Literacy for Life Foundation Executive Director, Professor Jack Beetson, has been appointed to the newly established Jobs and Skills Australia Ministerial Advisory Board. Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) was formed by the Australian Government to provide independent advice regarding workforce, skills and training needs. Minister for Skills and Training, Brendan O’Connor, announced the make-up...
Continue readingAlera’s Story
My name is Alera, I am a Warumungu/Warlpiri woman from Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory. I’d like to share some of my experience working with The Literacy for Life Foundation as a young Indigenous woman. Before Literacy for Life, I was a stay-at-home mum and prior to that I didn’t have much work...
Continue readingCongrats Pat Anderson – 2018 NAIDOC Lifetime Achievement Award
Pat Anderson, Literacy for Life Foundation board member, has been named the recipient of the NAIDOC Lifetime Achievement Award 2018. “I am so proud, and so humbled, and so pleased that my own mob have acknowledged a lifetime of commitment and service and respect, to who it is to be an Aboriginal person in...
Continue readingABC PM Features Aboriginal Literacy Program
Jack Beetson joined Linda Mottram on ABC’s PM to discuss the Foundation’s Aboriginal literacy program and why low literacy is still an issue in 2018. The interview coincided with the launch of the Foundation’s new public awareness campaign, aiming to draw attention to the issue of low literacy in Aboriginal communities. The campaign was covered...
Continue readingJack Beetson on ABC Speaking Out
Our Executive Director Jack Beetson recently sat down to have a chat with Larissa Behrendt on ABC radio’s Speaking out. The two discussed Literacy for Life’s work lifting rates of Aboriginal literacy and progress towards closing the gap, as well as Jack’s early life and professional career. You can listen to the interview and find out...
Continue readingClosing the Gap via Cuba: Jack Beetson at the State Library
Don’t miss Professor Jack Beetson’s upcoming talk hosted by the State Library of NSW. From Cuba to Closing the Gap is part of the Library’s Talking Deadly: Indigenous Voices at the Library series and will take place Wednesday March 28 from 6pm to 7pm. Jack will outline the path that has led to his...
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Help Train More Mary’s
Mary Waites is the coordinator of the Brewarrina literacy campaign. And now she’s the star of a major documentary on our work, In My Own Words. The film follows Mary’s journey helping a group of adult students learning to read and write for the first time. “It’s a whole new world out there and...
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Speaking at the Lowitja Institute International Indigenous Health and Wellbeing Conference 2016
Literacy for Life Foundation Executive Director Jack Beetson attended the Lowitja Institute International Indigenous Health and Wellbeing Conference 2016 with Janelle Frail and Dr Ben Bartlett to discuss the difference education is making in remote communities. Click here to watch....
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Insight: Reading Between the Lines – Improving Indigenous literacy
SBS’s Insight with Jenny Brockie aired an episode on low literacy levels in Australia. Jack Beetson was a part of the conversation. Insight: Tuesdays at 8:30pm on SBS ONE...
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Educator Jack Beetson on surpassing expectations – Conversations with Richard Fidler
Jack was born into an Aboriginal family in western NSW. At school, he was an outstanding student, but when he wanted to study commerce and history, he was diverted to metal work and social science subjects instead. His teacher told him: ‘Aboriginal kids just don’t do those harder subjects’. Jack rebelled against the school...
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