News
TasTAFE to remove subsidy for lab training, design, media and courses that ‘don’t align with jobs market
TasTAFE will no longer subsidise 12 courses from next year, which will see students’ fees soar to up to $21,000.
It includes design and media courses, but also laboratory technician training — causing union and staff concerns, who say it’s unclear how the training will be replaced.
‘They’re only taught at TasTAFE’: Concerns of skills shortage once lab tech course ends at TasTAFE’
Earlier this year, the Tasmanian government announced an end to subsidies for a number of course as TasTAFE.
The laboratory technology course was one of the courses affected, raising the out-of-pocket cost for students from less than $4,000 to more than $21,000.
Now the course is set to close entirely following job cuts announced by TasTAFE.
Mel Gleeson is the president of Tasmanian Association of Lab Managers. She started her career studying at TasTAFE and she explains to Ryk Goddard on Hobart Breakfast she believes there are no equivalent courses available in the state.
“Our job is just such a niche job, and it’s a really hard job to fill,” she says.
“We have such a shortage of lab technicians in schools … We are there waiting for people to graduate.
“To not have that is just going to be devastating.”
TasTAFE to axe 12 courses, 26 staff following 5400% fee hike
The Australian Education Union is outraged by TasTAFE’s announcement that it will slash 26 jobs and axe all 12 courses targeted by recent fee hikes, demanding that all cuts to fee subsidies, course offerings and jobs be immediately reversed.
Should this change go ahead, nine courses in Arts & Design as well as the Cert IV in Laboratory Techniques will be cut at the end of 2025, resulting in 18 jobs being axed from the Arts & Design school this year as well an undetermined number of Laboratory Operations teaching staff.
Media Release: Education Minister Not Consulted on TasTAFE Laboratory Technician Course Cuts
Independent Member for Nelson Meg Webb said today Education Minister Jo Palmer confirmed she was not consulted on the TasTAFE cuts to the Laboratory Technician courses.
Ms Webb said the Minister made the admission to her questions during Budget Estimates Scrutiny Hearings, despite 67 laboratory technicians currently employed across the State’s schools and colleges.
“I call on the Premier to intervene and reverse the upcoming TasTAFE subsidisation cuts,” Ms Webb said.“This just goes to prove what a badly ill-informed, and counter-productive thought-bubble these TasTAFE cuts are.”
Ms Webb said the Department requires as a minimum applicants to hold a Certificate III or Certificate IV in Laboratory Techniques, or preferably a Diploma, to even be considered for a position in a Tasmanian school or college. All of which TasTAFE provides locally.
