Overview of Workshops

The format and organisation of IPF workshops have been tested and refined.  The teaching materials have received unanimous commendation for their use of simple, straightforward, accessible language (including, where appropriate, Indigenous terms) while conveying essential concepts about how children learn to read and write and suggesting practical home activities within the reach of all parents, including those in remote areas.

Workshops and Training

The Program itself is presented as workshops spread over 2.5 days and focuses attention on 3 inter-related modules Successful Early Learning, Successful Learning to Read and Successful Learning to Write in the Early Years of Schooling (age group 0 – 8 years). (An additional numeracy module is under development and is expected to be available from about the middle of 2010. It is anticipated that his module will be offered as an alternative to Successful Learning to Write, or as an additional half day workshop, depending upon the priorities of local Indigenous communities.)

The first day is an intensive training day and the following 1.5 days are spent running the (3) workshops back-to-back with people from local Indigenous communities attending. Many attendees are Indigenous parents, grandparents, Indigenous health workers, teacher assistants, Indigenous women’s shelter workers, housing co-op coordinators, male and female elders etc. Over the 2.5 day period, Indigenous people who wish to train as presenters receive their training “on-the-job”. They are taught to interact with the content materials in the manual and booklets provided, co-present in teams and run the workshops in a professional manner [see Diagram 1 below].

A particular strength of the workshops is that culturally appropriate training techniques are used therefore setting Indigenous participants at ease, enabling them to participate more willingly and learn quickly in the relaxed atmosphere produced. This particular characteristic of the workshops has received praise from participants in all Indigenous communities visited. The workshops, which build trust and confidence in participants, have also drawn out leadership skills and qualities in many of the participants who on initial contact had been quite reluctant to participate due to cultural “shame”.

Engaging Indigenous parents and carers in the workshops and training allows many to move from a static, disempowered position of having resources provided to a position of action where they can take their newly found knowledge and skills and proactively make a difference in their own lives, the lives of their children and within their local communities.

Certificate of Attendance &   Training Certificate

Participants and those receiving presenters training are mostly volunteers who give up their valuable work and private time to attend the workshops. All participants who attend the workshops therefore receive a certificate of attendance which acts as an encouragement for their efforts and acknowledges the time they have taken out of their own busy worlds to further educate themselves  in how they might assist their own children’s literacy development. However, those individuals who complete the 2.5 days presenter training receive a Training Certificate which allows them to conduct workshops in their own community in the future. Many newly trained Indigenous presenters have used this certificate to obtain employment in their communities. 

Ongoing Support for Volunteers

APC provides back-up support to the Indigenous communities where training has been provided to assist trainees to run the workshops for other community members long after training has been received. This combination of provision of knowledge, skill enhancement, training and post training support ensures sustainability of the program within the Indigenous community and allows Indigenous people to hold the knowledge and distribute it within the their own community by conducting their own professional workshops. 

Workshop Evaluations

To complement the formal IPF evaluation process all workshops participants are given the opportunity to provide feedback on their IPF experience. This information is used to inform APC’s ongoing quality control through monitoring how participants feel about presentation styles, workshop content and materials.