Professor Jack Beetson and educator Mrs Dianne Roberts will be the first Aboriginal candidates to receive honorary doctorates from the University of New England when they accept awards at a ceremony in Armidale on Saturday. Professor Beetson, Executive Director of Literacy for Life Foundation, will be presented with the award of Honorary Doctor of...
Continue readingCampaign Project Officer, Walgett and Collarenebri, NSW
Literacy For Life Foundation is seeking applications from highly motivated and experienced professionals to join our team. Since starting in Wilcannia in 2012 the Campaign has run in 8 western NSW communities, graduating over 150 students. In 2016 we began in Walgett and in 2018 we plan to run a third class in Walgett...
Continue reading
Help Train More Marys
Mary Waites is the coordinator of the Brewarrina literacy campaign. And now she’s the star of a major documentary on our work, In My Own Words. The film follows Mary’s journey helping a group of adult students learning to read and write for the first time. “It’s a whole new world out there and...
Continue reading
To lift literacy levels among Indigenous children, their parents’ literacy skills must be improved first
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
Measuring long term impact
In late 2016, work commenced on an Australian Research Council funded, multi-year longitudinal study of the impacts experienced by communities that have undertaken Literacy for Life Foundation’s Campaign. This study is being supported by the University of New South Wales, the University of New England, the Lowitja Institute and includes input from representatives of...
Continue reading
Speaking at the Lowitja Institute International Indigenous Health and Wellbeing Conference 2016
Literacy for Life Foundation Executive Director Jack Beetson attended the Lowitja Institute International Indigenous Health and Wellbeing Conference 2016 with Janelle Frail and Dr Ben Bartlett to discuss the difference education is making in remote communities. Click here to watch....
Continue reading
Literacy for Life Foundation receives inaugural award from the Australian College of Educators
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
Insight: Reading Between the Lines – Improving Indigenous literacy
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
Leaps and Bounds in Literacy
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
Calls for improved adult literacy in Indigenous communities to combat fraud
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