TAFE students learn about privatisation

By Bonnie Yiu

City TAFE teachers and students gathered at a public forum in Parliament this week as a last resort to protest against program cuts and possible job losses to private providers.

Starting in July, City TAFE colleges such as Ultimo TAFE will be forced to cancel its adult Language, Literacy and Numeracy Programs (LLNP), affecting all existing students and up to 150 teaching staff.

City TAFE colleges are expected to bear the brunt as part of NSW TAFE’s $50 million loss in public funding.

A spokeswoman for Ultimo TAFE said this change would affect the students the most.

“The companies who have won the contract are profit-driven and they are not there for the benefit of students,” she said.

The Greens’ education spokesperson, John Kaye, agrees.

John Kaye said, “private providers will inevitably sacrifice quality instruction to sustain their low cost offer.”

“The big losers will be the students and in the long run, it will be the nation’s skill base that will suffer,” he continued.

The change comes as private providers including charity group Mission Australia and multinational company Navitas Limited won the bid for contracts TAFE previously held.

Joe Brassil, a local TAFE teacher who has taught English to migrants for over 35 years said he has no confidence in the private sector.

“What they have done is lower the qualifications needed to teach,” Joe Brassil said.

As revealed by Peter de Graaff from the NSW Teachers Federation, many of the private providers still have little infrastructure, have yet to recruit teachers and may even rely on volunteers.

Starting this month however, there will be an interruption of studies, as existing students will be moved from TAFE to other private providers with new teachers and program designs.

Peter de Graaff said, “the low pay and minimum qualifications that characterise some of these private providers can only harm the teaching profession and drive standards downwards for the most disadvantaged in our community.”

Aree Julsuntorn, an English Ultimo TAFE student who migrated from Thailand over a decade ago wanted to pledge to the Labor government to restore the LLNP at TAFE.

However, no representatives from the Labor party attended the meeting.

She called it a “very, very poor decision” made by the government.

Aree Julsuntorn said, “I want them to give us the opportunity to better education.”

The Greens’ alongside the Teachers Federation and TAFE are currently petitioning for support from the wider community to ask the federal government to restore the LLNP funding to local TAFEs to support quality education and jobs.