VDC News

Mark McCrindle’s organisation, McCrindle Research, has recently completed a piece of work for the Victorian TAFE Association titled ‘The TAFE Value and Perception Challenge’. It aims to provide insights “into the perception challenges facing TAFE in Victoria, the present opportunities to build on its rich history and its significant impacts in equipping the Victorian workforce.”

It is based on a survey of 1,000 Victorians from Generation Z, their parents and HR leaders in companies, as well as interviews with careers advisers. Usefully, it explores a number of the myths surrounding VET, and TAFE in particular, by addressing the differences between those myths and reality.

The report tells us that by 2026 9 in 10 jobs will require a post-school qualification, and 4 in 5 future jobs are attainable via a TAFE education. TAFE also offers access to 81 out of the top 100 fastest-growing occupations in Victoria. Over the upcoming years, Aged and Disabled Carers are expected to experience the most significant growth followed by General Clerks and Software and Applications Programmers and Registered Nurses. However, as we know, parents and other key influencers continue to prefer university as a post-school pathway.

McCrindle’s research found that “66% of Victorian parents extremely or very likely to encourage their child to explore a university pathway, compared to 56% of parents who would encourage their child to explore a TAFE pathway. TAFE does have a stronger reputation with parents than Private Registered Training Organisations (RTOs), with just 29% of parents extremely or very likely to encourage their child to explore a pathway with an RTO.”

Careers advisors also revealed that parental preference for university is driven by perceived social status or the belief that a university degree opens greater opportunities. In addition, “currently, 71% of Victorians believe TAFE graduates earn less than university graduates. Influencers of prospective students, like parents of Gen Z and people managers, also lean towards this belief (73% and 71% respectively, compared to 68% of Gen Z).”

There’s good news, though. The survey found that:

“TAFE surpasses universities and other Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) in 10 out of the 15 options evaluated. It is acknowledged for its accessibility, affordability, on the job learning, earning while learning and job readiness. The association areas where universities exceed TAFE, however, are high academic achievement, high wages upon graduating, quality facilities, quality staff and reputation.

Finally, “Victorians see TAFE in Victoria as a valuable route for gaining skills, upskilling and reskilling. While 91% acknowledge its benefits for the broader community, a slightly lower percentage, 86%, of parents perceive it as an advantageous learning path for their children. While still strong, to a lesser degree Victorians see TAFE as a beneficial education pathway for themselves (75%).”

There is a useful summary infographic right at the beginning of the report which is well worth a look.

Reframing the narrative: some suggestions

McCrindle’s report poses some perceptions people have about TAFE and proposes some opportunities to work on changing those perceptions. These are summarised in the table below.

Lots of other good info and insights in this report. Give it a read, particularly if you are a ‘TAFEy’.