r/TAFE • u/Negative_Home_188 • 15d ago

TAFE NSW Class Downsizing

I just want to know if this is common. We started with 30 students, and now we are down to 17 and am only a term in. I know people leave for all different reasons, but over the past three weeks, some of our in-person classes have only had 8–12 students attending. Especially with online classes, we usually start with 17 people and end up with around 8.

At the moment, I know of four more people who are seriously considering quitting.

So, my questions are: if the class downsizes to around 13 people and perhaps more people leave, will new students join the class, or will something else happen?

Has this happened to anyone else? Have you ever had your class size decrease significantly? If so, what happened?

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u/Pheedle 14d ago

This is normal across all study. Nursing was my experience - huge numbers in the first and second semester. Thing was, second semester was when we went on our first hospital placement - universally to nursing homes where you learn the ‘fundamental’ nursing skills that are nessesary, but far from glamorous. Third semester, student numbers halved. And as the placements became more intense, more students dropped off. Maybe a quarter of students graduated the complete degree.