Technical and Vocational Education

In the past, high schools have emphasized academic subjects for university entrance. This is now changing, so that TAFE is increasingly being regarded as an (equivalent) alternative to university. Also, the barriers between general education and vocational education at every level of education are being broken down.

Technical and vocational education are the responsibility of State/Territory governments.

The administrative structures of State/Territory technical and vocational education change frequently but, at the time of writing, the responsible authorities are shown below.

NSW TAFE Commission
PO Box 8888
St. Leonards New South Wales 2065

Dept. of Employment, Vocational Education & Training
151 Royal Street
East Perth Western Australia 6004

Canberra Institute of Technology
GPO Box 826
Canberra City Australian Capital Territory 2601

Dept. of Employment, Training & Further Education
GPO Box 2352
Adelaide South Australia 5001

Department of Employment, Industrial Relations and Training
GPO Box 587
Hobart Tasmania 7001.

Office of Training & Further Education
PO Box 266D
Melbourne Victoria 3001

Post Secondary Education and Training
Department of Education
GPO Box 4821
Darwin Northern Territory 0801

Department of Employment, Vocational Education, Training and Industrial Relations (DEVETIR)
GPO Box 69
Brisbane, Queensland 4001

The address of the Commonwealth Department of Employment, Education and Training is:

GPO Box 9880
Canberra Australian Capital Territory 2601.

A general State/Territory administrative model is emerging and it looks like this:

Figure

Overall technical and vocational education (TAFE) statistics for the three years 1990-1992 as summarized in the following table.

		1992	1991	1990
Number of Institutions		704	884	835
Number of Course Enrolments		1,935,780	1,824,536	1,752,021
Number of Annual Student Contact Hours		259,286,000	235,811,030	212,730,000
Estimated Number of Students		1,743,943	1,554,098	1,489,326
Estimated Number of Female Students		987,450	694,922	655,856
Estimated Number of Male Students		742,973	631,874	618,529
Estimated Number of Full-time Students		126,398	99,387	83,911
Estimated Number of Part-time Students		1,617,545	1,454,711	1,405,415
Estimated Number of Commencing Students		1,476,750	1,345,137	1,230,030
Estimated Number of Students in each Field of Study
	1. Land and Marine Resources,	76,753	56,194	50,095
	2. Architecture, Building	86,460	85,699	83,704
	3. Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences	244,515	236,831	163,089
	4. Business, Administration, Econ	308,912	285,628	250,982
	5. Education	16,165	14,372	9,702
	6. Engineering, Surveying	188,148	192,851	184,925
	7. Health, Community Services	155,496	120,894	63,726
	8. Law, Legal Studies	7,689	5,333	3,681
	9. Science	68,672	66,928	134,629
	10. Veterinary Science, Animal Care	1,914	1,486	1,373
	11. Services, Hospitality, Transportation	137,368	136,190	118,323
	12. TAFE Multi-Field Education	537,980	228,154	285,037
Staff
	Number of Full-time Teaching Staff	18,302	17,727	17,890
	Total Teaching Hours of all Staff	16,976,645	15,788,298	15,158,782
	Total Duty Hours of all Staff	29,991,567	29,360,899	28,948,661
	Full-time Equivalent Non-teaching Staff	15,433.98	15,322.42	14,042.41

A typical vocational education progression would run along the following lines. (The reference is to “TAFE College”. However, college names are changing, for example, to institutes of vocational education).

While still in high school, the student may follow some courses or observe some experiences run in connection with a TAFE college or industry, which may be called ‘work experience’ or similar.

After leaving high school, the student may undertake a full time course in a TAFE college labelled ‘pre-vocational’ which will concentrate upon a particular group of related occupations within the same industry, e.g. metal trades, wood trades or similar. Successful completion in such a course may give advanced standing in a subsequent appropriate course.

While still in high school or a TAFE college the student may undertake a pre-apprentice course similar to the above, but with a more focused intention to lead into an apprenticeship.

In a TAFE college, an ‘introductory’ course may be taken which is designed to equip an individual with a basic knowledge and skills to enable him or her to embark upon a formal trades course, e.g. ‘Introduction to electronics for women’.

The whole range of vocational courses covering both the traditional crafts, the licensed occupations (e.g. real estate salesperson) and the newer occupations - computer operator, computer programmer, etc., are on offer. These courses lead to a Certificate or Advanced Certificate.

Advanced technical education builds upon the courses already covered and leads to a higher level of skill, or greater knowledge in depth or in breadth, or provides training in supervisory or management processes in the same occupational area of skill. Other courses may facilitate the transfer from one occupation to another.

Technical and vocational education is taught in modern, well equipped colleges by well qualified and experienced teachers. Teacher numbers are shown below.

The estimated number of full-time equivalent (FTE) TAFE teachers by type of appointment, Australia, 1986-1992

Year	Number of full-time teachers	Number of part-time teachers (FTE)	Total number of FTE teachers
1986	17,956	4,889	22,845
1987	17,775	4,787	22,562
1988	17,902	4,695	22,597
1989	18,133	4,676	22,809
1990	17,890	4,999	22,889
1991	17,727	5,409	23,136
1992	18,302	5,948	24,250

Source: Duty Hours (‘000’) of Teaching Staff and Full-time Teaching Numbers by Type of Appointment and State, Australia. Selected TAFE Statistics, 1986-1992.

It is difficult to calculate the number of part-time teachers in any year because this varies from year to year and changes as State policy changes. Therefore the number of part-time teachers is represented as full-time equivalent staff.