Australia needs more than 15,000 new VET educators by 2028. Every skills shortage report, every government inquiry, and every workforce strategy comes back to the same conclusion: we need more people who can teach.

And not just more of the same. We need a new kind of educator — people drawn from industry, from workplaces, from lived experience — who can bridge the gap between knowing how to do the work and knowing how to teach it.

The Certificate IV in Training and Assessment is arguably the most powerful gateway credential in the country. It opens the door to teaching in workplaces, in senior secondary programs like VDSS, across TAFEs, and in dual-sector universities.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth. Traditional TAE programs see dropout rates between 40 and 55 percent. Current VET educators report burnout at 64 per cent. And only half of all VET teaching vacancies are being filled — compared to 75 per cent for school teachers and 81 per cent for university lecturers.

 We don’t have a talent problem. We have a design problem.

When we started looking at this closely, we heard the same story repeated across the sector. TAFE delivers rigour. It’s affordable. It’s essential. But its structures were often designed for full-time learners, not working professionals trying to fit study around a career and a life.

Private providers offer flexibility and efficiency. But students frequently report feeling isolated, unsupported, and left to figure it out alone. Both have genuine merits and genuine markets. This isn’t about picking sides.

But when we sat with the question long enough — what would we build if we started from scratch? — we realised we had to return to first principles.

Here’s what struck us most: the TAE is a qualification about teaching. But most TAE programs don’t actually teach you how to teach. They teach the system. Standards for RTOs, training packages, competency-based assessment, compliance documentation. All essential. All non-negotiable.

But none of it answers the question that actually matters to someone standing in front of a room full of learners for the first time:

How do I connect with these people? How do I make this land?

As Cristina Rojas — the developer of our Holistic Educator program — puts it: “The best educators don’t just deliver content. They create conditions where people feel safe enough to learn, grow, and believe in themselves again.”

That’s not a compliance skill. That’s a human skill. And it’s the skill most TAE programs don’t develop.

TAE Plus is a reimagined Certificate IV in Training and Assessment delivered by SportsReady Education (RTO 22394). It pairs the full accredited qualification with what we call the Holistic Educator stream — a structured program that develops the inner capability beneath the technical skills.

The accredited TAE units are delivered with rigour by experienced VET practitioners, including our newly appointed Senior TAE Educator, Chris Blanch, whose depth of expertise and experience is already strengthening our program. Alongside the technical content, every week, learners engage with material that develops self-awareness, communication, emotional regulation, reflective practice, and professional identity.

The introductory program runs over eight weeks in a supported cohort model — a maximum of 15 participants per group, with weekly live sessions and structured online learning. In that time, students gain two certified Skill Sets and three nationally accredited TAE units, and can begin working as a trainer under supervision with confidence and clarity.

It was designed for working professionals. For career changers. For people who’ve tried the TAE before and walked away feeling like something was missing. And it was designed for ultimate flexibility: the 8-week program pathways directly into our full TAE qualification or into Free TAFE — because the goal was never to lock anyone in, but to open doors.

One of the biggest shifts we’re seeing post-COVID is in the learners themselves. They’re walking into training rooms carrying more than they used to — more stress, more disconnection, more fatigue from navigating a world that hasn’t slowed down.

Meanwhile, educators are stretched thin. Compliance demands, outcome pressures, classrooms more complex than ever.

A one-size-fits-all approach to educator development no longer cuts it. The sector doesn’t just need qualified trainers — it needs people who can read a room, hold space under pressure, and adapt their approach when the textbook answer isn’t working.

We can’t achieve that by running people through a two-week intensive and hoping for the best. We can’t achieve it by burying them in twelve months of systems training without ever developing their confidence. And we certainly can’t achieve it by leaving people to figure it out alone online.

We need something sane. Something that respects the rigour of the qualification, develops the whole educator, supports people through completion, and actually prepares them to do the job well.

We aren’t here to compete with anyone. We’re here to coordinate.

We see TAE Plus as a feeder pathway — into Free TAFE, into workforce development programs, into the classrooms where qualified educators are desperately needed. We’ve already started working with public RTOs to make this a seamless entry point into their offerings.

• You know someone who started a TAE but didn’t finish — not because they couldn’t do it, but because the model didn’t work for them.
• You lead an RTO or TAFE and you’re looking for ways to get industry experts qualified, confident, and classroom-ready faster.
• You manage workforce development and need an affordable, supportive way to turn your subject matter experts into mentors.
• Or you’re someone who doesn’t just want to teach, but wants to teach in a way that feels grounded, human, and impactful.

The VET sector is the backbone of Australia’s future workforce. Let’s build the educator pipeline it deserves.

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Andrew Lawlor | Executive Manager – Education Programs

andrew.lawlor@aflsportsready.com.au