eVALBEC_Mar

eVALBEC March 2005
This is the electronic newsletter of the Victorian Adult Literacy and Basic Education Council.
This newsletter is also available in the ‘News’ section of our web site http://www.valbec.org.au
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IN THIS Gi-Normous ISSUE OF e-VALBEC:
1. Minimum Fees Survey and Responses
2. VALBEC Twilight Forum - ‘Using Literacy As a Tool to Empower Women’ Tuesday March 15
3. VALBEC Membership fees 2005
4. VALBEC Conference 2005 – “Portraits and Visions: keeping the learner in sight”
Keynote Address: Dr. Peter Waterhouse
Call for papers deadline extended
5. DEST Consultation on proposed changes to LLNP
6. To CLP or not to CLP???
7. WAVE (Women in Adult and Vocational Education) National Conference
8. National Literacy and Numeracy Week 2005 Minister’s Awards for Outstanding Contribution to Improving Literacy and Numeracy
9. Teachers Interested in Working in Industry Settings - Expression of Interest
10. Next VALBEC Committee Meeting
11. International Women's Day
12. ALM12 & ACAL 2005 Adult Numeracy/Mathematics Conference July, 2005
12. Unsubscribe?
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1. Minimum Fees Survey and Responses
In October 2004 the Victorian government issued a new ministerial statement in relation to its renewed policy on Fees and Charges. All other students, irrespective of the course they would enrol in, would be expected to pay the $1.28 SCH rate, capped at $819.
VALBEC was extremely concerned about the potential impact of this policy. While VALBEC felt that many further education students would meet the criteria that would enable them to pay minimum tuition fees, this would not the case for all students. In November 2004 VALBEC conducted a state-wide survey targeting students in ALBE, ESL and General Education courses in Victoria.
VALBEC received over eleven hundred responses from students in a range of metropolitan and rural settings. Six TAFE institutes and nine ACE providers were represented in the survey response. The survey results indicated overall that 34% of students who responded and were enrolled in further education courses in 2004 did not hold one of the above cards. Of these students, 91% indicated that they could not afford to pay the $1.28 per SCH, 5% were unsure and 4% thought they could pay, but in most cases by reducing the amount of hours they would study this year. Of particular concern to VALBEC is the number of students who could not afford the fees and indicated that they would probably drop out of the system.
The survey results give us the following information from the 34% of students (raw figure – 384 students) mentioned above:
70% indicated that they could not return to study and in response to the question “What will you do next year?” included replies such as:
I’ll have to stop learning English
Do nothing, stay at home
Stay home and watch TV
Become a neurotic housewife again
Be a bum on the street
Not go, but then I will go mental at home and would not be able to meet other people and make new friendships
6% replied that they did not know what they would do
9% indicated that they would pursue study options, but only 1.7% of these saw their way clear to finish the course they were doing, and in most cases this was by dropping their current hours of study. The rest of these students indicated that they would try to look around for cheaper courses
8% indicated they would pursue work options, some reverting to only their current part time work and dropping the study component of their lives. Comments from students in this area include:
just keep working and get no where. But if it stays where it is I can do something with my life
I would be underemployed for three days a week for the next year because I’ve already arranged with work to take time off
I would have to find any kind of work. The kind of work which I would not do if I can do the course
I would get home earlier from work and watch more TV
3% of students made comments that did not fit neatly into the above categories and included statements like:
I need English to help me get a job. I’m very upset
I will dispute this raise all the way until I can come back
Feel worried
The remainder of the students (4%) made no comment other than to indicate they could not pay the proposed fee
VALBEC is planning to follow up with providers in 2005 and examine the impact of this policy on provision across Victoria.
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2. VALBEC Twilight Forum - ‘Using Literacy As a Tool to Empower Women’
Speaker: Rosa Xavier
Tuesday March 15 at the North Fitzroy Star, 325 St Georges Road SOUTH, Fitzroy North
Time 6.15 pm for a 6.30 pm start
Fee: Free of charge but it’s essential you register with VALBEC info@valbec.org.au by Friday March 11 as numbers are limited.
Buy your own drinks and stay and chat over dinner afterwards.
Rosa Xavier is the coordinator at GFFTL – The East Timor Young Women’s Association, who with the support of the International Women’s Development Agency (IWDA) is providing literacy training for women in East Timor.
As a newly formed nation, emerging from centuries of colonial oppression, East Timor is striving to educate its people, and address issues arising from dislocation of services including education during the period of instability. One legacy of the past is that East Timorese women are less likely than men to have been enrolled in school and 64% are illiterate (compared to 49% of men).
In East Timor’s highly patriarchal society women are generally excluded from participation in public life and in decision making at all levels. Combined with this is women’s lack of access to information, particularly regarding their rights and health.
GFFTL, the East Timor Young Women’s Association began as part of the Women's Solidarity Council, becoming an independent NGO in 2001. GFFTL's program focuses on literacy and associated program training to increase the capacity of women to participate in the development of the community.
GFFTL, with the support of IWDA has conducted a pilot project based on GFFTL’s literacy and social training program. It focuses on two districts to test a model of community organising for women. The aim is to engender self motivated and skilled local groups and networks of women who while increasing their own levels of skills and awareness regarding their rights will also be a resource and support for other women in their areas. This in turn will strengthen the literacy and social training program and increase the sustainability of the impact of GFFTL’s program. The model is based on similar successful work undertaken by in Cambodia and Thailand.
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3. VALBEC Membership fees 2005
At a recent meeting the committee reviewed the membership fees for 2005 and decided that there would be no increase in membership fees for 2005. Membership renewals will be mailed out shortly.
If you are not a member you can complete a membership form online http://www.valbec.org.au (and we’ll invoice you)
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4. VALBEC Conference 2005 – “Portraits and Visions: keeping the learner in sight” Call For papers deadline extended
VALBEC aims to bring together Active, Informed, Committed Practitioners and to lead the theory and practice of ALBE in Victoria.
Friday, May 20, 2005 at the William Angliss College, corner of King and La Trobe Streets, Melbourne.
The VALBEC 2005 conference is the main event on the calendar this year. While continuing to showcase recent research and foster debate, the spotlight will be focused on learners - their life experiences, their diversity, their goals and aspirations, achievements and future directions. We want to portray the richness and challenges our learners bring to adult learning and to illustrate innovative approaches and promising classroom practices. We want to discuss what works from various perspectives and give participants opportunities to creatively engage with ideas grounded in what is known about how adults learn and how language and literacy develop in a range of contexts.
Keynote Address: Dr. Peter Waterhouse, “Public portraits, personal visions & professional practice”.
Peter will reflect on the portraits and visions of his career in adult, vocational and literacy education and discuss the implications for practice in the building of alternative futures.
Peter is the Managing Director of Workplace Learning Initiatives Pty Ltd a company he formed with colleagues, to facilitate change in industry through teaching, consultancy and research. Peter has been an adult literacy activist, with the VALC (the precursor to VALBEC), an adult literacy teacher, coordinator, regional worker, researcher, consultant and teacher-educator. In recent years his research, with colleagues, has investigated adult and workplace literacies, generic/employability skills and adult community education (ACE) pedagogies. His Ph.D dissertation documented autobiographical case studies investigating experiential learning, literacy and reflective practice in different settings.
Call for papers
Those interested and involved in adult education are invited to submit a presentation proposal for the Portraits and Visions – keeping learner in sight, VALBEC 2005 conference. Whether it is a portrait of a small project or successful curriculum or classroom activities or a larger canvas of research or policy critique, practitioners are invited to share their wisdom, technique, research and proven practices with others from across Victoria and Australia.
Submit your presentation proposal or encourage others to submit, keeping in mind that the presentation should:
stimulate thought and discussion on relevant issues and practice
describe and reflect on current practice and examples of successful work
be interactive and encourage dialogue
display innovation and flexibility in practice/research
demonstrate effective practice in a range of settings
exemplify adult learning principles
critique changes in state and federal government policies and priorities
Workshops/Presentations will be of 20, 40 or 60 minutes duration
Copyright of individual workshops presented at the VALBEC 2005 conference remain copyright of the respective author/s. However, VALBEC reserves the right to publish papers and distribute information about these workshops for teaching and research purposes in Fine Print
Formats for the presentations will include:
papers
interactive workshops
poster presentations
panels of up to 4 speakers
The proposal form can be completed on the conference website
http://www.valbec.org.au or by downloading the file and submitting by
Email conf@valbec.org.au
Fax 03 9546 0421
Proposals may now be submitted up to March 8th 2005.
Presenters will be notified by March 17th 2005 of their inclusion in the Conference program.
Conference updates can be viewed at www.valbec.org.au
For further information contact Don MacDowall, Conference Organiser
Email conf@valbec.org.au
Phone 03 9546 6892
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5. DEST Consultation on proposed changes to LLNP
The DEST paper Language, Literacy and Numeracy Programme (LLNP) Proposed changes for the 2006 - 2008 Tender sets out the directions for the Language, Literacy and Numeracy Programme (LLNP) 2006 – 2008. Comment is invited from all interested parties on the proposed changes to the educational and administrative aspects of the programme.
Members of the VALBEC committee will be attending and welcome feedback and comments from providers in the LLNP programme.
Consultation sessions in Melbourne are to be held on March 4th at 9.30 am and 2.30 pm in the DEST State Office, Level 24 , 2 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne. Booking No. 1 300 363 079
The Deadline for written responses to the LLNP Consultation Paper 2005 is 5 pm EST Friday 11th March 2005.
More information, including consultation sessions dates at https://llnp.dest.gov.au/
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6. To CLP or not to CLP???
ACE providers have been grappling with this question for the past month or so and the deadline for Expressions of Interest passed this week. There are probably more questions than answers out there about this “new flagship initiative”. ACE providers are being asked to form community learning partnerships when most would suggest that that is currently what is happening with many ACE providers and organisations across the state.
Despite the tight timeline and vague parameters, at the regional briefings there were not too many answers raised by the powerpoint presentation.
The primary question being how the pool of $500,000 will be divided. Assuming that providers go for the maximum funding of $30,000 then on average each region ( 9 ) could expect to get around 2 CLPs. Or there could be 50 CLPs at $10,000 (5 or 6 per region) or if all the CLPs settle for $5,000 then there could be as many as 100 CLPs. The reality is, that however CLPs are looked at, providers are being asked to do more with less.
VALBEC welcomes feedback from members.
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Thinking of going to Canberra in April?
7. WAVE (Women in Adult and Vocational Education) is holding a National Conference hosted by Canberra Institute of Technology on April 7th and 8th 2005. The Theme of the conference is women and Life Long Learning. Workshop presentations are invited.
http://www.converse.com.au/2005%20articles/conferencenotice051.pdf
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8. National Literacy and Numeracy Week (NLNW) 2005
Minister’s Awards for Outstanding Contribution to Improving Literacy and Numeracy
The 2005 Minister’s Awards for Outstanding Contribution to Literacy and Numeracy are cash awards provided by the Australian Government, to recognise outstanding contributions made by individuals in the community to improving literacy and/or numeracy in a wide variety of settings – from early childhood through to adult education. Up to five individual Awards of $10,000 each ($50,000 in total) are available.
The Minister’s Awards are provided as part of National Literacy and Numeracy Week 2005 (NLNW) celebrations- 29 August to 4 September 2005
More information http://www.literacyandnumeracy.gov.au
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9. Teachers Interested in Working in Industry Settings - Expression of Interest
Workplace Skills Access (part of Access Department of Swinburne University of Technology (TAFE)) is seeking to develop a database
of teachers interested in working in industry settings.
Workplace Skills Access provides a range of services to industry. These include training consultancy, training needs analysis, customised training programs, resource development and industry specific accredited training. A significant feature is the integration of English language, literacy, numeracy and/or communication skills into all aspects of its work.
Projects are won throughout the year and the unit requires teachers to meet demand as it arises.
A position description can be found on Swinburne University of Technology's website at http://www.swin.edu.au/corporate/hr/posvac.htm Interested people should apply online.
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10. Next VALBEC Committee Meeting
The next VALBEC Committee meeting is March 17 and members are welcome to attend (near-city venue). Contact VALBEC for location confirmation.
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11. International Women's Day
International Women's Day (IWD) is a global celebration of the economic, political, environmental and social achievements for women and is held each year on 8 March.
International Women’s Day information http://www.isis.aust.com/iwd/stevens/contents.htm
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12. ALM12 & ACAL 2005 Adult Numeracy/Mathematics Conference - “Connecting Voices: Practitioners, researchers and learners”
Sunday 3rd July (evening welcome) to Thursday 7th July, 2005, Melbourne, Australia
The first Call for Papers is out now - see the web pages below to access the Call for Papers document. Closing date is March 18th.
Further information about the conference may be obtained from:
* the ALM website http://www.alm-online.org
* the ACAL website http://www.acal.edu.au/
* or contact Dave Tout at: davet@cae.edu.au
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13. Unsubscribe?
Just click this link <mailto:info@valbec.org.au?subject=eVALBEC_Unsubscribe> (no typing required!) and hit Send or, send an e-mail with the word Unsubscribe in the subject.
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eVALBEC is the monthly electronic newsletter of (VALBEC) the Victorian Adult Literacy and Basic Education Council.
E-mail: info@valbec.org.au
Web: http://www.valbec.org.au
Postal: Box 861 Springvale South VIC 3172
Ph: 03 9546 6892
Fax: 03 9546 0421