Tasmanian electrotechnology apprentices have had their training delayed until May, after the sudden departure of a teacher at TasTAFE.
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TasTAFE chief executive Jenny Dodd confirmed on Tuesday that the teacher had resigned and had forced the rescheduling of some training for southern apprentices.
Electrical union CEPU claimed last week that TasTAFE was in the midst of a "teacher crisis" with apprentices being turned away from the training due to teacher changes.
CEPU state secretary Michael Anderson said the teacher in question had left after only six days on the job, which was not confirmed by Ms Dodd.
"Apprentices can't be employed as tradespeople without their completion certificates from TAFE, something they, and the trades desperately need," Mr Anderson said.
He said some employers were considering sending their apprentices to Victoria to get their training signed off and said "band-aid" solutions would not solve the issue.
“Resourcing TAFEs strictly in line with contracts and guidelines for teaching and admin is the only way to fix it properly," Mr Anderson said.
Ms Dodd said apprentices who were affected by the changes had been notified.
"TasTAFE can guarantee this will not impact on apprentices' overall training," she said.
"Apprentices have four years to complete their qualification and will receive all training necessary to complete their qualification."
Australian Education Union Tasmania TasTAFE president Simon Bailey said teacher shortages has been raised as an issue in the past.
“While the senior executive has been expanded as well as middle management there seems to be little or next to no focus on ensuring teams actually have enough teachers to deliver programs," he said.
“When new teachers are employed they are thrown in at the deep-end with little to no support from the organisation in the way of a new teacher mentoring program.”
Ms Dodd said TasTAFE was working quickly to address the teacher issue.
"We are already in the process of recruiting additional teaching staff and assessing the most efficient way to reschedule classes," she said.
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