TAFE provides students the opportunity to pursue employment opportunities. Surely any responsible government would want people to seek employment instead of relying on welfare benefits therefore any government should support the value of high quality vocational education. TAFE provides students with an opportunity to pursue University level courses.
Neoliberal policies of economic rationalism have seen increased cuts to spending to TAFE colleges. This bureaucratic belt tightening has been manifested in a number of ways including; reduced teaching hours, cuts to part time jobs and increases to student fees.
TAFE changes lives. It is the backbone of communities around Australia. It is a world-class asset. TAFE teachers say these things because they see how TAFE transforms their students’ lives every year. Warren Easterbrook, a teacher at Glendale TAFE, not only sees his students flourish and grow, but is abundantly aware of how TAFE has shaped and supported his family for four generations.
Kate is a small business owner, Stop TAFE Cuts supporter and proud TAFE graduate. Her initial training in industrial chemistry at the Gordon Institute led to her first job working at a milk factory in cheese production during the 1960s.
I live in a very small rural town and the nearest place I could do my chosen study was at TAFE in Seymour, 12 kilometres away.