The Literacy and Numeracy Programme will be aimed at job seekers assessed as having the lowest levels of literacy and numeracy skills when assessed using the National Reporting System (NRS). Training will be for either up to 400 hours or 300 hours, depending on the assessed literacy and numeracy level of the job seeker. The selection process Relationship with Centrelink 'Rounding down' Possible barriers to participation Conducting the interview

The selection process

The selection process is as follows:

• Some job seekers called in by Centrelink will be identified as likely to have low literacy and numeracy skills through a 'flag' on Centrelink's information system, based on information obtained at their registration interview.

• Centrelink will refer them for a formal literacy and numeracy assessment. This will be undertaken by professional providers contracted by DEST.

• The assessor will determine an overall NRS rating of NRS Level 1, Level 2 or a higher level, based on assessment of reading, writing, oral communication, numeracy and learning strategy. It will also determine whether those job seekers at NRS Level 1 or 2 are likely to be able to improve their skills by one NRS Level within the period of training. Those assessed as having skills at NRS Level 3 or higher will not be selected for training.

• Some of those job seekers who are assessed at NRS Level 1 or 2 and as likely to be able to improve their NRS Level (from Step 3) will have a 'flag' in Centrelink's information system identifying them as possibly having other substantial barriers which might inhibit their capacity to improve their literacy and numeracy skills. This will be assessed before they are referred for training.

Once eligibility is established through the registration system, the Centrelink customer service officer contacts a contracted provider to refer the person for an assessment. Centrelink is obligated to provide only the job seeker's contact details such as name, address, telephone number and their Job Seeker ID. Other information drawn from the registration process is confidential to Centrelink, and not available to the provider.

Some Literacy and Numeracy Programme providers have arranged with their referring Centrelink to speak directly with the job seekers being referred when the interview time is being established. The assessor can then confirm the time and place for the assessment and provide some preliminary information. At this point it is important to tell the job seeker about the structure of the interview and assessment and to dispel any ideas that it is a timed test (eg: ÔIt's mostly just talking to me with some reading and writing').

It is worth considering setting up an initial orientation time before the interview so potential learners can visit the centre to find out what the literacy training has to offer. Again, an effort should be made to emphasise the adult nature of the training, as many people will experience anxiety about the possibility of repeating previously unsuccessful schooling experiences. As office staff are the first point of call of any programme, it might be worth considering that non-teaching staff could be used effectively in the orientation by conducting tours, explaining procedures and providing information about the services available.

Job seekers might self-refer and then be directed back to Centrelink to formalise the process. It may be beneficial for providers to use networks of agencies working with people if they are not coming through Centrelink referrals. Several providers have developed Plain English pamphlets explaining their Centre to be distributed by support agencies.

Relationship with Centrelink

It is in the provider's best interest to establish a good professional relationship with their local Centrelink office.

It may be helpful for the provider to run literacy and numeracy awareness sessions for the Centrelink staff making Literacy and Numeracy Programme referrals, on ways of identifying likely referrals, and to provide information about ways of 'selling' the programme to job seekers. Given the pressures of dealing with many 'clients', many programmes, and a wide diversity of requirements in short timeframes, Centrelink staff may need support in making referrals to this Programme.

Clearer communication can result from:

• knowing the Centrelink processes so you can anticipate problems and make adjustments;
• knowing the appropriate staff to deal with within each Centrelink office;
• developing a foolproof method of message taking so that information between the Centrelink office and provider is streamlined; and
• setting regular days and times for assessments.

If good working relationships and processes are established it will facilitate the exchange of information further down the track. Centrelink staff members will need to be informed if a barrier emerges some time after a person is placed in the programme and that the person then needs a different form of service. Centrelink staff might also need to be informed if the provider has cause to believe their original assessment was inaccurate, and needs to be amended once the person is in the programme.

What do Centrelink and DEST need to know from the initial interview?

From the Centrelink perspective, the intention of the initial interview is to establish an overall NRS rating 1, 2 or 3 for the job seeker and whether there are any 'barriers' which might prevent progress. This will then enable the provider to complete the first page of the Centrelink form (Summary of Pre-Training Assessment - see following page). The first page of the form is faxed to Centrelink after the interview.

The completed Summary of Pre-Training Assessment, including the section of the form requiring individual NRS Indicators (Page 2), is forwarded to DEST at the end of the month along with the Monthly Summary Schedule.

The overall NRS rating is used to determine the number of hours for which the job seeker is eligible under the programme. An overall rating of NRS Level 1 entitles the job seeker to up to 400 hours tuition, Level 2 to 300 hours and Level 3 or above to zero hours. The overall NRS rating means that the learner would be operating within that Level. An overall NRS Level 1 rating means that the learner will be operating within NRS Level 1 for their literacy and numeracy skills. Similarly, an NRS Level 2 means that the learner will be operating within NRS Level 2 in terms of their literacy and numeracy skills.

Even though the Summary of Pre-Training Assessment form is not required by DEST until the end of the month, it is necessary to assign NRS Indicators of Competence at the interview with sufficient accuracy to reach a decision on an overall NRS level. While it is necessary to assess against all macroskills, it is not possible to assess against all Aspects of Communication in a short interview, and this should not be attempted. Given that it would not be possible to establish a person's full repertoire of skill at interview, any overall NRS rating should be conservative.

 'Rounding Down'

The NRS describes an individual's repertoire of skills. Given this, it is not possible to 'average' Indicators to reach an overall NRS Level. The overall NRS level is reached by 'rounding down' the individual NRS Indicators to the lowest Indicator.

In addition to establishing the overall NRS level of the interviewee, the provider needs to be confident that the interviewee will benefit if placed in the programme.

It is in everyone's interests for the provider to be honest and direct and explain the programme rules, formal and informal. It is important for the person to know that once they have been signed in to a Literacy and Numeracy Programme by Centrelink, they must attend the programme or face possible cutbacks to their benefits.

Possible barriers to participation from initial interview

Most of the people likely to be referred to this programme will have a chequered past, educationally speaking. This may be revealed at interview.

It is important to distinguish between past barriers to learning and the current situation; the interview provides an opportunity to ask why. Through teasing out answers to this question you may find out something of their educational history. This might include a history of disrupted early schooling for a number of reasons, health problems, language problems, emotional trauma, family problems, lack of access, gender issues and developmental delay. People from a non-English speaking background may have additional difficulties depending on the amount of time they have had in formal English classes, level of education in their first language, cultural issues, script issues, settlement related problems, and the age at which they arrived in Australia. The person may have attended special school, have memory problems, dyslexia or ADD.

You might also encounter problems of a more immediate nature: court appearances, family problems, financial problems, regularity/stability of accommodation, regularity/stability of child care, drugs/alcohol problems, health, and mental health issues.

Many problems can be uncovered at interview but it is up to the job seeker, the provider and Centrelink to decide whether these problems constitute a barrier to learning. Many providers take the view that even if the job seeker does have an issue but wants to participate, they will be placed in the programme and the potential barrier will remain confidential. Confidentiality is important and, under Centrelink rules, the job seeker must agree to allow any information to be passed on.

Given the nature of the funding and the need for outcomes, whether to place a job seeker or not is, in part, a commercial decision for the provider. However the best interest of the job seeker should remain the paramount consideration; if there are significant problems then the provider must be prepared to say to Centrelink and the job seeker that it is an inappropriate referral. Literacy teachers can't help everybody, and Centrelink has access to other resources and programmes which might be more appropriate for the job seeker. Providers should develop a clear placement policy for the Literacy and Numeracy Programme.

It must be remembered that job seekers are not required to disclose all information. Documents such as the Disabilities Discrimination Act 1992 may be useful in the development of policy on this issue.

As part of an up-front approach to circumventing problems, providers might develop learning contracts. These are agreements between the provider and learner which state what both parties will contribute to the Programme.

Possible barriers to participation after placement

It may be that barriers do not come out of the initial interview but emerge in training sessions once the initial 'honeymoon period' is over.

• Be prepared to ask 'Are there any conditions I need to know about that might be affecting your learning? (Use 'affect your learning' to comply with the Disabilities Discrimination Act and to keep the focus on 'learning').
• Be up-front: Ask 'Do you really want to be here?' Discuss choices. If the learner does not want to stay in the Literacy and Numeracy Programme either s/he does not want to develop their literacy and numeracy skills or doesn't like the place. If it's the latter, there may be a more appropriate provider nearby.
• Establish clear rules and messages about sexist or racist language, alcohol and drug use, as part of Programme rules. Make sure everyone knows the rules are a condition of participation. These can be established as part of the interview or as a class activity involving everyone.
• For learners, the support of family, responsibilities to family, regularity/stability of accommodation, and regularity/stability of child care are crucial. Arrangements can fall apart. Sometimes learners may need to leave the Programme to sort things out.
• Those with specific learning difficulties may not improve in the specified time. This is extremely important as the job seeker may not be suitable for training under the guidelines of this programme, and may be more suited to a different sort of programme.

If it happens that the provider no longer believes the job seeker can benefit, they should contact the referring Centrelink office and tell them what has happened. The provider should also contact the DEST contract manager to explain developments.

Conducting the interview

Features of Interview Space

The needs of both interviewer and interviewee must be met by the space in which the interview takes place.

Generally, interviews will be at the contracted provider's centre. For distance delivery the initial interview may be in a regional centre or a community venue for accessibility or, in rare cases, in the interviewee's home.

The space must not be intimidating and if possible have 'a feel of people in it.' Features of a good space are: well lit (no flickering overhead lights); private; quiet; an informal setup with non-formal table, armchairs and a coffee table; and a selection of interesting, real texts (posters etc.,) available on the walls/table. The space should afford access to a range of real reading material (newspapers, magazines, books, flyers, etc.) and writing material (pens/pencils/scrap paper/pad.) Small offices or actual classrooms are favoured. Formal office environments are not favoured.

Definitions of privacy range from offices with glass walls or a large space with partitions, to small, quiet offices. Views to outside are preferable either via window or door as many interviewees do not like to feel trapped. The space should not be too quiet and although there should be no direct distractions it is beneficial for the interviewee to see that there are other people in the place where the training will take place. This will allow the interviewee to become familiar and comfortable with the idea of the 'adult learning space'.

Access to a phone so communication can be made with Centrelink, doctors, support workers, etc., is advised. The provision of tea and coffee facilities should be considered.

The interviewee may be quite anxious about the assessment. The interviewer must be prepared to spend time if necessary before and during the interview to relax the interviewee if s/he appears stressed. This might mean walking around the facility or outside if the interviewee is so nervous that s/he is unable to complete an assessment.

Who conducts the interview?

The interview will be conducted by the Literacy and Numeracy Programme coordinator, or the prospective teacher. It is important that the person conducting the interview has extensive experience in programmes teaching people with low levels of literacy and numeracy and has a realistic appreciation of the types of activities suitable for assessment, the length of time such assessments might take, and a range of strategies to employ to observe and tease out skills.

The interviewer also needs to be familiar with the guidelines of the Literacy and Numeracy Programme, the NRS, privacy legislation and relevant accredited curriculum.

In many programmes the Literacy and Numeracy Programme coordinator will have overall responsibility for placement. It is important that professional development in interviewing and assessment be offered to other staff members to increase the available bank of staff and to ensure consistency of assessment methods.

Where the interviewer is a coordinator and not the teacher, there needs to be established communication processes and recording systems to convey information about the interviewee's learning to the teacher.

Who attends the interview?

In general, the interview is attended by an interviewer (who is a coordinator or a teacher) and the interviewee.

It is necessary to vary the way interviews are conducted to meet the needs of individual candidates. The needs of cultural groups must be considered when setting up and conducting interviews. Different groups may require support in the interview. Support workers are encouraged if there is an impediment to understanding of any kind between interviewee and the interviewer.

Support staff may include: deaf support teacher, social worker, referrer/case manager, Aboriginal assessors, interpreters, carers, and/or significant members of the community or family.

Although the use of support people is encouraged where appropriate, the interviewer should ensure that the support person understands the role she / he is to perform at interview. It should be noted that support people should interpret the wishes / communication of the interviewee, not offer their own opinions or answer on the interviewee's behalf unless asked.

Interview length

The length of time considered appropriate for interview seems to vary between providers. Some argue that very short assessments produce unclear results resulting in the need for 'extra' assessment whereas, others believe a short assessment is enough to place a learner and a more complex 'ongoing assessment' would then take place within the first month of training.

The average length of the interview will already have been established as part of the provider's contract with Centrelink, but would most likely be around one hour, including interviewing and documenting.

Additional time might be needed to orient the interviewee to the Literacy and Numeracy Programme or the idea of learning, or to get the interviewee into a calm enough state to do a fair assessment.