This article is at least partially inspired by one in the TAFE Directors Australia newsletter. Some of the text is copied from or draws on that article.
What’s in the budget?
“The government is providing an additional $3.7 billion to the states and territories as part of negotiations over a new five-year National Skills Agreement to commence from 1 January 2024. It includes a further 300,000 TAFE and VET fee-free places. Have a look at this budget fact sheet. It covers a range of initiatives.
One of these is a focus on foundational skills, with “$436.4 million over 4 years for a redesigned Skills for Education and Employment (SEE) program to enhance language, literacy, numeracy and digital skills.” You can find out more about this here. (VDC News also highlighted foundational skills in a recent article. An earlier article also took a look at why foundation skills are important.)
Another is “$54 million allocated for a new model for delivering non-financial apprentice support to commence from July next year.” Have a look here for more details!
You can access the Skills and Training Minister’s media release for a useful summary of what the budget will support.
In addition, the budget fact sheet highlighted above points to addressing range of access and equity issues, including:
- Improving women’s participation and gender equality through “coordinated effort to support women to successfully enrol and complete VET courses and apprenticeships, with an emphasis on accessing skills in better paid occupations including trades traditionally dominated by men. Men will also be encouraged to participate and gain skills in fields where women have been historically over-represented, such as care,
- Raising completion rates and support for students who face barriers, including “a coordinated national effort to lift completion rates and improve outcomes for VET students and apprentices, with a focus on students facing barriers and historically underrepresented in the workforce,” and finally,
- ‘Closing the gap for First Nations students and apprentices’ by working closely with First Nations people, their communities and training providers to support skills development that works for them and supports their career opportunities.
Improving things seems to be another item on the funding agenda through TAFE Centres of Excellence “to partner with industry, universities, and governments to address critical challenges in our economy such as transformation to a clean economy, manufacturing and sovereign capability, care and support.” In addition, funding will further VET Workforce capability by supporting the “development and implementation a VET Workforce Blueprint in partnership with the sector, to strengthen and support a high-quality VET workforce, which teaches up-to-date industry relevant curriculum.”
Training for our national defence has also got a ‘look in’ as well, with “an $11 million extension of the Defence Industry Pathways Program (DIPP), a joint arrangement between the Commonwealth, South Metropolitan TAFE in WA, and Programmed, which delivers 12-month traineeships in the defence industry.” In addition, “a total of $3.9 million is going to establish a defence vocational skills taskforce to develop the workforce for a sovereign industrial base and for the AUKUS submarine program.”
Finally, there is $8.6 million for the Australian Skills Guarantee which will set targets for apprentices, trainees and paid cadets working on government funded major infrastructure and ICT projects. In addition, a sum of $42.2 million will be provided over four years to implement a new digital solution to administer the VET Student Loans program. Two Skills Assessment Pilots will “aim to provide onshore migrants with fast tracked skills assessments are to be adjusted.”
And in the Victorian budget?
TAFE was spared in the recent Victorian state budget. Key features include $186 million to expand subsidised training including wider eligibility for Free TAFE and removing the once per lifetime limit on Free TAFE courses for some training pathways, $90.5 million for subsidised vocational training across the system and a further $90 million for TAFEs to provide priority skills, job placement support, improve student wellbeing and to maintain high-quality workforces. In addition, $3.8 million will be provided to review and update curriculum and assessment resources across the TAFE network. A range of building works will also be funded.
