Key Points
Education is the most important investment we can make for our economic future.
Labor has a plan to give all Tasmanians the educational opportunities they deserve. We will fund:
- 500 scholarships to help more students go to university
- Scholarships for new trade and professional TAFE teachers
- Incentives to support TAFE teachers to spend more time in the industry
Labor is ambitious for Tasmania, and serious about bringing forward new ideas that will spread opportunity, support aspiration, and help deliver a strong economic future for us all.
Why we need it
Tasmania currently has the worst educational outcomes of any state — and our results are going backwards.
As long as this remains the case, we’ll continue to have the smallest economy and lowest wages in the nation, and our young people will keep leaving for the mainland.
Each year there are over 1,000 Tasmanian students who apply for a university course and are offered a place but cancel their enrolments because they don’t have the financial means to support their study.
In a cost of living crisis, the challenges these students face are only getting harder.
Just imagine what it would do for our economy if an extra 1,000 young Tasmanians could graduate from university each year — becoming the engineers, doctors, nurses, teachers and other key workers we’ll need in the future.
Labor also understands university isn’t the only pathway to a good career.
TAFE can provide young people with great opportunities, while at the same time supplying our state with the key workers we need to underpin industries like mining, to support new sectors like renewable energy, and to tackle problems like the state’s housing crisis.
TAFE has the potential to be the engine room of our economy, powering qualifications and new job opportunities.
But right now, many TAFE courses cannot go ahead due to a lack of teaching staff — which means our young people miss out.
That’s why Labor will provide scholarships to help more people get qualified as TAFE teachers, and also support current TAFE teachers to spend time in the trades they teach.
This means we’ll have more teachers to pass on skills to the next generation, and a teaching workforce that’s on top of the latest developments in their industry.
The details
University Scholarships
Students will be supported with a $5,000 scholarship each year for three years to assist with living costs like rent, transport and study materials, which are often barriers for people going on to higher education.
The scholarships will be provided to students most in need, and will be delivered through UTAS’s existing scholarships administration. UTAS has found this incentive is sufficient to encourage Tasmanians to pursue a university degree.
Removing a financial barrier to education and supporting students to complete their degree will unlock unrealised potential and help meet the labour force challenges that impact Tasmania.
The policy will cost $2.5m per year for each cohort — a small investment to unlock Tasmania’s economic potential for years to come. Total costing will be $2.5 million in the first year, $5 million in year 2 with the second cohort, and $7.5 million in the third year, with the scheme costing $7.5 million annually thereafter.
TAFE Teacher Scholarships
We’ll make a start on the work that’s needed to rebuild TAFE by providing 20 scholarships for new trades teachers.
The scholarships will be worth $45,000 each - to cover lost wages while earning a teaching qualification. We anticipate the scholarships might be particularly attractive to people nearing the end of their trade career.
Labor will also provide incentives to support TAFE teachers to spend time back in the industries they’re teaching students about. This will ensure they’re across the latest practices in industry, and also make working at TAFE a more dynamic and attractive career move.