The
Hon. Dr David Kemp MP
Minister for Education,
Training and Youth Affairs
Dr
Penny McKay
President
Australian Council of TESOL Associations
Cl- 10 Orpen Street
GREENSLOPES QLD 4120
Dear Dr McKay
On 16 May 2000 you wrote to my colleague
the Treasurer. the Hon Peter Costello MP, concerning the Government’s
decision to abolish the Advanced English for Migrants Programme
(AEMP). Your letter has been referred to me as Minister for
Education. Training and Youth Affairs.
In the 2000-200 1 Budget, the Government
announced its intention to cease provision of the AEMP as
a separate programme funded through a Specific Purpose Payment
to the States and Territories and to provide this assistance
in future as part of a new language, literacy and numeracy
programme. At the same time, I announced the Governments commitment
of $138.7 million over four years for this new programme.
Poor language, literacy and numeracy
skills are a major barrier to employment or participation
in further education and training for many people. The provision
of training aimed at leading to a measurable increase in language.
literacy and numeracv skills puts people in a better position
to either pursue further education or compete effectively
for employment. It will also substantially improve their daily
lives and allow them to participate more fully in the Australian
community.
I agree that the AEMP has been a
well targeted successful and acclaimed programme There is
certainly no intention on the part of the Government in making
the announced changes to cease provision of this worthwhile
training. It will continue to be provided, but as part of
a bigger more flexible and integrated new programme.
Funding for the AEMP has been provided
through a relatively fixed annual allocation to the States
and Territories each year. For each calendar year, the total
funds available are allocated between the States and Territories
with reference to the Other Than Mainly English Speaking Countries
population shares identified in the Australian Bureau of Statistics
census figures. This arrangement does not provide an opportunity
to vary funding to reflect the difference in demand for AEMP
places in each State and Territory. In some States, the programme
is oversubscribed and there is a waiting list for places.
In addition, not all migrants make
sufficient progress with their English language skills with
the 510 hours of training allocated under the Adult Migrant
English Programme funded by the Department of Immigration
and Multicultural Affairs, to be able to access the AEMP.
Participants in the AEMP are required to have a certain level
of English language proficiency and those people who still
have basic English language needs are not currently catered
for by the AEMP or by the Literacy and Numeracy Programme.
A number of people with basic English language needs have
been seeking to access the Literacy and Numeracy Programme,
which is not designed to provide English as a Second Language
training.
The new language, literacy and numeracy
programme will draw on the best features of the two existing
programmes: the AEMP and the Literacy and Numeracy Programme.
It will provide more flexible and integrated assistance for
job seekers. The new programme is expected to include four
streams of training: basic English language; advanced English
language; literacy; and numeracy.
Those currently catered for the
AEMP will be able to access the advanced English stream, which
is likely to be delivered by many of the experienced AEMP
providers. Those whose English language skills are not sufficiently
well developed to access AEMP will be able to participate
in the basic English stream. Current clients of the Literacy
and Numeracy Programme will be able to access the literacy
and numeracy streams. People will be able to access the different
streams sequentially, where they need to do so.
While the AEMP and the Literacy
and Numeracy Programme in their current forms will not continue
past 2001, it is anticipated that all job seekers previously
eligible for these two programmes will be eligible for one
of the streams of training offered under the new programme.
The new programme will be available from the beginning of
2002 and participants will not be disrupted in any way by
the changes.
I agree that the needs of AEMP participants
differ from those of Literacy and Numeracy Programme participants
and there is no intention to place the two groups into the
same class or training environment. Towards the end of 2001,
following an extensive consultation processes with all stakeholders,
an Australia-wide competitive tender will be carried out to
select providers for each of the four streams of training.
-
English language providers who are
successful under the tender for the new programme are likely
to provide the ‘extras’ that current AEMP providers pass onto
participants, such as cultural values and knowledge, body
language, idiom and nuances and information about accepted
norms of communication in Australian society. They can also
be expected to provide the support services needed by people
settling in a new country, often following a period of trauma
in their country of origin.
For the reasons set out above, I
believe that those AEMP teachers who are highly skilled in
the area of cross-cultural education will be sought after
for their expertise to teach clients under the advanced English
language stream of the new programme. I do not consider that
they will be a casualty of the change. It is important to
remember that while the two separate programmes will no longer
exist they will, in effect, continue as elements of the new
programme.
I believe it is likely that successful
providers under the new programme will use very different
teaching methods and environments for each of the different
streams of training. Of course, there will be some similarities,
but the needs of the different groups will be able to be catered
for under the new programme.
Currently both the AEMP and the
Literacy and Numeracy Programme are available as Mutual Obligation
options and the new programme will also be available as a
Mutual Obligation option.
Thank you for bringing your concerns
to the attention of the Government. I am fully confident that
the new programme will be effective in meeting the particular
needs of skilled migrants and refugees.
Yours sincerely
David Kemp MP
Minister for Education, Training and Youth Affairs
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