Page 987 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 19 March 1991
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Service, and where an estimated 56.4 per cent of the work force works in office based occupations. However, as in other advanced societies, basic skills education for the post-school-age population is less than adequately provided for in this Territory. The 1990 report A Strategic Review of Commonwealth State Adult Literacy Expenditure concluded that the demand for such education far exceeded provision in all the States of this Commonwealth.
As the main provider of adult literacy education in this Territory, the ACT Institute of TAFE runs a number of literacy programs. In 1988 and 1989 it advertised, on radio and television, free places on one such program and received a deluge of applications. The level of demand exceeded the number of places offered by approximately six to one. Waiting lists exist for all adult literacy programs coordinated by TAFE, including the volunteer home tutor scheme.
This highlights a number of problems, I think, Mr Speaker; namely, the shortage of places in adult literacy courses, the need for review of the fee structure, and the need for appropriate avenues of promoting their availability. It is believed that many adults needing help do not apply for these courses for a number of reasons, including an inability to pay fees and a lack of confidence. The issue of fees for adult literacy courses has been brought to my attention by the ACT Council for Adult Literacy. Concessions are currently available to the unemployed, to women re-entering the work force after a number of years in the home, and parents on family allowance supplements. This Government is looking into various options for allowing the TAFE to waive fees where necessary.
As we enter the last decade of the twentieth century, the push for economic reform in Australian industry has focused attention on skills formation in the work force. The award restructuring process is calling for a number of reforms, including the broadbanding of skill levels within industry, the establishment of skill related career paths, and the elimination of impediments to the multiskilling of the work force.
The emphasis is on flexibility. We need, I think we would all agree, a flexible, multiskilled adult population and a flexible training system; one which provides greater access to training in a wider range of contexts to a wider range of people. This need for diversity and flexibility is bringing renewed attention to informal providers of post-school literacy education such as community based and industry based providers. Industry based training is receiving attention through the national training reforms being coordinated by the Commonwealth Government and the ACT Vocational Training Authority.
In an effort to encourage more workplace based basic skills training, our International Literacy Year program included a series of basic workplace education pilot programs which
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