Acal plc Information

The Australian Council for Adult Literacy was formed in October, 1976, after a working group on adult literacy was established at the Adelaide conference for the Australian Association of Adult Education (AAAE). This working group decided that a national council separate from the AAAE was needed, solely dedicated to raising the profile of adult literacy education. Those involved in setting up the separate council felt that rather than being subsumed by the umbrella organisation of adult education, the needs of the burgeoning adult literacy movement in Australia would be better served by having its own national body, to lobby the Federal Government and to develop policy specifically related to adult literacy needs. Arch Nelson, a member of the working group, became the inaugural chair of the newly formed council, the Australian Council for Adult Literacy (ACAL), a position he held until 1984. In 1977 the first national adult literacy conference was held in Canberra. In his autobiography Arch Nelson describes the two-fold function of ACAL as '(1) to help develop public awareness of the need of adequate levels of literacy; and (2) to facilitate and promote cooperation among concerned people and organisations throughout Australia' (1996 p.232). This also became the agenda for the state councils as they were established (Campbell, 2009 p.25).