Sunshine Coast Libraries Adult Literacy Program State Library of Queensland Literacy Forum 29 July 2014 PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL

History Program began 25 years ago Small specialist staff Workforce of volunteer tutors Became an RTO 15 years ago Program predominately funded by external grants PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL2

Program Sunshine Coast Libraries offers a flexible Literacy and Numeracy program for adults within our community to assist them to become functionally literate. PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL3

Some Facts Best practice - the only public library service in Queensland to offer this program RTO – offering accredited training Conversational English classes Specialist Adult Literacy staff and teachers All our tutors are volunteers trained through our RTO PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL4

We aim to do the best for our students by: Providing quality training Providing them with quality tutors Having quality staff to support tutors and students. PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL5

Why be an RTO? We are a not-for-profit RTO We have to find money in our budget or through external grants to support the program Good potential volunteers look for programs offering accredited training PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL6

RTO as part of a Library Service Gives our RTO a central community connection Libraries already have meeting rooms, computers, digital equipment, collections We have dedicated adult literacy collections in our libraries stocked through an informed purchasing policy PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL7

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Benefits We can offer nationally accredited training to our LLN participants (10344NAT Course in Adult Literacy and Numeracy) We train our own volunteer tutors in a nationally accredited course (30979QLD Couse in Volunteer Community Adult Literacy Tutoring) We can issue our own certificates Gives us an advantage when applying for funding Gives us an advantage with referrals from job agencies and community organisations Presents a professional approach to the way the program is conducted PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL9

Volunteer Tutors PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL10 Most volunteers interested in this program are retired professionals They ask if the training we insist they do is accredited They are the backbone of our workforce Offer their time and expertise for free Fantastic library supporters Always open to new learning After training they become part of Sunshine Coast Council as council volunteers

What we look for in our tutors Good communication skills Patience Informality Interesting backgrounds - work, interests Belief - in the person's ability to learn. Creativity Empathy Encouragement / Enthusiasm Flexibility Listening skills Non-judgemental Respect Knowledge Humour PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL11 It's never to late to learn to read and write - ABC interview

Trained Tutors – the final product To have all necessary technical skills/knowledge to do the job To fully understand their role and responsibilities to this program and to Sunshine Coast Council To be actively matched with a student in the program PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL12

What does being an RTO involve for our organisation? Being compliant with all ASQA training requirements Having a registrations audit every 5 years at least An enormous amount of paperwork, data collection and reporting Expense Becoming familiar with the VET industry PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL13

Partnerships As an RTO we can partner with another organisation for a fee to do training for them (in the past: Caloundra Community Centre; Noosa Library). Local RTO’s that train in other VET courses can partner with us to do literacy and numeracy training with their students. PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL14

Qualifications of Adult Literacy staff in an RTO They all need to be trainers with current qualifications. Course material and assessment material used in the two courses on our Scope needs constant review. Regular PD needs to be done by staff. Need to source other local RTOs who do similar training for course assessment validation. PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL15

Future Predictions for the RTO within our organisation Expansion of Scope. Other parts of Council able to do their own training. Partnerships. Increased connections with local small business and job training providers. Changing diverse community needs drives program expansion. PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL16

Finally It’s all about the students! PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL17

Thank you PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL18