'Cut TAFEs, redraw archaic deals'

QUEENSLAND's government should halve the number of TAFE campuses and completely revamp industrial agreements, a report says.

THE Queensland government should halve the number of TAFE campuses and completely revamp industrial agreements with teaching staff as part of wide-ranging reforms to make the sector financially viable and more responsive to industry needs, a report says.

The interim report of the Queensland Skills and Training Taskforce says 44 of the state's 82 campuses should be shut, including 10 of 15 in Brisbane and 11 of 26 in far north Queensland.

It says the TAFE sector is hamstrung by archaic industrial relations agreements, under-utilised infrastructure, high costs and low productivity.

"TAFE institutes are at best at the margins of viability, with future expectations that planned increased contestability in the marketplace, along with strong competition from the private sector, will see a need for greater levels of efficiency and effectiveness," the report says.

The report is particularly critical of industrial agreements with the TAFE teachers. They work a 36.2-hour week, of which no more than 21 hours can be spent teaching or overtime is incurred.

Every hour of teaching after 6pm is counted as 1.5 hours, and so most campuses remain chronically under-utilised.

The teachers' award also provides for five weeks of non-attendance in addition to four weeks annual leave, with class sizes capped at 14 where health and safety is considered a risk, and 24 in other cases.

Taskforce chairman Michael Roche said wide-ranging consultation for the interim report had found a "remarkable consistency of view about what is needed to be done . . . No one believes the status quo is an option."

But federal Tertiary Education Minister Chris Evans slammed the report, saying campus closures "would critically undermine the national training effort to train the skilled Australian workers we need to fill the jobs emerging in the economy. The loss of this training capacity will worsen the skills shortage facing employers in Queensland and potentially see more overseas workers fill those jobs" .

The report says that to be responsive to industry, address chronic skills shortages and contribute to the lowering of unemployment, TAFE needed to become a statutory body that was clear about its role, mission, structures and asset management.

If the Queensland government adopts the 18 recommendations, it would most likely find strong opposition from regional communities and unions, said Brendan Sheehan, a public policy consultant. "The difficulty is that no one likes to have TAFE campuses and schools shut down," Mr Sheehan said.

"And while everyone needs to have reasonable access to education and training, that doesn't mean every town or village needs its own campus.

"You can look at things like learning centres, fly-in, fly-out teachers and online delivery."

The deputy general secretary of the Queensland Teachers Union, Kate Ruttiman, said any changes to industrial arrangements would have to be negotiated with the union.

"But we wouldn't be giving up any hard-won conditions around class sizes, payment for overtime, leave or working hours. We would need to work on behalf of our members to protect those conditions," Ms Ruttiman said.