Conference Abstracts
Adult Literacy and Numeracy for the 21st Century
Friday 11 December 2026
DRAFT CONFERENCE PROGRAM
KEYNOTES
Professor Mia PERRY (University of Glasgow) - 9.30 AM
Untitled keynote address
Dr Richard VOSS (Deakin University) - 1.15 PM
Untitled keynote address
DISCUSSION SESSIONS
Discussion Session A - Keynote 1 – Professor Mia Perry Discussion - 10.45AM
Facilitators: Keiko Yasukawa and Janet Dyne (TAFE NSW)
Continue the conversation beyond the keynote in this interactive discussion with fellow LLND educators. Together, we will explore the key ideas, challenges and opportunities raised by Professor Mia Perry, share perspectives from diverse teaching contexts, and consider practical strategies that can be applied in our own programs and classrooms.
Discussion Session B - What resources would make your life easier? - 10.45AM
Facilitators: Vanessa Iles and Gemma Beall (Reading Writing Hotline)
This session asks you to think about the resources, professional developments or communities of practice that would assist your teaching practice. The Reading Writing Hotline is looking to expand its resources hub and providing a central location to be accessed by the field. How could this work for you as a teacher, and for your provider? We are interested to find out what resources are available or could be made available, and where providers see the gaps.
The session will explore the following questions:
• When you hear resources what does it mean to you? Professional Development? ACSF guides? Teaching and Assessment materials? Learning communities?
Reference materials? Academic texts? Learning material? Assessment materials? Journal articles? Contact lists of relevant wrap-around type services?
• In the last year what was the most impactful resource or professional development you experienced? Why did it have that impact?
• What are the gaps you see in resourcing that would help your teaching practice?
• What is the potential for providers to share resources across sectors?
Discussion Session C - Exploring 21st Century Adult Literacy and Numeracy - 10.45AM
Facilitators: Irma Djaya and Helen Daly (TAFE NSW)
This discussion session invites participants to explore the theme of the conference: What does Adult Literacy and Numeracy for the 21st Century look like? Through collaborative group discussions, participants will examine the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that are most important to navigate life in the 21st Century. Together we will consider the implications for teaching-learning practices.
Discussion Session D - Keynote 2 – Dr Richard Voss Discussion Continuation - 2.05 PM
Facilitators: Mike Flanagan and Janet Dyne (TAFE NSW)
Explore ideas presented in Dr Richard Voss' keynote around numeracy education. Join colleagues in sharing experiences, challenges and practical approaches for creating meaningful numeracy learning that empowers adult learners in a changing world.
PANEL DISCUSSIONS
Panel Discussion A - Digital Literacy and AI in the 21st Century - 2.05 PM
Panelists: Nancy Samuel, Luke Boucher, Max Kubuj with Julia Walber as panel facilitator
Max Kubuj: Drawing on my experiences teaching in an adult Digital Literacy classroom, this workshop explores how I would design a program to prepare learners for an increasingly technology-driven world, with a focus on building not only technical skills, but confidence, curiosity and independence.
Digital Literacy is often taught through discrete, skills-based tasks linked closely to employment outcomes. While these skills are important, this can leave less space to consider the broader life outcomes of Digital Literacy: navigating unfamiliar technologies, solving everyday problems, accessing information and becoming more independent.
Using problem-based and strengths-based approaches, I would encourage learners to draw on what they already know, experiment, troubleshoot and learn through trial and error.
Participants will explore common digital problems adult learners face and collaboratively consider how authentic activities can support learners’ language, literacy, numeracy and digital goals beyond the workplace.
BIO: Max Kubuj is an adult literacy, EAL/D and Digital Literacy educator. He holds a Master of TESOL and Applied Linguistics from the University of Technology Sydney. His teaching interests centre on digital inclusion, learner autonomy, and the changing relationship between literacy and technology. Max is particularly dedicated to finding practical ways to improve digital literacy education, helping adult learners build the confidence, curiosity and problem-solving skills needed to approach unfamiliar technologies independently and participate more fully in an increasingly digitised world.
Nancy Samuel and Luke Boucher: will discuss practical AI tools for creating engaging and future-orientated literacy classrooms. It will take the audience through the barriers faced by participants, like pronunciation anxiety, tailored feedback and others, and how they can be addressed through effective use of emerging technologies.
BIOS: Nancy Samuel is a Skills for Education and Employment (SEE) Trainer and Assessor for the Mainstream SEE Program at MTC FutureReady. She has a background in Academic English facilitation and Learning design. She is interested in making AI more approachable for learners and less daunting for trainers.
Luke Boucher is a Senior Trainer and Assessor in the Skills for Education and Employment (SEE) Distance Learning Program at MTC FutureReady. He has a particular interest in the practical use of AI and digital technologies in education, and in how these tools can support both trainers and learners.
Panel Discussion B - Whose Job Is It Anyway? LLND, Digital Capability and the Modern VET Teacher - 2.05 PM
Panelists: Casey Fox (St George & Sutherland Community College), Michelle Crowe (TAFE NSW) with Kate Buckell as panel facilitator.
Literacy, language, numeracy and digital capability demands are becoming increasingly complex across vocational education. At the same time, learners are entering training with increasingly diverse needs and experiences.
For many years, LLND specialists have been called upon to bridge the gap. But is this model sustainable? What responsibility should sit with vocational teachers? What support do they need? And what role should LLND specialists play in building capability rather than simply responding to problems?
Join a panel of ALaNT graduates from diverse vocational backgrounds as we explore the changing role of the VET teacher and consider what a more collaborative future for LLND support might look like.
PAPERS and WORKSHOPS
Sarah ANSARI (MTC Future Ready) - 2.55 PM
Unity through Diversity: How Belonging and Inclusion Fosters Learning
ABSTRACT: Building on my experience teaching adult EAL learners in a citizenship preparation course, this workshop explores how topical, real-world issues can help develop LLND skills while fostering belonging, identity and participation. It is designed for adult EAL educators working with learners from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds.
Drawing on the key insight that meaningful learning can occur only when learners feel safe, respected and valued, the workshop will examine practical approaches to creating safe and inclusive learning environments that affirm learners’ identities, experiences and vulnerabilities. These include incorporating cultural knowledge, allowing L1 use, and establishing classroom norms that promote respect without suppressing curiosity and participation. Emphasis will be placed on understanding Australia as a multicultural society, where becoming part of Australian society does not require leaving one’s identity behind.
Through topics such as multiculturalism, racism, sustainability and food, participants will explore how common but meaningful issues can spark critical thinking and engagement. A collaborative activity will then invite participants to reflect on their key learnings and successful strategies before designing activities that link foundation skills goals to topics relevant to culturally diverse learners.
The collaborative component of the workshop will invite participants to share and reflect on their own successful classroom strategies and experiences teaching diverse and vulnerable learners. The participants will then design inclusive learning activities that draw on learners’ lived experiences, cultural knowledge, and interests. Working in small groups, they will explore how topics from everyday life and the broader social and political environment, including complex or sensitive issues, can be discussed in accessible and respectful ways to enhance engagement, foster belonging, and support foundation skills development.Sarah Ansari is a SEE trainer at MTC with experience teaching learners in citizenship pathway courses. Her teaching practice focuses on developing LLND skills through meaningful, real-world contexts. She is particularly interested in creating inclusive learning environments that recognise and value learners’ cultural and linguistic identities while supporting their sense of belonging and participation in Australian society. Drawing on her experience working with learners from diverse backgrounds, including refugees and migrants, she explores learner-centered approaches that connect foundation skills development with issues that matter to learners and their everyday lives
BIO: Sarah Ansari is a SEE trainer at MTC with experience teaching learners in citizenship pathway courses. Her teaching practice focuses on developing LLND skills through meaningful, real-world contexts. She is particularly interested in creating inclusive learning environments that recognise and value learners’ cultural and linguistic identities while supporting their sense of belonging and participation in Australian society. Drawing on her experience working with learners from diverse backgrounds, including refugees and migrants, she explores learner-centered approaches that connect foundation skills development with issues that matter to learners and their everyday lives
Irma DJAYA (TAFE NSW Randwick) - 3.45 PM
Towards social inclusion for seniors - Leisure Numeracy (and Literacy)
ABSTRACT: This workshop will explore Leisure numeracy, a concept introduced by Cavalcante (2026), as a vehicle for engaging senior adult learners in meaningful language, literacy, numeracy and digital (LLND) learning.
The program considers sport and recreation as accessible and relevant contexts for developing literacy and numeracy practices while fostering social inclusion and community participation.
Participants will be introduced to ways leisure-based activities can be used to strengthen numeracy through data, measurement and problem-solving; building literacy through communication and reflection and enhance digital capability through use to technology for information access and engagement.
The workshop invites participants to consider practical strategies for integrating topics beyond workplace learning and will be valuable for teachers new to the adult and community education sector seeking learner-centred approaches to LLND design.
BIO: Irma Djaya is an LLND teacher with over 15 years of experience in adult literacy and language education. Currently working for TAFE NSW, she has developed literacy, numeracy and digital programs for learners in both workplace and educational settings. Irma also supports student teachers in the teacher practicum program at UTS. She is pursuing a PhD in Education, focusing on LLND professional practice. She hopes her research can support the professional development of early-career adult LLND teachers.
Janet DYNE (TAFE NSW Ultimo) - 3.45 PM
A critical moment for Information Literacy
ABSTRACT: Here in the early 21st Century, we are currently deluged with information, particularly on-line. Much of it is useful, valuable, or enriching. But a lot of it is of dubious quality and provenance, if not dangerous. Misinformation forms part of the mix. The ability to get the most out of the information flow, finding, interpreting and using it, and particularly developing a critical mindset towards it, requires skills, know-how, judgement and confidence – such is the premise of information literacy. (Adapted from Informed Societies: Why Information Matters for Citizenship, Participation and Democracy, Stephanie Goldstien (ed) This workshop will explore the possibilities and the necessity of developing information literacy in our classroom practice, and how to do it.
BIO: Janet has been working in Adult Literacy, Numeracy and Digital skills for many years in a variety of settings, including, remote and urban Aboriginal communities and other community programs, the vocational trades, youth programs and prisons. She is interested in the role of education in enabling people to interpret the world and their environment, including a basic understanding of science and technology.
Tiffany EGAN (Literacy Network Northern Beaches) - 2.55 PM
Why do adult learners still want a human tutor in the age of AI and digital?
ABSTRACT: For 40 years, grassroots organisation, Literacy Network Northern Beaches, has delivered one-to-one adult literacy support. As AI tools improve at reading, writing, translating and explaining, we might expect demand for human tutoring to fade. Instead, demand is surging, with learners overwhelmingly seeking human support. Drawing on the frontline experiences from this established volunteer-led organisation, this session explores who seeks support in the AI era, what they need, and the barriers that can keep them from formal learning. It considers how technology is reshaping literacy support and how community organisations can best support learners to build the confidence, independence and social connection that enable meaningful participation in 21st-century life.
BIO: Tiffany Egan is a marketing and communications professional with more than 20 years’ experience working with global technology organisations. She is passionate about adult literacy, numeracy and digital literacy, and helping people build confidence and independence through foundational skills.
Now pursuing literacy teaching as an encore career, Tiffany is combining her experience with a passion for helping others and contributing to a more equitable society. She holds a Bachelor of Business from Monash University, a Graduate Diploma in PR and Marketing from Torrens University, is a qualified MSL therapist, and is completing a Master of Applied Linguistics and TESOL at UTS.
Michael HORAN and Adam Nobilia (TAFE NSW) 11.30AM
From the workshop floor to the wider community: imagining inclusive LLND at Hornsby
ABSTRACT: Using the audience and practical scenarios, we will look at how LLND is responding to changing workplace demands at two different worksites – carpentry and corporate. Interactively we will navigate LLND scenarios and breakdown current challenges, strategies exploring how an inclusive lens looks in practice.
BIO: Michael Horan is an LLND Support Teacher at TAFE NSW Hornsby with 19 years experience supporting vocational students. He works with Carpentry teachers to embed literacy, numeracy, digital and learning support into trade training. His work includes LLN screening, contextualized support, resource development, assessment comprehension, organisation and digital skills, building learner confidence.
Adam Nobilia has 20 years teaching experience, including trauma-informed education across TAFE NSW and Correctional Centres. He has supported apprentice plumbers, carpenters and electricians in literacy and numeracy, coordinated the Year 10 Equivalent Program at EORA TAFE, and taught on SBS Documentary Lost for Words. Adam also facilitates cultural education programs at Parklea Correctional Centre.
Deb LITTLEHALES, Terrie Flynn and Liz Elliott - 11.30 AM
Building Communities of Practices
ABSTRACT: Community Education providers (ACE) in NSW were once central to delivering language, literacy, numeracy and digital skills (LLND) in their local communities. Since around 2010, a shift towards lower-level VET /FSK programs has seen that capacity decline, with fewer specialist trainers and fewer options for learners. In 2024, with support from NSW Training Services, ACE providers across NSW formed a Community of Practice to rebuild and share the skills of trainers, coordinators and senior staff. By sharing knowledge, solving problems together and connecting people who rarely meet, members are working to meet LLND needs locally once again. This session reflects on three years of bringing together 38 diverse organisations. Presenters will share the benefits and challenges, the solutions and lessons learned along the way, and the unexpected benefits that have strengthened both organisations and their communities.
BIOS:
Annabel MICHIE (MTC Future Ready) - 2.55 PM
Old world / new world skills
ABSTRACT: We will always need clothes and therefore, sewing skills. Targeting adult literacy trainers looking for opportunities to build engagement through a student centred approach, this practical workshop investigates how using an ancient skill as the basis for LLN learning can address 21st century issues by simultaneously building community, addressing sustainability issues and promoting digital literacy. The session includes a case study about a sewing class which caters for mixed levels, offers practical opportunities for developing macro skills, and encourages student commitment and achievement. Supported by photos, videos and samples, the presentation will demonstrate how these students create projects, collaborate and tackle relevant challenges such as acquiring resources. After the initial presentation, discussion questions will explore how this approach can be applied to other established skills and community groups.
BIO: Annabel Michie is a TESOL trainer working in the Skills for Employment and Education Program with MTC FutureReady. Working in sales and marketing, business advice and governance, Annabel made a late career change after completing a social impact fellowship in 2023. Annabel holds a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Linguistics (Macquarie University, 2007) and a Graduate Certificate in TESOL (University of Wollongong, 2024). Annabel sews at home for pleasure and is passionate about community volunteering and sustainability issues.
Camilla PORTELA (Navitas Skilled Futures) 11.30 AM
Welcome Before English: Mandating First Nations Knowledges in the EAL Curriculum
ABSTRACT: Target Audience: Adult literacy, AMEP, and SEE educators. Aims & Rationale: True decolonisation requires the principle: "Nothing about us without us." Traditional AMEP curricula heavily prioritise transactional settlement skills, inadvertently establishing a Euro-centric narrative. This workshop demonstrates how to map Indigenous ways of knowing directly onto AMEP themes. By teaching "Country" alongside "Housing," educators can practically decolonise the EAL curriculum from day one. Session Conduct: To decolonise the structure of the workshop itself, the majority of the session (the first 30 minutes) is held for a local Indigenous leader to share authentic truth-telling through art and stories. In the final 15 minutes, the presenter will showcase a decolonised AMEP framework, modelling how educators can embed the perspectives just shared into everyday lessons through place-based vocabulary and Yarning Circles. In practice of decoloniality, the Traditional Custodian's presence remains entirely flexible to respect their community obligations.
BIO: Camilla Portela is an educational designer and VET Trainer with over 20 years of experience in foundational literacy and vocational pathways. Currently completing a Master of Indigenous Health, she is passionate about driving systemic change in adult migrant education. Camilla advocates for decolonising the EAL curriculum by embedding Indigenous perspectives, histories, and Aboriginal ways of learning, such as Yarning Circles, directly into foundational frameworks. She recently led collaborative storytelling and literacy projects on the Georges River, empowering newly arrived youth to build language skills through reciprocal connection to Country.
Dr. Fievel TONG (University of Technology Sydney) - 3.45 PM
From classroom struggles to lifelong learning: Ideas for supporting learners with disability
Abstract: The UN Sustainability Development Goal on Quality Education highlights the importance of education that promotes social inclusion for all members of society, including people with disability. Practitioners within adult literacy and numeracy are often motivated by humanistic values and a commitment to inclusion, but may struggle to translate these commitments into practical approaches that support learners with disability. This crowdsourcing workshop invites practitioners to collaborate on ideas for facilitating the literacy and numeracy development of learners with disability. Drawing on secondary research in adult education and disability (e.g. Kwon & Hwang, 2026), the workshop will explore how our pedagogies are shaped by how we understand disability and by the adult learning theories that inform our teaching. The workshop provides a forum for educators to share opportunities, challenges, and practical strategies for moving beyond classroom struggles towards a lifelong approach to supporting learners with disability.
BIO: Fievel Tong is a Lecturer in the Institute for Education at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), where he teaches adult literacy, numeracy, TESOL, and applied linguistics. His research focuses on educational access, inclusion, and the post-secondary education experiences of people with Down syndrome. Alongside UTS colleagues, Fievel is also researching the topic of policing in multicultural communities, with a focus on understanding the perspectives and engagement of diverse communities and English language learners with police in Australia.