NSW ADULT LITERACY NUMERACY COUNCIL

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING MAY 16, 2008

PRESIDENT’S REPORT 2007-2008

In many ways 2007 was a stronger year for the NSW Adult Literacy Numeracy Council, and there have been a number of significant achievements during the year of which we can be proud. 2007 saw the demise of the ACT Council for Adult Literacy, and other state Councils are struggling, whilst ACAL at a national level is also encountering difficulties. Times continue to be dark overall for the adult literacy/numeracy field in Australia, but the mere fact that the Council is surviving and continuing to play a active networking role in the field is cause for celebration.

Council’s Executive has remained effective during 2007, with eleven regular and hard-working executive members. Our capability was strengthened in 2007 by input from Sue Roy, who has taken over the role of NSW representative on ACAL, and who has brought a valuable statewide and strategic perspective to NSWALNC. Two members of Council executive attended the national adult literacy conference, held this year in Auckland in conjunction with Workbase NZ.

Several significant projects bore fruit for the Council during the year. Work was completed on the DVD project Making Connections, which was funded by a 2006 DEST Adult Literacy Innovative Grant. The DVD and workbook will support professional development and initial teacher training, and focus on teachers reflecting on their practice in four different adult learning environments. The project was a collaboration between NSWALNC and UTS Faculty of Education, and we have recently applied for a further innovative grant for a new project developing an online “book” of adult literacy learners’ stories.

We were also very excited by our second collaborative project, which was a regional professional development forum held in Wagga in October, in conjunction with TAFE Riverina Institute Wagga Campus. Wagga ABE staff made Council feel very welcome, and did a fantastic job organizing speakers and venue. After many years of being exclusively Sydney-based due to financial limitations, it was wonderful for NSWALNC to be able to present in the Riverina.

The Wagga forum also saw the launch of the Council’s latest publication of student writing, Home Delivered, which was the result of a statewide adult literacy writing competition. Home Delivered is a great classroom reading resource as well as a focus for student writing during the year, and follows two previous successful competitions and publications. In addition, we were very pleased to again be able to offer a NSWALNC prize to an outstanding tertiary student in the UTS Literacy & Numeracy program.

2007 was the year of a new Federal government, and the Council took the opportunity to write to Minister Gillard about the importance of adult literacy in national development, the need for a new adult literacy policy, and need for sustainable funding of adult literacy programs. We await action on this front.

In the context of a shrinking, ageing and casualised literacy/numeracy teaching workforce, membership levels continue to be of concern. Council ran a mailout membership drive mid year to address the issue, but we still need to work hard to maintain a viable membership base, and this will be one of our ongoing challenges in the year ahead.

Thanks are due to many people who have contributed to NSWALNC over the year. Sincere thanks to all of the committed and good-humoured members of the Executive during 2007, particularly to Bernadette Kennedy, Rural Representative, who manages to stay regularly involved with Council business despite distance. Thanks to our Honorary Auditor, George McLelland, for his ongoing services and advice. Thanks to our colleagues at UTS, Jacquie Widin and Andrew Chodkiewicz, for their work on the DVD project. Finally, and with great gusto, enormous thanks to Renata Atkin, NSWALNC’s Executive Officer, for managing all of Councils’ business so professionally and reliably throughout the year.

Jill Finch

President

16 May 2008