VET Teacher Training in Australia: Preserving Australian VET ...

expected to be work‐ready; whereas, it is acceptable for a university graduate to be prepared to
begin to become work‐effective. Over time, the VET graduate expands their depth of theoretical
understanding and critical thinking and the university graduate, over time, catches up with the
practical stuff. As purposeful learners (if such is nurtured), they both finish up in much the same
amalgams of theory and practice place as is appropriate to their work.
Cause and effect of casualisation of the VET teacher workforce
In an April 2011 report, the Australian Productivity Commission found that approximately one in
every four trainers or assessors 2 has more than one job and about 33% of non‐TAFE 3 trainers and
assessors were employed on a part‐time basis and this percentage was likely to be higher in the
TAFE sector (PC 2011, p.31).
Although I don’t have access to trend statistics, there is strong anecdotal evidence that the incidence
of casual employment of teachers is increasing in the TAFE sector; and the rapidly expanding non‐
TAFE sector is likely to be increasingly characterised by casual employment of VET teachers when
acting upon opportunities which arise and decline in the VET marketplace. In both the TAFE and the
non‐TAFE sectors, the trend to casualisation of the VET teacher workforce appears to have
connection to government opening up VET to market forces which are heavily impacted by the
vagaries of government funding. And, particularly in Victoria, with this came the notion of a level
playing field for public and private providers which may not have been given full consideration from
a community serving perspective. For example, a TAFE Institute is a substantial enterprise with large
standing costs in maintaining campus facilities and supporting corporate type infrastructures which
are there when needed and/or can be seen as investments in the future; as compared to a small
public provider with a narrow scope of learning offering, very small overheads, operating in the
moment and, possibly, hiring training rooms and teachers as required from time to time to act upon
business opportunities arising from having access to government funding and/or entrepreneurial
initiative. Under these circumstances, and seemingly in accord with government intention, it is not
surprising that large providers (public and private) look to reduce teacher costs by hiring on short‐
term contracts and/or variations of casual appointment – the times of permanency for a VET teacher
are gone and sustaining a professional disposition to the role is problematic.
Consequent upon the casualisation of the VET teacher role, there are implications regarding how
these teachers see themselves in terms of being professionally committed as teachers. It is not
surprising that a part‐time employed teacher, who doesn’t see themselves as a teacher, questions
what is appropriate as learning effort in adding teaching qualification to their technical (broadly
meant) competency. That is, they see themselves as employed because of their technical capacities
(vocational competence) and teaching qualifications are a distant consideration. And from the
2 In Australia, generally ‘trainer or assessor’ refers to a VET teacher although the Productivity Commission was
attempting to address workplace trainers when engaged in VET delivery. In some instances, there are VET
assessors who don’t teach, but this is rare.
3 In Australia, there are two categories of VET provider (Registered Training Organisations – RTOs). Public
providers – i.e. Government owned and funded – are known as Technical and Further Training (TAFE)
Institutes; and there are also Private RTOs – i.e. not government owned, but may be delivering some of their
programs under contract to government.
2