We are all well aware that in any country, it is hard to separate politics from educational issues and standards. However, it is quite sad when politics begins to have an impact on education for a variety of negative reasons. Educational standards should be upheld at all times, but using education to score political goals, allocating funding or free-tafe in a way that best suits political agendas rather than sorting out the actual needs and requirements of the industry, approving or disapproving contractors close to politicians, preparing and approving training packages or standards that are outdated, full of errors and mistakes, not useful, and impractical create a number of issues for the industry and the general public.

As it is well recognised that politics is related with the distribution of scarce social, economic, and cultural resources to individuals, organisations, regions, and social classes, it should come as no surprise that the allocation of resources to education is impacted highly by political influences and motives.

The result of almost every educational reform since the early 2000s has been an increase in bureaucracy, a system that is always evolving to serve students while really creating a great deal of bureaucratic work for the organisations.

Ludwig von Mises believed that governments should keep out of education altogether, we are not sure if this is the solution, but we want to ensure that Australia has an education system that is:

1. Adaptable and changes with the time
2. Free from bad politics
3. Free from corruption
4. Has access to most up-to-date, state of the art technologies
5. Support us becoming a global leader in education and training
6. Support our infrastructure and industries
7. Meet the needs and requirements of the stakeholders

Even if we assume that we will never be able to completely remove politics from our education system, our focus should always be on electing leaders who come from a variety of backgrounds, experiences, and cultures, who are committed to achieving excellence in education and training, from TAFE and private sector education, who are free of biases and judgements, and who only work to achieve excellence through developing and upholding the appropriate and suitable educational standards.

Quality Reforms

Have your say to support the delivery of high-quality training in the VET sector. Click here, skillsreform.gov.au