New numeracy resources

'Building Strength with Numeracy' revises and improves on the iconic numeracy resources 'Strength in Numbers' and 'Breaking the Maths Barrier', and other ‘tried and true’ numeracy teaching resources developed by Beth Marr and other experienced numeracy teachers.

The new resource is a collection of activities that builds on and updates elements of the previous resources, as well as including many new, previously unpublished ideas, activities and student practice exercises.

The resource is accessible online for teachers to use in a range of settings. The activities and practice sheets span a range of levels and subject areas with some suggestions regarding links and sequencing. However, as with the previous resources, it is not intended to cover the whole of any particular curriculum or course.

It is intended that teachers select content relevant to the needs of their learners and integrate it into their own teaching plans in conjunction with other materials. For this reason it has been presented to enable users to download separate activities, single practice sheets or whole sections, as required. The resource is a work in progress in that not all sections of previous resources have yet been included. Hopefully these will be added in the future.

VALBEC acknowledges the funding support of the ACFE board.

Building Strength with Numeracy

Living Black • SBS TV program

The remote Aboriginal community of Wilcannia in western NSW hosted the first successful Australian pilot of the Cuban-designed Yes I Can mass adult literacy campaign model. Featured on SBS recently, the model is the subject of Bob Boughton's keynote address at the VALBEC Conference.


VALBEC 2013 Conference - 'Literacies in worlda diverse world'

May 17, 2013

See full conference details

Register and select from 14 sessions

Keynotes

Inge KralBob Boughton'Literacy and social practice matters'

Inge Kral, Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research (CAEPR), Australian National University, Canberra

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'Mass literacy campaigns: A ‘Pedagogy of hope’?'

Bob Boughton, University of New England, Armidale, NSW

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Member resources

My Neighbourhood coverMany of our members produce useful resources which are often previewed at conferences or reviewed in Fine Print. See some of these on our new Resources page.
If you're a member of VALBEC (the first requirement) and you would like to have your product listed, contact VALBEC.


A Fuller Sense of Self

A Fuller Sense of SelfDuring 2010, Tricia Bowen recorded the stories of adult literacy students across Melbourne and regional Victoria. The aim of the project was to gather stories which illuminated the lives and learning experiences of these students, while describing the challenges they faced, the events that had provoked their decision to return to ‘school’, and ultimately how their lives had changed and shifted following that decision to undertake adult education. Their stories reflect a changing sense of personal identity and growth in self confidence to engage with the world.

Read an extract or purchase a copy

Foundation Skills Training Package endorsed

Foundation Skills Training PackageThe NSSC has endorsed the Foundation Skills (FSK) Training Package and it is now available on training.gov.au (TGA).

IBSA has produced a Companion Volume to the FSK in the form of an Implementation Guide, available on the Foundation Skills Training Package page.

Please note that the Implementation Guide includes an Appendix, Factors affecting delivery and assessment, which provides vital information on a unit by unit basis for practitioners delivering and assessing either qualifications or units from the FSK.


voting hands2013 VALBEC AGM

Friday, May 17, 4.15 pm following the Conference at William Angliss Conference Centre.

Members and friends are invited to attend and hear reports on the 2012 activities. Financial members can nominate and vote for the new Committee.

The Annual General Meeting will include a special resolution to adopt a new constitution.

Details


Harmony Day at Pines Learning Centre

2013 Harmony day at Pines Learing Centre Harmony Day was celebrated at Pines Learning in an ESL class where the focus was on festivals and celebrations. Students were treated to a lavish ‘Nowraz’ (Iranian New Year) table spread with objects that represent the advent of the Iranian New Year which falls on the Northern Spring Equinox and Harmony Day, on March 21.


'Reading the Fine Print: A history of the Victorian Adult Literacy and Basic Education Council (VALBEC) 1978 – 2008'

Reading The Fine Print coverPurchase now

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Author Beverley Campbell has been involved in education for thirty-five years, twenty-five of those in adult literacy education. She is a past president of VALBEC (1989-91) and a former member of the Adult Community and Further Education Board of Victoria.


‘Fancy Footwork: adult educators thinking on their feet’

(Eds. D Bradshaw, B Campbell, A Clemans)

Purchase now

Fancy FootworkThis book invites you to travel in the footsteps of a group of women, all adult educators from Melbourne, Australia. In their desire to explore the spirit of adult education, they met and wrote regularly over two years.

Their reflections, collected here, take you inside their world. With you, they share what teaching means to them. Writing of joys, dilemmas and dangers, they reveal the complexities of teachers' lives and teaching work. Read these stories and you might very well find yourself heading in new directions.