Call for presentations

The Australian Council for Adult Literacy is calling for papers and presentations for ‘Inclusion, empowerment, employment: Literacies for a dynamic future’ over the one and a half conference days, 4 and 5 September 2025. The Australian Council for Adult Literacy has been advocating for adult literacy since it was formed in 1976. This year ACAL celebrates 49 years of active promotion of literacy and numeracy provision, teaching practices, research and engagement in consultations related to the development of adult literacy policy. The conference title provides a framework to reflect and focus on these collective concerns through the ideas of pedagogy, policy and practice in inclusive and enabling spaces that both welcome adult learners and open new pathways for their consideration.

Presentation modes

ACAL 2025, supported by VALBEC,  offers five presentation modes and encourages participation and submissions from teaching practitioners, policy makers, managers, researchers, and other people and organisations interested in adult literacy.

The Conference Committee may request changes to duration and presentation mode to suit program requirements. All presentations will be in person (no remote options).

1. Practical workshops (30 minutes)

Workshop sessions will invite participants to engage in active learning that will enhance their professional development. They will provide take-away skills and knowledge for growing capacity and the ability to respond to diverse practice contexts. Workshops may address teaching and learning challenges, introduce new curriculum or approaches, or profile successful programs. Workshops may be delivered by teams, however people having substantive responsibilities during the workshop should be listed as presenters.

2. Panel presentations (30 minutes)

Panels will be selected based on topics that are likely to promote debate and have significant influence on future initiatives. The Chair of each panel should submit full details of the presentation including title of the panel; name(s) and affiliation(s) of the Chair and panel participants as well as a 200-word abstract. Each Chair is expected to be available throughout the Panel to introduce the topic, monitor time and convene post-panel discussion.

3. Practice tasters (30 minutes)

Tasters may take the form of poster presentations, exhibits, models, and artefacts, or 30-minute presentations of ‘tried and tested’ approaches. Submissions should explain the background to the approach, the education, learning and training challenge it intends to address and relevant work that has informed the development of the approach. Practice Tasters could include materials development, community engagement activities, policy initiatives or research methodologies. Practice Tasters may be delivered by teams – people having substantive responsibilities during the session should be listed as presenters.

4. Individual papers and presentations (30 minutes, including time for discussion)

Individual papers may be co-authored, and in this case all contributing authors should be listed for presentation details. Papers will be reviewed and selected on the basis of relevance to the 2025 Conference themes, degree of originality, potential to add to existing scholarship, clarity of conceptual, methodological and theoretical contributions and reference to appropriate sources, including scholarly and/or policy references. Selected papers may receive the option for publication in FinePrint.

5. Poster presentations (New)

Please see separate application for posters.

Read me first

Before proceeding, please note these simple matters.

• All presentations require an abstract.
• Completed abstracts must be received by March 25, 2025.
• Please prepare original presentations that have not been delivered to other audiences prior to the ACAL conference.
• Read the details of ‘Modes of presentation’ as these will be used as a basis of selection.
• The Conference Committee reserves the right to accept or reject any proposal.
• A discount is offered to the first presenter only. Other discounts (e.g. early bird) may apply to other presenters.
• The venue provides the following AV and you should plan your presentation accordingly – lectern, microphone, projector and screen, and whiteboard.
• Submission abstracts and presenter bios may be edited for publication. This will be communicated with presenter 1 prior to publication.
• The presentations cannot accommodate products for sale. Please see the sponsorship options if you have a commercial product or service to share. We are happy to showcase your wares in a sponsor display table.