Technical and Further Education Board

Full description

Prior to the establishment of the Technical and Further Education Board (VA 1176) in 1980, the central administration and co-ordination of TAFE programs had been the responsibility of the Technical Schools Services Division of the Education Department (VA 714).

Technical education had its genesis in the establishment of Schools of Mines and industries and Mechanics Institutes in the nineteenth century. Courses offered by these institutions had a vocational orientation. The first technical institutes were the Schools of Mines established in the 1870s at Ballarat, Bendigo and the Working Mens' College (later Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) established in 1887. These and a number of other technical colleges received government grants but they were under the control of their own councils. Eleven such colleges were established. Senior Technical Schools and Colleges established after 1911 were under the direct control of the Education Department.

Senior technical colleges traditionally offered trade technician certificate and diploma courses in a wide range of technical and scientific fields, including apprenticeship trades, architecture, art, building, commerce, management, public administration and the various branches of engineering and metallurgy, pure and applied science.

From 1965 following the release of the report of the Committee on the Future of Tertiary Education in Australia (Martin Committee), the Commonwealth Government assumed responsibility for the funding of diploma level courses. It thus became necessary for colleges to separate the administration of diploma courses from that of technical and trade courses. Colleges offering diploma and degree level studies became known as Institutes of Technology or Colleges of Advanced Education. Such colleges were affiliated to the Victoria Institute of Colleges (VA 571) and were responsible to the Commonwealth Commission on Advanced Education.

Post secondary, technical and vocational education, and adult and community education programs continued to be provided through technical schools, Education Department technical colleges and the technical colleges associated with some of the colleges of advanced education. From 1973, this sector of education became known as TAFE or Technical and Further Education. The Australian Committee on Technical and Further Education (ACOTAFE), frequently referred to as the Kangan Committee after its Chairman, was established in 1973. This committee argued that TAFE had been a neglected area of education and recommended its development be enhanced through the provision of Commonwealth funding to the States. At state level, the State Council of Technical Education provided advice to the Minister of Education.

In August 1976, the Victorian Government established a committee of Enquiry into Post-Secondary Education (Partridge Committee). This committee reported in February 1978 and recommended that a Victorian Post-Secondary Education Commission be established to advise the Victorian Government and relevant Commonwealth authorities on all aspects of the development, operation, co-ordination and funding of post-secondary education in Victoria. The committee also recommended that a Board of Technical and Further Education be established to advise the commission on the development, operation, co-ordination and funding of all institutions engaged in TAFE and that the capital and recurrent funding of TAFE be greatly increased. In 1978, the Victorian Post-Secondary Education Commission (VPSEC) (VA 721) was established under the provisions of the Post-Secondary Education Act 1978 (No. 9145).

Establishment of the Technical and Further Education Board

In July 1980 the TAFE Board (VA 1176) was established under the provisions of section 15A of the Post-Secondary Education Act 1978. As the state authority for technical and further education, the TAFE Board was responsible to the Victorian Post-Secondary Education Commission (VPSEC) and derived its powers and functions from an Instrument of Delegation which enabled it to exercise certain of VPSEC's powers.

Functions

Essentially the TAFE Board was authorised to:
- determine policy on matters relating to TAFE subject and guidelines imposed by the relevant Ministers
- determine the distribution of funds available for TAFE
- authorise and accredit new TAFE courses and major developments of existing courses
- make recommendations to relevant Ministers on any matters relating to TAFE

TAFE Programs and Providers

In defining the parameters of its responsibility, the TAFE Board accepted the definition of TAFE established by the Australian Council of Technical and Further Education. TAFE was thus defined to include the acquisition by full time or part time studies of occupational qualifications involving mental, manual or social skills and the acquisition usually on a part time basis of skills for secondary, additional or supplementary occupational purposes, for personal development or for the creative utilisation of leisure.

At the time of the TAFE Board's establishment, there were three broad groupings of courses - vocational, preparatory and recreational. The national classification of TAFE courses consisted of six streams namely:

Professional
- a relatively minorTAFE activity in Victoria which included two specialist diplomas and the provision of the early years of diploma and degree studies

Middle Levels
- programmes designed to train support personnel for professional officers and senior management; full certificate courses and special purpose programs to enable para-professionals to update their areas of specialisation

Basic Vocational (Apprenticeship)
- the provision of trade training in declared trades as determined by the Industrial Training Commission and the provision of pre and post apprenticeship courses

Basic Vocational (Non-Apprenticeship)
- a range of courses from training comparable to apprenticeship but in occupations which were not proclaimed trades to short courses conducted for particular employers

Access
- programs designed to permit student admission to vocational education, tertiary education or to assist in transition to employment. Courses included special access programs for disadvantaged students, preparatory apprentice and tertiary orientation

Recreational
- all non-vocational programs of a cultural or utilitarian nature provided for the community in general.

TAFE courses were classified into eleven broad fields of study: applied science, art and design, building, business studies, engineering, rural and horticulture, music, paramedical, industrial services, personal services and general services.

TAFE courses were provided in a variety of situations. These included two TAFE colleges controlled by their own councils, eight TAFE components of colleges affiliated with the Victoria Institute of Colleges, twenty-one colleges established under the Schools Councils Act, TAFE sections in some eighty technical schools, the Army Apprentice School, agriculture and horticultural colleges under the control of the Department of Agriculture, evening classes in high schools, technical components in high schools, courses conducted by the Council of Adult of Education, community education programmes conducted by voluntary learning groups.

In addition to the courses offered through these means, a highly developed off-campus studies network allowed students to study many TAFE courses at home.

Re-organisation of TAFE

1980-1981
Following a review of the organisation and administration of TAFE in Victoria, the TAFE Board recommended that:
- the state wide administration of TAFE be separated from the Education Department
- a small unit responsible directly to the TAFE Board be established to assist in the foundation and implementation of its policy decisions
- Regional TAFE Boards be established throughout Victoria to make decisions and recommendations regarding the most rational use of regional resources within the framework of the TAFE Board and Government policy
- all providers of TAFE to remain responsible for the administration of their own programs within the context of state and regional policy decisions.

The recommendations of the TAFE Board were substantially accepted by the Government and in 1981 ten country and five metropolitan regional TAFE Boards were appointed. Subsequently seventeen TAFE colleges were separated from the administration of the Education Department and then operated under the Post-Secondary Act. These colleges, together with a further eleven colleges associated with Colleges of Advanced Education, Council of Adult Education, Department of Agriculture and the Education Department which continued to provide TAFE courses through technical schools and some high schools, became the major TAFE providers responsible to the Board.

1982-1983
In 1982 following a change of government, the new Minister of Education announced a review of the organisation and structure of TAFE in Victoria. The review was conducted by the Victorian Public Service Board in conjunction with a representative Working Party established for this purpose. In 1983, many of the recommendations of the Review report were implemented under the provisions of the Post-Secondary Education (Amendment) Act 1983 (No. 9933). A new TAFE Board was formally established. While VPSEC retained responsibility for the overall co-ordination of post-secondary education including TAFE, the new Board had greater autonomy and control over its own budget.

The 1983 legislation also established regional TAFE Boards, TAFE Teaching Service, TAFE Teaching Service Appeals Board, TAFE Discipline Appeals Board, TAFE Teaching Registration Board and a TAFE Accreditation Board.

Functions of the new TAFE Board

Under section 43 of the Post-Secondary Education Act, the functions of the new TAFE Board were to:
- administer, plan and co-ordinate TAFE in Victoria in co-operation with VPSEC and to enhance opportunities for access to such education
- determine community needs in relation to TAFE; take account of training needs as determined by the Ministry of Employment and Training and devise means of meeting such needs more effectively
- make reports and recommendations to the Minister, VPSEC and Commonwealth authorities on the development of TAFE, establishment of new TAFE institutions and the allocation of funds amongst TAFE regions and institutions
- undertake research projects and investigations to ensure that TAFE facilities were able to meet changing financial, economic and social circumstances.

In consultation with the Industrial Training Commission and the TAFE Accreditation Board, the TAFE Board was also responsible for the accreditation of courses, for the maintenance of a Register of Accredited Courses and for determining which institutions had the authority to conduct courses.

Abolition of the TAFE Board

In 1987 there was a radical re-organisation of the state training system. Under the provisions of the State Training Board Order 1987, a State Training Board (VA 3002) was established to co-ordinate and administer the Government's training policies and the technical and vocational training services provided by the State and public authorities. The order took effect from 30 November 1987. The State Training Board effectively assumed responsibility for functions previously performed by the training division of the Department of Labour, the Industrial Training Commission and the TAFE Board. However it was not until 1 March 1991 and the proclamation of the Vocational Education and Training Act 1990 (No. 45/1990) that the TAFE Board was formally abolished.

See below for inventory of records.