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Frequently asked questions

 

Where can I find information about the TAFE system and working in TAFE?

TAFE is a national system which provides vocational education and training to people across Australia. At the national level the Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST) web site contains details of national priorities and initiatives, as well as research and development into TAFE. Click here to visit the website.

In Victoria information is available from the Department of Innovation, Industry and Regional Development. Click here for further information.

 

How can TAFE staff become involved in TAFE Development Centre activities?

TAFE staff will access activity funded under the TAFE Industry Skills Scheme, the TAFE Leadership Scheme, and the TAFE Teaching Fellowships, through the relevant Institute managers. Internal decision processes will determine which staff will participate. This is to ensure that projects are managed in a way that is consistent with Institute strategic goals as well as the interests and goals of individual staff. The TAFE Teaching and Learning Excellence Program will also be managed by Institutes, in collaboration with the TAFE Development Centre. For further information on these projects click here. The TAFE Professional Learning Series provides the opportunity for direct involvement of TAFE staff in events on topics of interest. For details of events to be provided in 2007 click here. For an indication of other initiatives in development, click here. If you would like to receive information on events and activities as it becomes available, please register as a subscriber at the top of this page.

 

Who is eligible to participate in TAFE Development Centre activities?

Participation in activities funded by the Centre is restricted to staff currently employed in one of Victoria’s fourteen stand-alone TAFE Institutes and the four Universities with TAFE Divisions. For the list of participating organisations click here. The Centre’s support does not extend to staff employed exclusively in higher education roles, although they and others may participate where activity is available on a fee for service basis. Although specific eligibility guidelines apply to each program, in general participation is not limited to staff in any specific employment category or employed on specific terms or conditions. An exception is the TAFE Teaching Fellowships program, for which Fellowship recipients must be currently employed in a teaching role. The Centre will seek to provide over time a balanced offering of development opportunities for staff in all employment roles within TAFE.

 

How do I find out about what my local Institute is doing with TAFE Development Centre support?

Each Institute has a designated Contact Person for TAFE Development Centre liaison purposes. Click here to view the TAFE Contact Person page.

  

How do I go about getting work in the Victorian TAFE system?

Teachers and other staff are recruited to TAFE Institutes and Universities with TAFE Divisions in a range of ways. They may be recruited directly from industry, where they may have had some supervisory or training role or may be particularly interested in training others. They may be teaching practitioners in another part of the education system, such as secondary schooling or an adult and community provider. They may have particular specialist or professional skills of interest to an Institute. There is no central or government-run recruitment or employment practice for the TAFE system. Each Institute or University Division is separately responsible for advertising vacancies, processing and selecting applicants, employing new recruits at the correct classification under the relevant industrial Awards, inducting, managing and developing their employees. An e-recruitment site which lists current vacancies for 12 Institutes and which provides an electronic facility for applications, is available at jobs@tafe.

What qualifications do I need to be a teacher in a Victorian TAFE Institute?

It is a requirement of the national Vocational Education and Training (VET) system that training be delivered according to the standards of the Australian Quality Training Framework (AQTF). Standard 7 ‘The Competence of RTO Staff’ specifies that the person conducting training must have competence at the level of the new Certificate IV in Training and Assessment or some equivalent or higher level (for example the former Certificate IV in Assessment and Workplace Training) and demonstrated competence in the field in which the training is being delivered. Where this is not possible, the person delivering training must be supervised by someone who does have the required level of competence as specified above. It is up to individual TAFE employers to ensure that this standard of competence is met.

For a full copy of the AQTF Standards for Registered Training Organisations, effective from 1 July 2005 (including Standard 7), click here.

In most TAFE Institutes there is the expectation that all staff appointed to a teaching role will hold, as a starting point, the Certificate IV in Assessment and Workplace Training or the qualification that has recently replaced it, the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment, which forms part of the new Training and Assessment Training Package (TAA04) which was nationally endorsed in October 2004. Courses leading to the award of this qualification are offered by a number of TAFE Institutes and many private training providers. A searchable database of providers is available at the National Training Information Service.

For further information about national qualifications, check the Innovation and Business Skills Australia website.

Many TAFE employers encourage their teaching staff to hold higher qualifications than Certificate IV level, and in some areas a degree in teaching would be expected. A database of all teaching qualifications in Victoria is in preparation for this website but is not yet available. For more specific information or advice on this question contact the Victorian TAFE Association, the peak body representing TAFE Institutes as employers, or contact the individual Institutes that interest you as potential employers.

For information about qualification requirements for teachers in the Victorian school system, contact the Victorian Institute of Teaching.

 

What qualifications does a TAFE teacher need to progress to higher levels of employment classification?

The new Multi-Employer Certified Agreement (MECA) governs the employment of teachers and educators in Victorian TAFE Institutes. It provides that to progress past the first classification level, a person must hold Certificate IV in Assessment and Workplace Training (or its successor qualification, Certificate IV in Training and Assessment). To progress past the fourth classification level, a person must hold a Level V (Diploma) or above qualification, which meets certain requirements.

The parties to the Agreement (the Australian Education Union and the Victorian TAFE Association) have developed ‘Guidelines on Teaching Qualification Requirements for Victorian TAFE Teachers’. Click here (PDF - 108KB) to download the guidelines.

 

Where can I get information on employment conditions in TAFE?

Employment in teaching and non-teaching roles in Victorian TAFE Institutes is governed by industrial agreements, with some specific local variations negotiated between the relevant unions and TAFE employers. Access to these agreements is available here or contact the Victorian TAFE Association. Advice may be sought from the relevant unions: Australian Education Union or National Tertiary Education Union.