Concern over training for childcare workers
An ABC investigation has discovered overseas students are being encouraged to sign up for childcare education courses in order to obtain permanent residency.
And as many of them have no interest in education, standards are falling in childcare centres.
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ABC News
19 minutes ago
- ABC News
Literacy for Life program tackles low literacy rates among Aboriginal adults
Having left school about 30 years ago without the reading and writing skills many Australians take for granted, Alton Sands's future did not appear to lie in a classroom. But at 45, he takes a seat each week alongside dozens of other adults in his home community of Yarrabah, all determined to pick up the literacy skills they missed out on when they were younger. "It was pretty complicated and hard," Mr Sands said. Yarrabah, about an hour from Cairns, is one of the nation's largest Indigenous communities. It has also become fertile ground for Literacy for Life, an Aboriginal-led program that has helped more than 500 adults nationwide achieve functional literacy. As one of its graduates, Mr Sands intends to return for another term and is encouraging relatives and friends to join him. But he said many might be reluctant to acknowledge their literacy limitations. "I tried to tell them, break that shameness, that barrier in front of you," Mr Sands said. The Literacy for Life Foundation estimates between 40 and 70 per cent of Aboriginal adults have low English language literacy, a figure that is up to 90 per cent in some remote communities. The foundation's executive director, Jack Beetson, said it was a real problem. "We've got whole households that can't even read the dosage on a Panadol packet," Professor Beetson said. "Yet our households are also the households that are home to more chronic disease than any other section of our community. "Imagine being in a household where you've got sick children, sick adults and sick grandparents all at the same time and all of those medicine doses are committed to memory. The program — based on a Cuban model called Yo, Sí Puedo (Yes, I Can) — began at Wilcannia in Far West New South Wales in 2013. The concept involves having Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander locals delivering course content in a way that is tailored to the community. Dwayne Street's life turnaround began when he took the program as a student. The 49-year-old has since gone on to deliver the course to people like Mr Sands. "I'm pretty blessful that I got the opportunity to teach my mob, and hopefully, this will spread right around Australia," Mr Street said. The Yarrabah local admitted he found the classroom environment "pretty challenging" at first. "But as we went on, I got used to it," he said. Some adult literacy learners take the plunge back into the classroom to improve their job prospects. Many are doing it for their children, including Mr Sands, who wants to set an example for his 12-year-old daughter Livvy. Ashleigh Richards, 26, and her partner Lex Costello graduated in Yarrabah just two weeks after the birth of their third child. "When I was at school, I was down in Rockhampton, with hardly no-one I knew." The couple wanted to improve their literacy to read to their children and help them with their studies. Literacy for Life Foundation director Wendy Ludwig said people who reached adulthood without basic literacy skills often developed coping mechanisms, such as taking forms home to be filled out. "It's very difficult for people, after having developed those skills and strategies … to then say, 'I actually need help and I want to learn how to do it myself,'" Dr Ludwig said. In 2013, the foundation estimated it would cost $1.3 billion over 10 to 15 years to eradicate functional illiteracy in Indigenous communities. But over the past decade, it has run on a "piecemeal" basis in different communities where funding becomes available. Literacy for Life has recently secured federal funding to continue for another four years in Yarrabah, and to expand to Cairns, Mossman and Mapoon in Far North Queensland. Despite boasting a course completion rate of 59 per cent — much higher than mainstream government-funded initiatives for First Nations adults — it has never secured long-term funding to expand more broadly. Dr Ludwig said changes were needed at school level too, such as a shift toward teaching Indigenous students English as a second language, instead of framing them as "bad speakers" of English. "I think that is a really fundamental part of some of the challenges for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kids in schools," she said.
ABC News
20 minutes ago
- ABC News
A family secret unearths connection to country
Yvonne Orley grew up on Aboriginal missions in NSW as the child of the matron and manager, before the family moved to Brisbane where Yvonne became a nurse. Only much later did Yvonne learn that she had deep ties to the place and the people where she spent her childhood. Although her mother had tried to hide this part of the family story, it turned out that Yvonne herself was a Kamilaroi woman and this was her mother's traditional country. Yvonne's life took another unexpected turn 25 years ago when her sister asked if she would allow a group of high needs mentally disabled adults move into her home, and Yvonne said yes. Further information Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website.
ABC News
20 minutes ago
- ABC News
Literacy program helps Indigenous adults
Rates of functional illiteracy in Aboriginal communities are high but the Literacy for Life program is teaching new skills and breaking down barriers.
