Search results

Our serious environmental problems are the result of the collective impacts of our lifestyle choices. Since everyone now makes decisions that have environmental effects, we should try to ensure that everyone understands those effects. A goal of universal environmental literacy will have significant implications for both the content and process of formal education. In terms of content, basic knowledge needs to be supplemented by an understanding of complex natural systems and a respect for other knowings. In terms of process, we should be moving away from the model of education which transmits a body of knowledge, toward an approach which sees formal education as the first step in life-long learning. That implies an explicit commitment to an inter-disciplinary problem-oriented approach which recognises the imperfections and embedded values of current knowledge. Aiming at environmental literacy is a desirable goal in itself, but it is also part of the change necessary to provide an appropriate educational preparation for the twenty-first century.

This paper is based largely on the author's doctoral investigation into literacy, lifelong learning and personal/professional development. Working within the 'new research paradigm' of 'post-positivist interpretive inquiry' (see Caulley 1994) the study utilises narrative, autobiographical and arts-based research methods to illuminate experiential learning and professional practice in a range of teaching/learning and adult education settings. Adopting an innovative and eclectic approach the study adopts psychological, sociological and discursive frames of reference, dealing with personal and social constructions of literacy and identity. The study represents a teacher-researcher's continuing quest for the development of an authentic stance in personal-professional life, a stance which sustains critical and creative energies and which is empowering in both private and public domains.

This paper documents the personal experiences of four women on the topic of learning and teaching literacy in Australia today. Three of the women describe the hardships of coping with their personal lives as well as learning to read and coping with technology. The last woman's experience is that of a teacher and her frustrations in teaching literacy in today's environment. She suggests that current funding for professional development goes towards the checking of standards rather than into workshops and seminars on theory and practice. The contents of the paper are: Abstract; Framing this paper; The learners; The teachers; Conclusion and references.

The methodological basis of this paper is a review of the interview data from an ANTA [Australian National Training Authority] funded project conducted by the University of Tasmania’s Centre for Research and Learning in Regional Australia, here described as the 'Role of VET' project [indexed at TD/TAS 61.01]. The data from the project has been used to identify and analyse references to literacy and numeracy provision. The paper is structured to provide an analysis of the data in terms of the potential benefits of literacy and numeracy provision and the barriers to provision. It concludes with a synthesis of the principles of effective literacy and numeracy provision that are drawn from the data. The paper reports on findings from ten study sites from a cross section of regional Australia. The scope of this paper is limited to adult literacy and numeracy.

The first section of the paper looks at the way that the education and training sector has responded to imperatives generated by changes in the global economy. The second section examines policy changes associated with residential aged care and the changing literacy tasks required as a result of these changes. Finally the paper identifies issues that have arisen as a result of these key policy imperatives indicating possible areas requiring further work.