Jeremy Rockliff,Minister for Education and Training
Labor’s claims that hospitality student numbers are ‘in freefall’ is rubbish.
Here are the facts:
Total training package enrolments across all Drysdale courses have increased compared to the same time last year with numbers increasing from 761 in 2018 to 771 in 2019.
As of 31 March 2018, there were 128 students enrolled in hospitality qualifications at Drysdale state-wide with an additional 23 international students making a total enrolment of 151 in the first quarter.
Today, there are 152 students enrolled in hospitality qualifications at Drysdale state-wide with an additional 38 international students making a current total of 190 enrolled students in the first quarter – a significant increase on the 2018 hospitality figures.
What Ms White has failed to acknowledge is that Drysdale will have two more major intakes for hospitality state-wide in 2019, and there will also be more enrolments to come across short courses including bar and hospitality skill sets.
Drysdale is engaged with industry and well positioned to deliver the outcomes needed to skill up our future tourism and hospitality workforce.
Focusing on completion rates is an inaccurate picture of student outcomes and should not be a measure of success as often students obtain employment during their course.
In the case of Drysdale’s Kitchen Operations qualification, this is designed as a pre-trade course and the aim is for the student to get a job and/or go onto an apprenticeship as a result of this training.
Completion data only reflects students completing their qualification in that year – it does not capture students who are part-way through their qualification.
The true measure should be on how many Tasmanians are completing training and apprenticeships and we continue to lead the way with 58.1% completing their training contract, compared to 52.7% nationally.
Labor’s cynical and hypocritical TAFE stunt today whitewashes over their terrible treatment of TAFE.
Have Labor already forgotten their Tasmanian Tomorrow reforms? Labor abolished TAFE which decimated our training system leaving staff and students in complete disarray.
Has Rebecca White already forgotten what she said about Labor’s failure in training when she became leader, quote, “TasTAFE is broken and Labor needs to accept some responsibility for that”*
Under Labor and the Greens Tasmania lost 4,000 apprentices.
Only the Hodgman Liberal Government will protect TAFE, provide it the funding guarantee it deserves, and ensure students are trained to support our thriving economy.
*Rebecca White, 28 April 2017
