Leading Asia Literacy

Tony Mackay

Forum Leader                  

Professor Kent Anderson

Panel Facilitator

Sid Myer

Asia Literacy Ambassadors

  Summit Context

Kathe Kirby, Executive Director, AEF

‘The Charter calls for a quantum leap in investment and a clear resourced plan of action.’

Charter for Asia literate curriculum (Pdf 197 kb)

 Kathe Kirby presentation (Video, 3:05)

Slide show (Pdf 1.1 mb)

   Keynote Speaker

Dorjee Sun climate warrior, Chief Executive Officer, Carbon Conservation

‘Youth are engaged by social status, respect, edutainment, prizes, rewards, but also purpose, mission and team.’

Dorjee Sun presentation (Video, 28:19)

Slide Show (Pdf 14.9 mb)

If we are successful in creating Asia literate curriculum – what will we see in 2020?

Adam Smith, CEO Foundation for Young Australians

‘Curriculum should be 20 paces ahead of where the rest of the country is at.’

Adam Smith presentation (Video, 7:34)

Tony Mackay, Executive Director, Centre for Strategic Education

‘If we can accelerate the work that we are undertaking and appropriately resource it then we will become the Asia literate country that we have aspired to be.’

Tony Mackay presentation (Video, 2:50)

Dr Phil Lambert, Regional Director, Sydney, NSW Department of Education and Training

‘It is a disservice not to prepare our students for a future in which Asian countries will dominate many aspects of life.’

Phil Lambert presentation (Video, 1:21)

Wendy Caramarco, Principal, Wallan Secondary College

‘If we can do this at Wallan, there's nothing stopping other schools.’

Wendy Caramarco presentation (Video, 1:15)

  Intercultural Understanding

What does it mean and what are the implications?

Margaret Byrne, Principal Consultant, UGM Consulting ‘We often want to convert those in other countries rather than learn about them.’

Margaret Byrne (Video, 1:45)

References (Pdf 61 kb)

 The Australian Story and the Development of Australian Curriculum

English

Dr Jacqueline Lo, noted, ‘Australia and Asia are not mutually exclusive categories … Including Asian texts into the English Curriculum strengthens our own understanding of Australian literature and our relationship with Asia and Asian literatures.’

Australian Story for the English Curriculum (Pdf 127 kb)

Jacqueline Lo (Video, 2:26)

History

Professor Tony Milner argued, ‘Really teaching the Australian story “within the Asian context” will sharpen not obscure understanding of our great nation-building, including its largely British-influenced character. Confronting our Europeanness can alert Australians, especially Australian students, to the need to appreciate differences in histories and value systems.’

Australian Story for the History Curriculum (Pdf 106 kb)

Tony Milner (Video, 4:20)

The Arts

According to Alison Carroll,‘Access to Asian culture seems blocked by the belief that it is hard to understand that it requires much study, knowledge of language, and it basically is not for the average Westerner. To be open to Asian culture is not hard as long as there is access at some point, and the most obvious point for Australia is contemporary culture.’

Australian Story for The Arts Curriculum (Pdf 188 kb)

Geography

Nick Hutchinson stated, ‘The Geography Curriculum should inspire students to become global citizens by exploring their own place in the Asia-Pacific region, their responsibilities to other people, to the environment, and to the sustainability of the planet.’

Australian Story for the Geography Curriculum (Pdf 135 kb)

Languages

Andrew Scrimgeour explained, ‘The initial development of Asian languages, in many ways, was tacked onto the back of a European construct. This is the one opportunity to distance ourselves from our past – our thinking about Asian languages in schools and to reformulate the approach based upon the realities on the ground.’

Asian languages in the Australian context (Pdf 119 kb)

  AEF Partnerships Promotion

Dr Leonie Lethbridge, ANZ Indonesia, claimed, ‘Asia needs to be made relevant to students’ at the announcement of the Asia Literacy Ambassadors: Partnering Businesses and Schools Project announced by Sid Myer (Pdf 84 kb) with support from Andrew FitzSimons (Pdf 49 kb) Principal, Dapto High School.

Leonie Lethbridge (Video, 1:03)

Professor Tim Lindsey said, ‘Government to government relations between Australia and Indonesia are rosy, but what about people to people?’ as he described the impressive achievements of the BRIDGE program, which brought together hundreds of thousands of Indonesian and Australian school students.

Tim Lindsey presentation (Video, 6:09)