Reading Writing Hotline gets support

Commonwealth, State and Territory Education and Employment Ministers agreed to fund the Reading Writing Hotline in 2010.

Media release

COAG reforms

The COAG Reform Council was established by COAG in 2007. Its initial role was to report to COAG annually on the performance of governments in delivering on seven streams of business regulation and competition reform under the then National Reform Agenda.

Read COAG’s 2008 and 2009 reports, and COAG’s response to the 2009 report.

2010 Conference • Darwin

Whooo hoo!

'From Strength to Strength' • 2009 ACAL Conference • 1-3 Oct 2009

See the conference presentations

Keynotes included

'What counts, who counts; developing understandings of numeracy teaching from international and cross cultural experiences' by Dave Baker from London Institute of Education in the UK where he is a Reader in Adult Numeracy and post-16 Mathematics.

'Beyond Schooling: Towards a more adult LLN curriculum' with Dr Rob McCormack from Victoria University, Melbourne, where he has established teams of student rovers employed as peer mentors to assist other students in the Learning Commons.

'The Strengths in Us All' with Dr Peter Waterhouse, Workplace Learning Initiatives

Budget Fact Sheets

(all are small PDF dcouments)

Australian Apprenticeships Access Program

Additional language, literacy and numeracy
training places for newly retrenched workers

Extra Workplace English Language and Literacy
places for employers

New Language Literacy and Numeracy Taster
Courses for newly retrenched and vulnerable workers

Extra training places to improve adult literacy
for newly retrenched and vulnerable workers
and Indigenous Australians

An investment in the language, literacy
and numeracy workforce

Budget impact on adult literacy

An additional $86.5m for foundation skills were announced in the Federal Budget. These measures will provide pre-vocational, and language, literacy and numeracy (LLN), support particularly for Indigenous Australians, young people aged 19-24, and workers 25 years and over who have been made redundant or are at risk of redundancy as a result of the Global Financial Crisis. The measures will build on existing Australian Government foundation skills programs and further develop the program infrastructure which underpins delivery.

The foundation skills measures are:

• $33.7 million for 5,500 additional pre-vocational support places in 2009-10 to help those who have been retrenched into an apprenticeship or further training and to enhance the delivery of the Access Program in the next contract round;

• $21.6 million over four years for 6,000 additional Workplace English Language and Literacy (WELL) places for Indigenous people as part of the Indigenous Employment Program Reform.

• $3 million over three years for 162 additional Language Literacy and Numeracy Program (LLNP) places in nine Indigenous communities under the Northern Territory Emergency Response. These projects will use innovative community based projects for delivery.

• a $28.2 million adult LLN package which will provide expanded and targeted access to LLN training places for adults aged 25 and over, and will also build workforce capacity to meet national LLN training needs. The $28.2 million LLN package includes:

• an additional $21.3 million over three years to provide additional training places in LLNP;

• an additional $2.2 million to assist existing employees through WELL. A number of WELL Brokers, strategically located in Industry Skills Councils, will liaise with employers, registered training organisations and Indigenous organisations, and work to progress applications and funding agreements;

• $0.9 million for Language, Literacy and Numeracy Taster Courses which will provide the opportunity for 250 disengaged adults to connect with LLN support, training and work; and

• $3.7 million to develop a comprehensive framework of LLN qualifications and learning opportunities at all levels within the LLN field to increase the number of qualified adult LLN practitioners to meet training needs across the nation, and particularly to address shortages in regional areas.

Further information is available in Budget Paper 2 (see http://www.budget.gov.au/2009-10/content/bp2/html/bp2_expense-11.htm.

Lobbying for National Literacy Funds

Adult Literacy National Project funding lost

A recent COAG decision has removed the adult literacy funding supporting the Reading Writing Hotline, the national newsletter, Literacy Link, the Adult Literacy Innovative Projects and various other activities sponsored by the Federal Government.

The Adult Literacy National Project, with a budget of $1,500,000 (reduced from $2m in 2006), was managed by the Adult Literacy Policy Section of DEEWR. The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting on 29 November 2008 decided that funding for those programs funded through Strategic National Initiatives should be reallocated to the states’ base funding. The affected programs are: Schools-based Skill Centres, Reframing the Future, Adult Literacy, Commonwealth-State Skill Shortages, Adult Learner’s Week, VET in Schools and Major Capital. See http://www.coag.gov.au/ for the full announcement.

State and Commonwealth funding in the VET sector is managed through the bi-lateral National Skills and Workforce Development Agreements. Each state and territory will receive an additional amount in the next funding round following the COAG decision to roll up the Strategic National Initiatives. This signals a move to a new Commonwealth-State relationship where states have greater flexibility to target funding to address individual state needs and to achieve agreed outcomes. The intention is to reduce the prescription over how states should deliver training and create a more hands off approach underpinned by outcomes-based public accountability. However, no thought has been given to how valuable national services, such as the Reading Writing Hotline, can be supported in the absence of tagged national funding.

The new COAG outcomes and targets directly relate to the work of the adult literacy field. These are the two most relevant outcomes:

the working age population have gaps in foundation skills reduced to enable effective educational, labour market and social participation; and
the working age population has the depth and breadth of skills and capabilities required for the 21st century labour market

Progress towards these outcomes will be measured by:

proportion of the working age population at literacy level 1, 2 and 3 (ALLS or similar);
proportion of 20-64 year olds who do not have a qualification at or above Certificate III.

These aspirations imply the need for increased LLN effort through all AQF levels. This effort is to be measured by the next national Survey of Adult Competencies survey scheduled for 2011 (which will replace the Adult Literacy and Lifeskills survey). However, funding for adult literacy courses has not been increased, and in fact, is threatened as the states try to meet increased targets in higher levels qualifications. Neither is there any guarantee that the Adult Literacy National Project funding ($1.5m), distributed between the states and territories, will be made available at the state level for adult literacy programs. There is no chance at all that the states and territories will voluntarily make their own portion of the funding available to support national initiatives.

ACAL is concerned that at the very time that COAG is aiming for increased literacy outcomes for Australians, we are losing some of the national services that support our work and provide information to other stakeholder including members of the public and potential new students. These are some of the services that will now be lost:

The Reading Writing Hotline - the national telephone advisory, information and counselling service (the only one of its kind and emulated in other countries). The service is hosted by TAFE NSW on behalf of all other states and territories. It has been in operation since 1994 and has received 122,000 calls in that period. 86% of these callers are seeking help for the first time; most callers are employed and 45% live in regional areas. 2008 has seen the highest call volume – in excess of 6000 this year. The Reading Writing Hotline provides its callers with information about literacy services available in their localities and many callers report that it has taken them several years to work up the courage to make the call. The anonymity offered by the service was an important element in their taking this first step.

Literacy providers in all states get new enrolments through its referral process and members of the public, and a range of other Government and non-Government organizations call the Hotline for advice. (Funding $370,000.)

Adult Literacy Innovative Projects – a grant process managed by DEEWR to undertake research projects or produce new curriculum resources to improve the delivery of adult literacy services.

Literacy Link – national newsletter produced by ACAL and distributed free of charge to 1800 individuals and organisations.

Literacy Live – web-based professional develop program conducted by ACAL to support the national network of literacy practitioners.

Letter to Julia Gillard

Letter to Ursula Stephens

Response from Ursula Stephens (PDF 290KB)

Senator Ursula Stephens opens 2008 ACAL Forum

Senator Stephens, Parliamentary Secretary for Social Inclusion and the Voluntary Sector and Parliamentary Secretary Assisting the Prime Minister for Social Inclusion, addressed the Pre-Conference Forum at the 2008 Australian Council for Adult Literacy Conference.

Sentor Stephens was a member of ACAL in the 80s and 90s and received an award during International Literacy Year (1990) for her adult literacy involvement.

2008 ACAL Conference and forum

Some presentations are now available.

Language, Literacy and Numeracy Program • DEEWR Discussion Paper

The discussion paper provided an opportunity for input from interested parties on the direction the Australian Government will take in purchasing Language, Literacy and Numeracy Program Services after existing contracts expire on 30 June 2009.

The first part of this paper provided some background information on the Australian Government’s objectives for skills and training more broadly and some background on current services.

The second part of the paper, headed “Issues for Consideration” posed a number of questions to guides respones to ‘what the Australian Government should be purchasing’.

The third part of the paper provided an indicative timetable for the tender process.

Here is ACAL's response (PDF135 KB)

The Adult Literacy and Life Skills (ALLS) survey

Hear the ABC program 'The World Today' interview with Dave Tout about the survey, broadcast on Thursday, February 21, 2008

The results of this survey, released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, about the time of the Federal election in November 2007, continue to attract interest from many groups - including the media.

You can read the ACAL position paper Moving forward: Towards a Literate Australia (Jan 2008) (PDF 120KB).

You can also read the ABS summary of findings at the ABS web site, search on 'adult literacy' or use the code '4228.0'