The Community Colleges Australia (CCA) Conference will highlight how adult and community education (ACE) providers contribute to the development of Australian foundation skills.
The Conference day 2 afternoon will be devoted to this important area of skills development, which Commonwealth Skills Minister, Brendan O’Connor MP, will highlight earlier that day in his Conference message.
Afternoon speakers and panel participants include:
- Clare Sharp, First Assistant Secretary, Apprenticeships & Foundation Skills, Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR);
- Robin Miles, Director Equity Works, who will detail the results of Reading Writing Hotline National Survey on “The State of LLN & Delivery”;
- Vanessa Iles, Manager, Reading Writing Hotline; and
- Jo Medlin, President, Australian Council for Adult Literacy (ACAL).
The panel will be joined by Grahame Neville (pictured upper left), a literacy student at Tamworth Community College, who appears in the SBS TV adult literacy series 2, Lost for Words. (Also see below.) Session chair will be Conference MC and learner specialist, Chemène Sinson.
Reading Writing Hotline Survey
The key findings of the Reading Writing Hotline survey of adult literacy and numeracy teachers, tutors, and managers include:
- 82% of respondents identified barriers/multiple barriers to providers offering/delivering LND programs
- 57% indicated inadequate funding was the main barrier for providers
- 32% of respondents said that a lack of qualified teachers was a barrier to delivery
- 83% of respondents identified one or more barriers for learners
- 56% indicated that learners not knowing where to ask for help was the main barrier for learners
- 54% indicated shame and embarrassment was a barrier for learners.
In addition, providers indicated that there were many unmet community needs including:
- individual and tailored literacy assistance (64%)
- wrap around supports to address barriers and enable participation (52%)
- help with form filling (49%)
- pathways into accredited courses (47%)
- the lack of non-accredited courses delivered in community settings (43%)
- local area literacy coordination of services and classes (37%).
More than 80% of survey respondents said that they wanted beginner literacy resources.
