February 2016
In this issue
1. From the President
National Meeting
2. Scholarship to attend ACAL-ACTA Conference
Applications must be submitted by 5pm AEDT, March 4, 2016.
3. 'Diversity: exchanging ways of being'ACAL-ACTA Conference
Perth, 7-11 Apri 2016 with symposia
Discount for members of ACAL and state associations
4. Motivate your students to write - offer to publish their stories!
5. 2016 ACAL fees
6. New Publication
7. The Reading Writing Hotline regenerated
Check your details
From the President
1. National Meeting
ACAL Executive and State Representatives face-to-face meeting January 30, 2016
Pic top left l to r: Michele Sutcliffe, SACAL; Jenny Seaton, TCAL; Pam Osmond, NSW ALNC. Pic top right l to r Don MacDowall, Admin; Ann Kelly, QCAL; Jenni Anderson, ACAL President; Vicki Hartman, ACAL Secretary. Bottom pic l to r: Keiko Yasukawa, ACAL Vice-President; Rhonda Pelletier, VALBEC; Margaret McHugh, WAALC; Yvonne Webb, NTCAL. Behind the camera: Lorraine Sushames, ACAL Treasurer.
Welcome to ACAL's first newsletter for 2016. The ACAL Executive and State Representatives met in Sydney on Saturday the 30th of January for a face to face meeting to plan our focus for this year. This year we will be reviewing ACAL's scope and aims, mapping the adult literacy and numeracy provision available across Australia, participating in Adult Learner's Week, offering professional development webinars and continuing our work with RAPAL Stories of Resilience, NCVER research project, presenting the joint 2016 ACAL-ACTA Conference in Perth as well as planning an exciting 2017 ACAL Conference. Joyce Paliza-Benda is our ACAL Cadet and will be participating in our meetings and assisting with our work this year as she develops her knowledge and networks in the adult literacy and numeracy sector. We will also be offering a scholarship to an indigenous practitioner (see below)
Please let me know if have any feedback, questions, suggestions or issues that you would like ACAL to consider addressing by emailing info@acal.edu.au.
Jenni Anderson
ACAL President
2. Scholarship to attend ACAL-ACTA Conference
This year our ACAL Conference Scholarship is to support an Indigenous adult literacy and numeracy practitioner to attend the 2016 conference to develop their practice and networks. Please spread the news and the application form to people who might like to apply.
Applications must be submitted by 5pm AEDT, March 4, 2016.
3. 'Diversity: exchanging ways of being'ACAL-ACTA Conference
Perth, 7-11 Apri 2016 with symposia
Discount for members of ACAL and state associations
One hundred sessions, international and local keynote speakers in conjunction wth TESOL organisations
Sessions are fillling fast.
Keynotes
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Yet Another Literacy? Mobile Devices, Mobile Learning, and Mobile Literacy
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Utilising Linguistic Variation for Better Education
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Exchanging Ways of Being – an Aboriginal Perspective
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Numeracy as Cultural Exchange
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Classrooms of possibility: working with refugee students
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Dis-entangling Literacy from neoliberal fusion: creating critical spaces for emancipatory learning and social justice
4. Motivate your students to write - offer to publish their stories!
Photo: Neil Cummings, Resilience. https://flic.kr/p/kCqM95 (CC-BY-SA)
ACAL's 'Stories of Resilience' project is all about adult learners sharing their own stories of overcoming challenges through learning. The good news for this project is that your learners now have until 30 April 2016 to share their stories with the world.
Many adult learners have found it motivating to share their stories with a wider audience - what about your learners? We are looking for stories about resilience in adult learning. Your students may have already written something that could be adapted or re-drafted. We'll accept written or spoken text, audio or video. This could be a good way for people to revisit last year's work, or a brand new writing project for the whole group.
Join with us in this celebration of the learning journeys of our adult learners.
More info, and Facebook link for updates, via: http://acal.edu.au/rapal-stories-project.htm
Contact Michael Chalk, the project worker, via box@michalk.id.au
Please pass on this info to anyone who may appreciate the opportunity.
5. 2016 ACAL fees
ACAL membership individual and organisation cost will increase by the Wage Price Index of 2.5%. This small incremental increase will prevent any future large increases. Membership fees allow ACAL to provide ACAL eNews, member rates for conferences, and professional development opportunities such as webinars. This year webinars will continue to be free to members and there will be a cost to non-members to attend. Invoices will be sent shortly or you can online and pay immediately.
2016 fees
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Student $56
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Individual $67
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Organisations with less than 10 staff $149
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Organisations with more than 10 staff $200
Pay now using your credit card and PayPal
6. New Publication
Beyond economic interests: critical perspectives on adult literacy and numeracy in a globalised world: Keiko Yasukawa & Stephen Black (Eds). 2016. Sense Publishers.
Over the last two decades, an increasingly economistic discourse has dominated discussions about adult literacy and numeracy. This book provides critiques of, and alternative narratives to the dominant discourse. Authors provide tools and methodologies of critique, including ways of seeing how policies in the countries of focus come to be...
7. The Reading Writing Hotline regenerated
Many readers will be pleased to hear that the Reading Writing Hotline has recently had a regeneration and is again being staffed by an enthusiastic team of qualified and experienced LLN teachers. A new manager has also been appointed; Vanessa Iles, who likewise is a qualified LLN teacher with wide experience in this and related fields. TAFE Sydney Institute has administrative management of the Hotline which has been re-located to Ultimo campus in readiness for a busy year ahead reviewing and updating the database of providers.
This is a really pleasing development; in a climate of otherwise bad news for our field, since the Reading Writing Hotline is perhaps the only federally funded program (apart from SEE and its precursors) that has received ongoing funding for 20 years.
Check your details
Vanessa is urging providers to make some time at the beginning of the year to ensure their details are included on the database, and if so, that these details are updated and accurate. To do so, please call the Hotline on 1300 6 555 06, or email for a provider detail form to rwhotline@det.nsw.edu.au as it is vital to the success of Hotline referrals that they have up to date information about all providers.