Bob Boughton, University of New England and Jack Beetson, University of New England In this series, we’ll discuss whether progress is being made on Indigenous education, looking at various areas including policy, scholarships, school leadership, literacy and much more. There’s a large adult-sized hole in Australia’s approach to boosting literacy levels among Indigenous children...
Continue reading
The Foundation has been awarded the inaugural Cynthia Briggs Empowerment through Education Award for our recent work. See the citation below from the Australian College of Educators. The ‘Yes, I Can!’ Aboriginal adult literacy campaign’, overseen by the Literacy for Life Foundation (www.lflf.org.au), was launched in Wilcannia in February 2012. The campaign uses a...
Continue reading
SBS’s Insight with Jenny Brockie aired an episode on low literacy levels in Australia. Jack Beetson was a part of the conversation. Insight: Tuesdays at 8:30pm on SBS ONE...
Continue reading
Question: What do the following two words have in common? Discourage Cauliflower Answer: They both include all five vowels – a e i o u. If you answered correctly, well done! These two words were brought in to class by one of the students in Intake Two of the Brewarrina First Nations...
Continue reading
Could greater investment in adult literacy stop the ‘scams, cons and rip-offs’ that are a blight in some Indigenous communities? There’s lots of discussion about the need to improve literacy and numeracy among Indigenous children, which is no doubt crucial. But campaigner Jack Beetson says doing more to address adult literacy in Indigenous communities...
Continue reading
Jack was born into an Aboriginal family in western NSW. At school, he was an outstanding student, but when he wanted to study commerce and history, he was diverted to metal work and social science subjects instead. His teacher told him: ‘Aboriginal kids just don’t do those harder subjects’. Jack rebelled against the school...
Continue reading
NITV published an article on one of our participants, Liam Henry Bloomfield, here is his story: Our River, by Liam Henry Bloomfield The river was the lifeblood of our town called Brewarrina. The Barwon Darling looked so beautiful in the flood time. The fish traps look so peaceful and lost when no water...
Continue reading
Jack Beetson has worn many hats. Now the Ngemba and Wongaibon educator, philosopher and honorary adjunct professor is working to eradicate illiteracy in Aboriginal communities in New South Wales and he’s been honoured by the Cuban government for utilising teaching methods developed in the early years of the Castro regime. The method known in...
Continue reading
The University of New England recently published an article about the Literacy for Life Foundation in Brewarrina. Read it here...
Continue reading
Adult Learning Australia recently published an article on the Literacy for Life Foundation. Read it here...
Continue reading