literacy linkDecember 2002

NEWSLETTER OF THE AUSTRALIAN COUNCIL FOR ADULT LITERACY ISSN 0158-3026 Vol 22 No 6

A C A L

c o n t e n t s :New ACAL executive . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Exploring the International

Adult Literacy survey . . . . . . . . .3

ACAL Presidents report 2002 . . . . . . .4

Literacy student award . . . . . . . . . . . .5

Training packageslocker out

or invited in? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

NCVER survey of literacy students . . .7

Youth focus readers . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

New resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

ACAL forumrecent arrivals

in Australia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

Moving memoriesANTA innovative

program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

New web siteNSW ALNC . . . . . . . .15

Literacy contact details . . . . . . . . . . .16

Approximately 240 literacy, numeracy andESL practit ioners attended the 25thNational ACAL Conference in ManlyNSW from 1-2 November and, if the forum heldthe day before is included, the number swellsto350!

The physical environment certainly made for avery pleasant meeting place but the diversityand calibre of the keynote and focus speakers,as well as over 65 workshop presenters,ensured that the professional and researchfocus of the conference was exemplary. Onbehalf of the organising committee I would liketo thank all the program contributors and toacknowledge the depth of knowledge andexpertise demonstrated by the field.

The organising committee endeavoured tofeature a number of knowledge strands includ-ing adult numeracy, information technology and

English as a second language, as well as socialand international policies and their implications.Conference evaluation indicate that registrantswere able to participate in a comprehensiverange of workshop sessions.

A few additional features added to the nature ofthe Conference and this included the officialopening by Linda Burney, Director General,NSW Department of Aboriginal Affairs. Heroratory was inspirational and her message oftolerance, understanding and activism wasindeed rousing and reflected perfectly the con-ference theme.

Students were also involved to a limited extent,notably through the student award presented byNSW TAFE ACCESS Division and the SydneyMorning Herald (see page 5); music studentsproviding entertainment; and banquet manage-ment, catering and table service.

The overall aim of the Conference was to informand challenge as well as to contribute to thedebate within the field regarding direction andpolicy. And debate we did! It was also reassur-ing to see that many practitioners were beingsupported by their organisations to attend the cconference.

(continued over)

The Manly Conference

2 Literacy Link December 2002

At the ACAL Annual General Meetingduring the national conference onNovember 1, new office bearers wereelected. They are: Jim Thompson (President),Jan Hagston (Vice-President), Pauline OMaley(Secretary) and Suzanne Bozorth-Baines(Treasurer). Four additional people were co-opted to the committee to enhance its range ofexpertiseRosie Wickert, Robyn Jay, JanaScamozza and Karen Dymke. We also welcomenew state representatives, Sheryl Sinclair (Vic)and Shelia OLeary-Woodhouse (Tas) to thecommittee (see photo page 16).

I would like to express the executivesappreciation of the work done bymembers who retired at the AGM orduring the year. Judy Harwood (formerVice-President), Tess Were (SouthAustralia), Philippa McLean (Victoria),Liz Cooper (Tasmania) and RosaMcKenna (Past President) made out-standing contributions to the work ofACAL.

Finally I would like to thank GeraldineCastleton, the outgoing ACALPresident for the leadership she pro-vided to the executive in 2001-2.Fortunately Geraldine will be sharing

her expertise and knowledge as the ImmediatePast President on the Executive.

Considerable work was put into the develop-ment of a strategic plan for ACAL in 2002,particularly in the establishment of portfolios.The executive will continue working in the areasof policy, research, professional development,marketing and media, and governance. Updateswill appear in Literacy Link during 2003.

The Executive is looking forward to the chal-lenges of the coming year and supporting ACALin providing leadership in a field that has con-stantly changing demands placed upon it.

Jim ThompsonACAL President

ACAL PresidentJim Thompson

New ACAL execut ive

The Manly Conference (cont.)

This suggests that there is still a com-mitment to professional developmentand hopefully a reinvigoration ofsupport to a field with a very importantrole in education and training inAustralia.

In terms of acknowledgements, thanksmust go to the Conference OrganisingCommittee who worked tirelessly for a12 month planning period - themembers were Jill Finch (NSW ALNCPresident), Pat Hazell (ACAL repre-sentative), Betty Johnson(researcher), Jenny McGuirk (NSW

TAFE), Uma Muthusamy (ACE) and UrsulaBurgoyne (NSW TAFE). We would also like toacknowledge the support offered by GeraldineCastleton (Immediate Past President ACAL)and Alex Tsakmakis (ACAL Executive Officer).

Of course the value of sponsorship is that itprovides opportunities to extend the scope andreach of a conference and the committeewould also like to thank NSW TAFE ACCESSDivision who were major sponsors and also theCommonwealth Department of Education,Science and Training and the NSW Board ofAdult and Community Education.

Christine ErskineNSW ALNC

keynote speaker:Professor Mary Hamilton

Metropolis to Desert Sands

Literacy in multipleenvironments

ACAL26th Annual Conference

Alice Springs September2003

for further info contact ACAL, GPO Box 2283 Canberra, ACT 2601Email: acal@mira.net

www.acal.edu.au

Literacy Link December 2002 3

The forum Exploring the InternationalAdult Literacy Survey data was held 23October 2002 in Canberra. Guest speak-ers included: Assoc. Professor Rosie Wickert,Faculty of Education, University of Technology,Sydney (researcher and author of No SingleMeasure); Scott Murray, International StudyDirector and Director General, Institutions andSocial Statistics, Statistics Canada and ProjectManager for the International Adult LiteracySurvey (IALS) and the ALL survey; JanHagston, Manager, Research and Projects,Language Australia; Dave Tout, the RegionalManager of the Adult Literacy and Lifeskills(ALL) Survey; Louise Wignall, Senior ProjectOfficer, ANTA; Mel Butler, Director, NationalCentre for Education and Training Statistics,Australian Bureau of Statistics, and Liz Suda,former Victorian coordinator of the AdultLiteracy and Numeracy Australian ResearchConsortium (ALNARC).

Rosie Wickert began by outlining the history ofadult literacy surveys in Australia, from JudithGoyens study of illiteracy among 1000 Sydneyresidents in 1977 to No Single Measure whichsurveyed 1500 people across the country.Rosie pointed out that levels of illiteracy haveremained high for the past 50 years, whichpoints to political disinterest and incompetencein dealing with the problem. For Literacy teach-ers to address the problems they need tounderstand current policies.

Scott Murray placed the issue of illiteracy into aglobal context. The 1985 National CanadianLiteracy study resulted in labour market andsocial outcomes. The Canadian governmentcited the existence of the same problems withinthe populations of their trading partners as ren-dering any internal changes redundant.

Mel Butler spoke mainly on the costs of carryingout a survey such as IALS or ALL. To survey9000 people the cost is around $5.1million, for6000 it is $4.8million, and for 3500 $4.5million.Although the Australian Bureau of Statisticscould fund such a survey the main sources areusually DEST and ANTA. A survey commis-sioned now would be ready for release in 2007.

Liz Suda described the ALL survey as a rigoroustest, taking an hour to complete, which leads toquestions around its viability. There is still alack of information on where Australia fits in theInternational context. The IALS research isquantitative; it allows testing and verification ofnotions not possible under qualitative testing.

There was considerable discussion, and muchdebate, on the fact that the countries which per-formed well in IALS moved quickly to addressdeficiencies in the literacy levels of their adults,whereas Australia, which found 47% at levels 1and 2, has evidently not devoted any extrafunding to improving national literacy levels.Sweden, which has 8% of its population atlevels 1 and 2, immediately took steps toaddress the problem.

IALS raised questions such as the good perfor-mances of Nordic countries and the CzechRepublic, which both scored higher thanAustralia. Lizs recent visit to the CzechRepublic revealed the perception among its cit-izens that everybody learns to read and writethere.

In summary, Rosie Wickert pointed out that 5years is too long to wait for another (ALLS)survey. During the panel session some interest-ing points were made: Australians expect to stop acquiring new

skills once theyve left school, whereas fromage 16 to 35 we all keep learning. The chal-lenge for governments is to convince citizensof the economic value of acquiring newknowledge and skills.

There is a need to change the general per-ception of the Australian population regardingreading and writing activities on a day-to-daybasis.

Canadian industrialists are moving their fac-tories to Mexico, where elementary schoolsare producing more technically l iterateworkers who will work for less money.

Australian industry is not generally willing toinvest money or time into improving the skillslevels of its