the nsw adult literacy & numeracy council newsletter
February 2004 www.nswalnc.uts.edu.auPO Box K450 Haymarket NSW 1240 Ph: (02) 9514 3973 Fax: (02) 9514 3030 ABN 270 198 490 66
Membership
Welcome to another year in the very hot seats of adult literacy and numeracy! Council membership has been growing steadily during the last year, and we are very happy to have regained quite a few “lapsed” Council members of late. Please continue to promote the Council and its events amongst your colleagues – adult literacy & numeracy needs a strong professional body in NSW.
Membership invoices for 2004 are included here, and don’t forget our membership form is always available on the website.
That’s our Jill!
NSW ALNC President Jill Finch has been presented with the leadership award in the 2003 Staff Celebration of Achievement at Sydney Institute.
This award was given to Jill for ‘inspiring a shared vision for Sydney Institute's purpose and goals through enlisting support of others, enabling development and/or setting an example for others.’
In particular, Jill was recognised for her role as HT at Ultimo, her role in the campaign to change the fees policy and her leadership of NSW ALNC Council.
The success of her nomination was helped by the huge number of enthusiastic letters of support received from teachers, HTs admin staff and outside organisations praising Jill's work. Well done, Jill!
Witch Forum?
Our last Professional Development forum held in October 2003 at UTS in Sydney was another great day. Despite some initial dramas with the venue, we all soaked up a fantastic range of workshops.
Enjoying the day! Witch Forum?
presenter Melinda Flower and
exec member Michele Waddell
TAFE fees
Literacy and numeracy students from all providers trying to move into other courses in TAFE have had a bumpy road at the start of this year.
While ABE and Outreach courses remain free, all other TAFE fees have gone up – some by up to 300%.
Book Launch and Cocktails
The Adult Numeracy Handbook: Reframing Adult Numeracy In Australia. Sheilagh Kelly, Betty Johnston and Keiko Yasukawa have put together an exciting new book which the Council and the UTS Centre for Language & Literacy will be launching at our first event for the year – Numerate Cocktails - on Friday March 5. See the enclosed flyer for details: we look forward to seeing all of you there.
Journeys
Work is nearly complete on our student publication for which contributions were sought late last year.
Borrowing the title from one of the contributions, the booklet is called Blue Sky Bicycle and Other Journeys and it is looking fabulous! The student work reflects the wonderful range of locations, literacy providers, life stories, and ability levels of the students and teachers who are adult literacy and numeracy in NSW.
Dates for the Diary
· March 5 Numerate Cocktails – Book Launch
· May 14 Council’s first major forum for the year will be on Friday 14th May at the William Wilkins Gallery in the city.
Look out for details soon.
· Sept 10 & 11 Four Seasons in One Day – Literacy in Changing Climates, the 2004 ACAL National Conference will be held in Melbourne on September 10 and 11.
More details at www.valbec.edu.au.
Welcome our new executive member
Michael O’Hare from ACE Parramatta joined the Council executive late in 2003.
We are very happy to have some more Adult & Community Ed input on the executive. Welcome Michael.
MAC library under threat
At the end of last year the destiny of the Multicultural Access Centre Library was under a cloud. The centre has been housed at Erskineville Public School in inner Sydney – not a well known location- and many people may not know that it incorporates the wonderful resource collection of ALIO, the Adult Literacy Information Office. The recent restructure of DET has threatened the viability of the library, its staff and its collection, removing yet another support facility for adult literacy and numeracy practitioners. We are awaiting further news on this issue.
Federal Review of Adult Learning in Australia
At the end of November a review was announced by the Dept of Education Science and Training, looking into issues around adult learning. Called You Can Too, the review asks for submissions by March 5 – an unfortunate time frame since many of those interested would have been on holidays and be unaware of the review.
More information at www.dest.gov.au.
PO Box K450 Haymarket NSW 1240 Ph: (02) 9514 3973 Fax: (02) 9514 3030 ABN 270 198 490 66