Presentation of 1996 Adult Learners Week Awards

5/9/96

An Aboriginal education worker and a teacher of people with dyslexia are among eight winners in the 1996 Adult Learners' Week Awards, presented to Western Australian individuals and groups for exceptional achievements in adult learning.

Employment and Training Minister Norman Moore said the award winners were all excellent examples of the enormous benefits that lifelong learning could bring to individuals, groups and the community.

The awards were presented by State Training Board chair Harry Sorensen at Kings Park today.

"The 31 nominees included men and women who have overcome serious access or equity barriers to learning, or experienced great adversity," Mr Moore said.

"The Adult Learners' Week nominations also highlighted organisations that have developed innovative learning programs.

"These programs have succeeded in reaching sections of the community which traditionally have low participation rates in adult learning."

Adult Learners' Week is a project of the Australian Association of Adult and Community Education (AAACE). In WA it is managed and funded by the WA Department of Training.

An awards program is held in conjunction with Adult Learners' Week in all participating States and Territories. The awards presentation in Perth is one of some 120 events around WA this week.

The eight WA Adult Learners' Week Awards recipients are: Wayne McNamara - Outstanding Learner Award This young Aboriginal man from Lynwood, who did not finish high school, returned to study through Thornlie TAFE two years ago.

He subsequently found employment as an Aboriginal liaison officer at Lynwood Senior High School and, as a part-time lecturer in the Aboriginal Access program, studied at Thornlie TAFE. His father is one of his current students. In improving his own prospects, Wayne has found that he has the capacity to encourage and provide a role model for other Aboriginal people.

Ann O'Neill - Outstanding Learner (Encouragement Award) Ann O'Neill, of Gwelup, is becoming well-known for her stance on gun control laws. Two years ago she was the innocent victim of a murder-suicide incident in which her two children were killed and she lost a leg.

Prior to this tragedy she had promised her children that she would finish her schooling by 1995. Keeping to her promise, she enrolled at Tuart College and not only did she complete her TEE exam in 1995, she received an offer of entry to Edith Cowan University.

Child Care Assessment and Bridging Project for Migrants - Outstanding Group of Learners Award This group of learners is in the first program designed to provide migrants (many of whose first language is not English) with the opportunity to become qualified child care workers. They have received their training through Start College in Kalamunda, which has cited the group for its motivation, enthusiasm and mutual supportiveness.

Milligan House - Outstanding Learning Organisation Milligan House, of Bunbury, was nominated by Kim Ferguson, Associate Editor of the South Western Times, in recognition of the organisation's diverse activities which cater to a wide cross-section of the community.

Milligan House provides Bunbury residents with innovative programs and its customers include senior citizens, people with Alzheimers disease and members of the local Aboriginal community. This is the second Adult Learners' Week award presented to Milligan House.

Community Skills Training Centre - Innovation and Commitment to Learning Community Skills Training Centre (CSTC, of West Perth, provides information and training to paid and unpaid workers of agencies in the social and community services sector. CSTC has been innovative in using the Westlink television network to deliver training programs to people in the regions and in the past two years has formed close ties with remote communities.

Gwen Kenrick - Innovation and Commitment to Learning Gwen Kenrick, of Osborne Park, was nominated by Dr Joy K Jones of the Dyslexia-Speld Foundation of WA. Gwen is a long-serving, dedicated teacher of people with literacy problems.

She says the biggest challenge in working with people with dyslexia is overcoming the problems of self-esteem. As an aging person, she finds that her circle of friends is increasing as her students (and sometimes their parents) become her friends. She has been gratified to see a number of her students with dyslexia go on to enrol in university.

Fremantle Hospital and Health Service - Innovation and Commitment Learning (Encouragement Award) Fremantle Hospital and Health Service was nominated for its Patient Care Assistant Training Program. This program, developed three years ago, is part of a major workplace reform designed to expand single stream workers' skills.

Since the program began, 17 long-term unemployed people have found permanent work with the hospital, including people of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent.

Community Skills Training Centre - The Community Skills Training Centre (CSTC) will receive a national Adult Learners' Week Award at the AAACE national conference in Queensland later in September. AAACE cited the training centre for its 'use of satellite technology to address the issues of equity and access to the provision of relevant training to workers in remote localities'.

Media contact: Anabel Gomez 321 1444 or 222 9595