New South Wales is a state on the east coast of Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria to the south, and South Australia to the west. Its coast borders the Coral and Tasman Seas to the east. The Australian Capital Territory and Jervis Bay Territory are enclaves within the state. New South Wales' state capital is Sydney, which is also Australia's most populous city. In December 2021, the population of New South Wales was over 8 million, making it Australia's most populous state. Just under two-thirds of the state's population, 5.3 million, live in the Greater Sydney area.
Technical and further education or simply TAFE, is the common name in English-speaking countries in Oceania for vocational education, as a subset of tertiary education. TAFE institutions provide a wide range of predominantly vocational courses.
Education in Australia encompasses the sectors of early childhood education (preschool) and primary education, followed by secondary education, and finally tertiary education, which includes higher education and vocational education. Regulation and funding of education is primarily the responsibility of the States and territories; however, the Australian Government also plays a funding role.
Vocational education is education that prepares people to a skilled craft as an artisan, trade as a tradesperson, or work as a technician. Vocational Education can also be seen as that type of education given to an individual to prepare that individual to be gainfully employed or self employed with requisite skill. Vocational education is known by a variety of names, depending on the country concerned, including career and technical education, or acronyms such as TVET and TAFE.
Charles Darwin University (CDU) is an Australian public university with a main campus in Darwin and eight satellite campuses in some metropolitan and regional areas. It was established in 2003 after the merger of Northern Territory University, the Menzies School of Health Research, and Centralian College.
Charles Sturt University is an Australian multi-campus public university located in New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory and Victoria. Established in 1989, it was named in honour of Captain Charles Napier Sturt, a British explorer who made expeditions into regional New South Wales and South Australia.
Port Macquarie, locally nicknamed Port, is a coastal city in the local government area of Port Macquarie-Hastings. It is located on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, about 390 km (242 mi) north of Sydney, and 570 km (354 mi) south of Brisbane. The city is located on the Tasman Sea coast, at the mouth of the Hastings River, and at the eastern end of the Oxley Highway (B56). The city with its suburbs had a population of 47,973 in June 2018.
A vocational school, trade school, or technical school is a type of educational institution, which, depending on the country, may refer to either secondary or post-secondary education designed to provide vocational education or technical skills required to complete the tasks of a particular and specific job. In the case of secondary education, these schools differ from academic high schools which usually prepare students who aim to pursue tertiary education, rather than enter directly into the workforce. With regard to post-secondary education, vocational schools are traditionally distinguished from four-year colleges by their focus on job-specific training to students who are typically bound for one of the skilled trades, rather than providing academic training for students pursuing careers in a professional discipline. While many schools have largely adhered to this convention, the purely vocational focus of other trade schools began to shift in the 1990s "toward a broader preparation that develops the academic" as well as technical skills of their students.
The Australian Education Union (AEU) is an Australian trade union, founded in 1984 as the Australian Teachers Union, which is registered with Fair Work Australia as an employee group, and is affiliated with the Australian Council of Trade Unions. The AEU is Australia's third largest trade union, with 198,480 registered members in 2021, consisting of educators who work in public schools, colleges, early childhood and vocational settings in all states and territories of Australia. Members include teachers and allied educational staff, principals and administrators mainly in government school and TAFE systems. Teachers working in the private schools system are covered by the Independent Education Union of Australia (IEU). In some states the AEU shares coverage of some members with the National Tertiary Education Union, Community and Public Sector Union and United Workers Union. Through the Federation of Education Unions, the AEU works closely with the two other Federal unions which cover educators in non-government schools and universities. The AEU is also internationally affiliated to the Education International, which the AEU claims is "the largest non-government organisation in the world."
The College of Advanced Education (CAE) was a class of Australian tertiary education institution that existed from 1967 until the early 1990s. They ranked below universities, but above Colleges of Technical and Further Education (TAFE) which offer trade qualification. CAEs were designed to provide formal post-secondary qualifications of a more vocational nature than those available from universities, chiefly in such areas as teaching, nursing, accountancy, fine art and information technology.
The Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) specifies the standards for educational qualifications in Australia. It is administered nationally by the Australian Government's Department of Industry, with oversight from the States and Territories, through the Standing Council of Tertiary Education Skills and Employment. While the AQF specifies the standards, education and training organisations are authorised by accrediting authorities to issue a qualification.
TAFE NSW is an Australian vocational education and training provider. Annually, the network trains over 500,000 students in campus, workplace, online, or distance education methods of education. It was established as an independent statutory body under the TAFE Commission Act 1990. The Minister for Regional Development, Skills and Small Business is responsible for TAFE NSW.
Sydney is home to some of Australia's most prestigious universities, technical institutions and schools. Entry to tertiary education for most students is via the New South Wales secondary school system where students are ranked by the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR).
Tertiary education in Australia is formal education beyond high school, consisting of both government and private institutions and divided into two sectors; vocational education and training and higher education. 69% of Australians aged 20–64 have a non-school qualification, and 24% have multiple qualifications.
Don College is a government comprehensive senior secondary school located in Devonport on the north-western coast of Tasmania. "The Don", as it is commonly known to residents of Devonport, is situated by the Don River and enjoys views over the river and surrounding forest reserve. The college caters for approximately 800 students in Years 11 and 12 and is administered by the Tasmanian Department of Education. Don College attracts students from Penguin and Deloraine.
Education in Western Australia consists of public and private schools in the state of Western Australia, including public and private universities and TAFE colleges. Public school education is supervised by the Department of Education, which forms part of the Government of Western Australia. The School Curriculum and Standards Authority is an independent statutory authority responsible for developing a curriculum and associated standards in all schools, and for ensuring standards of student achievement, and for the assessment and certification according to those standards.
Esperance Senior High School is a comprehensive public high day and boarding school, located in Esperance, a regional centre 780 kilometres (485 mi) southeast of Perth, Western Australia.
St Patrick's Technical College,, is a technical college in the northern suburbs of South Australia's capital, Adelaide. Opened in 2007 by the Australian Government as part of the Australian Technical Colleges program, it now operates as part of Catholic Education SA.
Australian Industry Trade College (AITC) - RTO 31775, is an independent, senior school for Young People located in Robina, Cleveland and the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia. Students in Years 10, 11 and 12 undertake school-based apprenticeships or traineeships which include paid work placements and the opportunity to complete vocational education training in the student's chosen area.
North Metropolitan TAFE is a state government-funded educational facility delivering Technical and Further Education (TAFE). It services the northern suburbs of Perth across ten campuses. It was formed on 11 April 2016, when the State Government announced after the Independent Review of the Vocational Education and Training Sector in Western Australia, that the 11 State Training Providers would be streamlined and form five new TAFE colleges in Western Australia. This resulted in the merging of Central Institute and West Coast Institute to form North Metropolitan TAFE.
