Northern Territory Adult Literacy And Numeracy Best Practice

What do other people think?

In a school-based training environment

Interviewee: “You would probably need to talk to the school to get the actual facts and figures [of students completing Years 11 and 12, because] I can’t tell you that. Opportunities for the kids to go back to communities and actually contribute into a workforce pathway [is important]. We try to run programs – as an example, construction programs in schools – from which, kids go back with a certificate in construction hopefully. We can never guarantee these things but, hopefully, there’s going to be an opportunity for housing in a community or some other area where they can actually go on and do further study.”
Interviewer: “Is there any evidence of it actually working?”
Interviewee: “I couldn’t comment on that.”

Interviewer: “What support do you give your teachers and how does that work in terms of professional development?”
Interviewee: “For example (and I couldn’t list all the PD that’s been given over the years here), but in the NT, we’ve currently got on – as we speak at the moment – [an] Indigenous leadership group and next week, teacher assistance groups – two days of PD supporting teacher assistants in our classrooms. We very much align ourselves in terms of provision of PD for classroom teachers, especially in the area of literacy & numeracy…they have a number of supports and services that are available to us as with any other sector but…there would be a high expectation there of literacy and numeracy too, and good teaching practise using good teaching strategy that delivers PD. Not so much ‘train the trainer’ stuff but examples of good practice.”

In an Indigenous health workers context

Interviewer: “What makes [your health organisation] different? Is there a legacy where someone will look back and say, this is what [your organisation] has done?”
Interviewee: “One of the reasons [we] started a training school was that Aboriginal people found it difficult going to other institutions…where the training was basically concerned with people from remote areas and certainly not urban areas – and that’s where they will come from, to our courses.”

From the perspective of a practitioner and/or researcher

Adult Literacy and Numeracy:
Literacy and numeracy skills are shaped by social, cultural and technological developments. Therefore the definition of literacy will change with the times, as will approaches to fostering literacy and numeracy skills.

People with limited literacy can lead very successful lives. They can achieve stable employment, economic self-management and academic success. In doing so, they often have to be particularly determined and able to make clever use of networks and technologies.

Learning about language, literacy and numeracy is not restricted to conventional educational environments. It can also be integrated into work and community settings. This requires effective collaboration and coordinated approaches.
- Foster & Beddie 2005

Integrated approaches to teaching adult literacy in Australia:
The extent to which language, literacy and numeracy is delivered successfully in an integrated approach is dependent on the ability of facilitators and assessors to interpret vocational training packages and to develop appropriate teaching and learning strategies.

Practitioners experienced…challenges with understanding training packages and used different language, literacy and numeracy frameworks and support materials. However, they were able to demonstrate great flexibility in response to contextualising training…and applied a remarkable consistency of instructional strategies to enhance the language, literacy and numeracy skills of students.

Restrictive funding models leave registered training organisations to make commercial decisions about levels of support required by learners, affecting the time and resources available for practitioners to explicitly address the language, literacy and numeracy needs of students.
- McKenna & Fitzpatrick 2005

The national Indigenous education policy has contributed to:

Substantial progress towards achieving parity in access to and participation in education and training between Indigenous people and other Australians, although more still needs to be done.
The better accommodation of Indigenous people’s aspirations and cultural needs within many of Australia’s schools, TAFE institutions and universities, again noting that much more still needs to be done.

- Robinson & Bamblett 1998

Key findings from data analysis of VET programs 1997-2001:

Participation of Indigenous people in vocational education and training is very strong and the rate is twice that of other students.
Young Indigenous people are especially participating in strong numbers, and at rates above those for non-Indigenous young people.
The very strong participation rates in vocational education and training provides encouraging opportunities for the future for Indigenous people, especially given their relatively low participation rates in the other education sectors of schools and higher education. However, against all indicators apart from participation, Indigenous people are faring less well than non-Indigenous people.
There is a trend towards more Indigenous students studying Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF)-related courses that therefore have industry and lifelong learning relevance.
An outstanding challenge is to develop performance indicators that will demonstrate the social and community economic and welfare benefits of participant in VET that can be used in addition to the existing employment-related indicators.

- Saunders et al 2003

From an Indigenous perspective

Issues and strategies for engaging Indigenous people:
The most striking single issue about the experiences of Indigenous peoples in VET in Australia has been the relatively recent elimination of inequities in VET participation rates between Indigenous peoples and other Australians.

VET providers…have taken steps to encourage Indigenous access to their programs, and Indigenous peoples have responded by enrolling in record numbers across Australia…Indigenous participation in the VET sector has grown at a much stronger rate than Indigenous participation in other forms of post-compulsory education and training.

The issues of what were ‘successful outcomes’…was frequently raised during the study…Staff in Indigenous education units often gave examples of learning and personal development which could not be discerned from outcome data.

The assumption that Indigenous students inevitably experience VET as culturally alien or threatening ignores the enormous diversity of Indigenous situations and individual responses by the large number of Indigenous peoples from a very diverse range of backgrounds.

If…strategies are developed properly with the involvement of the Indigenous community, Indigenous education units and the students themselves, then they need not compromise any cultural or social beliefs of the students.
- Robinson & Hughes 1999

Relevance of literacy to Indigenous communities:
Literacy…is only relevant if it is linked in a useful way to the prescribed roles and responsibilities in the community. The mainstream education and training system invests in the individuals progressing along a pathway towards labour market and employment, whereas in this remote Indigenous context the most important investment is in the social capital – norms (values), networks and trust (Putnam 1993) – of the communal whole.
- Kral & Falk 2004

Traditional culture vs Western education:
So, while Indigenous communities consider Western education important they do not believe it should come at the expense of traditional culture. This poses a challenge to an industry-driven vocational education and training (VET) system based on national competency standards. Kral and Falk (2004) suggest that mainstream VET has a poor fit with the needs, values, interests and opportunities in the rural Indigenous community they studied. They found that while skills could be taught, the process was futile as it was irrelevant to the local community, where formal education and training was not seen to be aligned with cultural expectations.

Fostering literacy in this context goes beyond developing skills for economic participation. It is about developing community capacity to influence and direct the running of the community. ‘The community is seeking a “both ways” model where mainstream education, and education into the Indigenous law happen side by side’.
- Foster & Beddie 2005

Effective ways of supporting Indigenous students:
Literacy and numeracy skills are highly valued by Indigenous students and community members and are the key to further training, education and employment.

Literacy and numeracy support actually given to Indigenous students remains inadequate across much of the VET sector, although effective support systems are available.

The study identifies one-on-one support in the form of in-class tutorial support and peer tutoring as the most effective method of delivering literacy and numeracy to Indigenous VET students.

As the relationship between teacher/tutor and the student is of primary importance to Indigenous students, there is a need for more Indigenous staff throughout the VET sector, including teachers/trainers, administrators and support staff. Cross-cultural training should be made available for non-Indigenous teachers delivering courses in which Indigenous students are enrolled.
- McGlusky & Thaker 2006

From a government perspective

The six principles of Indigenous learning:

Intercultural competence – recognise cultural differences; build relationships that enhance learning; show commitment, humility, sense of humour
Respect – show respect for Indigenous culture by designing and structuring appropriate learning environments; reflect on relevant learning materials and resources; engage with local Indigenous communities; help Indigenous learners to negotiate the transition from training to employment
Negotiation – complex process bound by cultural protocols, language barriers; involves both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people; understanding of the needs of various parties; a ‘give and take’ attitude; building relationships at personal and organisational level
Meaningful outcomes – programs must lead somewhere and have a purpose
Relationships – developing trust, mutual understanding; commitment
Indigenisation – Indigenous people teaching Indigenous people

- DEST 2004

A snapshot of training in the Northern Territory:
The Northern Territory has a higher concentration of Indigenous people with 30.1% of the NT population reporting as having an Indigenous background, compared to Australia at 2.5% of the total population.

The Indigenous population in the NT is characterised by a low school educational profile, with a large number not achieving Year 12 education. Many Indigenous Territorians live in remote areas where access to education…may be limited…As many as 64% of Indigenous Territorians are neither employed nor looking for work and only approximately 15% are working in mainstream (non CDEP) employment. There is work to be done with the Indigenous population to provide them with the capacity to engage in the labour force.

Limitations associated with delivery of VET training in remote communities present major challenges to the Northern Territory. The cost of remote training delivery is high…Approximately 22.1% of the Territory’s population live outside the six regional centres, and a major proportion of this population is Indigenous

The three main languages spoken at home (other than English) are Australian Indigenous languages.

The Northern Territory also has seasonal factors such as road blockages and airstrip closures during the wet season, which affect delivery by limiting access to communities. Often there is a shortage of suitable physical infrastructure to support required training in Indigenous communities.

Challenges exist in the building of a critical mass of VET practitioners that are able to realise the potential of flexible learning. VET practitioners must have the training, resources and experience to deliver VET in remote contexts and utilising innovative training delivery models such as Interactive Distance Learning and other e-learning techniques. DEET is addressing these issues by providing professional development programs for training practitioners in the Northern Territory.
- DEET 2006

From a global perspective

United Nations Literacy Decade 2003-2012:
Literacy is about more than reading and writing – it is about how we communicate in society. It is about social practices and relationships, about knowledge, language and culture. Literacy – the use of written communication – finds its place in our lives alongside other ways of communicating. Indeed, literacy itself takes many forms…It comprises other skills needed for an individual’s full autonomy and capacity to function effectively in a given society. It can range from reading instructions for fertilisers, or medical prescriptions, knowing which bus to catch, keeping accounts for a small business or operating a computer…Those who use literacy take it for granted – but those who cannot use it are excluded from much communication in today’s world.
- UNESCO 2003

Factors for enhancing Literacy, Numeracy and Language (LNL) learning:

Appropriately skilled teachers who can identify the strengths and weakness learners have in speaking, reading, writing and numeracy. [Findings suggest] full-time teachers are more likely to enhance learner gain, and that learners benefit when there is assistance from teacher aides or volunteer tutors.
A curriculum that is linked to the authentic literacy events that learners experience in their lives. An authentic curriculum appears to lead to gain for learners in family literacy, for ESOL learners and for mainstream LNL learners…

- Auckland Uniservices