TAFE, AMES and Corrective Services Teachers — working for the public good

TAFE -- Technical and Further Education

This year there are about 1.4 million TAFE students, all of who are dependent on the expertise, experience and goodwill of TAFE teachers. TAFE NSW is the largest post-secondary education and training provider in the Southern Hemisphere, having enrolled nearly 509,000 students last year. More than twice as many students study in TAFE than study in universities and thousands of university students gained access there by articulation from TAFE. Also many university qualified students study in TAFE. TAFE teachers and educators have also been actively involved in the new vocational education and training (VET) courses being provided for HSC students. Increasingly TAFE has had to forge new partnerships with schools, universities and other organisations. In addition, the new Apprenticeship and Training Act 2001 has placed increased administrative and accountability requirements on TAFE teachers.

As well as providing for the needs of industry for skilled employees, TAFE teachers also strive for the needs of the community and individuals. In an increasingly competitive training market, it is TAFE teachers who carry the main responsibility for ensuring that Government social equity objectives and legislative requirements are met. These include providing for second and further chance education for the disadvantaged, as well as for rural NSW and the rest of the community. However, these objectives and requirements are being compromised by wasteful practices inherent in a competitive market, such as multiple tendering based on the lowest cost bid winning, so called "user choice" and duplication of effort. Competitive markets militate against providing for students with special needs, against the use of "trainers" with university level teacher qualifications and militate against the maintenance of high safety standards, as have existed in TAFE. The "lowest cost is best" approach (regardless of the quality provided) has also resulted in an explosion of dubious labour hire practices. Examples include contracting out (such as the "across the border" use of Victorian teachers in NSW, but paid at their lower rates courtesy of the former Kennett Government) and outsourcing the employment of staff previously employed by TAFE on better conditions and wages. Unfortunately, both Federal and State Governments have encouraged this competitive environment and privatisation by diverting hundreds of millions of dollars from the public purse to private providers of VET.

Despite all of these problems, TAFE teachers still continue to provide quality technical and further education for the public good.

TAFE continues to suffer under the Federal Howard Government's massive funding cuts imposed during its first two years since its election in 1996 and its "growth through efficiencies" funding freeze since then. These cuts were exacerbated by Carr Government cuts in the NSW Budgets of 1999 and 2000. Since then, funding for TAFE has remained relatively stable in real terms at this historically low base. In the last two years though, there has been a growth in TAFE student hours of about 13 per cent. When measured in so-called "efficiency" terms, the real cost per TAFE student has been driven down by 22 per cent in the last three years. This is a clear measure of the extent to which TAFE teachers' goodwill in working for the public good has been exploited. Since 1997, expenditure on TAFE student services has halved. No wonder teachers and students feel stressed and stretched to breaking point!

The urgent need for hundreds of millions of dollars of increased investment in vocational education and training, and in TAFE in particular, has been publicly acknowledged in the last year by many prominent leaders of business, industry and the community having spoken out about this. All state and territory education ministers agreed last year that the Federal Government needed to provide at least $152 million extra per year for anticipated growth in TAFE student numbers alone, but the specific TAFE allocation in the NSW Budget has been cut by $2 million.

Other consequences of Government policies and budget cuts, which need rectification include:

• the continuation of excessive casualisation (greater than 50 per cent of teaching)
• greater pressure on members to increase class sizes and to implement self-paced learning, composite classes and other flexible delivery practices that often are only cost cutting exercises, which reduce the quality of student learning outcomes. An example of this is the increasing practice of requiring teachers to deliver a course with much fewer hours than normally provided, that is, so called course compression
• significantly increased stress and workload for our members
• reduced standards of occupational health and safety.

Part-time casual teachers, co-ordinators and counsellors are continuing to be exploited due to the insecure nature of their employment. Their pay rates and conditions remain totally inadequate. As hourly paid "casuals" these valuable teachers are paid only for their teaching and preparation time, not to provide any additional support that students might need outside class time. However, many of these teachers work extra time unpaid in the interest of their students, even though they do not have to do this. The NSW Teachers Federation is presently negotiating a staffing agreement with the Department of Education and Training. However, additional government funding will be required to significantly increase the number of permanent teachers in TAFE.

The introduction of the New Start and Youth Allowances has forced thousands of reluctant students into TAFE without adequate additional federal funds to support them. There is now an urgent need for a massive provision of Federal Government funds to address the needs of these young people, many of whom are at risk.

There is a need to make TAFE courses relevant to communities in specific need. For example, Federation will demand the setting up of fire-fighting courses in TAFE colleges in bushfire prone areas, for example the Blue Mountains, Newcastle, Wollongong, Hunter Valley, Central Coast, South Coast, Goulburn, Riverina, Bathurst and Dubbo. At present these courses are only offered at Petersham TAFE and OTEN.

Action

1. Funding and its impact on workload

The Federation welcomes the letter of June 12, 2002 from the Minister for Education and Training, which states: "Teachers are not being asked -- and will not be asked -- to fund their own salary increases", that teacher salary increases "will be funded from the Budget, including from procurement and information technology savings" and also states that these "will have no effect on classes, classroom teachers, course offerings or provision".

However, if Institutes move to cut courses or services to students either as a result of the state or Institute budget, members are to advise the Federation immediately so that appropriate industrial action can be considered.

Federation will support the development of a workload campaign in TAFE, with branch/regional meetings initially, leading to a campaign around work that teachers will not undertake without the appropriate support, resources and training.

b) Political action

TAFE TA will continue to undertake lobbyist training and lobbying exercises throughout the next year. This will include a training day on September 19, and the development of a plan for the lobbying of state parliamentarians in the lead-up to the March 2003 state election.

Issues to be raised will include increased funding for TAFE in general, and also funding for specific educational areas, growth in student demand, workload reduction, increased permanency and ensuring the professional qualifications and status of TAFE teachers.

Lobbying will also continue with Federal parliamentarians, following another successful AEU lobbying experience on June 25 and 26, 2002 for which NSW had 14 participants. This continued lobbying will include visits every couple of months by TAFE TA representatives to politicians, the dissemination of regular newsletters, bulletins, and the preparation of briefing papers to enable politicians to raise TAFE issues in Parliament.

Federal issues that need to be focussed on include opposition to a HECS type fee in TAFE, funding support for youth programs, increased growth funding for TAFE, raising the level of trainer/assessor qualifications in the Australian Quality Training Framework (AQTF), and representation of union educationists on Australian National Training Authority (ANTA) decision making bodies. Pressure will be brought to bear around the development of a new ANTA agreement.

c) National Training Agenda and funding review In final negotiations regarding the current award there was agreement with DET to undertake a review around issues relating to the National Training Agenda and the implications of ANTA funding arrangements for TAFE NSW. Federation will consider strategies for further research around changes arising from this review, including those regarding funding models, and will undertake work together with the Federal TAFE Research Officers to address these strategies and changes.

2. Public Education Campaign

Federation will support the use of the Public Education Fund where appropriate for TAFE advertising, which complements schools advertising.

The campaign around TAFE will include the following elements:

• support for TAFE TA members in making TAFE an important issue both leading up to and after the NSW election.
• increasing membership and activism within TAFE colleges/campuses.

3. Staffing agreement

a) restore the 800 full-time positions axed in the last three years as soon as possible
b) convert part-time/casual (PTC) teaching hours to permanent positions so that 70 per cent of teaching in NSW is by permanent teachers
c) provide improved security of tenure for part-time/casuals employed for more than two years, including where appropriate, direct permanent appointment
(d) fully codify the employment conditions of temporary teachers.

4. Part-time/casual teacher pro-rata conditions award application

5. Activism in TAFE TA

Discussions will be held around additional Federation funding to support the implementation of the models of strong activism in TAFE TA branches.

Training will also be undertaken of our representatives on Institute Consultative Committees (ICCs) and consideration given to how the ICCs can be used to promote branch activism and support new activists.

6. Schofield Review -- implementation of Third Generation Curriculum

7. Pilot schemes

8. Teacher standards

9. Discounting of module/subject and course duration

The Federation will consider and enact appropriate strategies to stop this unsound practice.

10. Class sizes

Federation will also argue for the reinstatement of a maximum class sizes committee to set state-wide class size standards. The committee will comprise equal Federation and management representation. Failing a successful outcome, Federation will investigate pursuing these matters in the NSW Industrial Relations Commission.

11. Save Seaforth TAFE

The Federation further affirms its support of the NSW Labor Council in the maintenance of bans on removal of the assets at Seaforth TAFE by maintaining those bans for a period, now counted in years, to abandon Seaforth TAFE.

12. HECS fees on TAFE courses

The introduction of a HECS fee moves the cost of training from industry, the main beneficiary of successful training, to individuals.

Industry organisations control the government funding of VET (there is no educational representative on the ANTA Board) yet make little or no financial contribution to training.

We call on all political parties to not introduce, or have policies that call for the introduction of, HECS fees for TAFE.

AMES

Tender submissions for the five years beginning July 2003 are now due and the strategic partnership negotiated between Federation and DET as part of the current AMES award will assist the public education consortium, which consists of AMES, TAFE Institutes and some Adult and Community Education (ACE) colleges, in retrieving public funds currently going to the private profit-making consortium.

Conference wishes the public education consortium every success in winning all five NSW tenders so that refugees and migrants can once again have access to high quality language tuition through public provision.

Action

1. Continue to advocate for the right of asylum seekers, refugees and migrants to have equitable access to all government services.

2. Provide support to members in AMES in their struggle to maintain the public education involvement in the provision of this vital service and to fully restore the AMEP to public provision.

3. Pursue the abolition of Australia's current detention centre system which prolongs and exacerbates the torture and trauma of asylum seekers and refugees.

Corrective Services educators

The current prison population stands at just under 8000 inmates and is projected to rise further. Indigenous inmates continue to be over represented comprising 16 per cent of the total inmate population. Over 30 per cent of inmates come from the poorest and most disadvantaged communities in the Sydney metropolitan area. Around 80 per cent of inmates have not completed study beyond year 10 level.

Educators working within Corrective Services provide courses to inmates in the most difficult of environments. They work towards the public good by contributing to addressing offending behaviour and the good management of inmates whilst in the correctional system. Their courses in general education and vocational training are regenerative in that these act against the degenerative effects of penal institutions. These are rehabilitative and reformative in providing opportunities for successful reintegration into the community upon release.

In spite of the valuable work which correctional educators provide towards the overall public good, the level of provision in terms of the number of teaching hours allocated to the delivery of courses to inmates has not increased in line with the explosion of prison numbers. An objective target must be established by government for the level of provision of teaching hours to be delivered to inmates. This provision should be delivered wherever possible by permanently employed teachers.

The Federation remains concerned, that in spite of a commitment given in the past, the provision of education to inmates is still not guaranteed in legislation. Such legislation should guarantee access to education which is envisaged as consisting of classroom subjects, adult basic and general education (including literacy, numeracy and communication), vocational education sensitive to trends in the labour market, distance education, creative and cultural activities, physical education and sports, social education, and pre-release and post-release programs. Such guarantees should also provide for well-stocked library facilities that contain legal information and reference materials.

Salaries for teachers in Corrective Services should be linked to the teaching profession and also reflect the difficult and sometimes dangerous circumstances encountered by teachers working in penal environments.

Action

2. The Federation will also publicise the important role of public education provision within Corrective Services which works towards the public good through using the Public Education Fund.

3. The Federation will seek legislative guarantees for the delivery of education.

4. The Federation will continue to campaign to increase the level of teaching provision and the number of permanent teachers employed within Corrective Services.

5.Members will lobby MPs during the state election campaign on education issues within Corrective Services.

2002 Annual Conference decisions

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Last Modified: 15 Nov 2005