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Literacy and the most marginalised children: A dialogue on Australian and International experience

ACER, with Plan Australia, are hosting a forum for researchers, practitioners and policy makers interested in the field of inclusive education to consider inclusive literacy interventions in the Australian and international development arenas.

Focusing on how inclusive literacy interventions can support the most marginalised children, the forum will include case studies from South Africa, PNG and Indigenous Australia.

In creating a platform for technical consultations on major issues in inclusive literacy, the forum is an opportunity to hear from experts with a broad and country-specific knowledge, and learn about different approaches in developing solutions, as an approach that may be effective in one context cannot necessarily be transferred into another.

Deputy Executive Dean of the College of Education at the University of South Africa, Professor Veronica McKay, will speak on the development of a South African school workbook development project that currently provides ‘lesson-a-day’ learning materials in an official language for approximately six million children.

Other guests include inclusive education specialist, Merv Hyde, from the Sunshine Coast University, and speakers from the University of Melbourne, Plan Australia and ACER .

When: 11^th September, 2012

Time: 9.00am–3.00pm

Who: Plan Australia and ACER

Where: State Library of Victoria Seminar Room 1, 328 Swanston Street, Melbourne, Victoria
(Conference entry via entry 3 – on La Trobe Street)

To Register: email international@acer.edu.au by 7 September

Professor Veronica McKay is the Deputy Executive Dean of the College of Education at the University of South Africa. She has had a long experience in education and has taught from pre-school to post-doctoral level. In 1994 she established the ABET Institute at Unisa. The Institute provided professional training for close on 100 000 adult educators and implemented several large-scale development interventions for government.

In 2007 Prof McKay was seconded for four years to the Department of Basic Education where she was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer for the Kha Ri Gude South African Literacy Campaign, which was established to enable 4.7 million illiterates to become literate. During her secondment she also managed the DBE’s School Workbook development project that currently provides a “lesson-a-day” learning materials in all official languages for approximately 6 million children from Grade R to Grade 9.

Prof McKay is an Apex scholar and has authored a number of articles in journals and books and has received a number of awards for the teaching and learning materials developed under her leadership. These include the prestigious Commonwealth of Learning award for the materials of the ABET Institute and the PANSALB award for the Kha Ri Gude materials which are available in 11 languages, in Braille and in South African Sign Language. As an educationist and sociologist, her research areas are broad and include: interactive approaches to teaching, reading and second language teaching, social development, HIV/AIDS, gender issues, and ways of enhancing learning particularly through using the methods of distance education. She has also carried out a broad range of inter-disciplinary research for international bodies such as UNECO, ADEA and the ILO.

Professor Emeritus Merv Hyde, Academic Director of the International Projects Group, University of Sunshine Coast, will discuss research from Indonesian Papua that examines how teachers engage with local communities and also how high school drop out in years 1-3 affects literacy. The study sought to identify critical features of the education, health and nutrition of young school children as well as their cognitive and social development; and to identify the impact of social and cultural patterns on young school children in diverse communities in this remote Indonesian province.