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Australian Council for Adult Literacy

ACAL eNews

June 2013

ACAL eNews is the electronic newsletter of the Australian Council of Adult Literacy (ACAL) and is distributed free to people interested in adult literacy and numeracy. See below for subscription details or to unsubscribe.

In this issue

Welcome

Professional Development

1. 2013 ACAL Conference

• Keynote speakers

• Registration is now open!

2. Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations Conference

Resources

3. 'Building Strength with Numeracy'

4. 'Putting the Jigsaw Together'

5. Certificates in General Education for Adults

State activities

6. NTCAL Event

7. NT WELL Practitioners' Network Workshop

8. News from TCAL

Welcome

Welcome to the June Newsletter. I trust you find it informative.

We look forward to seeing you all at the ACAL Conference in Sydney in September and know that many of you have also been attending interesting events organised around Australia by affiliated state councils for adult literacy and numeracy. Check the links on our website or below for news about upcoming state conferences and events.

Please keep in touch and let me know if there is something that ACAL can do to support you, your organisation or adult learners in your area.

Jenni Anderson

ACAL President

Professional Development

1. 2013 ACAL Conference

Keynote speakers

• Dr Jeff Evans - Middlesex University, UK

• Professor Mary Hamilton - Lancaster University, UK

• Dr Inge Kral - Australian National University

• Professor Alastair Pennycook – University of Technology, Sydney

Registration is now open!

Register now

Member discounts are available for members of NSW ALNC and ACAL and students.

Early Bird discounts are available to everybody.

Early bird closes on 5.00 p.m. AEST on Wednesday, July 31, 2013.

2. Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations Conference

The International Conference on Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations will be held in Darwin from 26 – 28 June.  The range of keynote speakers includes Professor Mary Kalantzis, currently Dean of the College of Education at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA.  Mary is co-author or editor of a number of books, including Literacies, Cambridge University Press, 2012.

More

Resources

3. 'Building Strength with Numeracy'

'Building Strength with Numeracy' revises and improves on the iconic numeracy resources 'Strength in Numbers' and 'Breaking the Maths Barrier', and other 'tried and true' numeracy teaching resources developed by Beth Marr and other experienced numeracy teachers.

The new resource is a collection of activities that builds on and updates elements of the previous resources, as well as including many new, previously unpublished ideas, activities and student practice exercises.

The resource is accessible online for teachers to use in a range of settings.

'Building Strength with Numeracy' is available as a free download and has been developed by the Victorian Adult Literacy and Basic Education Council (VALBEC) with additional support from Adult Community and Further Education (ACFE).

4. 'Putting the Jigsaw Together'

MSA Numeracy resources, called 'Putting the Jigsaw Together', are now available for free download from the MSA website. These new MSA resources are designed as a series of tool kits to support VET trainers with practical strategies to assist apprentices/students to develop their numeracy skills.

You may wish to complete the Feedback form that is available on the same link. Although the feedback is optional, MSA is interested in gaining feedback as part of their continuous improvement for resources/products.

5. Certificates in General Education for Adults

The Certificates in General Education for Adults (CGEA) have been reaccredited and are now available on the Training Support Network website

The major changes to the CGEA focus on:

• explicit inclusion of digital literacy in ‘engage’ and ‘create’ units

• elective requirements based on a definitive number not on a range of hours

• electives packaged in specific AQF qualifications rather than across all qualifications

• strengthened teacher and assessor requirements for the CGEA

• strengthened delivery & assessment advice

The Curriculum Maintenance Manager (CMM) General Studies and Further Education conducted an information session for the reaccredited CGEA on May 21st. Professional Development for the reaccredited CGEA will be held later in the year. Practitioners will be informed via the CGEA data base.

For inquiries about the reaccredited CGEA contact the CMM on 03 99195300/03 99195302.

State activities

6. NTCAL Event

Thursday 13 June

5:15-6:15 pm

Northern Territory Library, Parliament House, Darwin

Cost: Free

Building Strength with Numeracy: Introducing the latest Australian adult numeracy resource

A new Australian adult numeracy resource has just been released by the Victorian Adult Literacy and Basic Education Council (VALBEC). This resource has been developed by Beth Marr, and is available on line for teachers to download free of charge. It contains revised and updated versions of activities from previous resources, such as Strength in Numbers, Mathematics a New Beginning and Breaking the Maths Barrier, as well as additional student’s practice sheets to go with them. It also includes completely new activities and ideas which have not been previously published.  This presentation will introduce the resource and some of the activities included in it, whilst discussing the priorities and ideas underpinning the selection of activities.

No booking required.

For more information contact Alison Reedy alison.reedy@cdu.edu.au

7. NT WELL Practitioners' Network Workshop

The 2013 NT WELL Practitioners' Network Workshop will be held in Darwin on Friday 14 June, 2013. This workshop has a numeracy focus at the request of practitioners. Beth Marr will facilitate a session to discuss her perspectives of numeracy in the workplace and implications for WELL Programs.

Beth's session will use a combination of discussion, hands on activities, stories from the coalface, and brief excerpts from research, to examine issues of workplace numeracy that will be of relevance to WELL practitioners. Topic areas include differences between maths and workplace numeracy, the invisibility of numeracy at work and workers' existing numeracy skills (tacit skills), uncovering and valuing the existing numeracy skills of learners (and WELL teachers). Attitudes to learning mathematics and implications for workplace numeracy training will be explored along with strategies and resources for teaching numeracy.

8. News from TCAL

• Members attended an engaging and informative presentation by Bob Boughton on the topic of Popular Education and Effective Communities of Practice on 22 May

• Members agreed to adopt the new TCAL Constitution, now submitted to the Department of Justice, Consumer Affairs and Fair Trading for approval

• Planning and preparation are well underway for TCAL's annual conference on 17 August

• Thank you for all the likes on our Facebook page; if you haven't already taken a peek, we encourage you to do so and while there, feel free to post topical LLN information: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tasmanian-Council-for-Adult-Literacy-TCAL/377881692325020?ref=hl<

Also