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 Home News TAFE
Wake-up call for Jacinta Allan
08 October 2009
A new report has highlighted the importance of TAFE4All with findings that the numbers and wellbeing of students in study or work has fallen.
The report by the Foundation for Young Australians (FYA) has revealed that the proportion of teenagers not learning or earning full-time has jumped to the highest level in nearly 20 years. Australian youth are increasingly disengaged from work and study, yet the Victorian Government has chosen to this year substantially increase TAFE fees for students and abolish many concessions.
"There is no doubt the conditions of earning and learning for young Australians have deteriorated in 2009," said Dr Lucas Walsh, Director of Research at the FYA.
"In these turbulent times, the challenge for all of us is to provide innovative pathways and new opportunities for young people so that they can realise their full potential," he said.
AEU Victorian branch president Mary Bluett said: "The report puts into critical focus the need for a higher quality, better resourced and more affordable TAFE system in Victoria. It is especially worrying for the high proportion of males who are the ones immediately affected by the TAFE fee increase.
"This is a wake up call for Jacinta Allan to think about how we can develop a system that will help these young people not make things worse for them," she said.
TAFE has always provided an accessible, unintimidating and affordable pathway to further education. The government's cost-saving decision to make TAFE more expensive will only exacerbate the problem of disengaged young people.
Members can join the fight to keep TAFE for all - not just for those who can afford the hiked fees - by visiting tafe4all.org.au: click on 'add a comment' to leave your opinion on the government's TAFE changes and click on Take Action to find out how else you can get involved.
Contact Details
Anna Kelsey-Sugg
anna.kelsey-sugg@aeuvic.asn.au
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