e-WAALC NEWS July 2011

e-WAALC News is the electronic newsletter of the Western Australian Adult Literacy Council. The WAALC Executive Committee prepares and sends e-WAALC News to members five times a year.  We welcome your comments, suggestions, and contributions to the newsletter.

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In this issue of e-WAALC News

1)            Lotterywest funding for conference attendance

2)           WAALC 2011 Conference dates

3)           WAALC AGM  

4)           National Foundation Skills Strategy consultation in WA

5)           WAALC membership now due!

6)           ACAL Conference: Literacy on the Map: Common Visions, Different Paths

7)           Skills for Prosperity – a roadmap for vocational education and training

8)           Adult Literacy and Numeracy Network update

9)           Teach Me Grammar

10)         $400K Toolbox funding to support sustainability and LLN

11)          Inviting new members

12)         Issues? Contributions?

13)         Contacts’ update

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1. Lotterywest funding for conference attendance

Great news! Lotterywest has provided a grant to WAALC to use to support attendance at the WAALC conference in October 2011. 

 

If you work as a volunteer in an adult literacy related role or work for a not for profit organization, you are eligible to apply for free registration at this year’s WAALC conference.  Delegates from regional areas can also apply for accommodation and travel costs.  You will be responsible for the costs of your meals and other incidental costs (apart from those offered at the conference).

 

Applications open soon. Funding is limited and will be assigned on a first-come, first-served basis to eligible applicants. We will email details to members soon and add further information to the WAALC website.  Please pass this on to your colleagues – you don’t need to be a member to apply.

 

Note: Due to Lotterywest funding guidelines, these scholarships are not available to people who work for Government agencies, including State Training Providers.

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2. WAALC 2011 Conference dates

Our annual state conference was delayed until 6, 7th October to allow for sufficient time for our funding from Lotterywest to be widely advertised.

Why don’t you share your story at the 2011 WAALC conference?  Submit your proposal for a presentation at the conference to address the theme Foundation Skills: Literacy, language and numeracy in 2011.  We are keen to receive more applications. There will be several streams:

  1. Connecting literacy as social practice to the developing Foundation Skills context
  2. Effective strategies for teaching literacy to speakers of English as a second dialect or language
  3. Basics of teaching Foundation Skills for the VET practitioner
  4. Consolidating foundations – developing mathematical thinking with adults

 Call for papers now closes 5th August. Registrations are open.

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3. WAALC AGM  

The Annual General Meeting is later than usual this year so it coincides with the conference in October.  All members are urged to attend the AGM even if you can’t make the conference.

Please think about whether you are able to contribute as a member of the committee. The WAALC committee is a friendly and collaborative group who meet once a month to discuss, plan and take action on behalf of members about issues involving adult literacy and numeracy generally.  This volunteer role offers members the opportunity to learn more about current initiatives affecting adult education. You also can contribute in a meaningful way to promoting a greater understanding of how literacy fits in the bigger picture.

Nomination forms will be available at the AGM on Thursday 6th October, and will also be posted to current members with the formal AGM notice during September.  Otherwise, request a copy via info@waalc.org.au

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4. National Foundation Skills Strategy consultation in WA

The consultation in Western Australian about the draft National Foundation Skills Strategy was strongly attended at both the face to face session and an online web-conference based session via Elluminate. See VETinfonet for links to the recorded web conference. 

WAALC’s formal submission is available on our website.

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5. WAALC membership now due!

Have you paid your membership yet? 2011/12 membership is due now. 

Membership forms are on the website.

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6. ACAL Conference 2011: Literacy on the Map: Common Visions, Different Paths

Program is now available for the 34th ACAL Conference in Melbourne on Tuesday 27 to Wednesday 28 Sept 2011.  The venue is Victoria University City Flinders Campus.   There will also be a Pre-conference forum on Monday 26 September.  More details at http://www.valbec.org.au/2011conf/

The Department of Training and Workforce Development is again offering scholarships to support attendance at this conference. See https://vetinfonet-staging.det.wa.edu.au/adultliteracy/ProfDev.aspx  for application forms. The budget is limited and applications must be submitted by Tuesday 9th August 2011.

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7.                   Launch of Skills for Prosperity – a roadmap for vocational education and training

Skills Australia has released a report Skills for Prosperity – a roadmap for vocational education and training. This forms their recommendation for the future of Vocational Educational and Training in Australia.  They hope it will forge a revitalised direction for vocational education and training as a pillar of our future prosperity. All Australian governments, industry, training providers and other stakeholders will use the report as a platform for the development of the sector and as a basis for the next intergovernmental agreement.

Foundation Skills in general and literacy in particular are a focus in the report. Read it now at http://www.skillsaustralia.gov.au/SkillsProsperity.shtml

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8. Adult Literacy and Numeracy Network update

The Department of Training and Workforce Development (DTWD) is supporting the Adult Literacy and Numeracy Network in Western Australia by funding 7 facilitators to spend some time regularly supporting the several hundred members of the Network.  They are helping members negotiate the move of the repository of files to Google Documents as well as encouraging more lively activity in Google Groups and Elluminate sessions.

If you haven’t been online recently now is a great time for a visit.  Sign into your Google account and then click on https://groups.google.com/group/CGEA-Network?hl=en  If you aren’t yet a member, ask a colleague who is to invite you.

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9. Teach Me Grammar

Geoff Pearson from Agenda Communication is developing a new professional learning program. The Department of Training and Workforce Development is funding an Action-Learning Professional Development program - the Teach Me Grammar Project - running from July to November this year in Perth for a group  of 12-15 language and literacy teachers of adults - CaLD learners, Indigenous learners, Deaf learners, native-English-speaking learners etc. It is designed to explore the best ways to teach English grammar and sentence structure to adult learners of English.  The ultimate goal is to develop a future professional development program through which language and literacy teachers of adults can learn the fundamental concepts of grammar themselves and learn how to teach this. 

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10. $400K Toolbox funding to support sustainability and LLN

With $400,000 of funding and support from the Australian Flexible Learning Framework, registered training organisations will develop five new Flexible Learning Toolboxes to support training in sustainable workplace practices and language, literacy and numeracy (LLN).

Three of the new Toolboxes will be focused on language, literacy and numeracy:

For more information:

Website: http://www.flexiblelearning.net.au/content/400k-toolbox-funding-support-sustainability-and-lln

 

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11. Inviting new members

Who do you know that might be interested in WAALC activities? Forward this newsletter to colleagues who you think should be a member of WAALC. Or perhaps invite a prospective member to attend events like our conference and AGM to meet other members. We encourage all adult literacy and numeracy practitioners in WA to join WAALC now and be part of the renewed national action to have literacy embedded in adult learning at all levels.

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12. Issues? Contributions?

WAALC seeks to represent all adult educators who deliver adult literacy and numeracy programs in Western Australia. Let us know if there are issues that you think WAALC should take action on, or news to include in future newsletters. Vacancies, projects, new resources for sale or requests for input into decision making are all sought.

We would like to profile the work of members in each issue.  If you are willing to write a short article telling us a little about an interesting element of your adult literacy role, please let us know.

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13. ‘Contacts’ update

Let us know if your address changes. If you don't want to receive this newsletter or wish to suspend it while you are away on leave, please email the WAALC secretary at info@waalc.org.au

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e-WAALC News is the monthly electronic newsletter of (WAALC) the Western Australian Adult Literacy Council.

Web: www.waalc.org.au E-mail: info@waalc.org.au

Postal: WAALC, PO Box 313, Northbridge Post Shop WA 6865