Common and Secured Web-based Platform to Manage Student Placements for Victorian TAFE Network

⁠⁠⁠Background

In 2018-2019 the Victorian Government committed to provide tuition fee-free training for TAFE students in 30 key skill priority areas and 20 apprenticeship pathway courses. This was as part of the Government’s Education agenda, which aims to build an education system that produces excellence and lessens the impact of disadvantage by reducing the financial barrier for students.

The courses identified were prioritised because they would lead to jobs in high growth industries and to occupations that are needed most by employers in the Victorian economy. This initiative has been extremely successful and enrolments across TAFEs in Free TAFE courses have almost doubled between June 2018 and June 2019. The Victorian Government has also added another two new courses to the Free TAFE list for 2020.

The majority of these courses include a mandatory student work placement component which aims to provide students with the opportunity to develop the skills necessary for effective work participation. Due to the significant uptake in the Free TAFE courses, there has also been a significant increase in the number of mandatory practical placements that the TAFE’s need to facilitate as part of the student’s training requirements.

This is creating challenges for the TAFE’s to source and coordinate all of the additional practical placements required. The Department believes that there is an opportunity to make the placements process more efficient by improving TAFEs processes and systems, via a common platform.

Scope

The provision of a common platform to assist TAFEs to manage their interactions with employers, for the purpose of coordinating practical placements, as well as managing students’ learning and outcomes from placements. A platform is to assist TAFEs with the increased number of practical placements required, due to the introduction and uptake of Free TAFE.

The platform will provide data and reporting capabilities to assist the Department to have a more holistic view of all practical placements managed by Victorian TAFEs, as well as assist in identifying issues, trends and opportunities.