10.0 Invest in TAFE
Investing in TAFE generates strong economic returns for the state. In 2018, KPMG1 found that Queensland’s investment of $707 million in TAFE returned $1.8 billion, which is an increase by a factor of 2.5. More recently, and at a national level, Allison Pennington and the Centre for Future Work2 estimated annual costs for operating TAFE to be $5.7 billion but that its annual economic benefit is estimated to be $92.5 billion, which is an increase by a factor of 16.
As Queensland’s trusted public provider, TAFE has a long history of forging strong partnerships with industry to create pipelines of skilled apprenticeships and job pathways, but it needs more funding and more autonomy to innovate.
The QTU therefore welcomes the recent announcement of the National Skills Agreement3, which places the public TAFE system at the heart of vocational education and training and seeks to strengthen both the public provider’s network of institutions and its teaching workforce. Following its commencement on 1 January 2024, this five-year funding arrangement will be guided by tripartite consultation and will deliver significant benefits to the nation through the provision of quality, accessible, and responsive education and training to “boost productivity, deliver national priorities and support Australians in obtaining the skills and capabilities they need to obtain well-paid, secure jobs”4.
Investing in Queensland’s skills and training sector means going beyond providing short term basic qualifications. TAFE’s community service obligation is fulfilled in part by providing extra student facilities and services like libraries, sports/social/career/networking opportunities, and assistance for students with disabilities and student who are culturally and linguistically diverse. The QTU contends that the additional support that TAFE Queensland delivers are often the difference between students attaining a qualification or not, and that the holistic nature of TAFE makes it impossible for TAFE courses to be “efficiently priced” against the lower level or non-existent services offered by many for-profit providers.
The current VET funding model continues to erode the foundation of the TAFE system and has adversely impacted upon VET students and their teachers. The user-pays philosophy has seen TAFE forced to compete against private for-profit sector practices that have variously been described in the Australian Senate as “exploitative,” demonstrating “evidence of rampant abuse,” and delivering “massive profits at the public expense”.
TAFE’s value add to the Queensland economy is at risk. The Queensland Government must act to break the stranglehold of the discredited funding model and restore the right of all Queenslanders to access high quality public vocational education and training in their local communities or regional centres.
TAFE and Central Queensland University (CQU) offer the highest standard of vocational education and training (VET) at all levels, with nationally accredited programs delivered by a highly qualified and experienced workforce. However, the VET sector faces significant workforce challenges in recruitment and retention, and educators are having to undertake unreasonable and unsafe amounts of overtime to meet student demand. In its 2024/25 Budget, the Queensland Government must adopt measures that will enable TAFE Queensland and CQU to attract and retain highly qualified and experienced teachers and tutors.
The Commonwealth has committed to a $12.6 billion investment, including an extra $2.4 billion in flexible funding to support state and territory skills sectors with capacity to deliver skills for critical and emerging industries. The priorities include:
- Clean energy and net zero transformation of the economy
- Australia’s sovereign capability, including advanced manufacturing skills, national security, food
- security and construction
- care and support services
- ensuring Australia’s digital and technology capability.
An additional $1.3 billion of Commonwealth funding is directed to implementing agreed reforms, including:
- $325 million to establish nationally networked TAFE centres of excellence and strengthen collaboration between TAFEs, universities and industry
- $100 million to support, grow and retain a quality VET workforce
- $155 million to establish a national TAFE leadership network to promote cutting edge curriculum
- $214 million for Closing the Gap initiatives, to be designed in partnership with First Nations people and led by them
- $250 million to improve VET completions, including women and others who face completion challenges
- $142 million to improve foundation skills training capacity, quality and accessibility
- $116 million to improve VET evidence and data.
The QTU calls on the state government to fully match or exceed Commonwealth funding under these
initiatives in order to maximise returns for the Queensland TAFE system and ensure the ongoing growth, adaptability and viability of the public providers in the state.
10.1 Invest in regional TAFE
The QTU welcomes programs like Free TAFE for under 25s5 and More Fee-Free TAFE and VET places for
Queenslanders in 20236 where such programs lift TAFE’s share of public funding. However, while feefree TAFE announcements are welcome, QTU members delivering programs in regional, rural, and remote Queensland are keenly aware that when such announcements are blind to geographic scale of cost of delivery, equity in remote locations is impacted.
The QTU observes that fee-free programs assume no regional variance in the cost of VET delivery. For
example, the joint federal and state government announcement More Fee-Free TAFE and VET places for Queenslanders in 2023 included an injection of “more than $200 million into the Queensland skills and training sector to support access to over 37,000 fee free TAFE and vocational education and training (VET) places in 2023.” The announcement aimed to support the Queensland Government’s work on “strengthening and growing the regional workforce,” and recognises courses that meet industry need. However, there is no recognition of the need for a funding model that applies scalability to address geographic disadvantage.
The Queensland Budget papers report service delivery statements from departments and agencies,
including the Department of Employment, Small Business, and Training7. The 2022-23 papers report on
Connecting Queenslanders to training and skills programs and initiatives and include “effective measures” and “efficiency measures”, however reporting on these service standards ignores regional variance. For example, DESBT’s reporting assumes that the average cost of $730 per competency successfully completed applies to a student completing a Cert III in Gas Fitting at Roma as much as a student completing the same course at SkillsTech, Acacia Ridge. The table on page five of the DESBT’s service delivery statement includes eight notes that draw attention to variance between target/estimate and estimated actual that is attributed to COVID-19, however there is no note or reporting that indicates the variance in the data resulting from geographic locations. The QTU does not suggest public reporting on regional variance is required in the service delivery statement, where such reporting risks stigmatising communities. However the QTU calls on the Queensland Government and DESBT to centrally invest in TAFE and CQU to support measures that address geographic disadvantage.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
74. Guarantee 80 per cent of all government funding goes to the public TAFE system, through a reformed funding model that does not require TAFE to directly compete with private providers of VET.
75. Invest in the “National TAFE Network” initiative of the National Skills Agreement by matching maximum Commonwealth funding.
76. Invest in public TAFE’s teaching workforce to attract and retain highly qualified and experienced teachers and tutors through matching maximum Commonwealth funding under the “Measures to Strengthen the VET Workforce” initiative of the National Skills Agreement.
77. Invest in public TAFE campuses so that TAFE students can access high quality learning facilities boasting the latest technology, wherever they live.
78. Invest in TAFE as a valued public education institution that provides a myriad of support services to students beyond the bare bones and online-only courses offered by many private providers, including through matching maximum Commonwealth funding the under the “Improved Completions” and “Closing the Gap” initiatives of the National Skills Agreement.
79. Invest in TAFE Queensland and Central Queensland University (CQU) to support measures that address geographic disadvantage, including through matching maximum Commonwealth funding under the “Improved Completions” and “Closing the Gap” initiatives of the National Skills Agreement.
80. Invest in and match maximum Commonwealth funding to establish TAFE centres of excellence in Queensland under the “TAFE Centres of Excellence” initiative of the National Skills Agreement.
QTU State Budget Submission 2024-25