15 – 16 June
The annual TCAL conference in Hobart on June 15 and 16 saw adult literacy, numeracy and e-learning practitioners from a diverse range of providers bring together an abundance of experience to learn, network and share their ‘Tales from the Front Line’.
Friday 15 June
Tales from the SLAMmer with Iona Johnson, Rachel Edwards, and the Hobart Slam Poets
Tales from the SLAMmer
Literacy co-ordinator at Risdon Prison, Iona Johnson outlined an innovative program teaching poetry to inmates, from first inspiration all the way to performance. She was joined by Rachel Edwards, who was Writer in Residence at the prison and they described the joys and challenges of encouraging groups of wary blokes not favourably disposed toward classroom-based learning into the vulnerable space of putting their thoughts and feelings on paper. That they were able to get a lot of the men to actually perform their work was a testament to the program’s success.
Hobart Slam Poetry group Silver Words then showed what slam poetry is all about with performances of their own work, some of which have been delivered in state-wide and national competitions. The standard was impressive, inspiring members of the audience to consider checking out Hobart’s monthly poetry slam.
Saturday 16 June
The day began with a beautiful Acknowledgement of Country from Tyenna Hogan, in palawa kani and English. Tyenna explained the significance of the term nipaluna, the original name for the Hobart region, and the respect that is shown to Tasmanian Aboriginal people by using this name.
Vanessa Iles, Manager of the Reading and Writing Hotline NSW
The Reading Writing Hotline is a national referral service for people who want to access classes and build skills in literacy, numeracy and, increasingly, digital literacy. It has been operating since 1994 and uses specialist literacy/numeracy teachers to link potential students with a nationwide database of providers. The hotline also gives support to these providers and feedback to government and peak bodies. Increasingly, the hotline is using their wealth of data and experience to advocate for improvements in LLN policy and provision.
Callers to the hotline are often vulnerable people with significant barriers to learning and complex needs. Hotline staff are experienced literacy and numeracy practitioners. They often spend up to an hour to talking with a caller to work out what they need and to find a service that is the best fit. For many people ringing the hotline is a big step and needs courage. This makes it particularly important they are linked to the right support with their next contact. Hotline staff also brief the provider to remove as many barriers as possible for the caller.
Vanessa gave an outline of changes in the field in the last 20 years and the climate that now influences LLN provision and access. This includes a policy focus that prioritises skills for work rather than for meeting community needs, the competitive environment caused by an abundance of RTOs, less time for teachers to give individual help, and higher course fees. Vanessa also highlighted the unmet demand for specific cohorts, such as workers needing out-of-hours classes, those at ACSF pre-level 1 and level 1, members of Indigenous communities, non-job seekers and adults with intellectual disabilities.
The Reading Writing Hotline’s Literacy Links June 2018 newsletter includes a report on the TCAL Conference from Vanessa.
Lee Veitch, National Manager of Workforce Development, Aged and Community Services Australia and Cath Ralston Senior Sector Development Consultant, National Disability Services.
Lee and Cath gave an overview of two 26TEN projects run by sector peak bodies, Aged and Community Care and Disability. In different ways, each organisation realised that for a long term impact an understanding of the literacy and numeracy requirements and how to deal with them needed to be built in to organisations’ every day practices, and not bolted on. They shared how they had done this, the challenges and successes.
Each project created ACSF-aligned resources and toolkits to support member organisations to integrate LLN skills into organisational policies and practices. They did this by mapping the LLN demands of job roles, based on industry standards and mapping those skills to each task in position descriptions. Each in different ways provide a toolkit to organisations to save them time and get them started quickly.
Cath and Lee mentioned these helpful resources:
NDS Workplace Literacy Project
LLN Not and Afterthought Toolbox
MORE TO COME
The flyer for the conference gives an outline of the program.
