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BENDIGO TAFE has said it is proud of its veterinary nursing course, and is planning on opening its own practice, despite more students speaking out about what they believe is a lack of organisation at the tertiary institution.
Four more of the TAFE’s first veterinary nursing cohort contacted the Bendigo Advertiser after it was reported in December student Jemma Rainbow was demanding a refund of her course fees.
Common complaints among the disgruntled students include a “revolving door” of teachers, lengthy waits for assignments to be marked and a failed promise to find students work experience.
Shannon Wallace wanted to work in a veterinary clinic since childhood, so was overjoyed when her local TAFE began offering the qualification, the first of its kind in central Victoria.
But her excitement quickly turned to disappointment because of what she called “chaos” at the TAFE.
“Everything was just so unorganised,” she said.
“Half the time we didn't know what we were doing.”
Despite leaving the course after just one year, Ms Wallace estimates she still outlaid as much as $700 for her study, a sum she said was significant.
She has given up hope of seeing the money again.
“I'm very disappointed and I'm very frustrated because I know, even if I did try to get money back, It'd be like getting blood out of a stone,” Ms Wallace said.
Bendigo TAFE food and fibre education manager Nicole Broe said there were “a few teething issues” when the course began in 2015.
While she was confident the problems were resolved, Ms Broe said the course’s “high popularity” meant some students had trouble securing work placements.
Placement completion dates were extended to allow more time for students to undertake fieldwork and practical placements were offered in a “simulated clinical work environment” at the TAFE, she said.
“We are also continuing to build strong partnerships with local veterinary clinics and other animal workplaces to formalise placement arrangements and increase work placement opportunities, to better manage the demand.”
There are also plans for the TAFE’s new food and fibre centre at its Charleston Road campus to include a working veterinary clinic.
But news of the clinic was cold comfort for graduate Catherine Jordan who said she does not feel qualified to work in a veterinary setting despite finishing the course.
A lack of hands-on training meant she was considering more study before becoming a working veterinary nurse.
“We didn’t touch an animal for the first year, first year-and-a-half,” Ms Jordan said.
“That's mind-blowing to me.
“You can only read it so many times in a book because when it comes down to doing things, it’s a completely different scenario.”
What she had learned came from work experience she sourced herself after the TAFE failed to find her practical placement.
She travelled to Maryborough for her unpaid work placement, after failing to find opportunities closer to her Lockwood home.
TAFE documents supplied to its students explained the institution would liaise with workplaces.
“It would be better if you did not contact the employer yourself until arrangements have been made by the Bendigo TAFE practical placement contact,” one document read.
“But all of us ended up out there, in the clinics, hounding them. The clinics just got fed up,” Ms Jordan said.
“The receptionists ended up just rolling their eyes.”