e-WAALC NEWS November
2006
e-WAALC News is the
electronic newsletter of the Western Australian Adult Literacy Council.
WELCOME
The WAALC Excessive Committee prepares and
sends e-WAALC News to members each month. We welcome your comments,
suggestions, and contributions to the newsletter.
This newsletter is also available in the
‘News’ section of our web site http://www.waalc.com.au
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IN THIS ISSUE OF e-WAALC News:
1) Celebrate the
end of another year
2) Reports from the ACAL conference: Literacy: it's everyone's business
3) Planning for
the WAALC conference 2007
4) CGEA
re-accreditation
5) Congratulations
Read Write Now!
6) New members?
7) ‘Contacts’ update
8) Unsubscribe?
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1. Celebrate the end of another year
WAALC members and friends are invited to
join the executive committee for dinner at Basil Leaves restaurant in
Basil Leaves offers reasonably priced Thai
food in a peaceful location by the stream that runs into Claisebrook
Cove. It is BYO so bring your favourite
alcoholic drink. Address:
The executive will be holding their
December meeting in the cafe area on the ground floor of e-Central TAFE prior to
the dinner (
RSVP to Cheryl Wiltshire on cheryl.wiltshire.det.wa.edu.au or 0437972043 by December 10th.
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2.
Reports from the ACAL conference
WAALC assisted a number of members to
attend the 2006 ACAL Conference – ‘Literacy it’s everyone’s
business’. The conference this year was
in
Jim Plumridge
attended the conference as the Western Australian state representative on the
ACAL executive committee. He reports:
"Most speakers seemed to believe that literacy is for and about business
and nothing else. In the first panel discussion, the Adult Literacy and Life
Skills Survey (ALLS) was described as having been
carried out from ‘a human capital perspective’.
That was the prelude to much earnest discussion, on both days of the
conference, on the relation of literacy and numeracy to labour market
outcomes. Very little was said about
reasons for becoming literate that were unconnected with getting a job.
One or two speakers challenged the
prevailing orthodoxy, reflecting the policies of all Australian governments,
that education and training must be driven overwhelmingly by economic
imperatives and that ‘measurement’ is the key to a happier future for all. One speaker warned that ‘literacy is being
reframed as employability.’ Elizabeth McInnes spoke eloquently on regressive changes to the
social security system impacting on VET, while Janet Giles from the SA union
movement gave an electrifying account of how Commonwealth government policies
such as Workchoices and Welfare to Work have the
potential to disrupt Australian lives."
Sue McKay was another delegate. Sue became a member of the WAALC executive in July and is a volunteer coordinator Read Write Now! Adult literacy program. She reports: "The workshop ‘Connecting Voices’ presenter Robyn Jay, gave an overview of ‘social software' such as ‘blogs’ ‘wikis’ and group bookmarking. These free web based tools enable people to connect and to form online communities. One on one tutoring can be isolating so I will be exploring these tools as methods of networking between tutors and new learning experiences for students. (For further information on ‘social software’ visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_software)
The Volunteer
Literacy Tutor Support Project (VOLTS) gave a preview of the ‘Literacy Face to
Face’ a resource to assist volunteer tutors and others who want to help someone
improve their literacy. ‘Literacy Face to Face’ will be online at www.lg.tafensw.edu.au/facetoface from mid
November and will augment the training materials and resources currently
available to volunteer tutors in
Darryl Dymock’s summary of findings from the NCVER
Research Project on Community Adult Language, Literacy and Numeracy Provision
in
A third WA delegate
to the conference, Deborah Duffy, is a long term WAALC member. Deb reports:
"As a literacy teacher in a metropolitan TAFE, I found the “big
picture” information presented in regard to government policies and their
impact on both literacy and numeracy providers and learners to be enlightening,
relevant and thought provoking. Listening to Janet Giles (SA Unions), Elspeth McInnes (sociologist and Convenor of the National Council
of Single Mothers and their Children) and Jill Sanguinetti
(Victoria University) share their thoughts on the impact of current government
policies, such as the new Industrial Relations laws and the Welfare to Work
scheme, certainly reinforced for us the vulnerability of many of our learners
and others with low literacy and language skills.
On a related
theme, Stephen Black and Ian Falk’s session on their NCVER
research, Reframing adult literacy and
numeracy course outcomes: A social capital perspective, provided a sense of
validation for those of us who continually see the qualitative benefits in
terms of social capital made by students in our literacy programs (and a useful
support for those of us constantly under pressure to justify our Module Load
Completion Rates to our managers!). This
research paper is really interesting to read and can be downloaded in its
entirety or as an executive summary from the NCVER
website at http://www.ncver.edu.au/publications/1683.html"
Robyn Rennie,
WAALC secretary, XXXXX
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3.
Planning for the WAALC conference 2007
Due to demand from delegates at this
year's WAALC conference, we have decided to revert to annual state conferences,
instead of holding it once in two years as has been recent practice. The executive have decided to hold the
conference in the July school holidays again: so put
Planning is under way. If you have ideas about the theme or
activities that be linked to the conference, please contact any of the
executive members to discuss.
Volunteers to help out with conference organisation are also
needed. Let us know if you would like to
be involved.
Watch out for more news in the coming
issues of e-WAALC News!
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4.
CGEA reaccreditation
The extension of the current CGEA
accreditation to
The VALBEC site
contains a report on the process from September. It states: "VALBEC considers that the processes of the re-accreditation have been
problematic for the level of change to the CGEA accredited course. We consider
that practitioner feedback and involvement is critical for the successful
implementation of the new course and that professional development following
the endorsement of the document cannot replace input and critical review by
practicing teachers in the field, during the development stage.' See http://www.valbec.org.au/ for the full report.
WAALC supports VALBEC's
position that needs to be more attention paid to concerns raised by
practitioners. Due to the level of
change imposed on the curriculum by the use of Training Package format, most
Western Australian practitioners are advocating further development with a much
higher input from users. The project
team have intimated that the basis of the concerns are a simply lack of
knowledge of Training Package format. Their
stated position is that professional development at implementation stage will
resolve the issues. WAALC does not
believe this is the source of the problem as so many CGEA teachers have
completed Certificate IV TAA or its predecessors. Many even teach courses written in Units of
Competence. These practitioners, arguably
well-informed, are clearly able to identify problems with the curriculum
document that are far beyond the difficulties of understanding the new, complex
format.
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5.
Congratulations Read Write Now!
WAALC would like to congratulate all
involved in the Read Write Now! program. Read Write Now! is
celebrating 30 years of providing literacy assistance to West Australians. The program provides a valuable alternative
community-based service to those who may not attend adult education classes at
present. Since it started in 1977, 4500
volunteer tutors have been trained. The
tutors have worked with about 20000 students.
Wishing past and present Read Write Now! students,
tutors and all who support them all the best as they mark this anniversary over
the coming year.
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6.
New members?
Who do you know that should be a WAALC member? You are welcome
to forward this newsletter to colleagues who you think should be a member of
WAALC. Or perhaps invite a prospective members to attend events like our end of year
dinner to meet other members.
Membership forms are available at www.waalc.com.au
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7.
‘Contacts’ update
Let us know if your address changes
through one of the contact methods listed below.
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8.
Unsubscribe?
If you don't want to receive this
newsletter or wish to suspend it while you are away on leave, please email the
WAALC secretary, Robyn Rennie [robyn.rennie@optusnet.com.au].
Back issues will be available on the WAALC website for you to catch up when
you return.
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e-WAALC News is the monthly
electronic newsletter of (WAALC) the Western Australian Adult Literacy Council.
Web:
www.waalc.com.au
Postal: Attention
Robyn Rennie
WAALC
Level 3,
E-mail: Robyn Rennie robyn.rennie@optusnet.com.au
Phone : 08) 9482 7003 (
Fax: (08) 9322 2448