A former head teacher at TAFE’s Maitland campus – made redundant after 35 years – has spoken of her heartbreak for students unable to further their education there because of recent government cutbacks.
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Rhonda Fry said of 100 staff who taught tourism and hospitality at the TAFE NSW Hunter Institute Metford, only about 30 still had their jobs.
“It is truly heartbreaking for me to see how desperate many students are to break the poverty cycle by improving their education at TAFE – only to see teachers’ jobs vanish,” Ms Fry said yesterday.
Ms Fry became a TAFE teacher in 1979 and was made a head teacher at the Maitland campus in 1992.
She worked there until January 16 this year, when she was made redundant.
During that time, she won several awards, including the Gold Premier’s Award in Hunter Health.
“I was given that award for working at a Maitland caravan park, helping people trying to get ahead with a better education,” Ms Fry said.
“It’s the fate of these people – and scores more like them – that really concerns me now.
“Our TAFE courses were a lifeline for so many people struggling to learn.
“At our tourism and hospitality campus, we did a lot of work with extremely disadvantaged people.
“It was wonderful to see an amazing change come over them when they discovered how education could help them.
“A young woman was doing our course who had been to jail, had a baby when she was 15 and had been in multiple foster homes.
“The incredible happened: she did a course at TAFE with us and I will never forget her expression when she got her first job.
“It really worries me that private concerns are now being employed by the government, making big dollars to do the work we once did.”
Education Minister Adrian Piccoli was unavailable for comment.
