Wednesday September 1 is Indigenous Literacy Day, a great opportunity to highlight initiatives lifting the reading, writing and digital skills of Indigenous Australians around the country.
Literacy for life is becoming increasingly important to all businesses, individuals and the community as the disrupted and changing environment requires continuous learning and skills development cultures in the workplace.
The Literacy for Life Foundation is an Aboriginal organisation set up to help Indigenous adults who missed out on learning essential English language literacy skills as children. The Foundation speaks about its work and successes in the following article.
“There are many reasons why people might need to improve their reading and writing, and we know that when they do, it is life-changing,” said Executive Director of the Literacy for Life Foundation, Ngemba man, Professor Jack Beetson.
According to evidence presented at a current House of Representatives inquiry into adult literacy and its importance, lifting adult literacy rates is key to achieving improvements in areas such as employment, further training, school education, health and community governance.
Professor Beetson says Literacy for Life Foundation has shown what is possible.
“So far we have over 250 Aboriginal adult graduates from thirteen communities across NSW, QLD and the Northern Territory. Every graduate has been able to lift their literacy levels, demonstrating improvement against the Australian Core Skills Framework,” said Professor Jack Beeston.
“Our results are independently evaluated and four times better than comparative programs running in similar locations. That success is down to hard work by each local community, because we support communities to run the training themselves.”
“It succeeds because it is community-led,” Professor Beetson said.
According to Literacy for Life Foundation, between 40-70% of Aboriginal adults have low literacy, though there are significant data gaps.
“We have been collecting our own data for almost ten years because there are no national figures on Aboriginal adult literacy,” Professor Beetson said.
Photo credit: Hugh Rutherford
Bourke: Graduate Craig went from being a student in the classes to becoming a Literacy for Life Facilitator, working with the adult literacy Campaign to teach the next intake of students. He then took part in a project upgrading the main street in town.
Information on adult literacy levels in Australia is collected through a process called the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), with the next adult literacy survey due to take place in 2022.
However, Literacy for Life Foundation understands that, at this stage, Indigenous adult literacy rates will not be surveyed.
“If governments are funding data collection on adult literacy it needs to go that little bit further to get a picture of the situation for Indigenous Australians. This is a big issue for our community and if we don’t get data through PIAAC next year how long will we be waiting?” Professor Beetson said.
Photo credit: Adam Sharman
Collarenebri graduate, Joyce Sands, takes part in a Literacy for Life Foundation session designed to encourage students to read to children.
Literacy for Life Foundation suggests improved data could be used to increase the impact of initiatives such as the Australian Government’s Foundation Skills for Your Future, Remote Community Pilots.
The Pilots, funded by the Federal Department of Education, Skills and Employment, aim to improve the Language, Literacy, Numeracy and Digital (LLND) skills of community members and identify and develop systemic approaches to LLND skills training delivery in remote communities. The Pilots began this year and are set to run until June 2023.
Pilots are set up in four locations, delivered by different providers. Literacy for Life Foundation is working in partnership with Julalikari Council Aboriginal Corporation to deliver LLND training in Tennant Creek.
While the Tennant Creek Pilot has only just begun, Professor Beetson is optimistic it will achieve results similar to those The Foundation has delivered in Aboriginal communities since it first trialled its innovative approach in 2012.
"We have almost ten years of evidence showing this is an effective way to lift foundation skills in Aboriginal communities. If we can scale up the approach there is enormous potential,” said Professor Beetson.
“For example, we did analysis with one of our founding partners, Multiplex, looking at the Construction sector.”
“Construction is one of the fastest growing sectors in the country and the 2016 Census said Construction was the most common employment industry for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men,” Professor Beetson said.
“The data said the industry had seen the largest growth in jobs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people over the past five years, with an increase of 4,410 jobs in five years.”
Photo credit: Hugh Rutherford
Enngonia: Literacy for Life Foundation Graduate Taryn completed a Certificate 3 in Early Childhood Education and Care (TAFE) and is now working with Regional Enterprise Development Institute.
“Imagine what those numbers can be if we help the 40-70% of the potential Indigenous workforce locked out of employment and training because of low literacy.
If we can scale up the work of the Literacy for Life Foundation it can be a game-changer.”
- Professor Beetson
Professor Jack Beetson is a Ngemba man from western NSW. He has worked in Indigenous education in Australia and Internationally for over 30 years. In 2019 he became the first Indigenous Australian to be inducted into the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame.
Visit www.lflf.org.au to find out how you can support Literacy for Life Foundation this Indigenous Literacy Day.
