Many students drop out of school

In the last 2 days there have been articles in The Age (editorial today) and discussion about the numbers of students who do not complete their year 12 or equivalent schooling.

The reasons are many and multi-layered.

It is all contained in the " Educational Opportunity in Australia 2015 report, which was released on Monday, which has found a staggering 26 per cent of Australian 19-year-olds, or 81,199 people, are not finishing school." The Age, Monday 27 October 2015

I don't propose to argue for or against any of these issues.  What I am most concerned about is the 1 in 4 or 26% of students who do not complete schooling, or meet academic benchmarks.

Eventhough the report does acknowledge that many students can and do catch up; until they do, these students still need to be able to participate in society, get a job, access CentreLink and other government and community services.

Consequently all services, government, and non government services need to think about how information is presented to people in this category. You can read from the report "Many of these people go on to suffer financial hardship, alcohol and substance abuse, homelessness and a higher probability of ending up in the justice system." 

The OECD completed an international study in 2013 (PIAAC) which the ABS participated in (ABS #4228). The ABS PIAAC data (2013) #4228 correlates with this Education Opportunity in Australia 2015 report. Both acknowledge people who have limited literacy skills are more like to end up with financial hardship, poorer health outcomes, higher probability to end up in the justice system, and be less connected with their community, and be socially isolated.

Make a list of the service you access, on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis. If you had non functional literacy would you be able to readily access these services?

Start a list, and begin to advocate for the 44% of adult Australians who have non functional literacy. Think about the written information your department or service provides; does it meet the needs of your potential and current clientele?

Here's a starting point

- Rental lease

- Medication dosage

- Medication side effects

- Food labels

- Bills

- CentreLink request

- Local community opening hours and activities

- Accessing MyGov website 

- Product Labels

- Text messages

- Community centre brochure

Call me to talk about how you can modify your written information so the 44% of adult Australians can access written information in a more meaningful way.

Cathy

Cathy Basterfield

Access Easy English

cathy@accesseasyenglish.com.au

0466 579 855

www.accesseasyenglish.com.au

Writing for your audience

Yesterdays Age (Melbourne) has an article by the Health Editor, Julia Medew on how Dr Sonia Fullerton has changed the way she writes information for her patients.

Dr Fullerton has begun to write her Health Letter to the patient, and "CC' to the other members of the Health team. The patient is the centre of the treatment, so the Health letter is written to him. The patient has an opportunity to have a greater understanding of the goals and direction for treatment.  The persons Health team will still understand the information.

In writing her Health letter in this way, Dr Fullerton acknowledges she was concerned how other members of the medical profession would respond to this means of communicating, i.e. in Plain Language (removing Health jargon, and talking directly to the patient, in a way the patient could understand).  

This concern is often raised by people when asked to consider or use Plain Language or Easy English. 

Why?

The purpose of any written communication should be so the intended audience has an understanding of the material. Those of us with good literacy, can feel we are not representing our profession or skills properly if we do not use jargon based, and complex language in our written communication.  We are all guilty of it. However, keeping in mind, the person at the centre of the communication is the consumer or patient, will provide for greater awareness for us all, when we write.

This is critical for all information, not just a Health letter or report.

Ask a patient what treatment they prefer. Giving them a brochure with complex data and Health information will not assist in their decision making.  Every person needs to be able to comprehend the information in a way that is meaningful for them.  Most people have not had years and years of training, and then years of experience of a particular medical condition. Therefore, all medical jargon and complex data needs to be removed. Using everyday language is critical. This is not denigrating the patient.  Think about the bonuses.

The patient has a better understanding of the

·         length or duration of treatment;

·         when to take self administered medication;

·         when appointments are;

·         potential side effects, and when to call you or alert you to changes;

·         potential outcomes, both positive and negative;

·         reduced stress as they are aware of all of the above.

It can be hard to reduce the complex web of information and knowledge you have, into useful consumer information. However the benefits, once you can do this, are amazing. 

Talk to Cathy about how to develop your current information into  manageable and understandable information for your audience.

Cathy

Cathy Basterfield

Speech Pathologist

Access Easy English

cathy@accesseasyenglish.com.au

0466 579 855 

www.accesseasyenglish.com.au

How much do you understand about money?

In Australia, recent discussions have continued around the need to improve the quality of financial planners.  This is in light of a number of high profile cases in the banking and superannuation industry.

Constantly we hear, the financial literacy of our community is low. Therefore the solution always seems to be, to improve the training of the financial  planners, better governance and stronger consumer protection regulation.

However, the longer term solution is cited as improving the financial literacy programs in schools.......

See the article in The Age on 22 July 2014.

mmmmm this may help those students with financial and numeracy skills in 30 -40 - 50 years time when they are at retirement age . This is the age when most people have their largest amount of money, and may  need to talk with a financial planner about their retirement financial plans. 

Why is it always the reader who has the problem?

There is another solution. And it is not a solution that will take 30-40-50 years to show improvement.  What about writing and producing numerical information for the current level of literacy in the community?  Then, individuals can go to a financial planner with a greater understanding of their own finances, and engage with meaningful questions about options. 

Additionally, professionals in the industry, do need to learn to unpack and stop using the lingo of their profession, and talk to the person in a way the person understands. This is in no way restricted to just this industry.

Evidence has shown in the development of insurance information, and even more significantly in medical, technical and IT, emergency, and social areas of life, when information is written at the level the person who is expected to use the information is reading there is 

·         greater persistence to engagement with the material;

·         greater reading;

·         greater understanding;

·         greater change in behaviour.

This use of everyday language, rather than professional or business or corporate language is further beneficial to all industries and businesses, as research has shown there are fewer calls to Call Centres requesting information, fewer angry  and confused customers and greater numbers of return customers. Reason: the customer has a greater understanding of what they have signed up to.

The technique referred to is Easy English.  Cathy Basterfield, who owns and operates Access Easy English, is recognised both nationally and internationally in the original and ongoing development of Easy English. Cathy would be pleased to talk with you further about how to improve the engagement of customers, by improving the written communication between you and your customers.

Cathy

Cathy Basterfield

Access Easy English

Consultant Speech Pathologist

www.accesseasyenglish.com.au

cathy@accessseasyenglish.com.au

0466 579 855