A failure to actively address the struggling TAFE sector will cost any future government, an education expert has warned.
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University of Tasmania Professor Ian Hay said neither the Liberal nor Labor parties had yet produced a comprehensive policy on their plans for TasTAFE.
“Part of the problem is TAFE still hasn’t settled down, there’s been a number of attempts to settle it down and it still hasn’t quite evolved,” Professor Hay said.
“I think Tafe is still trying to work out where it all fits within the new parameters of education in Australia.”
In 2017-2017, TasTAFE had 26,333 students working through more than 300 courses.
However the organisation’s executive structure was hit by allegations of nepotism, following an independent report.
In August last year Labor announced a policy to separate Drysdale from TasTAFE, to target tourism and hospitality students.
Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff committed the Liberals to a $7 million Trades and Water centre of excellence, and $5 million to an agricultural centre of excellence in the North-West.
The Greens released their TasTAFE policy on Sunday, detailing a promise of $20 million for capital works, 10 new staff members, and the restoration of TasTAFE as a centre of excellence.
On Friday, the Australian Education Union called for all parties to release their policy on TasTAFE and its future, with president Helen Richardson saying the organisation had an “integral role” in the future of public education.
Professor Hay said the state needed to look ahead to assess what services would be required for the state’s key economic drivers.
“Tasmania is a rural-based economy, and it’s also a service-based economy, in the sense that there’s high degrees of hospitality jobs in the tourist industry,” Professor Hay said.
“We know that less boys go to uni than girls, and that’s been a trend in Australia and in Tasmania.
“Therefore what opportunities are there for those students, for the boys and also the girls, who don’t have aspirations to go on to university?”
Professor Hay said politicians had done well in identifying and addressing early education issues in Tasmania, and providing greater resources to support universities, but there was a need to “re-energise the TAFE sector”.
“No government can let TAFE just drift along, it does really need to be looked at as a major component in the economy,” he said.