New era for TasTAFE under chief executive Jenny Dodd

NEW TasTAFE chief executive Jenny Dodd has declared the training organisation is ready to meet Tasmania’s skills needs as it puts a tumultuous period behind it, writes DAVID BENIUK

New TasTAFE CEO Jenny Dodd. Picture: SAM ROSEWARNE

TWO certificates sit on the office noticeboard of new TasTAFE chief executive Jenny Dodd.

They’re awards for the completion of e-learning courses in credit card use and entertainment entitlements.

They’re also symbols of a new era for the training organisation under Ms Dodd as it puts the scandals of last year behind it.

“You undergo this training as leaders in our organisation or if you hold a credit card and then you print off the certificate,” Ms Dodd tells the Sunday Tasmanian.

“We’re absolutely focused on driving some change processes.”

TasTAFE’s nepotism and credit card scandal, uncovered in an Integrity Commission investigation last year, has been well documented.

An independent audit recommended a host of changes and the new courses for staff are just some of them.

The organisation’s 200 credit cards have been cut by 30, with more reductions to come, and conflicts of interest in recruitment have been addressed.

The public provider is more than ready to move on, Ms Dodd said.

“We’re now in that next phase. We’ve put a lens on what went wrong through our internal audits and now we’re moving towards how we do the things that we need to do to make sure that this organisation becomes stronger.

“People are very keen to hear those words — quality learning and teaching — on the agenda. They’re the conversations we’re having.”

The much-vaunted Drysdale overhaul is under way with a redesign of its programs and expansion into Claremont and Devonport. Picture: MATHEW FARRELL

Ms Dodd took on the tough role in February, moving from Queensland with a reputation as a digitally savvy change manager.

She’s spent 30 years in the vocational education sector across four states and territories and is determined to put TasTAFE back on track, with a staff ready to do so too.

Governance controls, skills shortages, links with industry and student satisfaction are all at the top of Ms Dodd’s agenda.

“We’re not a complicated business,” she said. “We’re here to service the Tasmanian economy and to give people skills that help them get jobs or change their lives and give them learning for lifelong learning.”

The vision from the State Government was laid out during the election campaign and recent budget.

Minister Jeremy Rockliff has promised to “turbocharge” TasTAFE with $18.9 million towards centres of excellence in hospitality, water trades and agriculture.

The much-vaunted Drysdale overhaul is under way with a redesign of its programs and expansion into Claremont and Devonport.

She said apprenticeship numbers were growing in the state, defying the odds of everywhere else.

“We’ve got higher levels of apprentices to serve — if we don’t have the right facilities to serve them in, we can’t deliver those outcomes.”

The mother of three grown up kids and keen bushwalker is here for the long haul, buying a house at Kingston Beach with physics teacher husband Peter.

She concedes staff at TasTAFE were hurt by the events of 2017, but insists she’s encountered nothing but positivity as the organisation looks ahead. Its pathway is a simple one, she said, as it seeks re-registration with regulator the Australian Skills Quality Authority.

“The measure of success will be when students and employers say that they got what they wanted when they came here,” she said.

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