Inquiry into the Role of Institutes of TAFE
Submissions

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Submission 72

Deputy Secretary
Board of Studies Services

GPO Box 4821 Darwin NT 0801 telephone (08) 8999 5863 facsirnfle (08) 8999 3522 e-mail hpayne@obiri.ncorn.nt.gov-au

The Northern Territory Minister for Education and Training, the Hon Peter Adamson, MLA, has requested that I respond to the Inquiry into the Appropriate Roles of Institutes of Technical and Further Education on his behalf.

There are four institutions delivering TAFE programs in the Northern Territory. These are Batchelor College, the Northern Territory Rural College, Centralian College and the Northern Territory University.

In general terms the Northern Territory Government considers that the appropriate roles of these institutions are as follows.

• The provision of access for the widcr NT community so that the social and economic welfare of its members can be improved.
• The provision of education and training which is oriented towards employment and further education outcomes.
• The provision of training in community, workplace and geographically isolated settings.
• The adoption of innovative approaches to program development and delivery especially open learning techniques and flexible delivery systems.
• Offering of a wide range of articulated courses and recognised pathways within the TAFE sector itself, across education sectors and into higher education.
• The promotion of a whole program approach which places emphasis on the total social and intellectual development of the student.
• The development of a comprehensive infrastructure of training resources including libraries and curriculum.
• The provision of a range of industry training services to meet the particular needs of industry.
• The promotion of access and equity for disadvantaged students.
• The provision of institute facilities to other providers such as private providers and schools.

It is acknowledged that while Institutes of TAFE should be part of the development of an open training market some emphasis would need to be given to the community service obligations of these institutions and their context. These could include the following.

• The inability of institutes to retrench permanent teaching staff in areas of low demand and conversely being unable to react quickly to new programs.
• The development of access and equity policies and strategies, commitment to equal opportunity, etc, e.g. access for people with physical disabilities, provision of childcare facilities, ESL, adult literacy and basic education.
• The fulfilment of other allied obligations, e.g. radio stations, residential facilities. etc.
• Placement of a strong emphasis on generic skills development to prepare students for a variety of occupations and a process of life long learning.

In terms of the extent to which the roles of TAFE institutes should overlap with universities it is felt that, where possible, institutes should integrate their activities with those of universities so that there is better articulation between higher education and vocational education and training. Such an integration would be consistent with a commitment to the philosophy of life long learning.

Integration could include

• pathways
• joint courses
• cross-sectoral provision of units of study
• sharing of facilities.

While integration of activities between TAFE institutes and universities would be a desirable outcome the roles of TAFE institutes should -nevertheless be essentially concerned with those indicated as appropriate above. These concern their core business.

The matter of qualifications where both TAFE institutes and universities (those which offer higher education programs only) offer the same type and level of qualification needs careful consideration as there is considerable scope for overlap and wastage of resources to occur in this area. However if such potential problems can be resolved there seems no valid reason for drawing the demarcation line too heavily.

Dr C H Payne

18 November 1997

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