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Workplace literacy is a new and highly contested site of activity. The field has evolved so rapidly in response to social, economic and political imperatives, that the term workplace literacy, and its various meanings, have largely gone unchallenged. This paper argues that, as a new and fast-growing field, workplace literacy is being under-researched and under-theorised, examining the nature and effects of current common understandings or formulations of the relationship between work and literacy, particularly as these relate to workers in the Australian workforce. The author then evaluates what workplace literacy programs have typically been designed to do, before discussing possible ways for future workplace literacy programs to be conducted that allow real opportunities for all workplace participants to be actively involved in the process of workplace reform. Show less

The International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) report (OECD 2001) [available in VOCEDplus at TD/TNC 64.241] highlighted two separate but related issues for adult literacy policy in an era of rapid global and technological change: the needs of people who are at risk of becoming increasingly marginalised as the result of low literacy skills, and the need to create 'literacy-rich environments' that will facilitate the development of literacy skills at work and in the community in an integrated way. 2001 marked the tenth anniversary of the Australian Language and Literacy Policy (ALLP) (Dawkins 1991) [available in VOCEDplus at TD/ERD 87.64], a policy developed at the behest of the Labor Government of the day. The main thrust of the ALLP was about literacy as a tool in micro-economic re-structuring and macro-economic policy, and the policy had a pivotal role in placing language and literacy policy at the centre of Australia's education, employment and training profile (Brock, 2001:73).

There is now a clear and overdue need for a new socio-economically responsive national policy framework for adult literacy and numeracy in Australia. In this paper, the authors argue that Australia needs to take up anew the challenge of planning for the ongoing education of the adult population in the longer term and to form new policy around contemporary literacy needs. Further, it is argued that Australian governments need to adopt an inclusive, collaborative, evidence-based approach to literacy policies that takes account of the impacts of global, and especially, technological change. Other OECD nations are taking up that challenge and it is time that Australia, until recently at the forefront in progressive adult literacy policy, should be doing the same.

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This chapter examines the evolution of workplace literacy as part of the wider adult literacy and adult education policy context in Australia. It undertakes to provide a discourse analysis of the workplace, as a key focus and locus of literacy policy and practice. It discusses how knowledge about the workplace has been constructed, and the consequence of this construction within the context of the 1991 government report 'Words at work: literacy needs in the workplace'. A critical examination of the report's construction and legitimisation of certain 'truths' is given from a post-structuralist perspective, and the conclusion reached that the report's underlying discourse needs to be challenged.

The volume of collected works is indexed at TD/TNC 75.295. Selected chapters are indexed from TD/TNC 75.296 to TD/TNC 75.299. Show less

This report is concerned with adult literacy policy and research, and seeks to investigate what initiatives have been undertaken in recent years, and how they have been designed to improve vocational and lifelong learning opportunities. It is also interested in whether new program and policy developments in the UK and elsewhere will have an effect on the current Australian situation. The authors hope that by revisiting past perceptions of adult literacy in Australia, and considering them alongside the present situation, they may arrive at a more informed understanding of future possibilities. The first stage of the project focuses on the last decade of adult numeracy and literacy policy developed by the Australian Federal government. The report then goes on to discuss several key themes associated with adult literacy, looks at what has and hasn’t worked in improving vocational and/or lifelong learning outcomes, and finally examines overseas practice in literacy policy and programs which might be influential on Australia. Show less