Open letter to the PM: Rebuild With TAFE

Dear Prime Minister Albanese,  

A Future Made in Australia is a key policy objective of your government. A future that can only be built within a strong skills and vocational education system and one that must be centered with TAFE at its heart. 

A new era has begun for TAFE, with the renewed focus on skills and vocational education at a national level. Since the Jobs and Skills Summit in September 2022, TAFE has resumed its rightful place as the anchor institution for public vocational education in Australia. Under the National Skills agreement, both the Commonwealth and state and territory governments are set to make historic investments in TAFE. 

Beyond funding, national policy work including the VET Workforce Blueprint and the delivery of Fee Free TAFE will help to rebuild TAFE.  

For the TAFE teaching profession and the many thousands of TAFE students, the change in policy and investment direction has been life-changing.  

However, this is just the beginning for TAFE.  After more than a decade of funding cuts under the previous Coalition Government, the TAFE teaching workforce, campus programs and TAFE infrastructure needs to be rebuilt.  

It is TAFE teachers across the nation that carry the responsibility for delivering the high-quality vocational education for their students. Students who come from diverse backgrounds and many who have complex needs. It is TAFE teachers who must be backed by all governments with the urgent investment needed to rebuild the TAFE teaching workforce, to provide high quality, state of the art teaching and learning facilities and to provide the additional support needed to improve student outcomes and to account for the complex needs of diverse populations.  

Only then, will a Future Made in Australia be possible for all Australians and only then will TAFE be rebuilt as Australia’s premier, trusted and public vocational education provider. 

To rebuild with TAFE, investment is needed now. 

There has never been a greater need for further investment to ensure that Australia has a high quality, well-resourced and respected TAFE sector. Properly funded vocational education provides significant economic and social benefits to the Australian community.  

All governments must commit to additional investments which include:  

1. A TAFE teaching workforce attraction and retention strategy, including investing in building the skills and knowledge of teachers with fully funded professional development. 

2. Ongoing funded support for students with additional needs enrolling in Fee-Free TAFE to improve student engagement, retention and achievement. This funding should focus on support such as foundation skills, mental health and digital literacy for students with complex needs  

 

3. Investment in capital works and equipment, including information technology, to match the significant funding commitment that the Commonwealth has made to Fee-Free TAFE courses so that TAFE can provide high quality vocational education in state-of-the-art teaching and learning facilities. 

It is imperative that these investments are recognised as part of your government’s pre-election commitments.  

 

TAFE teachers and students are counting on you as Prime Minister to make these commitments to Rebuild with TAFE.