An overly negative view of literacy and reluctance to take account of history has limited research and led indirectly to the advancement of some unproductive ideas about literacy, according to this review of research on literacy education by the Australian Council for Educational Research. The review argues that a false dichotomy has developed in literacy...

This review argues that a false dichotomy has developed in literacy theory between 'code' and 'meaning-emphasis', a dichotomy sometimes wrongly equated with the debate between 'phonics' and 'whole language' approaches to teaching. This leads teachers of early literacy to believe that they must choose between the two methods, when in fact effective teachers use elements...

There are fewer Australians with literacy assessed as being in the lowest category than there were a decade ago, according to this ABS survey. Approximately 17% (2.5 million) of people were assessed at the lowest prose literacy level (down from 20% in 1996), while 18% (2.7 million) were assessed at the lowest document literacy level...

This report examines non-accredited community language, literacy and numeracy provision in Australia. A diverse range of providers assist many adults who do not need or cannot yet cope with accredited training. Growth in self-confidence appears as important as development of literacy and numeracy skills, with teachers and tutors playing a key role in this. Greater...

This report provides data on courses in the vocational education and training (VET) sector that are generally described as 'adult literacy and numeracy courses'. This includes General Education Programmes, Social Skills Courses, Employment Skills Courses and Other Mixed Field Programmes, plus some other activity. It does not include data on literacy and numeracy embedded in...