TAFE in decline claims union

MODEST growth in government-funded vocational training places was a bright spot in an otherwise steadily declining sector, the government says.

Figures released by the Productivity Commission this week show the numbers of students in vocational training in Tasmania has declined overall in recent years.

Government spending has been stagnant for a decade, with real growth of just three per cent since 2009.

And the number of vocational education and training students in the state has declined from 62,100 in 2015 to 55,700 in 2018, the last year for which figures were available — a drop of 10 per cent in three years during a statewide skills shortage.

Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff said the latest available data showed that last year there had been a 0.4 per cent increase in the number of government-funded students and the government had been increasing spending on TAFE.

“Since 2015, we have increased recurrent funding to TasTAFE from $73.5 million to a budgeted $79.4 million in the 2019-20 financial year, which represents an estimated 80 per cent of the state’s training budget,” he said.

“The most recent data shows there has been a significant increase in Tasmanian Government investment in VET, up some 15 per cent in 2018 on the previous year, or $13.3 million.”

But Australian Education Union TAFE Division President Simon Bailey said the sector was plagued by funding cutbacks, staff shortages and unmet student demand.

“There’s no new news for us — we’re the worst-funded sector in Australia.

“Within our state, you can see there’s a decrease of around $25 million [in funding] since 2011,” he said.

“We’re in the middle of a building boom and a trade shortage and, once again, we’re too slow to react. Courses have been rolled out but they’re all oversubscribed.”

He said while TAFE struggled for funding, the government was handing millions of dollars to the hospitality industry to conduct feasibility studies into forming a training organisation, which he described as “privatisation by stealth”.

Labor’s TAFE spokeswoman Michelle O’Byrne said the rapid decline of TAFE was a concern.

“Employers are crying out for skilled workers but cannot find them, while at the same time unemployment is at unacceptable levels and many Tasmanians can’t get the skills and training they need to get a job here,” she said.