The Role of Libraries in Adult Literacy Kerrin Pryor Presentation at the National Year of Reading Seminar Wednesday, 8 th June 2011 Wheeler Centre

Morrisons Mt.Evelyn Building supportive links for low level literacy students between CGEA and VET courses within our organisation.

Morrisons, Mt.Evelyn Google Maps

 Rural fringe of Melbourne.  Shire of Yarra Ranges  Population 10,000 surrounding area.  41 km from Melbourne central  5 km from Lilydale, rail links to city. Bureau of Statistics, Wikipedia, Demographics

 Pre-accredited Courses  Living skills Literacy, Numeracy and Technology. Pre-accredited Courses

 Accredited Courses;  Certificate I-III CGEA  Certificate III & Diploma Children’s Services  Certificate II -Diploma Nail’s, Hair and Beauty  Certificate III Aged Care & Home and Community Care  Certificate II Community Services  Certificate II Automotive  Certificate I-II Information Technology  Certificate IV Massage  Certificate IV Education Support  Certificate IV Disability  Certificate IV in Training and Assessment.  VCAL Accredited courses.

Aged care, Children’s services, Disabilities, Ed. Support, CERT.IV, Short courses, Station St, Mt.Evelyn Morrisons Hair & Beauty Training Salon York Rd, Mt.Evelyn

Morrisons Child care Old Hereford Rd. Mt.Evelyn Morrisons Main Reception Old Hereford Rd. Mt.Evelyn

Men’s Shed Old Hereford Rd. Mt.Evelyn Morrisons Training Centre Beauty and Wellbeing centre (Lilydale)

Youth Shed Wray Cres. Mt.Evelyn Morrisons Café on the Park Wray Cres. Mt.Evelyn

The circle of Trust. VET Student VET Tutor VET Coordinator CGEA/Literacy Tutor CGEA Coordinator

Libraries can be scary places

Alan’s story Intimidated by the whole idea.. Memories from childhood

Sandra’s story Her child gave her permission to go the library and read …. Library helped her make friends in a new community… Learn about education courses….

A sociocultural perspective... We never simply just read and write, but read and write in a situated place, with a social identity and history, making meaning of what we read and write though our own particular world paradigm. In other words literacy only makes sense when it reflects our own sociocultural worlds. (Gee, 2000, p180).

 Meagan was a mature aged student, had left school early, single parent and disillusioned with education.  Enrolled in CGEA- stopped and started  Successful in CGEA (Support, time and patience)  Enrolled in VET lacked confidence- enrolled in CGEA again. (simultaneous courses)  Entered a library for the first time  Meagan graduated her VET course and is now working as a community carer and in an aged care facility. Case study

“On the first day I felt really embarrassed. I couldn’t do anything and I had to ask for help. It was like I had this mask on my face. I didn’t want to think I was as dumb as I was told I was. So I felt like I had to wear masks all the time and try to be someone else, just as long as it wasn’t me.”

“I have so much more confidence. I can read things around me. For instance, I had never read a menu before. Previously, when I went out to dinner I knew straight away I would just have a chicken parmigana. After all, everybody knows most menus have a chicken parmigana.”

“But now, I have choice. I can read the menu and try different things. I get a great sense of accomplishment because I can write a quick note telling the teacher that my son is wearing those pants today because the other ones are wet.”

“Once you start to study, you understand the word literacy so much more, and you realise you can do it. Sure it means reading and writing but it also means understanding things and understanding the world around you.”

Literacy is social identity It is the mastery of secondary discourses (Gee 1991)

Libraries are more than places to access the internet or borrow a book, they are hubs of community identities. They provide opportunities for people to engage in the community. Therefore libraries are fertile ground to grow secondary discourses and nurture new identities.