Hello, everyone. My name is Luke Holland. I'm the head of strategic communications at Think HQ and I will be your host today. Hello again and thank you to everyone for joining us here today for the webinar considering a career switch, unlock your pathway to teaching through TAFE.
We're doing this in partnership for the Department of Jobs, Skills, Industry and Regions as part of the Department of Education for Victoria's Teach the Future campaign.
Firstly, I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians on the land and water upon which we rely. We pay our respects to the elders past and present. We recognize and value the ongoing contribution of Aboriginal people and communities to Victorian life. We embrace the spirit of reconciliation, working towards equality of outcomes and an equal voice.
Before I introduce our speakers, I would like to give a quick overview of the Teach the Future campaign and you also have a chance here to revisit some of the housekeeping that you're not familiar just around had the session today will run. I've only had the chance to do that. Let me introduce our speakers and give a quick overview.
As I said, of the Teach the Future campaign. Teach the Future is a teacher recruitment campaign delivered by the Department of Education Victoria, the Victorian Government is looking for new teachers to fill the growing demand across the state and are investing in making sure that teachers have better pay, greater professional development and more diverse career opportunities than ever before.
For more information, you can visit www.vic.gov.au/teachthefuture where you will find heaps more information on different pathways and different opportunities. Confidant as well that you'll find a lot of those things over the course of this evening as well.
Today you will hear from teachers and students showcasing their lived experiences and their transition or their ongoing transition of becoming a teacher. And you'll also have a chance to hear from representatives from the Department.
So, on that note, please welcome all of us, because I'll be joined this evening by Rohan Tusler who is a teacher, by Florence De Soutter - a teacher, a student, teacher and student, and by Department of Education Department of Jobs, Skills, Industry and Regions Representative, Dan White. Dan will be joining us later for the Q&A session. So please make sure to stick around to hear from them and Dan, we'll see you later on.
Thank you so much. Last reminder, certainly for a while at least. If you have any questions this evening, please submit them via the chat function and we will answer them in a Q and A session at the end of the webinar. Any questions that we don't get around to answering or I need some deeper thinking, but don't get the chance to answer today. Include them in our post-event email.
So, Rohan and Florence, Welcome. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for joining us. We're really, really
pleased to have you here today, Florence, if we could start with you. So, you are still in the transition of studying to become a teacher at the moment. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your own experience so far?
Okay. Hi, everyone. So, as you can hear, I'm not Australian born. I migrated here 15 years ago. The different jobs I've been doing have been. So, I've started as a winemaker. Then I moved into butter making and we
then we are still owning, with my husband a bakery and a cafe. So, lots. Lots of making for me.
And so that is that, that's your background.
And Rohan, could you tell us a bit about the work that you were doing before you got into teaching?
I think if you just post things that we got, we can see and that's there we go.
Okay, how are you going? My name's Rohan Tusler. I was a plumber for 20 years. I did an apprenticeship. And then where do you go in building through choice. Covered a lot of aspects of plumbing. Couple of years
ago, sustained a spinal injury which led me to have surgery. Unfortunately, in the mindset of that, yeah, like Luke said, yes, I had a little bit of light bulb came on at that point and I thought, well, already management and teaching young apprentices and tradesmen on up further my curricular career into education.
So just on that what you say about the I have a sort of parallel between maybe working with apprentices and that was is that something that you found that you find helpful when you're making that transition?
Yeah, well, I mean you've always got younger generation looking up to the older generation. I still do it now. I've got two mentors with me at Kangan, so we all feed off each other and it's continuous learning. I'll say industries forever changing in plumbing. We can say the renewable energy scheme that's coming through with the need to go away from gas and search on, say, yeah, it just coincided. I mean, young apprentices look to the tradesmen and then we look to our peers. So, it's continuous learning. It's easy for everyone to get a grasp of.
Yeah, I'm and stay with me for a moment. What was just said that about that sort of light bulb moment and was that the sort of the moment that you thought that you would go into teaching or was that was there another point where you thought actually, this this really is something that could be for me?
Well, I did start an auditing and training program with a multiple with a very respectable volume building plumbing company. So, I thought I'd start out there in the domestic sector, but I always did strive for that better work life balance as well. And when the opportunity did arise to be a trainer and assessor or teacher in government institution, I was quick to jump straight on it.
It's easy with two young children, so that work life balance is really plays a part as well and at the same time,
when you take apprentices out in the domestic field, it's the same. You're the pinnacle of education, they're looking towards you. So, in retrospect, if you can give that opportunity in the classroom, why not?
Absolutely! And Florence, what was the sort of moment that you thought teaching is for me?
I think the light bulb moment for me was when I used to drop off my little three-year-old boy at daycare. I was finding it very difficult for me to leave. I always wanted to stay with the children and playing with them. And then I realized that that could be something that I wanted to do. Maybe not for the rest of my life, but maybe for the next ten years of my life.
So, it was literally a moment that many of us have been through the dropping off of the school gates or daycare and the sort of the long goodbyes. But you didn't want that goodbye to end. You actually wanted to stay and take part in what was going on there.
Yes. I was told that, you know, after a while that I had to leave them because I was interrupting in all the preparation of the day for everybody's work.
Okay. Something different, I guess. Quite different sparks, maybe different things that spurred you both on. Into considering teaching. So, lot of that after that sort of that feeling of this is for me although you couldn't stay on that day, obviously, but you wanted to do this, what was your what is the pathway you're currently taking? What is the pathway you are taking to becoming a teacher?
So, then what I did is I thought, well, I'm going to research how I could become one of them, one of the educator and previously I did a course with TAFE in baking.
Yep.
And then I thought, well, I'm going to have a look at TAFE. And I saw that with TAFE I could have free course in early childhood and there’s a TAFE not far from where I live. And that's how it started. I then got in touch, and it was very easy to register and to start the journey.
So it was, so for you It was, to go to TAFE was the entry point and that is the journey I guess all the pathway that as of now you're still on
Yes.
And Rohan, what was your pathway to becoming a teacher? Tell us a bit about that.
Okay. Well, when you sustain a spinal injury, you don't really know how much it entails and it will drastically change your life from the easiest things of dressing yourself, let alone thinking, how am I going to ever be a plumber again?
Keeping optimistic was the main set for me, keeping that mind frame of this is not the end but life will change. So, getting told by a professor in the medical industry that yes, there is a very high-rate chance of injury exacerbating that injury to the point where, you know, we'll have to put metal rods in fusion and everything else.
I knew then that I've got enough years underneath my belt and industry expertise then to then maybe jump into the training situation in education, Did I know everything about education? No, I was a domestic plumber, self-taught. I studied online. I watched some videos. I talked to some of my old trainers that I had at a different institution.
And they said straightaway, Mate, you're 40 years old. It's time that you could move away from industry. You've had your time. It's time for the new guys to come up. You can train them with all that knowledge, you know, and then still give more to those guys now and their time will come along 20 years down the track, I hope, and say, Well, I don't want to see anyone injured, but I hope that someone just chooses that easier lifestyle classroom based if they get along, if they integrate really well with students, why not?
Yeah, and in terms of the after the beginning that you want so you want it to be how do we find this in the pathway itself and how do we find the training leading up to being a teacher?
Okay, so I worked my way all the way up into management. Obviously diverse, but obviously I do have a name out there in the industry in Melbourne. I was approached by a private institution. I was not qualified. In retrospect, I told them I had to have surgery and called me back in December. So, from there on I made the choice.
I thought about in that time that I would undertake some knowledge of what involves to be a trainer, assessor in plumbing. Obviously, I had to sit a TAE or a 116 qualification to hold that, a cert 4. So, whilst being at home under the Workcover banner and still at work under light duties, I enrolled myself with an institution up in Queensland and finished those modules off whilst working under mentoring ship at the private institution. So, I work during the day as a trainer and assessor like an undergraduate and then at nighttime study as well itself. So, I managed to get the course all done and dusted in about five months.
And in terms of the change, So, different sparks to get into teaching, different pathways. When you had made those decisions But I’m guessing for both of you that there's been changes since that, since you took that, took that move. Florence, how have you found or what changes have you had since you've started on this journey?
Well, so when I started the Cert 3 that was last year, I decided that I wanted to do a school based. So, I was doing three days a week at school and through that year the will have had some time going into work placements.
Yeah.
But then and I was happy with this and over days I could still work on the bench in the bakery and still being active. But then I had breast cancer, so that threw a spanner in the works. But it was very easy for me to pause the study and then to be able to start again. This year. I have chosen a different path. This year I'm going to have to do a paid traineeship and actually involves having a minimum of 15 hour of paid work. Does that answer the question?
Yeah, it does, and if I could Florence, but you sort of outlined two different approaches or two different ways of study and one of which you had to pause while you had treatment, but did you so, so when you when that happened, when you needed to have that treatment you found that you were able to pause, to have that and then to return to your training afterwards, that was something you were supported to do?
Yes. And I just find it to be really surrounded by, you know, love and compassion. And the process was just very easy. Yeah.
Lovely to hear. Rohan since you were in the classroom, as it were, you're teaching, how have you found that change since the I guess so how does it compare to the work you were doing beforehand?
okay. Well, I mean they're both similar. Yeah. The apprentice has to coincide to undertake tertiary level to become qualified in Plumbing, Cert three and then they do the registration exam. There's examination down in Victoria and then you're registered or qualified plumber. It depends how far you want to go with it.
Training on site obviously is predominately with being on tools showing the guys how to implement that. Its business based, it's money based, but so is education. At the same time, we use both structures. We teach it the young guys, what paper based is in curriculum assessments, which obviously on site there is none. But inside that we tell them, what do you do onsite that compares to your assessment?
Think about outside the box. Don't always go there. So, we use that knowledge as onsite plumbers then to aptitude to get that level of experience onto paper or into their modules here and then showing the aspiration of wanting to get it done or the foundation of getting that done. The money pot is sitting at the end of that rainbow for you, like it's all there. And if I can do it, you can do it.
You’ve spoken very honestly and very eloquently about some of the circumstances that maybe led to your pausing your training or that led you into making that decision. And I wondered to speak to that. That's okay. No problem at all.
I've spoken about the reasons being posed and the reasons I've made to make that shift. Could I ask more, more, I guess, in terms of the process itself or more in terms of the change, whether it's your training or once you once you've started teaching, maybe starting with you Florence. Have you found any particular, obstacles that you needed to overcome, maybe in a way some personal circumstances or challenges and thinking about the training itself.
Well, I guess for me, the biggest hurdle is to work with modern technology like computer. It's not something that I'm familiar with. There’s a lot of help out there if you're ready to take it or not really. I think the only you know, the only limit is the sky.
Yeah, just on that. So, something like a lack of familiarity with technology, which could be which can really put some people off that you have found that there is the help and the support there to navigate through that and to learn those skills as your training.
Yes. And I think rejoining Rohan. I found that out to all our teacher used to work in childcare, so I found that they bring us a lot of examples, a lot of our, you know, reality into the work. And so that that makes it very interesting.
So, it's great! Rohan again, thinking of those, I guess the practical things and the training and the job itself, have there been any sort of hurdles or obstacles that you've overcome?
Definitely. It's education. It's not trades and services. There are two different departments. Some people would say that they think it is the same, but I can tell you it's not. Some of the terminology. When you're a plumber, you're a plumber, you run a business. And that's what we worry about, tax and all the other stuff and money coming in, money going out, cashflow. And your boys, you want them to work like robots because that's how you make money. No mistakes, profit gained.
In education. It's not that everyone learns at a different pace, so we need to slow up a lot more. We need to continuously improve our wellbeing and the wellbeing of the student. We see students that do struggle in some areas, so I've had to overcome with not thinking on a retrospect as a normal plumber, it's got to get done today, paid today, see you later tomorrow has a profit margin been made?
No, it's going to take time. So, this continuous improvement on the teacher student relation is key imperative to us here. At Kangan We treat everyone with respect that people are going to finish early, people are going to finish a bit later, but everyone an attribute is to have the main goal that we will all get through this together and the key attribute.
So that was a hurdle at the start. Some of it was paperwork. Obviously, you know, when you're
oh, you've got a TAFE, so you should know how to map documents and ties and everything you turn back. Yeah, hang on. I don't know too much about compliance, but I will help in any way that I can. So, when some people rattle off some of the terminology, you get a little bit like, yeah, yeah. And you really don't know what you're doing. But I'll say to my students, and I do it too to my two mentors, we have over 50 years’ experience in plumbing between us. Ask a question. That's what we're here for. If you're not sure that's
what we're here for. And if I don't know the answer, I'll find the answer for you. So, we work with, in retrospect of that.
And just on that note, the picture that you paint there of you there, to mentor with your students or those that you’re teaching and then the mentors that are there to provide that support to you have you found the systems to have that sort of support across not just generations but levels as it been a supportive environment to work and learn in?
It definitely has. The youngest trainee we've got here is 30, I'm 40, so I'm down the down the bottom, I’m one of the puppies. As I say, the older guys are into their fifties and sixties. So, I mean, we have a vast array of plumbing knowledge and we all put each other on par.
So, in relevant terms out on field, things have changed. There are some things that the older guys would not know, that I know. There are some things that have just been changed that young the younger trainer would know that I wouldn’t know. So, we all feed off each other.
We all run the department as smooth as we can at Kangan, and we've been applauded for that by our big manager as well. Our audit only took 7 hours compared to the other audit was 30 plus hours. So, in saying that we have the attributes to make it run as smooth as we can because we know we've got something good here, it's a new building, a new foundation, and we can start something 20 years down the track and you can drive past or whatever you move on, go, I've built that place. I helped build that place. So that's kind of a fundamental that we all get along. We all put attributes to let's make this work because without the students, we won't be here. So, we need to make it work for them and make it work for us. So, we all do feed off each other continuously.
It's really just in different settings and the different ways that we both speak about. the support that has been there Both from a professional point of view from a personal point of view, that idea of I guess that the approach where whether it is in a workplace, as it were, whether it’s training or whether it's things happening outside, that there is that support, not just that you’re providing, but is there for you as well.
A bit of a tricky one that's but it's not meant to be necessarily a negative. But looking back over time, maybe Florence to begin with looking back on the way that you approached the training, which is still ongoing, but is there anything that you would have done differently or anything that you would anything that you would change in terms of maybe how you approach this?
No, I don't think so. I'm very happy with the content of the study and the relationship I have here with the students and teachers. So, no, very happy.
Okay. Yeah. What about you? So, anything that you think that you maybe if I were take a this path I'm going to tweak this thing or done this a bit earlier is there anything?
A lot of days go by where I sit there and go you know what should have could have would have done it, but I didn't, you know, you can't have all the icing on the cake that I wish I never had a back injury.
You can put $1,000,000 in front of me and say, how about that settlement? And I’d turn around and go, yeah but tomorrow I'm going to wake up injured. So, a mindset, I look to it that I'm in pretty good shape. I've worked really hard to get where I am, but I'm not looking back. Always just look forward.
So, in saying that if I can't do certain things, then at least I can do is help and helps for nothing like it costs nothing. It really doesn't. Just the generosity of helping someone. And I believe that yes, I'm getting paid to do what I do. And I mean employment, which is good. I'm still employed. But in saying that I'm helping someone else in their studies to profit their pocket and have a better life in their tertiary level learning.
Just picking up on that, and staying with you for a moment What do you find and it can be one thing, but you can have a couple more if you like But what is the most rewarding thing about what you do about being a teacher?
Me? I would say seeing them finish. Okay, so in plumbing there can be 70 odd units going to 80 units. It's massive. Everyone thinks the plumbing is a lot of money. You know, there's a lot of money driving a truck at nighttime for a very big company down at Warrnambool and back. You'll earn just as much as plumbing, but getting, chipping away at the big block and then getting all those units done, at the end of it when they do have their certificate or they finish their exam, it's good when you get a phone call or a text message or Hey sir I don't really like getting called sir I’m only 40, but you know, it's nice that They've taken the time to actually thank you for showing the light to them that they can do it and say that, you know, I'm just a knockabout kid from the west, north west suburbs. If I can do it, you can do it.
And when they do call back, it's a bit it's heartfelt. It's warming to say, you know, I had a student that was struggling seven years in his apprentice and I'm really in a bad spot. But when he come back and we got him through, we finished it myself and another trainer, another institution, and he got done.
His mother called up crying of enjoyment that her son had finally finished which was a very up and down yo-yo road for yo-yo road for him a little bit. But he got there and he's done. And now that I still follow him on social media, the kids kicking goals. Well, okay yeah I'll see the Rolex watches and the car and the brand new four wheel drive and the brand new machine. So, dividends have paid off for him. It's hard work but you got to get there.
I think that's a real thing. It's just self-attribution to it you put yourself, in knuckles deep and the reward will come. So yeah, it's good to see students call me up all you know, I don't say I'll take presents or gifts or anything, but a phone call is enough.
That's fantastic. And Florence, for you, in terms of studying what you're doing at the moment, that the fact that it's classroom based right now What are you finding most rewarding, about the study and maybe the time in the classroom as well?
Yeah. Do you hang around a lot still at daycare until they tell me to just go? So for me definitely has giving me a sense of purpose in my life. It does bring me a lot of joy to be around the kids and I'm I think I bring them joy as well. And, you know, watching them changing, helping them with that growth being there, the to be lucky enough to help them along the way to become beautiful adults.
And the thing you just said there Florence about that but they bring you a sense of joy but you hope to that to bring that joy to them as well. Is that something that you feel, that you almost sort of feed off the work you do and the place that you are? that it goes both ways. Would that be fair to say?
It does, we I think a lot of people don’t realise how much kids know and how much we can learn from them, they actually that was also part of the lightbulb moment because when my little boy Louis was so it started when he was three So in that toddler room when I used to come, I used to talk obviously in French with Louis. So, saying bonjour and all the kids used to come around me and saying bonjour. And that was there was no fear, there was no judgment. And I felt I was just beautiful. So, yeah, very special.
So, so things that you can learn off each other and Rohan, have you experienced that all? Have you picked up any, any new tricks off of some of the, some of the people that of course I have I work with the younger generation. So, it's funny to hear all the stories that they come out with on their weekend enterprises that they do, and you relate to it. It's the youth that’s past you. So, you sit there and I mean, we build friendships here. We do.
I, I tell my students, don't work as an individual. Yes, you've enrolled yourself, but you're going to be with the guys for three years or four years, hopefully not longer than that. So, you're going to build these bond, these friendship.
So, and as a trainer you do to you build it up with them and you get to hear about them. Look, I'm still friends with some of my friends that 20 odd years ago I went to trade school with, we all still feed off each other. We all still call each other. So, you do build out that camaraderie with all your students as well.
You know, we have support systems here as well. So, at the end of the day, yeah, you can go to student support, but you're on the front line, you're in the trenches with them. They're going to come to you if they're having a real bad day and you're going to get it. If they open up to you, just open up to them and say, it’s alright, come and see me later on, we'll get we'll get through it. It's okay. Just reassurance all the time.
And yeah, I mean we base in Broadmeadows, a lot of the students predominate demographic location around here, Arabic descent and don't realize that yes, I my background is Irish and French and my grandmother grew up in Broadmeadows I say I definitely know the Lebanese food too, so when I talk to them in Lebanese a little bit as well, because most of my friends are their eyes light up like no time, what are you talking about? So, you know, we have a laugh about that. We break the learning up to have a bit of a laugh and at the same time you're building that great rapport with them.
And again, even in very different settings with different age groups and a in stages in their development, both using that connection and that cements that camaraderie and language to make those connections with the young people like you with I'm sure that no two days are the same. But again, I ask the question.
Florence, just walk us through a little What a day in the life of a placement teacher is like for you. We don't need this in a blow by blow. But how does that day shape up?
A lot of sitting down to start with that that's going to be changing for me soon, which I'm very happy about. But yeah, lots of sitting down, lots of headaches because of the computer for me, but also a lot of interaction with a lot of kids younger than me, which so, so that's very interesting and entertaining to see how they are. And yeah, lots of learning about pretty heavy content.
And as, and as part of that is there are there sort of collaboration with colleagues? Are there sessions where things are planned? Do you find yourself, as well as the interaction with the children? How does how do you fit it with other teachers? Other colleagues?
Ah very good! We have a lot of the employee have diverse background which is wonderful so yeah lots of great interaction and feeding from each other as well.
I'm not asking you I'm sure that no two days are the same but what you know from the moment you clock off to the moment, clock on to the moment you clock off, what does a day look like for you?
Me? Okay, well we have a two trainer buddy system here we're trialling which seems to be working well so the students get the benefit of having two different trainers change different things the way they train.
And what I like to do to try and break up the days is, yeah, we have a theory content, we have practical content. We might jumble that up a little bit. I don't mind putting the chairs up at the end of the day and then they're like, what are we doing? So, I said, I just want to see you lift up a chair. Having a laugh about it. Said, Now put it down. So, we'll go around the room and when I first meet the students, I'll ask them, why did you choose plumbing? Why do you want to be a plumber? Or What did you do on the weekend? Who barracks for Essendon? Who's a Collingwood supporter? You know what I mean? We break the challenge up. I find if you talk about content flat out you become dry and numb.
So, we try and I try and jumble that up to a little bit during the week, just that relationship rapport, keep the rapport lifted upright all the time, not let it get down too low. Don't let content get too dry. Like I said, we have a lot of units, but inside that. No two days are different.
Yeah, I think there's a lot of differences. You do get some guys that will come in and get called out to work, fall behind. We don't play favouritism. We just want everyone to catch up. So, we'll ask you to do a bit more extracurricular or if they're struggling in some way, fast track a unit, if we could, by verbally assessing or modifying the assessment as well to get them up to speed.
So, and in saying that while we're doing that, you know, jokes aside, we have a laugh. You know, the guys take it out on me now. They sit there and go Sir, good to see you growing a beard. Thank you very much. It's a lot more grey this year. And I said yeah, well, you know what? Let's say you are in 20 years or so. We have a laugh like that.
You know, they complained to me about wearing a hoodie. You got to wear a hoodie. So, and I said, look, know, the rule here is we can’t wear hoodies, you know, hey you’re talking to a bald guy I'd love to wear one in winter. Yeah. So, we all have a laugh about that. So, they're the days that some days are heavy content, some days are light content on the heavy content. Let's bring out the behaviour of, you know, let's bring out the class clown just for the 5 minutes and then get back into it.
Certainly. You’ve done so much. That's pretty much all of our questions. I wondered, before we wrap up, move on to the Q&A and hear from some of the people who have joined us anything else that you wanted to add, anything at all about your experience about maybe why we should give it a go? Anything you wanted to say before we moved on?
Yeah, I think it's a very rewarding industry and I'm always more men who apply more and more male to be with the children I think that would be wonderful. We have a more diverse gender.
Rohan? Anything from you that you want to throw in before we move on to the questions?
I'm great that I'm grateful the Victorian Government is actually stepping in because there is no plumbing trainers is out there. It's not publicised out there at all. People don't know about it. There are guys who are leaving the plumbing industry for any circumstances whatsoever, but you know, and struggling out in the field, they're trying to change their career path where they don't feel they fit in. This could fit them in.
So, I you know, they've got an array of industry experience. Everyone knows how to become a teacher. You're not born to be a teacher. So, I think it's great that the Victorian Government actually stepping back and helping get this out there, especially in the trades and service sector, because there are so many students, so many students that are backlogged trying to get into TAFE systems.
And it's scary, the numbers and I mean it's great. The Victorian Government is stepping on. It'd be really great if the VBA starts sticking up as well. Being the governing body and start publicising that we need trainers, we really do. We are stretched at means that what we've got now. So, it would be great if we could see more.
Thank you. And thank you both so much, Rohan and Florence, for being so generous with your time and with your insights. Please stick around It's time for our Q&A session and please welcome back our panellist Dan, from the Department of Jobs Skills Industry and Regions.
So, Dan is going to join us to answer some of the questions that have come through. Thank you all for submitting the questions. Over the course of over the course of the session. There are some really great ones that have come through, some which have been answered. Some of them will touch on now.
Dan, if we could start with top one here, which is what is this a pathway to becoming a schoolteacher? via TAFE.
Thanks Luke. Hopefully you can hear me if you have successfully completed a certificate 4 or diploma in a relevant discipline at TAFE such as the diploma of early childhood education and care or the cert 3 like Florence This can support your entry into a Bachelor of Education at one of the 11 higher education providers or universities in Victoria.
Your TAFE qualification may even provide credit towards your bachelor. However, you should always check with your preferred provider first because it's not a one rule applies to every institute. The Bachelor of Education is a four-year full-time degree to become qualified as a teacher.
You can study the Bachelor education with a specialist stream such as early childhood primary, secondary or special specialist education focus. Again, you should check with your preferred provider as to what courses are available and what the entry requirements are.
And just the last thing I'll note is that there are five main TAFE qualifications that will allow you to work in an education setting. So, I just wanted to bring us to that. And that is, as Florence has discussed, the Certificate three, or the Diploma in Early Childhood Education and Care. There's also the certificate three or the certificate four in school-based education support.
And lastly, as Rohan has discussed, it's the Certificate four in training and assessment which this can be used as to become a TAFE trainer, but also can be used in a school setting if you want to deliver, that in schools programs which are really important within the secondary school VCE Vocational Major or Victorian Pathway Certificate.
Thank you so much. Excuse me while I scroll, another question that we've had in which is what's a Victoria’s free TAFE and what does it cover? which I'm sure we all need to cover quite a lot to answer that, but can you tell us a bit more about the free TAFE?
Well, free TAFE has been around since 2019, so lots of people have heard about it. It's a Victorian Government initiative providing access to more than 80 free TAFE qualifications in short and short courses,
and they're all in high priority areas. So, where there's a skills demand or a need, as Rohan was just discussing, plumbing.
So, without it, what it means if you enrol are free TAFE course There's no tuition fees even if you already hold another qualification or degree. So, there is a few things to be aware of and that is you must be an Australian citizen, a permanent resident or New Zealand citizen, and you need to be living in Victoria to eligible to enrol in a free TAFE course in Victoria.
And there are other eligibility criteria for government subsidized places. So, for those who are eligible for free TAFE, all tuition fees will be covered by the Australian and Victorian governments. And one thing I think people should be aware of is sometimes the same courses there are non-tuition fees still applied and really you should contact your preferred TAFE and they may be things like amenities fees, student services or books and materials. So, you should check that out because sometimes that can trip people up.
And another really good thing to note around free TAFE is that it doesn't matter if you've already completed a free TAFE course before you can still do the certificate four in training and assessment as a free TAFE course.
Okay, so having done one is not a barrier to doing?
Right. One other thing I'll mention, because I did talk about plumbing is apprenticeships are not free TAFE courses, but there are the pre apprenticeship programs. So, your certificate two’s, that are pathways for people to get into an apprenticeship that are on the free TAFE list. So, we will pop the link into the free TAFE page so you can see, we'll provide that afterwards so people can see what courses on the free TAFE list.
And just in terms of I think you have this hopefully in front of you now, if not I can read it out, but where can people find out more about the free TAFE courses that are available? Do you have the website details?
Yes. So, you can go to the free TAFE website which is www.vic.gov.au/free-tafe The other thing you can do if you just want to look at TAFE courses in general is visit the Victorian Skills Gateway. That's a really important website it set www.skills.vic.gov.au The Skills Gateway is really important because not only does it tell you all the courses that you can do in the VET sector, so the vocational education sector, it also tells you what of those courses are on the free TAFE list.
It tells you what providers, what TAFE’s are delivering those courses, how you can study, and it will also provide a link to the TAFE training lines, a hotline that can support you in making decisions in terms of your career and what you want to enrol in. So, there's some really good sites to check out.
Thank you. That is great. Just scrolling again in terms of another question, that has come through, which I think you might have addressed in the chat, but worth us revisiting here Which is, someone asks If you have a postgraduate degree, does it have to be in teaching? and if so, what course do you need to complete and how long? How long does it take?
I wasn't really sure in terms of the question. If you want to be a schoolteacher, then yes, you and you already have an undergraduate degree or another postgraduate degree in another field. You do need to do a postgraduate teaching degree, which we often call a masters. That can generally take it. My understanding is 18 to 24 months depending on how you study, and you should check with your provider to get details.
The Victorian Institute of Teaching has a list of education providers and the different degrees that you can complete. So, we encourage you I’ve put that in the chat, encourage you to look that up and have a look what would best suit your needs.
And so, still a few coming in questions here may be too long to answer in detail, but says What qualifications do you need to teach in VET or TAFE?
sorry, what qualifications do you need to teach in TAFE? So, to teach in TAFE It's simple, but also a little different to what we do in schools. And it comes back to what Rohan was really talking about. It is a very different model. We're teaching. We're preparing to teach in an adult learning environment.
So you need to have your certificate four in training an assessment which, as we said, is free. That can take you anywhere from 6 to 12 months. And you can generally study that online or you can study it on campus, or it can be a blend of the two depending on the provider you choose.
The other thing that you must have to teach at TAFE is what we call vocational competency and that's where you have to, so for Rohan as an example. He is a plumber, he has an apprenticeship in plumbing. He also has currency. What we call currency, which means he's worked in his field or can show that he has kept current
in his chosen profession, vocational profession over the last two years. And so, he's able to teach at that level. That's really important.
You can't come out of school and decide you're going to do your cert four training assessment and start teaching at TAFE. You really need to have a vocational competency that you can rely on. And for someone that doesn't actually hold a formal qualification but has been working in a sector for 20 years, that's fine. You can demonstrate your competency just through your life experience.
Okay. Something which maybe covered a little but what education courses covered by free TAFE?
So, there are five, which I've already talked about some, but there are five major courses that are education related on the free TAFE list. There's a certificate three in early childhood education and care and a diploma of early childhood education and care.
Now, if you've already done a free TAFE course in the Certificate three in early childhood education and care, you can still access a second free TAFE course in the diploma because that within the one family or priority pathway free TAFE courses, this is very new over the last couple of years, the free TAFE where you can do more than one free TAFE course if it sits within the one family of courses.
Again, that'll be on the free TAFE site, the other educational free TAFE courses are the certificate three and certificate four in school-based education support and of course the certificate four in training and assessment.
We are coming in towards the end here. Someone asks, Is there much demand for TAFE teachers?
Huge demand, for TAFE teachers. And I would say that there's a demand nationally, not just in Victoria. It's been identified that in all sectors of education. So, both within the primary, secondary sector education as well as the VET sector and early childhood, there is definitely a shortage of teachers who we need teachers obviously, and I think that's what we talked about earlier in your introduction.
It is a really high priority area for the government, and you know, there's been these great such as free TAFE is great initiatives to really encourage people to think about a career moving into either the TAFE sector or the school sector.
Oh sorry! One more just popped in that they're still coming through. Are there any roles for TAFE teachers in schools? Some sorts
Yes. So, in schools we talked about there's the vocational major and the VPC for a pathway certificate as well as the VCE. Often some students will elect to do VET or vocational education and training streams and units of competency within their senior years, which can give them credit towards the VCE or VPS.
If that's the case, the teacher that is at the secondary school must have some vocational experience. Generally, they've always had to have their TAE, the certificate four in training and assessment. So yes, there's definitely a need for that in secondary schools.
But also in TAFEs, they do every Wednesday what we call can be other days, but generally every Wednesday what we call our VET and school day, our VETAS day. So, school kids come into TAFEs on campus and do their training there as part of their Year 11 and Year 12 program and have a really wonderful hands on experience with lots of different qualifications. And that requires that that requires teaching by someone qualified as a cert four in training and assessment.
I think that that’s a lid in terms of questions coming through. Thank you so much for quite where that information came from for answering them all so well and so completely so thank you ever so much.
And with that after thanking just leads me to thank everyone that has joined us to make this event such a huge success. So, a huge thank you to Rohan and to Florence our teacher and trainee teacher sharing that told their stories and their experiences and a huge thank you to Dan White for all of her astonishing knowledge and answering the questions that have come through. But lastly, also a huge thank you to all of you for joining.
We hope that there has been some interesting insight from Rohan and from Florence and the questions answered both in the chat and the Q&A and in a Q&A session, at the end there have been of use and of assistance. and we will make sure that they’re passed on to the right person at the relevant department.
There will also be an EDM, so an email going out questions linked and a huge amount of additional information. After the webinar was finished and those who have joined. So, I will have contact links and information as well.
But one last plug for the website if you want to find out anything more about Teach the Future more broadly you can log on www.vic.gov.au/teachthefuture
Thank you to all of you for joining us. We hope you enjoyed your evening and thank you so much for your time.
Goodnight.
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