Literacy in remote Indigenous Australia

15 May 2009The literacy debate rarely addresses the critical social and historical factors that also account for why literacy levels among remote Indigenous youth are lower than their mainstream counterparts. The focus on schooling obscures the less obvious fact that we must also be cognisant of the broader sociocultural factors associated with literacy acquisition, maintenance and transmission.

This paper explores several factors that can contribute to the lower rates of literacy, many of which actually have little to do with the quality of teaching or resources, school attendance or lower expectations of competence.

A version of this article was published in the National Indigenous Times, 30 April 2009.

Noticeboard

03 May 2012

Strengthen our voice - take part in the Australian Community Sector Survey

There's just under two weeks to go for Victoria's community sector organisations to help us provide an authentic snapshot of the state of demand for services in the state.

08 March 2012

Women's Health Victoria (WHV) is a statewide women's health promotion, information and advocacy organisation, working with policy makers and health professionals to influence and inform health policy and service delivery.

The online survey is open to anyone who has used WHV's services, resources, or websites in the past 12 months. It covers: WHV publications, professional training, The Index database of gendered statistics, WHV Clearinghouse, BreaCan Service (supporting people diagnosed with breast or gynaecological cancer), capacity building, member services, and more.

07 March 2012

In May 2011 the Federal Government announced that the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) would commence operations from 1 July 2012 and that it would initially be responsible for determining the legal status of groups seeking charitable, public benevolent institution, and other not-for-profit (NFP) benefits on behalf of all Commonwealth agencies.