00:02Two years ago, Jo Maloney quit her job as a bookkeeper to study horticulture at TAFE.
00:08When I looked into it, it was actually government funded, so it was an easy decision to make.
00:14The Certificate III in Horticulture is one of more than 80 free TAFE courses funded by the state and federal
00:21governments to help fill skills shortages.
00:23But there are warnings that while free TAFE has made vocational training more accessible, it's also put more pressure on
00:31an already under-resourced sector.
00:34Victorian TAFEs are fundamentally underfunded and they have been that way for almost two decades and arguably beyond that.
00:43Research commissioned by the union showing Victoria's TAFE system is the lowest funded in Australia.
00:49Around $2 less per student contact hour than the national average and nearly $4 an hour behind New South Wales.
00:58So P is our proprietorship.
01:01The report also found Victorian TAFE teachers are working around seven hours of unpaid overtime each, every week.
01:09It always feels so rushed to be able to get through the content.
01:13We need more campuses, more classrooms and we also need to have an increase in the amount of funding for
01:20subsidised TAFE places.
01:22The peak body for independent training providers says more money for TAFE isn't the answer.
01:28They want a complete review of government funding for vocational training.
01:33Start looking at investing in students rather than the continued focus in investing in institutions.
01:40The Victorian Government told the ABC it's invested $16 billion in TAFE since coming to power and has given TAFE
01:48teachers pay rises,
01:49better leave provisions and more time for assessment and planning.
01:53But the union says this fight isn't about pay.
01:56This isn't about wages at all.
01:58This is about making sure that we've got our TAFEs funded in a way that meets the ultimate needs of
02:04students.
02:05Now, if you're looking at those things that we need to have to work on,
02:08you can see that the next step of what you need to do.
02:08We do not know what we need to do.
02:08We need to have our TAFEs.
02:08As we need to keep our TAFEs and the other things that we need to do.
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