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Tongue-tied over TAFE attack
After initially remaining silent on the down grading of teacher qualifications for TAFE teachers, KOORYN SHEAVES speak out.
In April 2008, during a meeting with Western Sydney Institute of TAFE, there was discussion around the down grading of teacher qualifications from a Diploma in Adult Education to a Certificate in Workplace Training and Assessment. During this discussion I became embarrassed at my ineptness in responding to this extraordinary attack on professional education in NSW.
My embarrassment started with a senior bureaucrat stating with conviction that they commenced their TAFE teaching in the early 1970s with a Certificate in Teaching and that was an appropriate qualification that provided them with the necessary skills to be a very competent teacher. Hence they saw no problems with teaching qualifications being reduced to Certificate level. The clear message was - if it's good enough for me then it should be good enough for you! This was followed by a statement in the kindest tones, explaining how difficult some probationary TAFE teachers found university education. The subtext of the ensuing monologue was that university education causes unnecessary stress on potential permanent teachers, and this could be considered an occupational health and safety issue.
So there you have it - university education is unnecessary and perhaps even unhealthy for TAFE teachers in Western Sydney. And I said nothing!
What I should have said was that teaching in the early 1970s was a lot different to what it is today - almost 40 years later. At the time this senior bureaucrat with their Teaching Certificate was at the chalkboard, teachers in NSW didn't have to teach students with black skin. The Racial Discrimination Act did not exist and there is a wealth of information on Aboriginal and other black skinned people being denied access to the classroom. And we didn't have to worry about discipline issues because if you didn't like a student or their behaviour you could dish out a bit of corporal punishment and that kept them in line. As for student suggestion and complaints, continuous quality improvement mechanisms and other instruments used to improve the education services - they did not exist. State education was an authoritarian institution whose main purpose was to socialise and train a compliant workforce for an industrial economy. The importance of an educated community, able to engage in learning throughout their lives, was not relevant to this era. Only professional teachers can engage with our diverse learning communities and give them the skills to learn now and in the future. Certificates in teaching did not meet the needs of our society in the 1970s and there is no evidence that they will meet the learning needs of TAFE in the 21st century.
I was embarrassed, not only because I did not speak out against this attack, but because I simply wasn't prepared or well versed in the principles proffered by the trail blazing educators who dragged teaching into the professional domain years ago. How could I forget why professional teachers were so important, particularly with the recent election of an Australian Government that stated education was the most important determinant of a civil society? Even now I find myself slapping the palm of my hand on my forehead in frustration and amazement that I could have forgotten the need for constant vigilance to protect the past reforms we now take for granted against reactionary and or politically expedient forces.
Kooryn Sheaves teaches at Nirimba TAFE.
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