1. VALBEC admin vacancy

Long-serving administrator, Don MacDowall has announced he intends to retire from the VALBEC administrator role in mid-September so VALBEC are planning to appoint a new contractor.

Applications close Wednesday July 31st.

2. Can a literacy teacher teach numeracy?

If I needed to teach basic numeracy to a class, I would use the resources on the VALBEC website and read people like Dorothea Steinke, a presenter at the Pro-Literacy Conference in September.

Her session is called Adult Math: 4 Concepts the Books Need to Teach. Google research found this revealing article – ‘Using Part-Whole Thinking in Math’ 

I wouldn’t say the scales have fallen away from my eyes but at least I have some understanding of student needs.  

Rhonda Pelletier, VALBEC Secretary

See below for more information on applying for a scholarship to attend the Pro-Literacy Conference this year.

3. Pro-Literacy – A session on collaborating with other providers

The program for the Pro-Literacy Conference in San Diego, USA in September is immense. Here is one session you might find interesting. You can view the whole program at the link below:

Collective Impact in Adult Education 

Presenter: Kim Karesh, Nashville Adult Literacy Council

Co-Presenter: Megan Godbey, Nashville Adult Literacy Council

Adult education programs make a difference for participants, yet overall literacy rates remain unchanged. Individual agencies’ efforts are not enough to meet the large-scale needs of learners. In response, a dozen Nashville agencies are collaborating in new ways. In this workshop, the backbone agencies of the Nashville Adult Education Collective Impact will discuss how they are working together, their lessons learned, and the work ahead. 

4. VALBEC scholarship to US conference

VALBEC members are eligible to apply for a scholarship to attend the ProLiteracy Conference on Adult Education in San Diego, California, from September 25 – 28, 2019.

The scholarship will include one return economy airfare from Melbourne to San Diego, accommodation and associated transfers. A scholarship for conference registration has been provided thanks to ProLiteracy.

5. VALBEC 2019 Conference - pics and presentations

6. Fine Print gremlins

It has come to our attention that gremlins have been messing with the Fine Print email address. We know that some messages have not got through to us, which leaves us with that sinking feeling regarding the messages we don’t know about. The problem has now been fixed, so if you have emailed fineprint@valbec.org and not received a reply, please accept our apologies and resend your message. We look forward to hearing from you.

7. ACAL Conference - 3-5 October 2019 - Sydney

• Bob Boughton to give the Arch Nelson Address

• Abstracts still being accepted - closes July 12

• Registration now open

• Preconference options

8. Valé Maggie Power

Maggie Power died in June, aged 64. Friends, family, colleagues are much saddened by this loss.

Maggie was brilliantly clever but always humble, hilariously funny and sensitive and honest. She was a great person. There are learners and teachers who never met Maggie who benefited from her clear-thinking and crisp writing.Her many ESL/Literacy text books are in use two decades after first publication.

Maggie was always interested in writing books that were immediately useful: ‘teaching is a busy job, who’s got time to write a new lesson every day?’ was her attitude.

Her work made a difference to people’s lives

She was also a strong and principled woman; willing to stand up for principle against governments, management and to speak unpalatable truth when it was needed. The classroom, the picket-line and the writing desk were her places on earth and we benefited every time.

Maggie was a person like no other.

Lindee Conway

9. Special dates

NAIDOC Week 7-14 July

Anniversary of Refugee Convention July 28

On July 28, 1951 the Refugee Convention (Convention relating to the status of refugees) was adopted by the United Nations in response to the refugee crisis in Europe in the years following World War II. Since then it has broadened its scope to create capacity to respond to new refugee situations as they arise.