[dbaust] article
- From: "Trudy Ryall" <trudy.ryall@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <dbaust@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 31 May 2012 02:43:48 +1000
Save Auslan TAFE Courses
May 25, 2012
Dear Tertiary Education Minister Mr Peter Hall,
We wish to ensure the continuation of comprehensive high-level Auslan training.
Why is this important?
The Victorian state government have cut the TAFE budget by $300 million. As a
result, Kangan Institute has stated that it can no longer viably run the
Diploma of Auslan, and is closing its department in December 2012.
This Diploma is the only of its kind still available in Victoria, and the only
officially recognised qualification which provides a professional pathway to
Auslan interpreting and education. This foundation of skill is vital for people
to be able to work within the Deaf community at a consistent professional
standard. If we cannot attain that level of proficiency, the level of the
service provided to the Deaf community will decline devastatingly.
With the closure of this Diploma course, students can no longer attain the
qualification necessary to progress to post-graduate interpreting and education
courses, leaving us without interpreters or teachers of the Deaf and other
relevant and integral professional positions in the language, education and
disability sectors. Eventually this would lead to the closure of those
post-graduate courses entirely, and cut off the number of professional
interpreters, in a state which is already under strain with interpreter
shortages. Overall the result would be a devastating setback in the rights of
Deaf people and their access to unobstructed information, communication and
services by means of reintroducing a severe cultural and language barrier.
The provision of a full-time Auslan course at Diploma level is necessary to
continue upholding Deaf rights and access. We wish to ensure the continuation
of comprehensive high-level Auslan training.
Other related posts:
