The millions of dollars being poured into head office, at the same time as classes, teaching staff and disability support workers continue to be cut at TAFE campuses, has angered parents and students.

Kate Hollamby has been told that the disability support worker who is vital for her son James, 34, who is profoundly deaf and autistic, to participate in classes at TAFE’s Tamworth campus has lost her job.

“She is a deaf person herself. We have never had such a terrific support worker. She uses a deaf person’s first language, Auslan, and is the hub of the deaf community in Tamworth,” said Ms Hollamby, who lives in Quirindi.

The support worker had been employed by TAFE for 25 years.

“My son is angry and confused,” she said.

Ms Hollamby says she has been told the reason support workers are being dropped is they don’t achieve “outcomes”, which she says is outrageous.

“My son has been able to achieve his certificate II in agriculture. He’s been able to achieve a driver’s licence for articulated tractors. Now, through these cutbacks, choices have become limited,” she said.

She said a “vicious circle” had emerged, as fewer courses open to disabled students led to reduced demand for support workers.

NSW Labor’s vocational training spokeswoman, Prue Carr, said: “Students with disability in the country can’t keep a support worker, but the government is hiring highly paid executives at head office. The government’s priorities are wrong.”

She said there was no TAFE campus where skilled teachers haven’t been cut.

Education Minister Adrian Piccoli had previously pledged that disabled students wouldn’t be worse off under TAFE competition reforms that force institutes to compete with the private sector for government funding.

But TAFE NSW has since been moved into the industry and skills portfolio, headed by Skills Minister John Barilaro. He declined to comment for this story.

A leaked flow chart of the TAFE NSW structure shows a new tier of 14 general managers at head office reporting to managing director Jon Black, entirely separate to the 10 TAFE institutes.

The McKinsey contract with TAFE NSW is to “undertake the comprehensive restructure of its business and operating model over the period to 18 August, 2018.”

In February, it was revealed the states and federal government were working on a proposal for a national takeover of vocational training, to start from January 2018. 

Mr Barilaro said at the time that the deadline in the draft paper of June 2016 for the states to complete TAFE reforms was too soon, and TAFE NSW wouldn’t be ready for full competition with private colleges. 

The McKinsey contract, signed this week, appears to show the Baird Government is preparing for the national takeover later in 2018.

A TAFE NSW spokesman said a NSW Government audit had recommended TAFE NSW respond to the highly competitive VET market.

TAFE NSW was establishing a new leadership team after moving out of the education department, he said.

“The new TAFE NSW leadership team is funded by the corporate services costs currently paid to the Department of Education,” the spokesman said. 

TAFE New England institute director Peter Heilbuth said the institute would continue to provide support services for students with disabilities.

“We are reorganising the delivery of those services to provide greater support and flexibility for students, including delivery of support services in the community,” he said.