Neil Hauxwell
Neil is a former TAFE teacher and Language Literacy and Numeracy Specialist. He has worked on a range of youth, adult community, prison and workplace programs.
Recent articles by Neil Hauxwell
17 January 2025
An Australian endangered species – Owner builders
High house prices are usually reckoned to be a product of supply, demand and the self- interests of the finance industry. This piece sets out a case for a fourth factor – post de-regulation regulatory stupidity. I have illustrated issues with examples from Gippsland in Victoria, but I suspect that the problems are nationwide.
8 November 2024
Josef Stiglitz and national productivity: the need for a new TAFE
When Nobel economists Joseph Stiglitz recently said that Australia’s future prosperity is tied to us acting to become a “Knowledge Economy” there was subdued muttering of the “Fee Free TAFE” mantra from a few Labor federal parliamentarians. This was followed by multi-party total inaction. Could it be that our federal political leaders, who have been so negligent in allowing our TAFE system to slide into its current overall state of decrepitude, are now too embarrassed to even talk about it?
15 April 2024
TAFE shutting the door on the battlers
Recent figures show that around 30% of Australian school children do not have adequate reading skills. This 30% of Australian school children need vocational knowledge and skills to find a productive place in Australian life, but some will have their reading tested by TAFE then told, without a hint of irony, “You need to go back to school”.
6 January 2024
What needs to change in vocational education
TAFEs Competency Based Training sounds logical but dig a little and its roots are exposed. CBT has its origins in the post WW2 era of the Scientific Management of workers and production lines. In this world, products, processes and people are all standardised, the better for a hierarchy of management control.
11 June 2023
Welcoming the New TAFE, a spring-board to fulfilling working lives
A TAFE system built around ideas for running 1950s American car-making factories is pretty much an anachronism in Australia in 2023, particularly when our future depends on innovation and rising productivity. But before New TAFE starts, Old TAFE must have a long, hard look at itself.
11 December 2022
A story of how the market gods failed TAFE and what needs to be done
At both federal and state levels, the Market Gods Cult has failed to deliver. Its been a tragic waste of human and economic potential. Its time to resort to rationality in our TAFE arrangements.