TAFE SA to undergo reform, with early childhood prioritised

The South Australian Government is set to make the biggest reform to TAFE SA in over a decade, following the release of an independent review to rebuild the state’s leading training provider.

 

Immediately following the election of the sitting Labor Government, work commenced to ‘rebuild’ TAFE SA, including returning early childhood, aged care and disability courses to  metropolitan, upgrading TAFE SA’s Mount Gambier campus and being the first state to introduce fee-free TAFE courses.

 

SA Minister for Education, Training and Skills Blair Boyer also commissioned a Roadmap for the Future of TAFE SA to engage with sector and industry, unions, government, TAFE SA staff and students on the long-term changes needed to ensure TAFE SA is best placed to deliver the skills needs for the state.

 

“For too long, TAFE SA has not been given the support it deserves to ensure South Australians get the skills they need. I have been working tirelessly to rebuild TAFE SA and today is the next step in setting it up for the future,” Mr Boyer said. 

 

Undertaken by tertiary education expert and Associate Professor at Victoria University Jeannie Rea, the roadmap sets out an ambitious 10-year plan to place TAFE SA as the public training provider, back at the centre of South Australia’s training system.

 

The structure of the roadmap is framed around six goals:

 

1. Transforming South Australia
2. Industry partnered
3. Job outcomes
4. Students at the centre
5. Place-based
6. Future-focused

 

The Government has accepted all six goals set out in the roadmap and will take six immediate actions to begin the implementation of rebuilding TAFE.

 

The first action is to begin the work to amend the TAFE SA Act. The objectives of the current Act, the Government believes, do not reflect what the community expects from TAFE and restrict the influence the Government has in ensuring the state’s skills priorities are met.

 

Changing the Act “will ensure a modern TAFE SA with a legislated commitment to delivering high-quality education and training as its core purpose, a commitment to delivering on state priority areas such as defence and renewable energy, a stronger requirement to ensure regional and rural communities have access to the training they deserve, and a dedicated focus on supporting the most disadvantaged South Australians to access training that leads to employment.”

 

The other immediate actions that will focus on student outcomes include:

 

• Implementing an enhanced student enrolment process
• Developing a new Reconciliation Action Plan
• Consulting on the shared use of TAFE SA campuses to benefit broader local communities
• Accelerating the implementation of TAFE SA’s Student Hubs
• Offering more courses in regional and rural South Australia (funded in the 2023-24 State Budget).

 

Since the changes, enrolments in TAFE have surged by more than 20 per cent. As of July 2023, TAFE SA had 41,770 enrolments, compared to 33,756 at the same time last year. The increase in the last financial year is the first time TAFE SA enrolments have increased since 2012-13.

 

Early childhood education is one of the courses with strong enrolments, alongside cyber security, information technology and project management. 

 

The further recommended actions in the report will be considered alongside the new National Skills Agreement (NSA), which is currently being negotiated with the Federal Government.

 

TAFE SA will develop a new Strategic Plan to incorporate the remaining actions, which will be released following South Australia reaching an agreement on the NSA.

 

The Roadmap for the Future of TAFE SA can be found here.