Putting the student at the centre of the learning has never been more important.

Building effective relationships with students is the corner stone of effective teaching, but this has taken on a whole new meaning in the last few years. We have become increasingly aware that we are not just filling up empty bottles, but we need to be aware to teach the whole person, considering their physical, intellectual, and mental wellbeing.

Educators need to build a learning community where everyone is valued and respected. Inclusive education is being strongly promoted on all fronts.

The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework is being used by many organisations to personalise learning for every student. The importance of providing students with voice and choice in their learning (Quaglia, 2018) is being recognised. We are learning from research (Clarke, Hattie, 2018) that we need to listen to our learners, accept their feedback and act on it. This is in fact the most effective feedback you can get.

Strategies for student centred learning: a) Make the investment in building a continuous learning community e.g. check in and out at the start and/or end of the session. Ask them what they learnt today. What was a muddy point? b) Learn people’s names and say them correctly. If you’re not sure, ask the learner for a quick lesson. c) Find out the learner’s interests and explore common ground. d) Ask for feedback on your teaching.

What should you start doing, stop doing, keep doing? Make sure these

comments can be individually received via sticky notes, email or a digital tool such as Flip Grid.

Neuroscience: how the brain learns How many of us have felt ZOOMed out and your brain is about to burst? Since many of us have been in the learner’s seat it has drawn our attention to the fact that individuals have a limited number of attentional resources that they can use at one time. This has been described as the bottleneck theory (Broadbent, 1958). Information and stimuli are 'filtered' out and we tend to forget about 60–70 per cent of anything we learned any single day. Researchers have often debated the maximum number of items we can store in our conscious mind, in what's called our working memory, and a recent study puts the limit at three or four (Cowan, 2001). And yes, you knew it, attention spans are getting shorter. As technology advances, attention spans decrease (Microsoft Canada 2015). We simply choose what we pay attention to. Attention spans are also affected by trauma, learning difficulties and anxiety.

Thus, educators are learning how to best capture and engage their learners. So, what are the strategies to engage learners to get learning to stick?

Connect to prior knowledge.

The brain is a prediction machine, and it decides what is best to hold onto – otherwise our brain would be overwhelmed (it’s called cognitive overload). ‘The most important single factor influencing learning is what the learner already knows. Ascertain this and teach him accordingly’ (Ausbel, 1968). You can see by the date and the fact Ausbel didn’t use inclusive language that this idea has been around for a while. But with the sudden plunge into digital outer space, it has re-emerged as an imperative.

Invite your learners to pay attention and tell them why.

Our memory is designed for our survival.

Students will often join a course and wonder ‘How will I survive?’. Tell them up front. Be explicit. It’s a high impact teaching strategy. Clarity is one of the key attributes of expert educators. Make your expectations and group agreements very clear from the start. Outline each session’s learning and what success looks like. Inform your learners that there is no such thing as multi-tasking. It’s switch

tasking (Peifer, Zipp 2018) and it will have a detrimental effect on your learning.

So, if educators know that students can only focus for a short amount of time and retain only a few things at a time, what to do?

Chunk it up.

Variously called micro-learning or nano-learning, chunk up the session into sections. This is most important if you are teaching remotely. The part of the brain that learns is the part of the brain that moves. Provide lots of stretch breaks and brain breaks to process the learning.

Introduce ‘novelty’ e.g., when you change to a different delivery style (move from talking to a video to group work) your brain is flooded with dopamine, the happy drug. It kick-starts your brain like starting an old motor mower and then you can ensure your students will be back and focused. Break up your session: • Maximum 10 minutes to talk (research shows Higher Education students can only focus for 12 minutes!)

• Use lots of group work • Mix it up with Youtube clips, quizzes, activities.

Focus on the most important things.

Trainers and educators in the adult learning space are experts in their industry and can tell a million stories.

Focus on the key messages. What is nice to know and what do you need to know?

To strengthen a memory, you must use it. After you have explicitly taught a new knowledge or skill, provide a worked example and unpack the learning in different ways such as by video, practice and collaborative learning where students teach each other. By providing multiple exposures to the learning, you are strengthening the memory.

Essential skills We have been talking about soft skills, generic skills for years, and they have now arrived again as an imperative for VET subjects. The world of work is changing at a huge speed, and it has been on super drive in the last couple of years. It is time we called them essential skills.

Google has created a flat structure for knowledge. With a click, students can look up anything and think they know everything. What they need to develop is critical thinking skills, problem solving, initiative, enterprise, curiosity – the ability to learn how to learn. So how do we teach that?

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Build critical thinking skills. Coach your students with open-ended questions rather than just answering their questions e.g. ‘Why do you think this is so?’ Develop thinking routines.

A brilliant resource for these is Project Zero's Thinking Routine Toolbox. http:// www.pz.harvard.edu/thinking-routines Well-designed collaborative learning.

Most teaching methods in TAFE have shifted from ‘the sage on the stage’ to the ‘guide on the side’ where students collaborate and work together in teams to solve problems and simulate workplace experiences. Research tells us that 80 % of the time students learn from each other (Nuthall, 2007), so why not capitalise on that. We need to activate the learning so students can feel empowered to understand how to learn and how to research, understand and analyse what they find. As educators it is perhaps our moral responsibility to prepare our students for a fast-changing world of work and life where learners know where they are going, how they are going and where to next (Hattie, 2016). By fostering student self-regulation, we empower them for the future.

Giving and receiving effective feedback.

Feedback can double the speed of learning (Wiliam, 2011). Praise however

is a different story. Praise is a good thing and we all like it, but it can trip us up. The research indicates that it can slow down learning, in fact make it go backwards if it is based on ego and not effort (Dweck, 2017). Praise works when it is specific, deserved, sincere and about effort. By basing feedback on effort and dispositions such as persistence, grit, determination or whatever your industry finds most important, you can build your learners essential skills.

These emerging imperatives are evidence based and researched as effective ways to progress student learning and achievement. They are not necessarily new to education, but they are emerging trends in TAFE which has often focused more on compliance rather than the art of teaching adults (Andragogy).

The COVID-19 crisis has led to challenge and opportunity. It has put the E back in VET – Education.

The emerging trends in TAFE of digital transformation, student-centred learning, understanding the implications of how the brain learns, and building essential skills for the future through activating the learning are imperative trends for TAFE learners, both students

VDC specialises in providing continuing professional learning for VET Practitioners and the broader VET workforce, for all VET providers in Australia.

Webinars, Virtual Workshops, half and full day In-Person Workshops and special events such as VET Chats, Thought Leadership Series, Forums and Conferences.

VDC provides tailored professional learning activities and facilities hire.

KAREN DYMKE 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.

In conclusion

2022 VET PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR TAFE Our professional learning offerings include

and educators. When we as educators move learners from compliance to engagement to empowerment, and from intuitive to intentional in our course design, everyone wins.

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References 1. Active Listening . Retrieved from : https://courses.lumenlearning.com/ ivytech-comm101-master/chapter/ chapter-4-three-as-of-active-listening/ 2. Attention Spans. Secondary Research. https://theneverendingblogs.wordpress. com/2016/10/30/1173/ 3. Clarke, S; Hattie, J. (2018) Visible Learning : Feedback, Corwin 4. Cowin ( 2016) The magical number 4 in short-term memory: A reconsideration of mental storage capacity. http:// pausethinkconsider.com/wp-content/ uploads/2016/09/microsoft-attentionspans-research-report.pdf 5. Dweck, C ( 2017) The Perils and promises of Praise https://books.google.com. au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=fsWqDAAA QBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA66&dq=Dweck +praise+&ots=3zL5bRS6Bv&sig=V8 ugjo_dn1bjOI2LIxmyrGZlQko&redir_ esc=y#v=onepage&q=Dweck%20 praise&f=false 6. Fisher, D; Frey, N; Almarode, J; Hattie, J. (2021) The Distance Learning Playbook, Corwin.

7. Harvard Graduate School of Education (2016) Project Zero’s Thinking Routine Box http://www.pz.harvard.edu/ thinking-routines 8. Kirton, T. (2021) VELG Conference 9. Mason, R., & Seton, C. (2020). Assessing International Students: The Role of Cognitive Load. Proceedings of the Twenty-Second Australasian Computing Education Conference, 160–166. https:// doi.org/10.1145/3373165.3373183 10. Mason, R., & Seton, C. (2021). Leveling the playing field for international students in IT courses - ACE '21: Australasian Computing Education Conference, February 2021, 138–146. https://doi. org/10.1145/3441636.3442316 11. Moskowitz, C, (2008) Mind's Limit Found: 4 Things at Once Retrieved from :https://www.livescience.com/2493mind-limit-4.html 12. Nuthall, N (2007) The Hidden Lived of Learners NZCER Press 13. Peifer, C (2018) All at once? The effects of multitasking behavior on flow and subjective performance (https://doi.org/ 10.1080/1359432X.2019.1647168 14. Quaglia, R. Corso, M. (2014) Student Voice. The Instrument of Change. Corwin 15. Sousa, D. (2010) Mind, Brain and Education. Solution Tree.

16. Sweller, J., Ayres, P., & Kalyuga, S. (2011). Cognitive Load Theory.

Springer. http://www.springer.com/us/ book/9781441981257

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Call for 2022 nominations

Rosemary Richards Scholarship Rosemary Richards was a proud feminist, unionist and educator.

A trailblazing leader, she was committed to advancing gender equality across the AEU. In her memory, the Rosemary Richards Scholarship continues her legacy by building the capacity of women as activists and leaders.

This scholarship is an opportunity for an AEU woman member with an idea for an innovative project, research or study experience that will increase her skills and experience in the union’s work at state/ territory, national or international level. By extension, it should also support the AEU’s women members.

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The scholarship is valued at $10,000 and is intended to cover all project expenses including, but not limited to, travel, attendance at conferences, workplace visits, training and developmental opportunities, work-shadowing, research project design and implementation.

Contact your local women’s officer for more information.

Application forms and further information is available on the AEU website: aeufederal.org.au/noticeboard The submission deadline for application forms is Friday 6 May 2022.

All women AEU Branch or Associated Body members are strongly encouraged to apply.

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Around Australia

Around Australia ACT KAREN NOBLE

IT IS A VERY busy start for 2022.

The core business of learning and assessment kicked off in a variety of ways with teaching departments determining the best formats for their qualifications and student groups. Both face-to-face, on campus and online learning continues. There have been strong statements of support for the resumption of on campus learning, where that is needed. Being on Campus is a mixed blessing. Some teachers are envious of those who can teach on campus as student engagement challenges continue with online learning, for many.

But for those on campus, the COVID-19 complications continue. COVID-19 plans are in place and need continual updating as arrangements across the community change.

Discussions are planned about the provision of rapid antigen tests (RATS), additional cleaning and clear processes once a positive case has been reported.

Some good support is being provided to teachers with online learning, course development and delivery.

This is welcome and hopefully teachers will also have some time to take advantage of this support.

Reinvigorating the CIT sub-branches and TAFE council are high priorities.

Members have been reminded of the union structures and elections are pending. The COVID-19 situation, enterprise

bargaining and CIT future directions all require urgent and substantial member involvement. Members’ experiences and voices are essential, and we look forward to a number of new activists stepping up to share in the work and influence of our union.

A temperature check with teachers over the first few weeks brought the following comments: “Students have been overwhelmingly glad to return to face to face teaching, even though they know there will be disruptions.”

“Communication, especially relating to COVID-19 has been inconsistent and unclear.

Anticipated processes were not well planned in advance.”

“Budgets in some areas are very tight. Consultation and transparency around some decisions is vague.”

“Many teaching areas continue to work with students from 2020 and 2021.

Resourcing of this work is varied and the workload is burdensome as is the workload of training package updates, which goes on and on.”

“Industry placements continue to be challenging, hard to secure, constantly changing and in some situations students are fearful about attending, which delays their completion.”

“Serious concerns are held for the nation’s workforces experiencing massive shortages. Quick fixes are not the answer and steady solutions are not forthcoming.”

“Why do we do this?

Working with students and industry to ensure we continue to provide the best training and ensure our students are employable and fully able to realise their potential. Love em!”

“What are you looking forward to? – 2023!”

NSW PHIL CHADWICK

2021 ENDED WITH the sudden departure of TAFE NSW managing director Steffen Faurby.

Faurby was only slightly less than two years into a five year contract, making him the second TAFE managing director in recent times to leave under a cloud. His predecessor, Jon Black, was just as bad. Black departed from the role after less than three years. This clearly demonstrates the NSW government’s experiment of appointing people with no vocational education experience has been a complete failure. TAFE NSW has now had five managing directors in seven years since the introduction of the disastrous Smart and Skilled funding model in 2015.

Just weeks after Faurby’s departure and only days before Christmas, a NSW cabinet reshuffle resulted in a change of ministerial responsibility. Minister for skills and tertiary education, the Hon Geoff Lee was replaced by the Hon Alister Henskens. TAFE NSW has now had five ministers in the same period from 2015. Adding further to the leadership churn and uncertainty is the revolving door of regional general managers, all six of the current general managers of TAFE NSW regions and TAFE digital are relieving in the positions. To further complicate matters all nine of the heads of skills teams who had a state-wide responsibility

for development of student teaching and assessment resources were made redundant at the end of 2020.

This leadership crisis comes at a cost.

In 2022, 258 training packages are scheduled to transition to non-equivalent versions, to meet compliance requirements so teaching and assessment resources will require significant updating. The skills points mentioned above have the responsibility for this task but have experienced delays in the development of those vital resources to the point where some of the work has now been outsourced to private consultants. A contributing factor to the delays has been a shortage of subject matter expert teachers with available release to develop the resources. Questions need to be asked on how the churn in senior management has negatively impacted on this important work. Teaching and assessment resources are only being made available to teachers in some cases days before classes are scheduled to start, giving them no time to familiarise themselves with the new resources. Where resources are not yet ready class start dates are postponed.

At the start of 2021 TAFE NSW conducted an ‘organisational change’ program in the student services administration team. Around 500 vacant positions were deleted, and further churn occurred as administration staff jockeyed for jobs. In the process, a huge volume of institutional knowledge literally walked out the door. One of the areas that was impacted by the restructure was the ‘offerings’ team. An offer provides the teaching section with an authority to run a course at a location and receive payment for the work performed.

Federation officers began to receive calls at the end

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of August from members with concerns over delays to offerings being approved.

At the commencement of the 2022 enrolment period, the issues around transitioning courses and delays in the approval of offerings translated into hit and miss problems with student enrolments through the website and call centre.

Some course information on location and/or availability was incorrect or missing and many enquiries to the call centre were provided with the wrong advice that courses were full or not running at various locations. Teaching sections were left to resolve the frustrations of students and employers trying to navigate the enrolment process.

Members are reporting that some non-trade areas enrolment numbers are down on last year. Where offerings are not yet approved and classes have begun, teachers are unable to finalise the enrolment process and place students in electronic roll books, attendances and assessment results cannot be entered. Students that are not fully enrolled are unable to acquire IT credentials, meaning that they are unable to access the online teaching platforms that have been embedded into teaching models. This has also caused delays to the start dates of some classes. Delays in class start dates will seriously disadvantage part-time casual teachers many of whom have not had work since the end of November.

Under the NSW smart and skilled contestable funding model, these enrolment issues have the potential to impact on TAFE funding for years to come. If first year students are unable to enrol, there is no funding, if there are no firstyear students the problem rolls onto the following year with a reduced number of second year students.

Federation officers frustrated with the inability of management to acknowledge the problem and unwillingness to take action on the matter have met with the recently appointed Minister for Skills and Training, to seek a resolution to the difficulties TAFE teachers are experiencing.

The Minister's response is underwhelming and fails to acknowledge the existence of a problem, but was not unexpected. Federation officers will continue to pursue unresolved 2022 enrolment issues directly with TAFE NSW.

QLD DAVID TERAUDS

WELCOME TO 2022.

Things continue. Even in our northern paradise.

Central Queensland University (CQU) bargaining was in hiatus over the festive season and at the time of writing was expected to recommence in early February. A significant redesign of the VET educator classifications has been flagged and is in consideration by the parties. Equalisation of superannuation payments, reconsideration of end of year shutdown periods, workload for non-traditional delivery and pay increases have also been topics of conversation, among other matters.

It is hoped that negotiations will come to fruition before the middle of the year.

The TAFE Queensland (TAFEQ) Current Competency Points Scheme (CCPS) is being rolled out as the year begins with some members sceptical as to the resulting workload and overall compliance with industrial instruments.

TAFEQ states that the CCPS is intended to provide guidance to educators regarding the planning and utilisation of the 10 days minimum per year

of professional development entitlement. A significant proportion of QTU members stated in a 2021 survey that they did not access the full entitlement year on year.

Discussions are ongoing.

The beginning of the year saw the opening of Queensland’s borders and the first border crosser seemed to be Omicron. The impact of the COVID-19 variant was for TAFEQ to push many classes back online. Some campuses are co-located with schools which brought the staff under the mandates for vaccinations in line with the Queensland Chief Health Officer directions. At the time of writing, staff who are engaged to work in, or where campuses are co-located with, high-risk settings are subject to vaccine mandates.

SA ANGELA DEAN

THE START OF 2022 brought about a new wave of COVID-19 related restrictions to educational delivery at TAFE SA. Staff were directed to work from home where possible with recommendations that educational delivery move online and face-to-face class commencement dates be pushed back, to reduce oncampus delivery.

As the state slowly eases restrictions to return to business as usual, our organisation is planning a staggered return to campus for staff over the coming weeks. This gradual return to the workplace is part of the employers’ overall plan to ensure the health and safety of students and staff on campus.

While the organisational direction is to ensure a safe working environment during the return to educational delivery, what is promised in principle has not been applied equally across all TAFE

SA campuses. Our members reported various issues including difficulties securing adequate PPE, required class size minimums for face-to-face delivery impacting the ability to meet social distancing guidelines, unclear guidelines regarding mask-wearing on campus, and issues with air filtration in classrooms.

However, the employer is open and committed to ongoing consultation with the AEU to ensure all the safety issues raised by members are addressed promptly.

This initial approach is welcomed by the AEU and its members, whose primary concern is to ensure TAFE SA students and staff have a safe working environment.

Amidst the business of the start of a new year and a fresh round of altered educational programs brought about by the latest COVID-related restrictions, the employer decided to present an offer for a ‘roll-over’ enterprise agreement to all staff.

Our long and arduous fight for a new enterprise agreement for TAFE members commenced in 2019. Just a few months after the employer engaged in bargaining with the AEU in good faith, they put forward their plan to remove educational managers from TAFE SA and replace them with senior business managers as a part of their latest organisational restructure.

This blatant attempt to strip our educational leaders of their entitlements without any proposed change to their job role was challenged by the AEU in the South Australian Employment Tribunal (SAET), with the initial SAET orders issued preventing any further changes to educational staff.

Even after the employer was forced to maintain the status quo and reinstate educational manager positions previously declared excess in their rush to cut costs, they continue to fight this case, refusing to T H E AU ST RAL I A N TA FE T E AC H E R • 2 9

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formally concede defeat. This ongoing industrial fight has made it impossible for the AEU to engage in any meaningful bargaining process over the past two years.

Despite this ongoing industrial dispute interrupting bargaining negotiations, in late 2021 the TAFE Divisional Council requested the AEU re-engage in preliminary enterprise negotiations with the employer, to seek a long-overdue interim pay rise on behalf of our members.

Despite the employer’s stubbornness to concede defeat in their unlawful attempt to remove educational managers outside of the bargaining process, we did not expect a ‘roll-over’ enterprise agreement offer in response.

The ‘roll-over’ offer proposes the preservation of all conditions as per the existing TAFE SA Educational Staff Enterprise Agreement 2016. While the offer helps the AEU achieve our members’ bottom line of no loss in current entitlements, it fails to provide any improvements in employment conditions or a significant wage increase equivalent to current inflation rates. Against advice from the AEU or a formal recommendation from the TAFE Divisional Council, the employer pushed forward and chose to cease negotiations and present the offer in a ballot to all educational staff.

The offer presented provides all educational staff: • A three-year agreement from the date approved by the SAET • Four 1.5% per annum general increases from the first full pay period commencing on or after the date of approval by SAET and subsequently annually • A one-off payment of $1000 (subject to conditions and criteria, pro-rata for parttime and temporary/term contract employees, and

excluding casual employees and hourly paid instructors) • Changes to terms of the current enterprise agreement limited to the removal of obsolete provisions, necessary updating (e.g. definitions, lecturer classification structure).

The AEU balloted members on this initial offer internally, to allow their vote to decide if we would formally recommend this offer. Over 80% of those who responded, voted in favour of the TAFE Divisional Council supporting a ‘Yes’ vote for the employers’ enterprise agreement offer.

Not because this is the best offer we could negotiate but because it is the best offer we believe we can achieve when we are fighting against the most overt attempts to privatise the vocational education sector in the country.

Given the hostile environment in South Australia that we have found ourselves bargaining within since 2019, the preservation of our current conditions and a meagre pay rise seems to be the most the employer is willing to offer. A pitiful thank you for all the hard work shown during the pandemic.

We are expecting more from the new Labor Government who campaigned on a platform of opposing TAFE cuts and putting education first.

TAS SIMON BAILEY

WELCOME TO GROUND hog day.

It seems we are constantly having to fight for the best interest of our members as well as the public TAFE system.

The end of 2021 saw the Tasmanian Government’s plan to turn their public provider of TAFE into a Government Business pass both houses

of parliament. From July 1 all employees will cease to be public servants and will transition across to the new entity. To date there has been no information provided to the AEU or employees on what this new entity will look like.

We are expecting to see a two-tier employment system as any employee employed after July 1 will be employed under the modern award, while existing employees will be covered by their current agreements until they expire or are renegotiated – which at this stage would be March 2023.

This is a terrible situation for our members and students to face. The uncertainty about what the changes will mean and the flow on effect to courses is unknown. We do know that some members are choosing to transfer across into other educational settings as they are not willing to lose their state service entitlements, many are bringing forward their retirement plans and for those who are unable to do this the future remains uncertain.

While we were fighting the government to stop the mooted changes, we were also in enterprise bargaining negotiations. The government was arguing for a reduction in leave, increase of 100 hours of face-to-face teaching and an increase from a 70 hour fortnight to a 73 hour fortnight.

The latest offer put to myself, and my fellow negotiators was an increase of five per cent attendance time for a pay increase of 2.65 per cent. All up we were offered seven percent over two years however the fact that members were being asked to work five per cent more hours meant that it only equated to a two per cent pay rise over two years. We were very vocal in rejecting this offer. Currently we are considering an offer of

4.35 per cent over two years with the previous increase of yearly teaching loads and attendance hours being taken off the table and inclusion of AEU items that cover hour for hour for teaching online to students and the reintroduction of educational team leader positions.

We are hoping to finalise these negotiations soon so that we can turn our attention to the change to a Government Business to ensure that all members are supported during this process.

VIC ELAINE GILLESPIE

A BIG YEAR for Victorian TAFE institutes.

As our TAFE teachers return to work following a well-deserved break after two gruelling years of COVID-19 fears, uncertainty and unpredictable changes in work, an even bigger year loom’s ahead.

In term one we will commence our log of claims process for the new Victorian TAFE Teacher Agreement (VTTA), that covers all TAFE teachers and education managers in our 12 standalone TAFEs. While the current agreement has improved clarity, and strengthened conditions such as employment security through improved conversion and mode of employment clauses, there is still more to be done to improve the working lives of our members. Negotiations for the next VTTA are due to commence in April.

In Victoria we also have four individual dual sector agreements. Negotiations at Swinburne University of Technology – Pathways and Vocational Education Agreement (PAVE) commenced in term 1 2021 and has managed to progress despite many COVID-19

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challenges. Negotiation meetings have increased in frequency and duration as we work towards securing a new agreement for our Swinburne members.

We are planning to commence negotiations with RMIT in the coming months and Victoria University following soon after. Bargaining is not due to commence at Federation University until 2023.

If this was not massive enough, this year is also re-registration for TAFEs. Re-registration is always a hectic and stressful time for TAFE, however this time could provide more than the usual challenges with many courses having to make varying degrees of change to ensure education could continue during the pandemic.

Add to all that the federal and state elections. As with previous elections, TAFE is positioned to play a key political role in both elections.

All political parties are focused on rebuilding the economy and getting Australians back in work as we continue to ride each new COVID-19 variant.

As a new year commences, COVID-19 is still the main focal point, with the recent Omicron outbreak resulting in revised updates from the Department of Education (DET). DET have strongly recommending that staff in TAFEs and higher education, which includes our members in the four dual sectors, work remotely where possible as the discussion of mandating booster shots continues for TAFE teachers but not for students. This again raises the concern for teacher safety, not knowing if you are bringing COVID-19 home to your family and friends as they are unaware of the vaccine status of their students.

The Victorian Skills Authority (VSA) and Skills Plan was established in

July 2021 following the recommendations from the ‘Skills for Victoria’s Growing Economy,’ often referred to as the Macklin review. The VSA in collaboration with its advisory board has been tasked with the design and development of the first Victorian Skills Plan.

The aim of the Skills Plan is to identify the qualifications and job needs for local communities and industries, for the year ahead and beyond.

It will include a focus on areas of economic growth to boost the Victorian economy as we live with and recover from COVID-19.

The plan will be published annually to inform the funding requirements for the following year. The first Victorian Skills Plan is due to be released midyear, around the time of the state budget to fund the Victorian VET system in 2023.

The Macklin review and the Victorian Government have stated that a strong wellfunded TAFE system is at the heart of the future success of the Victorian VET system.

WA GARY HEDGER

OUR GENERAL AGREEMENT expired on December 15 and at the time of writing we have had no offer from the department.

We have explained our log of claims in great detail to the department and provided additional information as requested. Negotiations have been cordial; however, we don’t appear to be making any headway. One of the major sticking points from the department has been their insistence on waiting for the government’s wages policy to be released. Yet we have known what the policy contains for weeks.

The new wages policy

provides public sector unions with a choice, by industrial agreement, of a two-year setting that offers above-CPI wage increases of either: • a 2.5 per cent wage increase per annum, with a $1,000 sign-on bonus in the first year; or • a 2.5 per cent wage increase per annum, with an additional 0.25 per cent per annum for negotiated workforce reform measures.

Whilst this is an improvement on the previous $1000 per annum, it still leaves us way behind the increases to cost of living increases over the past five years. We have sought a four per cent increase per annum to allow us to catch-up to where we should be.

Like all states we have been suffering from lockdowns and a disjointed response to the latest variant of COVID-19.

The statements by the minister and the premier regarding the rules and restrictions around schools have been confusing and constantly changing. Since schools and TAFE opened to students on January 31, we have had three changes to mask requirements for school students along with changes to vaccination requirements for parents and changes to isolation requirements for close contacts.

However, in all these statements there has not been one mention of TAFE. We are teaching in a policy vacuum and despite having school students attending TAFE their rules are different.

The union has been asking numerous questions of government and managers without a satisfactory response.

For example: “Are lecturers required to be wearing masks at all time when the class rooms and workshops whilst teaching or demonstrating equipment operations?”

Response: “Lecturers can remove their mask when delivering content at the front of the class/workshop, however should replace them afterwards when the lecturer is moving around the classroom/workshop and becomes closer to students.

Does that help?”

“If lecturers require multiple masks due to them becoming damp/damaged during the course of the day in classrooms and workshops, who will provide the masks for lecturers?”

Response: “The requirement to wear a mask is a state government mandate. The college has a small supply of masks or staff in the instance of an emergency, however the next day the staff member, lecturer or otherwise, should supply their own mask. You should have spare masks in case the one you are wearing is damaged, or gets wet or dirty.”

“Under the OH&S Act the employer has a legal obligation to provide PPE: If the employer is of the view that they do not need too and received advice of this affect we should be asking the employer to provide this advice in writing. I would appreciate a response to matter to be able to clarify the matter for staff.”

Response: “Legal advice indicates that employers must take reasonable steps to ensure that their employees comply with the directions issued under the WA State of Emergency and Public Health Emergency. Employers are not independently requiring employees to wear masks, hence it is the employee’s responsibility to follow this legal requirement within and outside of the workplace.”

The union has written to the government seeking clarification over the health advice on a range of issues in TAFEs. T H E AU ST RAL I A N TA FE T E AC H E R • 3 1

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REBUILD WITH TAFE

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

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