Leesa and Jim on the Skills Australia Report

There’s an interesting item on Radio National about the Skills Australia discussion paper Creating a future direction for Australian vocational education and training released last week. http://www.abc.net.au/rn/nationalinterest/stories/2010/3051916.htm Leesa Wheelahan (University of Melbourne) and Jim Barron (CEO Group Training Australia) were interviewed about the Skills Australia report on Radio National. Key messages were: 1. TAFE has had to do more with less funding (rather than coasting). 2. Increasing student fees will not have a big impact because they only represent 4.5% of total revenue. 3. We need to shift the training culture so that businesses view training as an investment rather than a cost. 4. TAFE is more than a provider. Government has to invest in institutions to build knowledge and capacity building. The report is available http://www.skillsaustralia.gov.au/PDFs_RTFs/discussionpaper-creatingnewdirectionforVET.pdf