In this Issue

1. VALBEC Conference

Keynote speaker Dr John Benseman, New Zealand

For first-time presenters - 3 free spots!

Indicative fees and new Group offer

2. VALBEC Matters

Fine Print - Edition 1 in your mailbox soon

Fine Print artwork

VALBEC on Facebook 

2017 VALBEC AGM

2017 fees unchanged

Coming up forty

3. Kate Carnell champions the national Reading Writing Hotline

4. Professional Development

Numeracy workshop: Having Fun with Maths

2017 ACAL Conference call for papers - Darwin, September 2017

'Traders, Neighbours and Intruders'

2017 Australian Training Awards’ Excellence in Language, Literacy and Numeracy Practice

5. Resources

Resource Gems - Singing the praises of podcasts

Skills for Australia - Training Products Improvement Survey

6. Seeking employment

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1. VALBEC Conference

"Who dares to teach must never cease to learn. John Cotton Dana

Keynote speaker Dr John Benseman, New Zealand

So what shapes teachers’ teaching skills and strategies? Where do teachers look for their inspiration and information about how to teach? What role could research play in improving our practice? Find out with our keynote speaker, Dr. John Benseman at the VALBEC 2017 conference, Teaching and Learning: Reflecting on Practice.

Dr. Benseman will present a summary of recent research findings in adult literacy education and explore the argument for research-informed teaching. Find out how individual teachers or whole organisations can implement a professional development programme to bridge the current divide between research and practice. 

Full program available and registrations open mid-March.

For first-time presenters – 3 free spots!

This year we would like to offer three free places at the VALBEC conference for first-time presenters.

Instead of presenting a workshop we would like to encourage first-timers to present a ‘visual display’ during the lunch break for 50 minutes. 

Due date for proposals 5pm March 31.

Indicative fees and new Group offer

To help with your planning indicative fees are now available.

Note the new Group offer. Register 3 people get the 4th place free.

Early bird discounts available to VALBEC members.

2. VALBEC Matters

Fine Print - Edition 1 in your mailbox soon

Do you regularly engage in professional development through reading and discussing articles in Fine Print with your colleagues? There are so many stimulating and relevant articles in each edition to provide stimulus for reflection and conversation. Consider topics around good teaching practices or generating new ideas for classroom activities to engage students. Edition #1 will be coming to your mailbox soon with articles that tackle teaching and assessment of foundation skills, numeracy and health literacy and creating digital stories. So take the opportunity to utilise this great resource with your colleagues.

Fine Print artwork

Do you have original student artwork or images of students at work or engaged in activities that we could include in Fine Print? Send with contact details and permissions to info@valbec.org.au

VALBEC on Facebook 

VALBEC is on Facebook! Please 'like, share, and comment' on our new Facebook page.

www.facebook.com/valbec.org.au

This page will share news, views and opinions on adult LLN in Victoria and beyond. We cannot advertise for a program but we are happy to share good news stories from the field. Please share amongst your relevant networks.

To contact our social media person please email hello@valbec.org.au

2017 VALBEC AGM

The VALBEC committee plans to have its AGM on April 19th.

As a member and or supporter of VALBEC please put this date in your diary. 

If you are new to VALBEC and interested to come along please do so. If you would like to join the committee please contact info@valbec.org.au and let us know. There will be an opportunity to nominate closer to the AGM.

2017 fees unchanged

The VALBEC Committee has determined that the membership fees for 2017 will be unchanged.

• Small Organisation – less the than 4 EFT staff $160

• Institutional membership – base rate $232

• Institutional membership – multi campus (with 6 copies of Fine Print) $402

• Individual membership – employed 0.6 and above $102

• Individual membership – part time/sessional $61

• Individual membership – students/unemployed $43

You can renew (yes, some of you have already - thank you!) and even pay online if you wish.

Coming up forty

eVALBEC reaches you each month and can lead you to a treasure trove of contacts and support. All of these are garnered from members’ contributions. eVALBEC is just one resource provided by VALBEC. Why not have a look at or access some of these:

• Fine Print – a practitioner magazine published three times a year

• Links and information – via website www.valbec.org.au

• Annual conference – This year the conference is on May 19th at the William Angliss Centre.

• Professional development workshops

• Member resources - Building Strength with Numeracy, links to new resources and archived copies of Fine Print.

• Forums – on issues that impact on learning in the LLN classroom

• Email and telephone inquiry support

But you need to be a member to get to all of these.

VALBEC is 39 years old and somehow stays younger than its years! Why not join us for the 40th year?

Membership provides discount benefits and in 2018 we will be celebrating with the Australian Council of Adult Learning (ACAL).

We're for you. We want to be practical and to advocate for teachers and students. So we need your voices and we need your support

3. Kate Carnell champions the national Reading Writing Hotline

The Reading Writing Hotline has just launched a campaign to encourage employers to use the services of the Hotline in order to boost LLN in the workplace. The campaign has involved production of two videos and a media kit had been distributed to a wide range of industry contacts.

The Reading Writing Hotline, in collaboration with the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Kate Carnell's office, has been working to promote the importance of workplace literacy and numeracy to small and medium enterprises and the special role that the Hotline can play in this.

The Hotline is proud to announce that Kate is championing this national campaign in an effort to increase the calls that employers make to the Hotline to support the learning needs of their staff.

Kate Carnell is the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman (ASBFEO) and has led the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry [ACCI] and is also a former ACT chief minister.

View Kate's promotional video 'Want to Improve Your Bottom Line?'  

See more about the campaign, video links and Facebook posts.

4. Professional Development

Numeracy workshop: Having Fun with Maths

Thursday, March 16th and Thursday, June 8th, Camberwell

Here's an opportunity to learn about and experience a variety of numeracy and maths games and activities suitable for classroom use with a range of maths, numeracy, literacy and ESL students. The activities will illustrate alternative approaches to the traditional worksheet or textbook approach for teaching numeracy and maths.

The activities have mainly been developed for youth and adult numeracy students but are suitable for all students, including school students from across the middle years, VCAL and VET. The half-day workshop will be run by Dave Tout.

2017 ACAL Conference call for papers - Darwin, September 2017

'Traders, Neighbours and Intruders'

In 2017 the Australian Council for Adult Literacy celebrates 40 years actively promoting language, literacy, numeracy, and communication advocacy and research and the Conference offers delegates a unique opportunity to explore the conditions required for more critically engaged debates about local, regional and global provision.

The conference – Traders, Neighbours and Intruders: Points of Contact – provides the framework for collective change where policy makers, practitioners and researchers can learn from and engage with a long history of language and policy provision in northern Australia and our neighbours in Asia.

2017 Australian Training Awards’ Excellence in Language, Literacy and Numeracy Practice

Do you know of an outstanding individual working in the delivery of Language, Literacy and Numeracy (LLN) Practice? If you do, now is the time for them to gain national recognition for the work that they do.

The 2017 Australian Training Awards ’Excellence in Language, Literacy and Numeracy Practice' Award is open now for nominations.

Nominations close May 31, 2017.

5. Resources

Resource Gems

Resource Gems - Singing the praises of podcasts

This month's contribution is from Committee member Anna Cranney

For this eVALBEC, I want to sing the praises of podcasts.

I am drawn to podcasts because they are free, flexible and offer a curated and diverse selection of international ideas. Podcasts also allow me to search, save and share these audio selections with friends and colleagues. The following podcasts are a collection of channels related to LLN teaching, adult learning approaches and technology in training. Search for them online or through your phone's podcast app or library.

• AlphaPlus Tech Podcast

• TED Talks Education

• Voice of Literacy

Skills for Australia - Training Products Improvement Survey

Skills for Australia plays a critical support role in aligning training to the skills needs of industry. We review existing vocational training products (the qualifications and units of competency that form full qualifications) and work in consultation with industry to identify improvement opportunities.

In conjunction with the open forums and webinars currently being run, this survey is an important part of our consultation approach, the results of which will guide training product development work currently underway.

6. Seeking employment

Administration Support officer seeking employment

My name is Ayda Mustafa and I am seeking employment in the Adult Education Sector.

My skills include

• A range of Microsoft Office, Data Entry, extensive ARMS knowledge and experience. MYOB, Medical terminology and administration, financial bookkeeping to trial balance, excel spreadsheets, powerpoint.

• As a volunteer I have successfully handled a range of reception duties including counter enquiries, data entry, word processing, phone calls, printing, and filing.

• My qualifications include Certificate IV in Business Administration.

• I am bi-lingual and speak fluent Arabic (Lebanese). I have extensive experience translating spoken and written information.

Please call me on 0424 624 958. References available on request.