Who is the Literacy Alliance and why have we formed?

Why have we set up the Literacy Alliance?

The educational and workforce infrastructure and systems in which the adult literacy sector operates are undergoing rapid and significant change.  All of these changes impact on the management and teaching practices of organisations with a role in providing or supporting access to adult literacy education.  Organisations within the adult literacy sector need to consider and discuss these changes with each other and stakeholder organisations in order to respond in cohesive, effective and consistent ways.

Our non-government organisations with (not-for-profit) interests in adult literacy and workforce development decided to meet regularly to work toward achieving high quality outcomes for adult literacy in a cohesive way.  We are sharing information, reviewing our directions, building our understanding of, and planning effective responses to changes and initiatives within the sector, with a particular focus on workforce literacy.  This provides a more robust approach to future planning than attempting the same activities as separate organisations.

We have chosen to call our group the Literacy Alliance.  Our work is supported by Ako Aotearoa for 18 months, which will enable us meet every two months and be supported by independent secretariat services. Founding Alliance members include; The Industry Training Federation, Business NZ, New Zealand Council of Trade Unions, Workbase, Literacy Aotearoa, English Language Partners New Zealand. ( ITPNZ was also a founding member of the Literacy Alliance. This organisation has now dissolved and we await notification from the new representative organisation regarding their interest in becoming part of the Alliance.)

How do we plan to work?

Our organisations have a long history of working together in various groups and projects, including contributing to sector development.  As our separate organisations have different perspectives on many of the matters we are discussing, the challenge for our group will be to agree priorities, build consensus within the group and develop inclusive and broad understandings of the issues we face as organisations.

We will be establishing a clear idea of what each organisation has planned for the future and how our association as the Literacy Alliance will allow us to plan some collective responses to the changes ahead. Through our collective efforts we hope to build and maintain consistent, high-quality delivery and teaching practice which will benefit adult literacy learners.

Information sharing

The Literacy Alliance intends to share our observations and outcomes with others in the sector using an online community of practice that will link practitioners, tutors, trainers, assessors, programme leaders and managers within our and similar organisations.

Enquiries about engaging in our discussions or supporting the work of the group are welcomed.
Secretary: Helena Parsons, secretary@literacyalliance.org.nz, 027 4906 552