Image: PM Anthony Albanese speaking at the AMWU conference in Adelaide in support of Fee-Free TAFE. Image: twitter/@AlboMP.
By LAUREN FROST
The nation has signalled its adoration for Fee-Free TAFE courses with hundreds of thousands of Australians upskilling for free in 2013, superseding the government’s own target six months ahead of schedule, and TAFE students want their classes to be free permanently.
214,300 people have enrolled in Fee-Free TAFE course in the first half of this year.
“Working with states and territories, in six months we have smashed our target of 180,000 Fee-Free enrolments by almost 35,000 places,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said, “this is a terrific achievement.”
State and territory governments agreed upon the Fee-Free arrangement at the Jobs and Skills Summit in September last year with $1 billion set aside for a one-year National Skills Agreement.
“One of our major commitments from the Jobs and Skills Summit was delivering free TAFE places to train, retrain and upskill Australian workers,” the Prime Minister said.
“Fee-Free training offers a huge cost of living relief for students, grows the recruitment pool for businesses and eases the skills shortages that hold our economy back.”
The introduction of Fee-Free TAFE courses for 2023 was largely part of the Albanese Government’s plan to train, retrain or upskill Australians in order to tackle current skill shortages.
Notably, the care sector has claimed nearly a quarter of these enrolments, with over 51,000 students studying health care, aged care, or disability care free of charge at TAFE. This will aid in addressing the care worker shortage across the country, which is expected to worsen over the coming years.
Other priority sectors such as construction, technology and early childhood education and care have also attracted a significant number of enrolments.
Minister for Skills and Training, Brendan O’Connor, said, “this is an encouraging sign that Australia is making progress on easing skills shortages still affecting many areas of the economy post-pandemic.”
“These shortages affect up to 31 per cent of occupations according to the 2022 Skills Priority List.”
Making education accessible to thousands
Fee-Free TAFE has also made a significant impact on those who, without it, would potentially be unable to afford it.
Over 50,000 places – nearly a quarter of Fee-Free enrolments – are comprised of job seekers. Fee-Free courses have also been significantly taken up by those in inner and outer regional locations. About 35 percent of Fee-Free students live in regional areas.
Moreover, people with a disability comprise over 15,000 enrolments, and nearly 7,000 First Nations Australians have enrolled in a Fee-Free course.
It seems clear that Fee-Free TAFE has played a large role in providing access to education for many disadvantaged and in need Australians amid the nationwide cost-of-living crisis.
Current TAFE student Leo Ariyamethe Lopez said his studies have been “quite the experience and a real eye opener into what my industry of interest is really like.”
Leo told City Hub that he has gained “a lot more practical knowledge than my school or a university would have given me.”
“I feel like if my course wasn’t free this year, my family wouldn’t have been able to afford the fees at that moment. So really, it’s the only reason I’m able to attend.”
Likewise, Stephanie, another current TAFE student, is grateful for Fee-Free courses, wishing that “tertiary education could be free permanently”.
“It would be great if these fee-free courses could be continued as there are many areas I am interested in learning,” Stephanie said.
“For all eligible students, it would be one less financial burden to carry in the middle of other increased costs.”
Stephanie said that Fee-Free TAFE has allowed her to “gain knowledge in something I would otherwise not be able to learn, and gives me extra skills I can use for personal interest as well as paid work.”
Another TAFE student told City Hub, “Working in the screen and media sector can be very volatile and the industry is notoriously competitive. Even with a strong passion for film and TV, the time investment and, much more significantly, financial component that comes with participating in this course would, for me, be an insurmountable risk.”
“Having the course be fully government funded has given me the security to actually pursue this dream and I’m very grateful for it.”
The Albanese Government said in a media release on Monday that they will “continue to work together to ensure excellence and quality in the vocational education and training sector.”
Aussies can expect an announcement in the coming weeks about the future of Fee-Free TAFE for 2024, with the next batch of courses likely to be made Fee-Free.
“Fee-Free TAFE is the spark that is igniting a renewed sense of optimism and potential in our vocational education and training sector,” Minister O’connor said.
“I’m looking forward to building on our success.”
