TAFE 'reforms' reality check

Victorian students who drop out of costly training courses are wasting more than $40 million in fees and government funding every year.

Serious doubts have been raised about the integrity of government-subsidised vocational program following revelations that job applicants are being targeted and pressured to sign up for courses by private colleges. 

Yet while enrolments and course fees have increased, state government figures show that only four in 10 students who started these short courses in 2013 have completed them. 

Average fees for diploma and advanced diploma students in the VET FEE-HELP loan scheme rose by 84 per cent between 2011 and 2014.

Fees charged to these students increased from $2.4 million in 2009 to $79.6 million last year.

"I'm particularly concerned some of this is online and third-party delivery with a lack of quality control," said Victorian Higher Education and Skills Minister Steve Herbert. 

To further add to the mess The Abbott government's plan to deregulate university fees would likely drive up inflation and drain billions of dollars from the budget over the long term rather than saving taxpayers money as originally intended, according to one of the nation's top economic modellers. Full story in today’s Age: http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/university-fee-deregulation-to-drive-up-the-deficit-analysis-20150216-13fdfl.html

ART PD

Zart Art Professional learning ( Hosted by Tania from ZART Art)

Wendouree PS

17/02/15

Tania talked about the new ZART catalogue for 2015

She showed us a variety of new products from ZART 

Including gelli printing plates, ceramic knives, coloured sharpies, wash brushes, smooth grooves crayons, graphite pencils, porcelain pens and new fiction book titles to support art theory.

It was a worthwhile PD. I picked up a few good ideas and I'll certainly order the gelli printing plate.

Pancake Day

I have forgotten Pancake Day for the last 3 years and this year was no exception. ( I don't know why? Maybe because I don't like pancakes.) Anyway, the advantage of storing cooking ingredients at school is that you can always 'knock something up' when necessary. So they didn't look very good but the kids liked them.

A big thank-you to Glenda today for popping in for an hour and working with one of the kids. She got some great results with her. She hopes to do some more voluntary work with her which will be great!