Butchery classes being given the knife at an Illawarra TAFE campus shows just how much the training provider has been cut to the bone, the Opposition says.
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Imagine being a butcher-in-training without being provided a piece of meat on which to learn your craft.
It’s the scenario facing students at the Wollongong West campus – and the union representing their teachers says the Baird government’s Smart and Skilled reforms were to blame.
“Smart and Skilled funding basically doesn’t cover the cost of teaching students,” NSW Teachers Federation organiser Adam Curlis said.
“You've got sections like butchery where they don’t have enough money to even purchase the cuts of meat that are required for the students to practice on.”
Mr Curlis said the dire situation meant those same butchery students had been moved out of classrooms and into on-the-job training.
He said employers were providing their time – and meat – to help train them, with teachers travelling long distances to provide support.
A TAFE NSW spokesman said on-the-job butchery apprentice training had been delivered “for a number of years” and was an “important feature of TAFE delivery”.
A question about the lack of meat went unanswered.
The government continues to come under attack from the Opposition over its management of the state’s vocational education and training (VET) sector.
Labor’s candidate for the looming Wollongong byelection Paul Scully has now joined the fight.
“We’ve already seen Dapto TAFE closed, we can’t afford to see another TAFE close like that in Wollongong,” Mr Scully said. “That just cuts off training opportunities for young people and we’ve got a youth unemployment rate of 15.7 per cent.”
Mr Scully was joined by Labor’s spokeswoman for skills, Prue Car, in Wollongong on Monday.
Ms Car said the Illawarra wasn’t immune to TAFE cuts.
“The fact that butchery students at Wollongong West can’t even get a piece of meat to learn their skill is one of the best examples I’ve heard of how the funding model, the Baird government’s funding model of TAFE, is broken,” she said.
Mr Scully said Labor had a “strong position on TAFE”.
“Seventy per cent of the VET training budget to TAFE every year … backing the training it delivers and backing young people,” he said.
Andrew Pearson
Andrew grew up in the western Riverina town of Hay and has strong ties to the region. He is a former DA journo who has a passion for breaking news and has covered everything from council and politics to crime and court.
Andrew grew up in the western Riverina town of Hay and has strong ties to the region. He is a former DA journo who has a passion for breaking news and has covered everything from council and politics to crime and court.
