Students told to reject Box Hill TAFE after it waters down free course

Posted to Facebook on 31/7/2020 11:29 AM
Commenting on “Students told to reject Box Hill TAFE after it waters down free course"
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/students-told-to-reject-box-hill-tafe-after-it-waters-down-free-course-20200212-p54082.html

My hours of teaching at TAFEs dropped drastically when the funding cut was so severe. The cut was due to the smart Alec advisers and policy makers who came out with some ill-conceived ideas about market competition allowing private enterprises to open private colleges.

The quality of TAFE was not that bad when I started in the mid-90’s, but began to deteriorate when more and more overseas students came for further studies.

Early batches of students from Korea and Japan were good, hardworking and not spoilt brat. Of course, there were exceptions, but they belong to the minority.

The Indians and mainland China arrived in large numbers. The Indians were ok with English, but they came here with the intention to work to earn money to send to their families back in India. Many Chinese students were from families who were loaded, and to some extent, they were more like getting rid of the good riddance

Thank you for reading. 

Students told to reject Box Hill TAFE after it waters down free course

Why the university system is failing our graduates

Posted to Facebook on 30/4/2020 2:05 PM
Commenting on “Why the university system is failing our graduates”
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/work/2019/10/22/australian-university-graduate-jobs/

This news article was from 22 October 2019. If there was a problem for graduates to find jobs after graduation, what are the chances now after the coronavirus pandemic?

I had a chat with a FB friend yesterday over Messenger, and I discussed about why graduates should try to land themselves with a job relevant to what they had studied, before considering going for higher degree.

For years, I encouraged many students to take up an Advanced Diploma courses from TAFE, find a job and then find pathway to complete a degree later. It takes less time to complete an Advanced Diploma course than a degree, cost less, but has the advantage of having the core materials covered, relevant to fulfil the employment requirement.

Some TAFE and VET courses are more hands-on and practical, thus makes a TAFE graduates more employable.

As for future promotion, it is up to the individual to pursue further study.

Employers are looking for more than a degree or Advanced Diploma, and I shall discuss this more in later blogs.

Thank you for reading.

Why the university system is failing our graduates

Victoria's TAFE course completion rate the worst in Australia

Posted to Facebook on 3/9/2019 at 10:16 PM
Victoria's TAFE course completion rate the worst in Australia
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/victoria-s-tafe-course-completion-rate-the-worst-in-australia-20190829-p52m5l.html

Numeracy and literacy problems do not start at TAFEs, or tertiary institutions, but at the early days of schooling.

My current voluntary service in a primary school gives me the opportunity to have first hand contact with very young school children, ranging from Prep to Year 5. I am patiently waiting for the right time to get in touch with the education authority to suggest my education reform strategies.

High TAFE student drop out rate is not unexpected. It is not about employability, but the quality of students.

Most of the students join TAFEs after VCE examinations in Year 12. These are normally not the top performers, and many are likely to be at the bottom of the academic ladder. Some students attend TAFE courses under duress; they either take up a course or face their Centrelink money cut off. Students of mature age are better in general. They attend TAFE for retraining or learning a new skill after being retrenched or out of work force for sometime due to personal reasons. TAFEs can to be blamed for offering courses of no real value. Students are at times given high hope of gaining employment after the course, only to find out that the course content bears no relevance to the real world employment.

A course once known as Office Admistration has been renamed and promoted as Business Adminstraion. Unfortunately, this is a con.

Many students attending a Management course have the misconception that after their graduation, they will be able to land themselves in a managerial position. They do not realise these are not available for someone straight out of TAFE or college.

Hospitality courses conducted by TAFEs are better than those offered by private colleges. Many TAFEs have their own kitchens onsite, and food hygiene is monitored with greater stringency.

Thank you for reading.

Victoria's TAFE course completion rate the worst in Australia