Interview Highlight: Vanessa Iles - The Reading Writing Hotline

Published Apr 21, 2024, 11:56 PM

The Reading Writing Hotline is celebrating 30 years and going strong. During that time over 180,000 people have used this service. Manager, Vanessa Iles, chats with Peter Greco about it’s history and future.

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Or the Reading and Writing Hotline is celebrating 30 years. Let's celebrate with them and welcome their manager, Vanessa. Also the program. It's so great to meet you. Congratulations. Well done.

Thank you Peter. Much appreciated.

How are you celebrating? 30 years? Not you personally. This is the organization you ran before you were born, I think. Vanessa.

Thank you. Peter. Um, yes. Look, we're. The hotline has been around for 30 years. I've been at the hotline for nearly ten. So about a third of that time, we had a bit of a big old knees up a couple of, um, a late last week, we had an event and invited lots and lots of literacy teachers and all our partners in the field. We had a couple of ministers come, a Commonwealth minister and a state minister for skills, which was really wonderful for to have their acknowledgement. And, you know, we just got to celebrate and really look back and think about all the people that we've helped. I mean, the important part of all of this is the callers, um, their bravery in coming forward and asking for help and the help that we've been able to give them to get them on the path to improving their reading, writing and, uh, numeracy skills. You know, how.

It started or why it started. I guess we kind of know why, but, uh, had to kind of get underway.

Yeah, actually, you know, it started because there was the International Year of Literacy in 1990, and that kind of started the ball rolling where Australia went, you know, really thought about the fact that there are a lot of adults and we're not necessarily talking about people who are learning English as a second or an additional language. These are people who went to school in Australia that didn't get the help they needed for whatever reason. Um, there are lots of them. And, uh, they needed help to, you know, really improve their reading and writing. And so the ABC TV station had a program called the Reading Writing Roadshow, and that show was like a literacy program for adults. And they had a workbook and they had the, um, a teacher phone line, which was the hotline. So teachers were on the lines to help people when they got stuck with their workbook. And, um, at the end of the program, we people rang and said, you know, where do I go to start classes? I'm ready now. And so that was kind of how we started. And while we don't support an ABC TV program anymore, we certainly do that referral service. So we help people to find classes that are suitable for them. And, you know, it's really hard to navigate the literacy field and find out where classes are and what was the best one for people to do.

Well, it's kind of a situation where if you struggle with literacy, it's hard to hard to find things. And along those lines, last 30 years, we've kind of moved much more into a digital era, haven't we?

We have. Yeah. And that's you know, that's brought it's been positive and negative really. It's brought some certainly brought some opportunities. But um, you know, we also run the risk of, of there being a bigger digital divide for people with if they've got literacy and numeracy gaps, then often they have digital gaps as well. And uh, so yeah, the fact that, for example, if we think about forms and, you know, paper based forms were tricky enough for a lot of people, but once they go online, there's a whole nother literacy to be worried about digital literacy. And even if you're a good reader, you may struggle filling in a digital form. So it's really complicated things. And I think for that reason, we're starting to get more and more calls than we were getting, say, ten years ago.

Interesting. That is very interesting. Vanessa, you made a great point at the beginning of the interview. You talked about, you know, people showing the courage to come out if you like. I mean, that is so important because unfortunately, some might feel a bit of ashamed or feel like they've failed or I don't want to admit to the sort of, uh, you know, uh, gap in my life. Yeah.

And, you know, sadly, that is the thing we hear most often on our phone lines. So people call and and often, you know, that we're the first people that they've ever told that they have a literacy gap. Um, and they, you know, there's often floods of tears because they're, they're finally kind of revealing something about themselves. So it's it is a huge issue. And unfortunately, you know, when we think about so many other skills like riding a bike or even even maths and numeracy, people seem quite comfortable to say I'm really bad at maths or, you know, I can't do that. Um, can't ride a bike or can't surf. But when it comes to reading and writing, it's such an integral and assumed part, you know, of our education, so that when people don't have it, they feel that it's their fault and it's their deficit. And, you know, we know that in the vast majority of cases, they've been let down by some sort of system, and that's why they didn't get the help that they need.

And of course, the irony of it is that often these people who may have said have that deficit are probably really clever, really good in other areas. And in a sense, I mean, this is the most kindest way. They've kind of bluffed their way to get to where they are, despite the fact that they've had this deficit.

That's exactly right. And we you know, we consider that a strength. The fact that you can get by in today's society without those skills is really testament to the incredible tenacity and creativity and, you know, coming up with all of these strategies to get by. And often people, you know, they rely on memory or they've got little tricks and tools, things that they say or they do to help them get by. So, you know, we really applaud people that do that. They may think they're cheating. We think they're incredible. So, you know, that's the first thing we point out to people is, you know, when they talk about some of these strategies, they feel shame even in what they're doing. And we say, no, this is what's allowed you to get by. As long as you have something often changes in people's lives. You know, Peter, they might have had a partner that did all of the reading and writing for them, and that partner's not available anymore. They may have passed or, you know, may have moved on or they, you know, they they they may have grandkids that have said to them, can you read us some stories? And they kind of they've been they've been outed. I mean, Covid did a really, really nasty job of that for people who suddenly found they had to homeschool their kids and, you know, they they didn't have the literacy skills that they needed to do that. And so they felt very, very kind of like a rock had been lifted and they were underneath it. So there's all sorts of things that happen to people. And it's it's often something really sudden. And they call us and say, okay, now I need to get some help. And, you know, it's just great to be able to help people when they do get to that stage.

Any idea how many people may have been helped in that 30 years? Yeah, we've.

Had over 180,000 people that have had have called us that. We've, you know, set on a path to getting into a class. So, you know, when people call the hotline and they tell us their story, if I was to unpack one story, you know, it's it's very it's it's often really emotional. And the journey that they've been on has been very long and very hard. And when we think about that, that's one person. And we've done that times 180,000 is it's a big number. Um, and yeah, you know, we're, we're we're really proud of being able to help that many people.

Be a very satisfying thing to be. Looking back on, what about in terms of funding, how are you funded?

So we're funded by the Commonwealth, but the Department of Employment and uh, workplace Relations. So it's got a skills focus. So there's been very much a kind of focus on literacy for the workplace, because we sit in that portfolio and what we've been pointing out to lots of governments, Commonwealth government and state governments is literacy is not just about work. It is a big part of work. And it helps people stay in jobs and, you know, get jobs. But people need it for everyday life and helping to, well, um, helping kids with their homework, reading the sorts of endless emails that we get at home to manage our household feeling informs all of those things. Helping to, well, reading, medicine, you know, dosage labels, um, to make sure we're dosing our kids or ourselves properly, all of those kinds of things, health literacy, you know, there's a massive area. So the government, the Commonwealth government has actually moved now towards opening literacy up to offer all of those reasons. And then we see that as really, really important. They funded us for 30 years and we're, you know, really grateful that they continue to do that.

It's an investment really, isn't it? You know, I mean, they're, uh, they're funding you, but they're really investing in people's future. Their, their mental health, their physical health, all sorts of ways that you can look at it.

That's so true. It is an investment. And we you know, we also say to government that when you help one person where they're literacy, you're helping a lot more than one person. You know, you're helping their family, their employers, their colleagues. It's it's really just keeps going on and on. Um, and particularly if there's children, um, if their parents struggle with their reading and writing, they might find it more difficult. So that's really important for the next generation is to, to help people get to, you know, fill in the gaps that they may have.

The multiplier effect. Uh, Vanessa, obviously we're on Visual Australia Radio, so audio is very important to us. Uh, I love you jingle. I think anyone that hears you jingle, it kind of sticks in their head for the rest of the day. The proverbial earworm. Do you know where that came from or how that came about? I do, I do.

They are so.

So lofty in it now, these guys. They were really, um, popular in the 1990s, and they did programs like a lot of health, um, health campaigns like Norm and The Life Being and kind of get off the couch and get out there. They were responsible for that and slip, slop, slap the kind of, um, sunscreen, you know, and they developed this jingle. So they really, you know, they had to think about how are they going to promote a phone line, phone number for people who may struggle to write it down. And they have done exactly that. You know, we we do hear time and time again from people who either ring up and sing the jingle to us, which is lovely. We always love to hear that. Uh, but also, you know, say, look, I've had this jingle in my head. I can't get it out now, you know, now I need it. I'm going to call it, um, you know, one time we even had a call from someone in hospital who was worried about they'd broken their leg. They were worried about missing their TAFE class. They didn't know the number to call. And they thought, I do know a number to call. So they call the hotline and we could put them onto their tape class and let them know. So we thought that was great too.

All right. We got back before we wrap up. But before we wrap up, you probably know this too, because you know all the answers to the questions. Vanessa, do you know what 30 years is represented in terms of a stone in terms.

Of.

Like a stone or an emblem? Uh, kind of a thing?

Oh, no. Now you're getting me. That's a question I didn't have an answer to. Um, let me think. So what's diamond? Diamond is 25.

I think it's diamond 60. It's 60 now, Vanessa, which is very, very good. I think 30 is a pearl.

Is that.

Oh that's beautiful. Thank you. Peter, I didn't know that. I'm going to take that back to my team and let them know.

That's enough of my research for today. I can go and have a bit of a lie down after that. I hope I'm right. By the way, I did double check it. That did come up the same. So, uh, hopefully I'm right, but it's a it's a wonderful thing. Before we play the jingle. Vanessa, congratulations. In all seriousness, 30 years, I have 180,000 people, as I said, the multiplier effect. Who knows indirectly how many people that have helped. I'm not sure if I'll be here in 30 years time. I'm sure you will be. Uh, maybe if we're both. If we're both around, maybe we can catch up again in 30 years time.

Oh, we could even do it sooner than that, Peter.

Let's go.

In 30 years time, it will be a diamond, won't it?

That might.

Be more like a.

Fossil. Vanessa.

Seriously? Well done. Wonderful. Thank you for sharing your time with us.

It's my great pleasure.

Thanks again.

That's Vanessa Ross, who's the general manager. He's the manager for the reading and Writing hotline celebrating 30 years. Well played everyone.

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