It's old news TAFE Illawarra will no longer run the Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP).
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
But revelations the highly-popular program will now be run by MAX Solutions has come as a shock to students.
Last month the Federal Government originally awarded the contract to Navitas, who has since sub-contracted AMEP to fellow training provider Max Solutions.
A Max Employment spokesman confirmed that its Wollongong office will deliver the program from July 1, 2017.
Hunter TAFE also lost the AMEP contract to Navitas.
NSW Teachers Federation said this decision will put 26 teaching staff under threat (including 2 full time teachers) and affect 200 students.
NSWTF organiser Robert Long said more than 70 teachers and support staffing positions are under threat and over 200 students will be impacted in the Illawarra/South Coast region.
Cunningham MP Sharon Bird said this was just another attempt by the Liberals to decimate TAFE in regions like the Illawarra.
In a speech to the Federal Parliament on May 22, Ms Bird said TAFE was doing an excellent job and deserved to continue running the AMEP program.
‘’This is an outrageous decision. It is really short-sighted,’’ she said.
‘’I am, like the students and the teachers, completely at a loss as to why you would take the contract off TAFE, who has been delivering it, who has all those facilities in place, who has trained teachers available to deliver it and who has met all — above and beyond — of its contract requirements to date.’’
Greens TAFE spokesperson, Dawn Walker also slammed the decision.
‘’TAFE should be at the heart of vocational education, instead it is being torn into pieces by an out-of-touch Liberal Government that’s addicted to privatisation,’’ Ms Walker said.
‘’It’s unbelievable that the Adult Migrant English Program has been ripped off Hunter and Illawarra TAFEs and given to a for-profit private trainer that’s unlikely to have the teaching expertise or facilities to provide the standard of training that TAFE has been delivering for decades to support migrants with the language skills they need to access further training and employment.’’