Canberra, 13 November 2019: The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA), regularly works with like-minded organisations and governments, to highlight the role that Australian libraries play in supporting literacy development in our communities. In 2016, ALIA drove the formation of the National Early Language and Literacy Coalition – a group of ten non-government organisations whose work intersects through a common interest in supporting literacy development in the 0–5 age group.
The Coalition is soon to conduct the first of three policy co-design workshops, in Canberra on 26 November 2019, with the National Indigenous Australians Agency; and the Federal Departments of Health; Social Services; and Education. All state and territory counterparts have also been approached to participate – with further workshops and development planned throughout 2020.
These workshops are an aspect of the Coalition’s three-year project, Early Language and Literacy: reviewing the evidence, good practice guidance, and developing a national strategy, one of the aims of the project is to work with the relevant government departments, through a policy co-design framework, to develop a collaborative Australia-wide approach to improve pre-school language and literacy foundations. This project was made possible by funding from the Ian Potter Foundation received in 2018.
About the Australian Library and Information Association
The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) is the professional organisation for the Australian library and information services sector.
With 5,000 members across Australia, we provide the national voice of the profession in the development, promotion and delivery of quality library and information services, through leadership, advocacy and mutual support. www.alia.org.au