by Matthew Dale | Dec 14, 2017 | Best Practice, Learn Local, Learn Local Training Providers, Melbourne, Professional Development, Registered Training Organisation, Student Satisfaction, TAFE
Last week Audit Express Express was invited to attend an exclusive launch and private viewing of Rose Office Furniture’s new range of Education Furniture at their West Melbourne Showroom.
[emaillocker id=6291]The champagne flowed and canapés as guests worked their way through the showroom, wowed by the new range of incredibly designed, ergonomic, quality education furniture. The evening was well attended with a number of guests of honour, including The Hon Lord Mayor, Robert Doyle, who congratulated and thanked Rose Office Furniture for its long standing presence as a reputable, well known and well regarded Melbourne business.
Since 1954, Rose Office Furniture has delivered best practice in customer service and has become a Melbourne institution, as it has survived the test of time, supplying office furniture locally and nationally to individuals, businesses and training providers, both big and small.
If your Training Organisation, TAFE or University needs any education or office furniture, we highly recommend that you get in touch with Tom and the team at Rose Office Furniture. Mention this post by Audit Express and Tom will take care of you. You can also take a look at their range of products online by visiting >>> https://www.roseoffice.com.au/
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by Matthew Dale | Aug 24, 2017 | Best Practice, Community Colleges Australia, Professional Development, Registered Training Organisation, Student Satisfaction, TAFE
The current social & political climate
With all of this talk of Marriage Equality, the plebiscite and postal vote I thought I’d make a timely shoutout to all RTO & TAFE Managers, reminding you of the importance of supporting your Gay, Lesbian, Bi-Sexual, Transgender and Intersex (GLBTI) students.
What does the current research tell us?
Reports from Beyond Blue suggest that the mental health of LGBTI people is among the poorest in Australia. Lesbian, gay and bisexual Australians are twice as likely to have a high/very high level of psychological distress as their heterosexual peers (18.2% v. 9.2%) This makes them particularly vulnerable to mental health problems. The younger the age group, the starker the differences: 55% of LGBT women aged between 16 and 24 compared with 18% in the nation as a whole and 40% of LGBT men aged 16-24 compared with 7%. For more detail take a look at the full report – https://www.beyondblue.org.au/docs/default-source/default-document-library/bw0258-lgbti-mental-health-and-suicide-2013-2nd-edition.pdf?sfvrsn=2
Why is it important to support GLBTI students?
School, College or University is often the place where young #GLBTI students feel most safe. It should come as no surprise that this is often the safest place for a young GLBTI person to come out. Are your teachers and training coordinators ready and equipped to handle this kind of classroom situation?
The Star Observer Newspaper has reported that a TAFE student recently made a formal complaint about being bullied by a fellow student after she “came out” as transgender. See- http://www.starobserver.com.au/news/national-news/trans-tafe-student-lodges-harassment-complaint/161034
It would appear that in this instance the TAFE wasn’t equipped to support and provide a safe place for their student being bullied. I can’t help but wonder how many RTOs, TAFEs and Universities really would be willing, ready and able to step up and support a young transgender person throughout their educational experience and personal journey of transition.
I have been talking about the need for RTOs and TAFEs to have provision in their ‘complaints and appeals’, and ‘student support’ policies, procedures and business processes to ensure that they are providing a safe and inclusive environment for all learners – including GLBTI students for quite some time now. However simply updating your policies isn’t enough. If your organisation is committed to creating a supportive environment for all students, including GLBTI students the most valuable thing you can do is educate your teachers.
I am interested to know if you believe that your organisation is already equipped to deal with this type of complaint or support need? Perhaps you have faced similar types of issues in your organisation. I would love to hear about what approaches were taken and how you managed the experience for all students in the classroom environment.
What can my organisation do to support its GLBTI students?
I believe that there is a huge gap in the knowledge and understanding of the support needs of GLBTI students in education. Professional development is needed in all parts of our education system from early childhood, right through to higher education. Earlier this year my friend and colleague Rebeckah Loveday from SensWide Employment teamed up with the VET Development Centre to deliver a webinar titled: ‘Supporting learners of diverse gender, sexuality and orientation’. For more information click here.
UPDATE 05/09/2017: Over the past few weeks the VET Development Centre has had a large amount of interest in their webinar ‘Supporting learners of diverse gender, sexuality and orientation’ so much in fact that they have decided to host another webinar focussed on ‘Supporting GLBTI Learners in Vocational Education’ this will be happening on Tuesday, 19 September, 2017 from 10:30 AM – 11:30 AM, click here to register >>> http://www.cvent.com/events/webinar-supporting-learners-of-diverse-gender-sexuality-and-orientation/custom-17-74e1ad1e252342e4add0808eb1896f75.aspx
There is a lot of work to be done in across all divisions of the education sector to ensure that GLBTI learners are supported. As a Vocational Education & Training Sector consultant and former policy advisor, it is my experience and opinion that many Community Colleges, RTOs and TAFEs are currently leave themselves exposed by putting their head in the sand and by not being proactive in taking action.
Next time you are reviewing the professional development schedule in your organisation, why not take a step up and include a useful informative session for your teachers on ‘how to support GLBTI students’?
If you are wanting to discuss this topic further please feel free to get in touch with Matthew Dale at Audit Express by phoning 1300735541
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by Matthew Dale | Aug 2, 2017 | ASQA, Audit Express, Community Colleges Australia, Gayle Tierney MP, Karen Andrews, Karen Andrews MP, Registered Training Organisation, Student Satisfaction, VET Conference, VET Policy, VET Reform, VRQA
We are pleased to announce that the annual Community Colleges Australia (CCA) Conference held in Melbourne was a great success.
The team at Audit Express tilt their hat to their colleagues at CCA for delivering their best conference yet, which comprised an impressive list of speakers that travelled from across the globe to present their thoughts, ideas and concepts to the conference delegates. There was a noteworthy attendance at the conference by the Federal Assistant Minister Karen Andrews, Shadow Minister Doug Cameron and Victorian Minister Gail Tierney – it is understood that our Victorian Shadow Minister Stephanie Ryan sent her apologies and was unable to attend due to being on her HONEYMOON <3 Congratulations Stephanie!
Other outstanding speakers included ASQA, the VRQA and our very own CEO at Audit Express Kevin Ekendahl!
We highly recommend attending this conference in 2018 to show your support for the community education sector, which we understand will be held in Sydney.
by Matthew Dale | Jun 23, 2017 | Audit Express, Best Practice, Professional Development, Registered Training Organisation, Student Satisfaction, TAFE, Uncategorized, VET Development Centre
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css_animation=”zoomIn”]Audit Express are proud to be sponsoring the 2017 VET Development Centre Teaching & Learning Conference which is to be held in Torquay from 07-08 September 2017.
This years conference theme is ‘Connect with Technology, Collaborate with Industry, Capture Student Imagination.‘
The VDC Annual Conference is always an outstanding event for Australian TAFEs, RTOs and Community Education Providers, and is always hosted at an impressive venue with a great line up of speakers. The 2017 conference will be held at the award-winning resort, hotel and event venue – ‘RACV Torquay Resort’, one of the finest venues in Australia, the RACV Torquay Resort was named among the top 25 in two categories for the Trip Advisor Awards. It was placed 15th in the Luxury category and 17th in the Hotel category.
The 2017 conference boasts an impressive line-up of keynote speakers and presenters including our very own CEO Kevin Ekendahl, who is presenting on ‘Approaches to managing learner satisfaction in education’.
Click here to check out the full conference program: VDC-2017-TL-Conference-Program
You can register for the event here: VCD Conference Registration
We hope to see you there![/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”6855″ img_size=”medium”][/vc_column][/vc_row]
by Matthew Dale | Jun 8, 2017 | ASQA, Audit Express, Best Practice, Community Colleges Australia, Funding Contract, Gayle Tierney MP, Karen Andrews, Karen Andrews MP, Melbourne, Minister, NCVER, Registered Training Organisation, Standards for Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) 2015, Student Satisfaction, VET Conference, VET Fee Help, VET Policy, VET Reform, Victorian Training Guarantee, VRQA
CCA 2017 Conference Community Education: Investing in our Future
Audit Express are proud to be sponsoring the 2017 Community Colleges Australia (CCA) Annual Conference, which is to be held in Melbourne on 25-27 July.
This years conference theme is ‘Community Education: Investing in our Future’ which recognises the importance that education plays in people’s lives. The CCA Annual Conference is the premier event for Australian adult and community education providers, and is always hosted at an impressive venue with a great line up of speakers. The 2017 conference will be held at the award-winning conference venue ‘Citadines on Bourke‘ and the Conference Opening function and Annual Awards Dinner with both be held at the ‘Hotel Windsor‘, one finest 5 star venues in Melbourne, “the world’s most liveable city”.
The Hon Karen Andrews MP, Assistant Minister for Vocational Education and Skills will open this years conference, which has an impressive line-up of keynote speakers and presenters including: (just to name a few)
- The Hon Gayle Tierney MP, Minister for Training and Skills, Minister for Corrections
- Susan Pascoe AM, Commissioner, Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission
- The Hon Michael Lavarch AO, Commissioner – Risk, Intelligence and Regulatory Support, Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA)
- Professor Rodney Maddock, Monash Business School, and President, Economic Society of Australia, Victorian Branch
- Peter Noonan, Professor of Tertiary Education Policy, Mitchell Institute, Victoria University, Melbourne
- Lynn Glover, CEO (Director) Victorian Registration and Qualification Authority
- Kira Clarke, Lecturer in Education Policy, Centre for Vocational & Education Policy, Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne
- Dr Laurie Chesley, Provost & Executive Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs, Grand Rapids Community College, Michigan USA
- Dr Roberta Teahen, Associate Provost & Director of the Doctorate in Community College Leadership, Ferris State University, Michigan USA
- Toni Cavallaro, Manager, National Collections Branch, National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER)
- Dr Robbie Lloyd, Community Relationships Manager, Port Macquarie Community College
- Wendy Perry, Managing Director, Workforce BluePrint
- Kevin Ekendahl, our very own CEO of Audit Express, who is presenting on the Importance of Student Satisfaction in the Australian VET Sector
For more information read the 14 reasons why this year’s conference is a “must-attend” event.
Register for this years CCA conference before the 12th of June to receive an early bird discount, click here >>> http://cca.edu.au/what-we-do/2017-annual-conference/#registration
Community Colleges Australia
Audit Express
