This year the theme of the annual Western Australian Adult Literacy (WAALC) Conference was At the heart of the matter – identity and trust in adult learning.  The intention was to place people – teachers and learners – at the heart of educational quality and ask the question: what makes learning work for people?

The WAALC Conference Committee chose to address  the factors that make the difference between accessible, effective literacy services, and those which, for adult literacy learners, just replicate what didn’t work well enough in the first place.

This theme opened up discussion about the human element, and how what happens during initial schooling almost always impacts on, and must be acknowledged and addressed in literacy learning.  Conference delegates focused on what learners have told us, and showed us, and proved to us over and over again – that understanding, trust and commitment between teacher and learner is central to successful adult literacy learning.  Sixteen workshops were delivered at the conference to explore and renew our focus on the heart of the matter: ways of working that meet the needs of learners and, as a natural result, achieve better outcomes for the wider society as well.

The keynote speakers were Ruth Wallace, from Charles Darwin University in the Northern Territory, and Susan Bates, recently returned to Western Australia from working in adult literacies in Scotland. Both provided practical advice about how identity and trust could be built to contribute towards literacy development, despite the conflicting demands on teachers and learners.

The response from adult literacy teachers across WA was brilliant, with wholehearted support for the opportunity to explore in depth what is At the heart of the matter – identity and trust in adult learning. 102 delegates attended the 2012 Conference over two days.  One delegate described the experience:

This year the theme was close to what I feel, what we often forget in the game of outcomes, certificates, reporting and paperwork – that at the heart of the matter we are dealing with human beings who are most often disempowered, and our role above all is to help them build confidence and empower them, help them to see and work from their own strength (Delegate, WAALC Conference 2012).