In the balance:

participation and access in TAFE 











Associate Professor Margaret Powles
Centre for the Study of Higher Education
University of Melbourne

and

Damon Anderson
Centre for the Economics of Education and Training, 
Monash University-Australian Council for Educational Research










Paper presented to
Educational Research: Building New Partnerships
Conference jointly organised by 
Education Research Association, Singapore 
and 
Australian Association for Research in Education
Singapore Polytechnic, Singapore
25-29 November 1996




In the balance:

participation and access in TAFE 

by

Associate Professor Margaret Powles
Centre for the Study of Higher Education
University of Melbourne

and

Damon Anderson
Centre for the Economics of Education and Training, 
Monash University-Australian Council for Educational Research



ABSTRACT

This paper provides an analysis of participation and access issues 
which were identified by the Kangan Report of 1974 and which remain 
significant in Australian Technical and Further Education (TAFE) in the 
1990s. A conjectural and deliberately dichotomous 'social 
service'/'economic utility' framework is superimposed upon some of 
TAFE's features in order to explore changes in the system and the 
attendant assumptions about participation and access. Sectoral growth, 
attendance patterns, and socio-economic shifts in the TAFE population 
are examined within the framework, providing a basis for an exploration 
of specific, but interrelated issues: women's participation, access 
courses, the emergence of selective admissions, academic drift, and 
costs to the student. In each case it is shown how the notions of 
participation and access may be interpreted and what might be the 
future consequences of policies which tip the balance between social 
service and economic utility in either direction.


Introduction

In this paper we examine participation and access issues which have 
emerged in relation to Australian Technical and Further Education 
(TAFE) since the early 1970s and which are likely to grow in 
significance in the coming years. We draw upon a vast, but often 
piecemeal, collection of information in the form of statistics from 
various sources, research data, commentaries, commissioned reports and 
policy documents. We do not merely marshal this information by theme 
but take account of what Schofield (1994, p.60) refers to as '. the 
sharp dichotomy between educational and social purposes on the one hand 
and labour market purposes on the other.' She argued that 'an adequate 
analysis of the impact of this split . [is] fundamental to an 
understanding of TAFE within today's debate around the national 
training reform agenda.' In this paper we construct a bipolar 'social 
service' and 'economic utility' framework which owes much to Burgess's 
(1981) and Warren-Piper's (1984) explorations of bias and fairness in 
British higher education, to Hawke and Sweet's (1983) writings on 
access, and to Ryan and Scholefield's (1990) series of models of TAFE 
in Australia. Within our framework we examine first, sectoral growth, 
attendance patterns and pertinent demographic and socio-economic shifts 
in the TAFE population. These analyses provide the context for 
exploring, secondly, a selection of specific, but interlinked, issues - 
women's participation, access courses, selective admissions, academic 
drift, and fees. These issues, while not an exhaustive catalogue, have 
been chosen to provide a barometer of systemic accessibility. Each was 
identified originally in the Kangan Report (1974) in its consideration 
of major barriers to access in TAFE and have been subject to a modicum 
of research over time.

Our conceptual framework, to be explained in more detail below, 
superimposed upon our analyses, promotes a better understanding of the 
complexities inherent in the notions of participation and access, how 
these might be interpreted, and in which ways TAFE policy can be 
extrapolated against a backdrop of social, economic, and political 
change. 


Two conjectural views of TAFE

In a 'social service' view, the individual student is TAFE's primary 
focus and equity of access within a broad framework of social concern 

is a guiding principle. With political commitment to social expenditure 
and associated full public funding of tertiary education, TAFE's 
expansion is facilitated to cater for all needs and interests. The 
system is characterised by a proliferation of courses which endorse 
'contextual' (Kangan, 1974) or 'generic' (Beswick et al, 1983) 
curricula; that is, those embracing adaptability, social responsibility 
and personal development of the student in addition to the teaching of 
specific vocational skills. It is not forgotten that the individual has 
to get a job (Lloyd, 1976), yet students are not discouraged from 
exploring different options before finding a suitable niche. The 
concepts of recurrent education and life-long learning are emphasised. 
An 'open' access system is therefore espoused in which:

everybody would be offered some way in, although not necessarily the 
 same way. However, each of the entry points would be equally accessible 
 to those whom they suited ¼ and each would give equal opportunity of 
 reaching one of a number of exit points. These exit points, giving 
 different levels and types of accreditation or implying different kinds 
 of educational expertise, would reflect the wishes and the capacities 
 of the students. (Warren-Piper, 1983, p.8).

Strategies to enhance equity of participation are not restricted to 
particular groups, although the nature of disadvantage is examined in 
order to inform special provision through transition, access and 
bridging programs in conjunction with college-based social and 
educational (along with public) support services. Equity of 
participation is seen in the broader context of social justice.

Although it might be argued that such a view of TAFE bears no semblance 
to reality, many of its features were explicit in the 1974 Kangan 
Report and were facilitated by economic growth and fundamental 
transformations in community values during the 1960s and early 1970s. 
Writing in 1980, Kangan looked back to the conditions which were 'just 
right' to receive the concepts of his Committee's report. In this, the 
central vision was that TAFE should not be perceived 'mainly as the 
supplier who meets the needs for skilled labour, but as supplying each 
person with education to meet his freely-chosen vocational need ¼ 
within the context of the vocational world.' (p.11). TAFE authorities 
needed 'to proclaim that they are educational authorities, not manpower 
nor employment departments' (p.12). If elements of the social service 
view of TAFE and the Kangan Committee's vision have left their mark on 
today's sector, few remain unquestioned.

In an 'economic utility' view, TAFE is seen by government as one 
channel through which to promote national economic development. By 
default, the economy drives enrolments, determines their social 
distribution, and influences the nature of student demand. Government, 
and the system itself, look beyond public funding to the private 
sector, specifically industry and individual users who are defined as 
the private beneficiaries of TAFE training. Fees, together with 
competitive selection policies, deter 'frivolous consumption' 
(Marginson, 1988, p.80) and efficiency is stressed in terms of 
maximising retention and completion rates. Credentials become the 
currency of exchange between 'suppliers' and 'clients' in a context 
where education and training are defined as a commercial transaction, 
rather than as a process of social and cultural formation. Working from 
a human capital paradigm, education and training become 'skills 
formation' (Boomer, 1987; Marginson, 1993) the principal objective of 
which is to 'add value' and boost the productivity and competitiveness 
of industry rather than contribute to social and personal development. 
Accordingly, curricula become decontextualised, market-tied and 
hierarchical.


Although equity remains an issue, its definition differs markedly from 
that specified by the social service view. It is not simply a matter of 
'meeting social objectives related to equity. Rather it is an economic 
argument about increasing the pool of human resources.' (Dawkins and 
Holding, 1987, p.16). In this view, there is a tendency for 
socio-economic inequality to be accepted as given so that broader 
social equity questions wane in favour of what Marginson terms 'market 
equity'. This 'extends to freedom to enter the market (in which TAFE is 
a major supplier), not to enter it on equal terms and of course is not 
concerned about equal outcomes.' (Marginson, 1988, p.7). As opposed to 
the social service view which advocates distributive justice and 
needs-based approaches to resource allocation, the economic utility 
view assumes that the market is a more efficient and equitable 
allocator of scarce resources. In extremis, provision for disadvantaged 
groups becomes one of many institutional performance indicators, given 
lip service by government and unsupported by the public purse. 

While this view in totality might be regarded as immoderate, clearly 
many of its aspects have gained currency and are likely to remain 
significant throughout the 1990s. The Scott Review (1990) of the TAFE 
system in NSW, for example, argued that the 'quasi welfare' role of 
TAFE had taken precedence over meeting the education and training needs 
of industry. It criticised TAFE for having 'overemphasised the 
importance of individual skill requirements at the expense of workplace 
relevance by pursuing an "open access policy".' (Scott, 1990, 
pp.12-13). Although other versions of the economic utility view treat 
economic growth and social equity as mutually dependant and 
reconcilable objectives, they simultaneously re-define access and 
equity as 'community service obligations', a truncated and 
compartmentalised version of social justice concerns. 

Some might argue that the emergence of the economic utility view was 
inevitable, having its roots in economic downturn. From this 
perspective, priorities need to be ordered, the most favoured order 
being determined by what appear to be the most pressing macro-economic 
considerations at the time. Others might argue that the way in which 
priorities are determined is a matter of ideology. In either case, 
tensions arise in which participation and access issues are central.

By way of summary and for later reference, some of the features and 
access implications of these bipolar views of TAFE are set out in the 
accompanying table. Although the social service and economic utility 
views on the role of TAFE are represented as opposites, they do 
nevertheless bear a close resemblance to actual policy configurations 
and discursive positions adopted in the debate about vocational 
education and training over the past few decades. It is conceded that 
they are subject to myriad differences in emphasis and interpretation 
and that in reality at any one time various policy prescriptions will 
contain elements of both views. It is the balance that is of interest. 
The accompanying table illustrates some of the points where the balance 
might tip and tensions arise (see p.5).


Terms

Notions of participation, access and equity are linked. The 'somewhat 
over-used' term 'participation' in education usually refers to the 
number of people who are 'in' the system at any one time (Brewster, 
1985; Brewster et al., 1985) or to the distribution of enrolments 
according to various population categories, gender, age group and so 
on. According to Warren-Piper (1984), population characteristics such 

as these assume within-group homogeneity, so that arithmetical facts 
can be revealed about the participation of each group at a particular 
time or trends may be observed over a period. This approach does not, 
however, reveal how a pattern comes about nor, as Williams puts it, 
does it:

provide direct evidence of inequities but, rather, show[s] only that 
 participation rates vary (or do not vary) across sub population groups. 
 Where rates vary, we may choose to say they should not ¼ In some cases 
 we will want to say that these differences in participation rates are 
 evidence of inequities in access ¼ In other instances the 
 interpretation of between-group differences in participation as 
 evidence of inequities may not be clear-cut ¼ members of a group [may] 
 not participate at rates equal to other sub-population groups simply 
 because they do not want to. ¼ We might take the position ¼ that they 
 should - or would if they had not been 'disadvantaged' by family and/or 
 culture at an early age. (1987, pp.15-16)

Hayden's definition of participation links with the notion of access: 
'the number of people likely to engage in ¼ education under certain 
conditions.' (1982, p.88). Hayden distinguishes economic conditions 
(such as perceptions of costs and benefits and the ability to afford to 
study), social and environmental conditions (such as social and 
cultural background and geographical location), and psychological 
conditions - all of which interact to affect individuals in different 
ways. While access is therefore often perceived in terms of barriers to 
participation (Powles, 1987a), individual choice needs to be added to 
the complex equation.

Features and Access Implications of Two Conjectural Views of TAFE


Social Service
Economic Utility

Finance
public;
distributive justice
public/private;
user pays

System emphasis, goals
integrated social/ educational/ vocational objectives; 
focus on individual requirements and outcomes;
lifelong learning
vocational/ instrumental/ training;
skills acquisition;
economic benefits to individual and industry;
recurrent training

Student enrolments
student driven
market driven

Entry
everybody offered some way in 
restricted;
'frivolous consumption' discouraged

Courses
courses match people;
broad-based, transferable skills;

flexible, student-centred, socially critical;
participatory, contextualised, integrative
people match courses;
job-specific;
industry-determined;
standardised;
sequential;
decontextualised, non-reflective, hierarchical

Selection

open access;
non-competitive;
non-discriminatory;
flexible
rationed;
competitive;
ranked;
systematised

Equity goals
welfare-oriented;
inclusive with special provision based on nature of disadvantage;
needs-based, responsive to student diversity;
social equality
economy-oriented;
selective with subsidies based on levels of disadvantage;
deficit-based, targeted to designated groups;
market equity

Awards, credentials
descriptive, emphasis on achievements;
open and flexible outcomes
graded, emphasis on market value of credential;
pre-determined outcomes

Influencing factors
economic expansion;
ideological commitment to the public good and social development
economic restraint;
ideological commitment to economic growth and industry priorities



Extrapolating these definitions, refined categories can be established 
and further facts about the population revealed. Obviously, great care 
must be taken in establishing categories, and exploring their 
characteristics, while bearing in mind that no matter how refined the 
category, individuals are involved, and moreover, 'facts are given 
meaning only by the political significance of the category used' 
(Warren-Piper, 1984, p.10). This said, some broad observations may be 
made about the TAFE student population and some implications drawn.

As a basis for examining changes in the system and their impact on 
participation and access, available data and published research on 
sectoral growth, attendance patterns and socio-economic shifts in the 
TAFE student population have been analysed. Five specific, but 
inter-related, issues have been chosen to provide a barometer of 
systemic accessibility in the context of these changes. The five issues 
selected are women's participation, access courses, the emergence of 
selective admissions, academic drift, and costs to students. Each of 
these specific issues was identified originally in the Kangan Report 

(1974) in its consideration of major barriers to access in TAFE, and 
have subsequently been the subject of research and evaluation (eg. 
Hawke and Sweet, 1983). The particular selection does not constitute a 
comprehensive or exhaustive catalogue of access issues. However, in the 
absence of any more comprehensive bodies of research on access to TAFE, 
these indices provide a sufficiently broad and inter-related framework 
within which to examine whether post-Kangan policy developments have 
reduced or reinforced discriminatory access with respect to gender, 
social, economic and educational background.


Growth

The present observations begin in 1973, since when the overall growth 
of the sector has been extraordinary. By 1973, TAFE catered for around 
430,000 people (Kangan, 1974). Enrolments grew strongly throughout the 
1970s, averaging 6 per cent growth per year until 1981 when numbers 
reached over the million mark (CTEC, various years). In 1988, 
enrolments stood at just under one and a half million. By 1992, almost 
one and three quarter million students were enrolled in TAFE (DEET, 
various years; NCVER, 1993).

The numbers of institutions and local annexes in major population 
centres and country areas have increased accordingly, providing not 
only the widest geographical accessibility of all post-secondary 
sectors, but also a great range of vocational programs as well as 
general education and leisure-interest courses. Growth in the diversity 
of offerings, which came to include remedial and 'equity' provision 
during the 1980s, led to increasing criticism that 'TAFE's diffuse 
purposes dissipated its effectiveness at what it "really" should be 
doing. TAFE was criticised as being "all things to all people".' (Ryan 
and Scholefield, 1990) It was also argued that increasing enrolments 
has no necessary virtue from any of a series of viewpoints, be they 
enhancing productivity, improving prospects for people and so on - 
unless growth is linked to greater social equity (Ashenden and 
Costello, 1985). 

Growth has given rise to a changing variety of pressure points on the 
sector. The location of pressure points and associated access issues 
may be illustrated by observing mode of attendance patterns, 
socio-economic features, provision for particular sections of the 
population, and the balance between vocational and non-vocational 
education.


Attendance patterns

One wide-ranging way of observing participation in TAFE is to examine 
attendance patterns. Ninety per cent of enrolments are part-time - a 
proportion which, having remained around that level since the early 
1970s, has led to many assumptions about the population as a whole.

Analyses of full-time participation rates by age and sex over time 
illustrate the importance of this mode of study by single year of age 
from fifteen to nineteen, for young females in particular. For 
instance, in 1992, one third of female eighteen year olds in TAFE and 
one fifth of males of the same age were enrolled full-time (NCVER, 
1993). Full-time participation has peaked at age seventeen consistently 
between 1975 and 1988, since when it has constantly peaked at age 
eighteen. Between 1990 and 1992, there was a ten per cent increase in 
the full-time participation of eighteen year olds. Since 1985, 
full-time participation has been increasing steadily amongst eighteen 

and nineteen year olds - the age group most vulnerable to the decline 
in demand for full-time labour (see also Sweet, 1988, 1990). In 1992, 
46 per cent of full-timers were aged nineteen and under; a further 24 
per cent fell in the twenty to twenty-four age group, leaving 28 per 
cent in a 'mature age' category, where the proportions who are women 
increase with age. 

Whereas early school leavers are highly vulnerable in the labour 
market, TAFE provides an attractive full-time alternative to staying at 
school for many young people - with its flexible entry requirements, 
alternative curricula with an employment focus, lesser conformity to 
the academic pattern, and greater emphasis on self-responsibility - a 
more adult atmosphere generally (Powles, 1988). These attractions would 
of course also apply to young people seeking part-time involvement.

Full-time attendance in TAFE has been strongly associated with low 
socio-economic status (King, 1987), a finding which connects with 
Williams' observations that preference for education (in relation to 
post-compulsory school retention, but which could just as well apply to 
choosing the TAFE alternative) is 'rooted in the complex of values, 
orientations, attitudes and behaviour that characterise families in 
different social status groups.' (Williams, 1987, p.112). Williams 
considers preferences to be more to do with social than family economic 
circumstances, although he recognises that the latter have become more 
important in influencing decisions to proceed or not since the early 
1980s economic downturn. Clearly then, availability of places as well 
as financial support for young people from less well-off families who 
wish to proceed with full-time post-compulsory education in TAFE are 
issues not only of access, but of social equity.

The full-time/part-time ratio varies considerably across streams of 
study. It might be expected that the pre-vocational/pre-apprenticeship 
areas (75 per cent full time enrolments in 1992) as well as the 
educational preparation stream (13 per cent) would retain their 
'traditional' full-time clientele of early school leavers and lower 
socio-economic groups. On the other hand, since the early to mid 1980s, 
post-compulsory school retention rates began their dramatic climb, 
educational aspirations rose and excess demand for higher education 
places began to escalate. These factors, combined with a dwindling 
number of jobs in the youth labour market, unemployment and 
economy-driven realisation amongst young people that post-school 
qualifications meant jobs, have resulted in TAFE becoming an 
increasingly common destination for school leavers with year twelve 
certification, despite a large majority of them indicating preference 
for university (ANOP, 1993). Excess demand has become more apparent in 
full-time courses, at advanced certificate and associate diploma levels 
in particular - entry qualifications for which have not, until 
recently, been rigidly defined on higher school completion criteria 
(Powles, 1990b). In this context, issues which will gain prominence in 
the 1990s - to be considered later - are those concerning the demise of 
open access, the possible displacement of the traditional full-time 
youth clientele as applicant qualifications rise and the probability 
that courses will be increasingly designed to cater for a more highly 
qualified applicant group. 
  
As for part-time participation, assumptions, hitherto made on the basis 
of demographic variables and the simple fact of majority part-time 
attendance, have only relatively recently come under scrutiny (King, 
1987; STBV, 1987; Powles, 1990a; Sturman and Long, 1990).
  
The overall structure of the part-time population is an inversion of 
that of full-timers: in 1992 only 12 per cent were aged nineteen years 

and under; a further 12 per cent fell into the twenty to twenty four 
year range; leaving 45 per cent aged twenty-five and over. The only 
major deviations from this pattern are found in the trades streams: 83 
per cent and 87 per cent respectively of the part-time component of 
streams 3211 (pre-apprenticeship) and 3212 (apprenticeship) were under 
twenty-five years of age, and mostly male (NCVER, 1993). However, 
considering the large numbers involved, the part-time option is 
critical in terms of access to training for young and older people 
alike, and not only for those in employment.

Data from the Victorian TAFE system indicates that in stream 2000 
courses, where 84 per cent of all students were part-time, 61 per cent 
of female students (who comprised 58 per cent of the total stream 2000 
population in 1990) were either in part-time work or unemployed. This 
compares with only 37 per cent of the total population. In addition, 50 
per cent of students in stream 2000 were over 25 years of age and 
'therefore more likely to have dependants and heavy financial 
commitments. In many instances, for female students to be able to 
participate in either full-time or part-time training in Stream 2000, 
they would need financial assistance' (STBV, 1992, p.69). Examination 
of income support patterns, therefore, is crucial to the access issue.

While part-time study with its great number of students is likely to be 
the only study option for the full-time worker, it may also be so for 
those responsible for children (Powles, 1987a) or those seeking work. 
Part-time courses may be doubly attractive to people wishing to 
distance themselves from school regimentation - recently experienced or 
recalled - in terms of reaching goals in their own way and at their own 
pace (Kangan, 1974). For many young people, a full-time course may be 
no option if costs form a barrier - which has been shown to be the case 
for a significant proportion of younger students who may lack family 
support, who are ineligible for student assistance, and who need to 
work to support themselves when they move from the family home (Powles, 
1986).

The above considerations of full-time and part-time students' 
characteristics illustrate how common assumptions about their ages, 
backgrounds, work patterns and income can be shown to be questionable, 
and in many cases, invalid. Proponents of a social service view of 
TAFE, by penetrating the surface of the category, would accommodate 
heterogeneity in policy decisions. Conversely, emphasis on category, 
characteristic of an economic utility view, would serve to mask 
inequity and to marginalise disadvantage.


Socio-economic indicators

During its very early development, Australian technical and further 
education had a distinct working-class orientation (Murray-Smith, 1966, 
1968, 1971) and dual goals: to provide skills instruction for the 
workforce and to offer people from lower social strata opportunities 
for personal development and advancement. A major difference has been 
detected between the latter specifically social goal and the 
perspective of the Kangan Committee which 'did not recognise that TAFE 
clientele came from any particular social group or strata' (Anderson 
and Vervoorn, 1983). Around 1980, data from several major documents 
(CDE, 1978; Williams, 1979; ACER, 1982) demonstrated that the 
socio-economic profile of vocational streams paralleled that of the 
total population and that in this it differed substantially from the 
recreational stream and from higher education. Complexities were, 
however, masked by treating the TAFE students in vocational streams as 
a single group. 


King's (1987) pioneer work, utilising the Australian Bureau of 
Statistics' Socio-Economic Status (SES) postcode indicator, showed that 
the 1986 population of metropolitan Sydney TAFE was representative of 
the region. Yet it was also shown that low SES groups were concentrated 
in preparatory and basic skills courses, not proportionally represented 
in programs associated with the professional, para-professional and 
technical labour markets, and very much under-represented in associate 
diploma courses. The fields of art and design, food and rural studies 
all exhibited high SES profiles. King proposed that these failed to 
attract students from low SES groups because of high materials costs in 
the case of art and the concentration of food and rural studies 
programs in a college located in an above-average SES area. Also, in 
the last two instances, a very high proportion of all Sydney 
metropolitan associate diploma students were located in that college so 
that a higher school certificate entry barrier was in effect. Thus, 
once again, costs and credentials issues come to the fore.
  
Further observations on SES by stream, following King's method (Powles, 
1990a) revealed more variations and inconsistencies. For instance, 
King's analyses distinguished the Sydney professional stream from all 
other old classification streams by its relatively high SES profile. 
This was seen to hold for the 3600 category under the new 
nineteen-stream classification system for each of the years from 1986 
to 1989. In Victoria in 1987, however, the professional stream 
exhibited a mirror image of the Sydney situation, with significantly 
higher percentages in the low SES category than all but the preparatory 
stream (a finding consistent with further indicators of socio-economic 
disadvantage in Victorian TAFE - see STBV, 1988a). It was also shown 
that significantly higher-than-expected percentages of high SES 
enrollees were to be found in other streams in Sydney metropolitan TAFE 
although the skew was not as marked as it was in the professional 
stream. In several of these cases (3300 and 4500), the skew was 
consistent between 1986 and 1989, but in other instances (3500, 4100 
and 4300) the profile approximated more closely to that of the total 
population in some years. The Victorian data revealed further 
variations. 

These exploratory studies have succeeded in demonstrating hitherto 
undocumented, complex details about the population and points on the 
stream classification grid where people from various socio-economic 
groups are entering TAFE. Clearly, 'the degree of equitable access to 
education [must] be measured with reference to the nature of the 
provision to which access is gained' (King, 1987, p.17). With further 
research, trends may be observed over time, more sophisticated 
formulations of SES may inform the observations. It will still be 
necessary to explore a plethora of relationships between SES, age, sex, 
geographical location, educational preference and so on (Powles, 
1990a). But while such research is needed to indicate where 
socio-economic disadvantage might be broadly detected in the system, 
the use of SES as a categorical concept will inevitably conceal people 
who fall around the margins of groups with which policy is concerned. 


Women

Women's participation in TAFE has increased considerably since the 
1970s to 55 per cent of total enrolments in 1992. However, only 44 per 
cent in Streams 2100 - 4500 were women, whereas 75 per cent of the 
recreational stream (1000) were women. Looked at another way, 47 per 
cent of all females in TAFE were concentrated in stream 1000 (compared 
with only 21 per cent of males). In Victoria, women's participation in 

streams 1000 and 2100 - 4500 increased from 38 to 41 per cent in the 
five year period between 1985 and 1990, yet female enrolments in 
streams 1000 and 2000 remained static. Moreover, although the number of 
women enrolled in streams 3000 and 4000 almost doubled over the same 
five year period, the proportion of women in each of these streams was 
still less than 35 per cent in 1990 (STBV, 1992, p.13). A point to be 
taken up later is that stream 1000 courses often act as a first taste 
of post-compulsory education and often have vocational content. Women 
are now a majority in basic skills, and preparatory streams (2100, 2200 
and 3100) as well as in the professional stream (3600). They remain 
severely under-represented in the trades and are a minority in the para 
professional streams. The picture becomes far more complex when age, 
mode of attendance and SES participation rates are superimposed upon 
gender patterns by stream (Powles, 1990a) as indicated earlier. 
Patterns such as these indicate little of barriers which are deeply 
embedded in slowly changing community attitudes and values in relation 
to gender roles in the workforce (Powles, 1987a). What the patterns 
indicate is that women's access to many areas of TAFE is not 
necessarily a problem, but that occupational segregation is likely to 
persist. However, just as means will continue to be sought to correct 
imbalances (Pocock a&b, 1987; DEET, 1991), other questions must be 
addressed.

Pocock suggests that the critical problems are not of access to TAFE, 
but those of quality and inclusiveness of teaching, course content, 
facilities, equipment and support services such as counselling and 
child care. In addition to the vulnerability of special access programs 
in which many women congregate, attention has also been drawn to 
funding priorities which have always favoured the trades, and now also 
technological areas, which continue to be largely unattractive to 
women. (Powles, 1990a; STBV, 1992).

Wilson and Wyn (1987) challenge some of the assumptions inherent in the 
way equality of opportunity is interpreted in relation to women's 
participation. By encouraging women to follow 'male' career paths, 
their considered choices not to accept hierarchical, competitive 
structures of the labour process are demeaned, their personal 
identities are undermined, and the political character of social 
relations within which education is acquired and perpetuated is left 
unexamined.

More recently, debate about women's participation in TAFE has broadened 
beyond a consideration of structural and attitudinal barriers. While 
issues such as income support, child care, timetabling, counselling, 
information and the TAFE college culture and environment remain a 
source of enduring concern, attention has focussed on the gender 
construction of skill and the manner in which systems of skills 
recognition and training devalue women's knowledge and skills (Cox, 
1992; Jackson, 1991; Probert, 1992). Although current evidence suggests 
that male bias in the conception and articulation of skill and 
competencies has a negative impact on women's participation in 
training, further research on the nature and extent of gender 
inequities is required (Wallace, 1993).


Access courses

The Kangan Committee identified a series of psycho-social as well as 
structural barriers to post-compulsory education participation which it 
thought TAFE was in the best position to address. Barriers included: 
individuals' fear of failure, possibly experienced at school; fear of 
tests and examinations by which apparent failure is publicly exposed; 

rigidly defined course prerequisites; inflexible learning methods; 
hierarchical structures appearing to favour higher academic achievers 
and 'those whose circumstances - social as well as economic - permit a 
prolonged school life.' (Kangan, 1974, p.11). The Committee located 
educationally disadvantaged groups - women, people in country areas, 
the handicapped, and minority groups such as Aborigines and immigrants 
- within a broad context of societal disadvantage. From the mid 1970s 
onwards an array of access programs were instigated on the premise that 
TAFE had a vital role to play in redressing social imbalances.

Hawke and Sweet (1983) have observed that growth of special programs 
depended 'largely on the capacity of those concerned with equal 
opportunity to capitalise upon a climate of overall expansion of TAFE 
resources. Their capacity to do so was enhanced by a clear commitment 
by the Kangan Committee to unrestricted, universal, or open access to 
TAFE ¼' (p.2). Whereas in Kangan's view TAFE should provide more than 
merely job preparation, by the early 1980s, the more prevalent attitude 
was that general or non-vocational programs were somehow 'the icing on 
the TAFE cake', separate from mainstream provision. Access programs for 
specific groups were assigned to the recreational and preparatory 
streams, were often ad hoc, short, non-certificated and therefore doing 
little in terms of redressing social inequities. Many of them met their 
demise because of inadequate understanding of the nature of need, 
leading to targets being missed, and lack of planning and integration 
with mainstream TAFE provision. Although participation rates in TAFE 
courses rose rapidly over the post-Kangan decade, particularly by young 
people enrolled in special program initiatives such as transition 
education, Employment Programs for Unemployed Youth and related 
courses, it became evident that increased participation per se had not 
fundamentally altered traditional patterns of access to and 
participation in mainstream TAFE courses. In this regard, special 
access programs were based on a simplistic equation between 
participation and equity. Although subsequent programs, particularly 
the Participation and Equity Program, sought to enhance equity of 
access to mainstream courses in TAFE by increasing participation of 
certain disadvantaged groups, they continued to suffer from a failure 
to address the structural and cultural barriers which arose from their 
marginal status with respect to mainstream funding, course provision 
and recognition (Sweet, 1985; Lechte, 1985; Noonan, 1985; Anderson, 
1985).

In a context where Commonwealth funding for special program initiatives 
was of short duration and peripheral in nature, amounting to less than 
ten per cent of total recurrent expenditure, autonomous State TAFE 
systems viewed special program funding as supplementary and uncertain. 
Such initiatives failed to take account of the selective nature of 
access to mainstream provision, entry requirements for which were often 
determined by industry and/or State training authorities and which lay 
outside the control of TAFE providers. Although individual program 
providers were committed and creative, TAFE authorities and colleges 
were often not persuaded as to the efficacy of access courses - a trend 
that became more apparent in the 1980s as the flow of resources was 
stemmed and calls for accountability and cost-effectiveness became 
increasingly strident. Moreover, as Kell (1990) observes, the 
paternalistic and technically-oriented 'workshop culture' of TAFE 
colleges presented insurmountable barriers to acceptance.

Hawke and Sweet (1983) have argued that, although it is essential to 
look beyond barriers to access (see also Beswick et al, 1983) special 
program provision is appropriate in many circumstances. The nature of 
the provision needs to be closely aligned to an understanding of 
participation patterns and of the complexity of those social and 

institutional factors that form barriers to initial and subsequent 
participation. In addition, special programs for particular groups 
'should be justified by educational need rather than by group 
membership' (Sweet, 1985, p.92). Accordingly, access policies should be 
based on an integrating principle which:

suggests that the question of access is broader than the needs of 
 specifically nominated groups; presumes fairness in resource 
 allocation; makes no distinction between fringe and mainstream; directs 
 attention to student selection, and implies a commitment to efficient 
 use of resources as a corollary of their equitable distribution. 
 (Sweet, 1985, p.90).

Special access courses with clearly defined objectives have had 
positive outcomes and these need to be acknowledged. Work at the TAFE 
National Centre for Research and Development provides insight into (and 
valuable literature reviews of) provision for adult women with limited 
education or outdated vocational qualifications (Richards, 1987; Binns, 
1989); for women in isolated areas (Mageean, 1988); for rural 
communities and non-metropolitan populations and particular sections of 
them (Guthrie and Krzemionka, 1987; Parkinson, 1987; Budge, 1989; 
Mageean, 1990); for Aboriginal people (Ensor, 1989); and the aged and 
ageing (Nairn, 1985). These, together with the Victorian State Training 
Board's student profile survey reports on women, the unemployed, and 
people from non-English-speaking backgrounds (STBV,1988 a,b & c) 
demonstrate that while the needs of specific groups can be understood 
and met, dangers remain that access courses are located at the margins 
of the mainstream, and that provision may depend on a mere checklist by 
which judgements are made as to whether needs are real or not.

The debate over access to TAFE for women and disadvantaged groups has 
shifted considerable ground since the mid-1980s. Greater emphasis has 
been placed on integrating special access programs into mainstream 
vocational provision and facilitating the direct access and 
participation of disadvantaged groups in mainstream courses by means of 
participation targets and mechanisms which enable recognition of skills 
acquired informally or overseas. Under the influence of human capital 
theory and in a context where the needs of industry and individuals are 
claimed to be converging, the rationale for specific purpose access 
programs has come into question. The Deveson Review (1990), for 
instance, advocated the selective use of targeted training subsidies 
rather than specific purpose access programs in an attempt to balance 
the conflicting objectives of promoting market competition and ensuring 
fairer and more equitable access: 'It is people who need to be 
subsidised, not the courses in which they happen to cluster. Through 
this approach, the causes of both equity . and efficiency can be served 
simultaneously.' (Vol. 1, p.10).

Such rhetoric, however, disguises the reality that social equity has 
been subordinated to the efficiency concerns that dominate the economic 
utility view. The argument for selectivity in the distribution of 
benefits and services is essentially just a diluted version of the 
economic rationalist faith in the superiority of market forces as a 
mechanism for efficient resource allocation (Marginson, 1993). While 
the need for educational recovery' and 'second chance' opportunities is 
recognised, such programs have been re-defined in economic terms and 
subsumed within a corporate management framework which measures 
effectiveness in terms of participation targets and completion rates 
rather than the extent to which the social and educational needs of 
disadvantaged groups have been met.

To a large extent, the debate over the need for special access and 

equity initiatives in TAFE has been subsumed within the drive to reform 
the entry level training system. The Finn Review (1991) and the 
Carmichael Report (1992) proposed the development of a comprehensive 
and integrated framework of entry level training opportunities and 
pathways which would provide both broader coverage for women and 
disadvantaged groups and more effective linkages with the workplace and 
other educational sectors. In addition, both the Finn Review and 
Carmichael Report recommended wider application of strategies for 
setting targets to increase the access of specified groups to 
mainstream vocational programs, such as the National Plan of Action for 
Women in TAFE (DEET, 1991) and the Negotiated Targets Strategy in 
Victoria.

In effect, 'mainstreaming' and participation targets in TAFE are 
considered to obviate the need for special program provision. As Powles 
(1992) argued in relation to the Finn Review, the problem with this 
approach to access and equity - ie abandoning broad definitions of 
disadvantage in favour of strategies to increase the participation of 
smaller sub-groups of those identified 'at risk' - is that those on the 
margins of disadvantage such as early school leavers may well miss out.

In 1992, forty-nine per cent of all enrolments were in vocational 
streams (3100 -4500), fifteen per cent in preparatory streams (2100 - 
2200) and thirty six per cent in recreational/ enrichment programs 
(stream 1000) (NCVER, 1993).  Stream 1000 has grown more rapidly in 
recent times than vocational and preparatory streams (2100 - 4500), 
numbers rising between 1985 and 1992 by fifty three per cent and twenty 
one per cent respectively. It has frequently been observed that the 
so-called recreational stream acts as a first, often tentative, contact 
with post-school education, by which means many, particularly older 
women, can overcome psycho-social barriers to further participation 
(Martin, 1988; Barnett, 1993). Often these courses provide vocational 
content and vocational outcomes or act as a point of transition to 
mainstream courses (STBV, 1988a; Edgar, 1987), thereby potentially 
offering access to, and progression through, the system. Despite 
concerted attempts to attain national consistency in course 
classification since 1985 some overlap remains. Nevertheless, stream 
1000 courses are not recognised as having vocational content by TAFE 
authorities (Stevenson and Mountney, 1985) and, by falling into the 
'hobby category', attract fees. Neither of these factors would pertain 
in a social service view of TAFE, whereas economic utilitarians would 
argue that the (declared) recreational nature of these courses attracts 
an older middle class clientele with the ability to pay. In this case, 
it should be asked whether the higher socio-economic profile of stream 
1000 is the result of these structural factors and, conversely, to what 
extent and for whom they constitute barriers.


Selection

'Open access' policy recommendations in the 1970s were not the sole 
preserve of the Kangan Committee (Beswick et al, 1983). They appeared 
in various contexts in the Karmel Report on the Open University in 
1975, in Dennison's study for the Commission of Inquiry into Poverty in 
1976 and in the Williams Report of 1979. None of these conceived all 
courses being immediately open to all, but rather that everyone who 
wished to enter might be offered some way in - a notion consistent with 
the social service view of TAFE detailed earlier. From the early 1980s, 
however, it became apparent as demand increased and resources dwindled 
that access to TAFE was being limited by its available supply of 
places. According to Hawke and Sweet:

At a time of growing pressure for accountability, a commitment to open 
 or unfettered access, with its implied emphasis on equity at the 
 expense of efficiency, becomes increasingly difficult to maintain. . 
 [I]n the climate of the early 1980s a commitment to more equitable 
 access to TAFE needs to rest on a rationale which recognises a need for 
 accountability and which at the same time avoids the risk of resulting 
 action being seen as marginal to the mainstream of TAFE's provision. 
 (1983, p.2)
  
By 1990, the swing of the pendulum towards economic utility is quite 
evident. The Scott Report disparages 'an emphasis on "open access" to 
TAFE with "enrolments for enrolment's sake" taking precedence over the 
education and training needs of industry and commerce.' (1990, p.6). 

Emphasis on vocational courses and industry destinations thus 
supersedes concern about how people enter the system and how a measure 
of fairness might be attained in selecting them.
  
Through national surveys in 1987, an attempt was made to explore the 
nature of the shift. Powles (1990b) proposed that from the point where 
a course can no longer accommodate all qualified applicants, a series 
of 'evolutionary' phases ensue until selective admissions are adopted.
  
Although residual elements of open access were to be found in some 
colleges, these tended to serve sparsely-populated rural communities or 
were newer ones in developing outer metropolitan areas where community 
response had not had time to advance. As demand for places began to 
exceed supply, a first-come, first-served (fc-fs) for admissions was a 
common first response and is still prevalent. Few colleges were 
operating entirely on that system (these were predominantly regional), 
but often it was used within the same college alongside other high 
demand courses in which competitive selection procedures had been 
introduced. When asked to list advantages and disadvantages of fc-fs, 
Powles' respondents were evenly divided. Those in favour mentioned 
fairness - in that students with the prerequisite qualifications were 
treated equally, the method was objective, free from values of 
selectors, it was administratively simple, and thought to be acceptable 
to the community. A majority of respondents who listed disadvantages of 
fc-fs said it was unfair - to potentially suitable applicants who did 
not make it to the queue because of employment, distance and family 
responsibilities; queues were considered undesirable from the 
applicant's point of view and embarrassing for the college. Others 
indicated that without selective admissions, standards would be 
lowered, and because there would be more students who did not 'match' 
the course well, attrition would be greater. Clearly, their opinions 
reflected notions about 'appropriate' clienteles.

Demand is now high and selective admissions are widespread. These 'have 
evolved at a faster rate and are relatively more prevalent in full-time 
programs and higher level courses where demand has been precipitous, 
and where there is a relatively higher human and monetary cost 
investment.' (Powles, 1990b, pp.62-63). Often, if queueing has been 
abandoned, application or pre-enrolment forms have been introduced with 
the purpose first, of culling applicants who do not meet course 
requirements and secondly, in many cases, to choose amongst the 
qualified according to specified criteria. Interviews may be used for 
the same purposes, alone or in addition to forms such as those just 
mentioned.
  
The next evolutionary development - competitive selection - is 
described as 'explosive', resulting, however, in a 'veritable dog's 
breakfast of different, most often locally-developed, selection 

instruments, methods and processes, which have little consistency even 
between similar offerings at the same level, in the same field, in the 
same geographic area.' (Powles, 1990b, p.63). Several survey 
respondents confirmed an earlier observation (Hawke and Sweet, 1983) 
that many of the methods in use were of dubious validity and intent. 
Selection bias was apparent in many full-time middle level 
(certificate) programs for which people who had completed a higher 
school certificate were given preference over applicants who met lower 
level stipulated prerequisites; the more articulate and 'well 
presented' interviewee was favoured; those with a 'more professional 
approach' (NSW TAFE, 1990b, p.35) were welcomed - all of whom are 
likely to be socially advantaged. When asked to rate the importance of 
a series of statements concerning purposes of selection, likely success 
on the course was nominated most frequently by Powles' respondents. 
This subscale included selecting the most capable, the keenest and 
selecting out those who were likely to fail or withdraw. Items on a 
'social equity' subscale (matching the social composition of students 
to that in the community, positive discrimination for disadvantaged 
groups, effecting principles of social justice) received the lowest 
ratings irrespective of course level.

The study emphasised that selection to a course is a process, each 
stage of which needs to be critically examined for evidence of bias - 
from published information about prerequisites and what lies in store, 
to pre-course academic, career and welfare counselling, through to 
application of a validated selection method with a rigorously defined 
set of objectives (see also Haigh, 1987). All of these stages will be 
affected by the way the balance tips in favour of social service or 
economic utility. If it is to the latter, changes in the socio-economic 
spectrum of the population would be expected, with a skew towards the 
upper end.


Academic drift

A tendency towards academic drift is likely to hasten a shift in the 
TAFE student population towards the upper end of the socio-economic 
profile. As early as 1976, Lloyd (2.4) predicted that 'the "standard" 
of certificate courses [is likely to] drift upwards - resulting from a 
misplaced drive among teachers for "academic respectability"' just as 
Armstrong (1979) saw the colleges of advanced education abdicating 
their role in the preparation of para-professionals in favour of 
developing degree courses. The tendency in TAFE is apparent (whatever 
the motive). It has been accelerated in part as a result of changes in 
nomenclature and reorganisation of course offerings (Stevenson and 
Mountney, 1985). Many courses traditionally conducted at year ten 
admissions level have now been re-accredited as associate diplomas with 
year twelve entry. High youth unemployment and excess demand for 
post-school qualifications in recent years have fuelled credentialism, 
thereby confirming the upward drift in TAFE provision. In NSW, for 
example, TAFE enrolments increased by 75 per cent between 1989 and 1991 
for courses leading to an associate diploma. In Victoria, the number of 
20 to 24 year-olds commencing advanced certificate and associate 
diploma courses increased by 73 per cent between 1985 and 1990. (ESFC, 
1993). TAFE continues to look 'upwards' as articulation with higher 
education and credit transfer become more of a reality (Beswick et al, 
1983; Parkinson, 1985; Golding, 1995a & b).

The upwards drift in academic status of TAFE courses is compounded by 
'downward' pressure from partially or fully qualified university 
students seeking additional qualifications from TAFE. Golding (1995a & 
b) has discovered that between 1990 and 1994 in Victoria, up to 25 per 

cent of enrollees in TAFE associate diploma, diploma and certificate 
courses had university backgrounds and the numbers far exceeded those 
going on from TAFE to university. The combined forces of credential 
creep and so-called reverse transfer are likely to displace TAFE's 
traditional clienteles.


Fees and financial assistance

In 1974, the Whitlam Government abolished tertiary fees. In that year, 
and subsequently, States Grants Acts (under which TAFE monies were 
allocated by the Commonwealth) included the condition that no tuition 
fees would be charged. The definition of fees did not include those 
payable to student organisations, or for services of a non-academic 
nature. Ryan and Scholefield (1990, p.2) observed how 'the late 1980s 
saw a swing away from . the mood which accompanied the abolition. . 
Reduction in public expenditures and the applications of user pays 
principles became important government goals'. Significant policy 
changes have since occurred, including the introduction of the tax 
debit scheme for university graduates (HECS), removal of the fees 
prohibition for TAFE courses, and an increased application of service, 
administrative and materials charges. The last mentioned had become a 
'bewildering array' of fees and charges under a variety of appellations 
and a wide spectrum of levels - differing from college to college and 
from state to state. The Deveson Review (1990) considered this 
situation to have arisen because of the 'need to avoid direct 
confrontation' with tuition fee provision under the Commonwealth's 
States Grants (TAFE Assistance) Act. In the Committee's view, the first 
step towards 'the development of more open, rational and equitable 
charging arrangements in TAFE' would be the removal of the fee 
restrictions under the Act accompanied by an 'equity package'. 
(pp.48-53, our italics). With the subsequent removal of the fee embargo 
by the Commonwealth, however, it could be argued that these proposals 
were the thin edge of the wedge, the consequences of which have been 
documented in NSW and Tasmania.

Costs to the student increased dramatically from 1988 to 1989 in NSW, 
when 'administration' charges were introduced on a state-wide basis. 
They increased again in 1990 and further increases were mooted for 
1991. In 1989, an extraordinary 17 per cent decrease occurred in 
enrolments (NSW TAFE, 1989a) with a further decrease in 1990 - a total 
estimated drop of 100,000 enrolments. In effect, total enrolments in 
NSW TAFE fell from 474,051 in 1987 to 368,619 in 1990 - a 24 per cent 
decrease. (NSW TAFE, 1990b). While administration charges and 
associated problems have undoubtedly contributed to this trend, further 
examination of where decreases occurred would seem to indicate a strong 
price-sensitive effect. From NSW TAFE data (1989 and 1990) it can be 
determined that enrolment drops were greater in: country regions 
compared with more affluent metropolitan Sydney, with the former 
showing enrolments falls of 19 per cent in 1988-89 and 7 per cent in 
1990; isolated colleges servicing poorer communities, with West Wyalong 
dropping 50 per cent and Moree falling by 75 per cent in 1989 and 1990 
; external studies which attract a lower SES clientele than do 
part-time or full-time modes (Anwyl et al, 1986); groups aged thirty or 
more, many of whom are educationally disadvantaged women; the 
para-professional stream where the fee increases were greatest; and 
amongst full-timers in stream 2200, the largest 'access' point for 
young people and notable for its low SES skew. Colleges with 
predominantly female populations suffered serious falls in 1989 and 
1990, with enrolments in the School of Fashion declining by 46 per cent 
and similar falls in areas with high relative proportions of female 
students, such as catering and nutrition management (50 per cent), 

office administration (36 per cent), art and design (30 per cent) and 
general studies (12 per cent).

The Tasmanian experience reveals similar trends in access and 
participation rates, particularly for women, in the wake of fee 
increases (Dallas and Wieranga, 1992; Potter, 1992). After the 
introduction of fees in 1991, women's enrolments declined by 18 per 
cent in contrast to those of men which decreased by 13 per cent. By the 
end of 1992, the gap between female and male enrolments had extended 
from 6 per cent to 12 per cent. In particular, female enrolments in 
commercial studies courses fell by 30 per cent from 1990 to 1991. While 
the precise nature and relative importance of causal factors are 
unclear, such data nevertheless suggest that these declines are in part 
attributable to fee increases.

In this context, it should be mentioned that most of the groups who 
were deterred from re-enrolling in higher education by the prospect of 
HECS (Robertson et al, 1990) are more prevalent in TAFE - mature age 
people, part-timers, external students, those from families in which 
parents have low levels of education, non-native speakers, and those 
who are economically disadvantaged. Obviously there are many overlaps 
with the very groups amongst whom enrolment decreases were greatest in 
NSW following the introduction of administrative charges. On the other 
hand, it has been shown, albeit briefly, that TAFE's population 
characteristics are multi-dimensional, and that fees would, and are, 
impinging on the circumstances of people who are less readily 
detectable in terms of a disadvantage checklist or an equity 'package'. 
In NSW, the number of applicants (deemed disadvantaged on a range of 
criteria) who qualified for exemptions from the charge was severely 
underestimated: exemption quotas were introduced; selection amongst the 
disadvantaged has to take place. However, 'the qualifying cut-off point 
for exemptions and concessional treatment raises further equity 
concerns involving the likely displacement of those groups at the 
margins of this point.' (Barnett, 1994).

The thin edge of the wedge described above bodes ill for the less 
privileged. This includes the many whose vocational goals are least 
defined and who consequently fall into the economic utilitarian 
category of 'frivolous consumers'. The obverse is that fees can distort 
the educational choices made by those least able to pay. Potter's 1992 
study of women with low incomes in Tasmanian adult education courses 
identified a tendency amongst this group to select shorter, less 
expensive and more vocationally oriented courses rather than 
'traditional' adult courses in the wake of the fee increases since 1989 
(cited in Barnett, 1994).

An apposite contrast may be observed with prevailing attitudes in 1974 
when not only were fees abolished, but the Tertiary Education 
Assistance Scheme (TEAS) was introduced. By providing non-competitive, 
income-tested allowances for full-time tertiary students, TEAS was 
underpinned by major concerns for expansion and reform in the public 
sector. The Hon. K E Beazley's Second Reading speech on the Student 
Assistance Bill 1973 exemplified the social service function of the 
scheme. He said:

student allowances ought to be sufficient to give students the leisure 
 to think as they pursued their studies¼[they] should therefore be 
 sufficient to meet basic living costs¼with the highest levels of 
 assistance directed to those who did not have access to family or 
 personal resources sufficient to keep them during their years of study. 
 (DEET, 1986, pp.4-5)

TEAS was not the only form of income support then available for TAFE 
students. By the early 1980s, it was recognised that the multiplicity 
of allowances and benefits paid to students or their parents required 
rationalisation. Early documentation revealed how different levels of 
financial assistance, the criteria attached to them and the sources of 
that support could have perverse effects on incentives and considerable 
inequity in distribution (Wilenski, 1983; DEET, 1983). Subsequent 
research has highlighted the issue in TAFE with respect to gaps and 
anomalies created by confused definitions of stream, course entry level 
requirements, full-time or part-time status, and what constituted 
'secondary', 'post-secondary' and 'tertiary education'. (Powles, 1984; 
Goozee, 1985, 1986). 

Discrepancies between stipend levels provided under education and 
training schemes at that time (administered by separate Commonwealth 
departments) as well as between the types of courses designated to 
attract allowances, prompted criticism that 'training' was somehow 
accorded more value to the community in terms of public investment in 
student support than general, basic, remedial or liberal programs 
grouped as 'education' (Powles, 1984). Sweet (1987) observed, moreover, 
that individual choice could be thereby manipulated.

Although changes to student assistance policy were introduced with 
AUSTUDY in 1987 (Powles, 1987b), and modified, particularly in the 
1992/3 Commonwealth budget, they did not include any emergency loans 
scheme for TAFE as had been propounded from the early 1980s (eg. Powles 
1984, Goozee 1985, 1986) and again recommended by the Deveson Review 
(1990). As Goozee observes, 'the changes . did not go far enough and, 
yet again, only played around the margins.' (1993, p.134).

How can student assistance schemes be allocated adequate funding? The 
Yeatman Report from South Australia was certainly not the first to 
express a view (Davidson, 1988; Farrar, 1987; Marginson, 1988) which 
this paper endorses.
  
A taxation-funded public tertiary education sector which does not have 
 fees as one of its barriers to access is much more in accord with a 
 genuinely universal framework of income support. (Yeatman, 1988).


Conclusions

While access and equity in TAFE have received some attention in recent 
policy developments, Powles argues in a discussion of the implications 
of the Finn Review (1991), that 'the concepts of "access" and "equity" 
which often nowadays have little more depth of meaning than catchwords, 
need some sustained debate.' (1992, p.61). These issues have remained 
largely peripheral in the development of national strategies for 
increasing the participation of young people in post-compulsory 
education and training. This apparent indifference can be attributed in 
large part to the ascendancy of economic rationalism and the 
preoccupation with economic objectives in debates about public 
education policy. As Marginson puts it, 'education is now seen as a 
branch of economic policy rather than a mix of social, economic and 
cultural policy. To the extent that there is a continuing concern about 
social policy in education, it is mostly understood as labour market 
policy.' (1993, p.56). This observation is especially pertinent to TAFE 
which occupies a strategic position at the education/labour market 
interface. Both as a consequence and a contributing factor to the 
current policy distance from the issues has been the dearth since the 
early 1990s of any systematic analysis of participation and barriers to 
access in TAFE. Moreover, the absence of any large-scale surveys of the 

demographic and socio-economic profile of the TAFE student population 
has contributed to an environment in which policy has been developed in 
an effective vacuum of information regarding its potential social 
implications.

By superimposing two conjectural (and deliberately dichotomous) 'social 
service' and 'economic utility' perspectives upon some of TAFE's 
features, changes within the system have been explored as they relate 
to notions of participation, access and equity. This is also a useful 
device for questioning how these terms are interpreted under different 
conditions. It has been argued in this paper that the terms are used 
freely but less often debated. As Farrar (1987, p.21) puts it, 
'people's ideas of what is politically or socially fair can be appealed 
to precisely because it's taken as self-evident.'

It has been shown that many elements of the hypothetical economic 
utility view of TAFE, having gained currency from the mid 1980s, are 
now much in evidence, and are likely to persist through the 1990s. 
These need to be critically examined against 'self-evident' 
assumptions. It is not self evident that further enrolment increases 
are desirable in the interests of developing a broader skills base to 
underpin economic growth, unless it is asked: Whence the resources for 
expansion? What are the limits to expansion? In setting limits, how are 
priorities ordered? Who will benefit? Who will miss out, and why?

As this paper has revealed, it can no longer be assumed that the TAFE 
population represents the wider community in microcosm. Nor can policy 
rest on assumptions as to its older, part-time student/ full-time 
worker majority clientele with a peppering of disadvantaged groups. 
Instead, it needs to be asked, in terms of its demographic and 
socio-economic profile: Who is entering the system and why? Who is not? 
How, at what points of the sector, and for whom can barriers to 
participation arise? What factors affect observed changes in the 
population's composition?

Through this paper's approach to questions such as these, recurrent 
themes have been identified. The nature of 'access', selective 
admissions, credential creep, costs to the student, and targeting 
remain important issues in TAFE for the next decade. Each will be 
affected by the way the balance tips in favour of social service or 
economic utility. If it is the latter, it is likely that an 
accumulation of current trends will evidence further shifts within TAFE 
to the disadvantage of the socio-economically under-privileged.



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