Page 3956 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 25 November 2014
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The bill before us seeks to create a governance arrangement whereby CIT can meet the twin objectives of operating as a public provider of vocational education and training and operating with a greater commercial and entrepreneurial focus in an increasingly contestable training marketplace.
The ACT Greens believe that high quality, free and equitable education is a cornerstone of a healthy democracy and is fundamental to Australia’s continued prosperity. We want a system that provides a range of accessible education and training programs, offering new opportunities to adults at all stages of their lives, including those re-entering the workforce and adjusting to changed circumstances—an aspiration that CIT has firmly at its heart.
There is no point denying that the VET sector has been subject to some political chicanery in recent times, not dissimilar to other higher education reforms. It is also clear that the reforms themselves can at times appear somewhat contradictory in their aims of increasing certain vulnerable target groups’ educational outcomes with more government support whilst also heading down more competitive and commercial funding routes and reducing the market share of TAFE-style institutions like the CIT.
In these interesting times, with our strong and much-loved CIT not under threat per se but certainly under pressure, we need to find a way through this maze and achieve a balanced approach that will ensure it can continue to operate as a vehicle of government yet at the same time respond to commonwealth initiatives which result in a more commercial environment. I believe that the bill before us does seek to find that balance.
With a new enterprise bargaining agreement recently endorsed by the TAFE council, thereby providing greater certainty to some staff in particular, this is now a good time to begin preparing in earnest for the bigger national skills reform agenda set for 2016.
I am pleased to see that the bill and the proposed governance arrangements still allow for staff-nominated members, while also allowing for more corporate and business skills minded members. Likewise, while I understand the need to allow the CIT governance body greater flexibility in setting course fees, I continue to support the government and the minister’s oversight that allows for guidelines to be enforced, with a focus on subsidised courses that are identified in conjunction with ACT government analysis of specific workforce needs.
We need to be in competition primarily on quality. We want employers to see CIT graduates as employees of choice, and we want students to seek out CIT as a provider of choice. The reputation and status of CIT as a high quality and supportive learning environment will need to be our biggest selling point as more private providers, some of whom will be offering low-cost short courses and certificates, enter the market.
I believe that the ACT has taken a much more collaborative and steady approach to these challenges in recent times, and that if we continue to work through the issues in this fashion we may well avoid some of the troubles we have seen and heard from other jurisdictions where there have been outcomes that I believe are less desirable from an educational point of view and from a social point of view.
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