Advocacy and support

One of LCNAU’s key roles is to advocate for and provide support to the sector. This page gives an overview of our most recent activities.

Prizes and awards

Patji Dawes Awards 2021

On the International World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development, the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language (CoEDL) announced the 2021 recipients of the Patji-Dawes Language Teaching Awards:

  • The Wiradjuri program at Charles Sturt University is the awardee in the Group The program, which is under the guidance of Stan Grant Sr and Susan Green, was nominated by student Elaine, who commented: “The CSU Language teachers are inspiring and effective because, like me, they have been renewed by the power of Wiradjuri language to change how you see yourself and the world around you.”
  • Maria Lo Presti (Perth, WA) is the awardee in the Individual Maria is currently Head of Languages at Aquinas College and has taught Italian for over 30 years. Students fondly remember her adage: “Learn to mingle, be bilingual.”
  • Sharon Gregory (Fremantle, WA) is the awardee in the Community Outreach Sharon was nominated by the Walyalap Waangkaniny Noongar Language Group, where she teaches Noongar. One student of Sharon’s shared that she has “gone from speaking no Noongar language to writing poems in Noongar language” under Sharon’s encouragement.

The Patji-Dawes initiative honours outstanding achievements in teaching languages other than English in Australia. The name of the award commemorates the earliest documented language education partnership in Australia’s history: that between young Indigenous woman Patyegarang (Patye or Patji, pronounced Pat-chee) and Lieutenant William Dawes.

Biennially since 2015, CoEDL has conferred the award through its Outreach program as part of its commitment to elevating public awareness of languages and celebrating multilingualism in Australia. From 2021, administration of the Patji-Dawes Award will pass to the Australian Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations (AFMLTA) and the Languages and Cultures Network for Australian Universities (LCNAU), co-sponsors of Patji- Dawes since its inception.

In this final year of the Centre’s involvement, CoEDL Director Nicholas Evans reflected on the initiative’s legacy.

“We established the Patji-Dawes Award because we wanted to honour the unsung heroes of language teaching in Australia. Our society needs to realise the power of other languages to open your heart and mind to other ways of being, and of hearing and seeing the world. Brilliant, magnetic teachers are at the front line of this effort, and this award is about them.”

The awards will be conferred on Tuesday, 6 July 2021 at the AFMLTA International Languages Conference.

Advocacy for languages

Australian Academy of the Humanities launches Call to Action on Languages

LCNAU has received the following press release from the Australian Academy of the Humanities and has indicated its strong support for the the Academy’s statement, which appears below.  We shall give you further updates as they become available.

“Australia joins global Call to Action to celebrate language diversity and promote a multilingual world”

Five of the world’s leading Learned Academies, including the Australian Academy of the Humanities (AAH), have joined forces in calling for urgent action to protect and promote language study globally.

It’s the first time national peak bodies in the humanities and social sciences have collaborated to issue a public call on behalf of language diversity to meet the growing communications challenges of the 21st century.

This unprecedented collaboration has been prompted in part by the COVID-19 pandemic which has intensified and challenged communications – virtual meetings, streamlining cultural content, international news, social media – and increased tensions across international borders.

Academy President, Professor Lesley Head FASSA FAHA, said ‘the COVID-19 pandemic is just the latest indication that societies need to develop language policies that are explicit, coordinated and comprehensive, making access to all of the world’s languages a core feature and indispensable part of the education of every student, of every age, and beginning with languages learned at home.

‘We are at an extraordinary moment in human history. Cooperation within and across borders is vital as we work to solve global challenges. Clear and precise communication is more crucial than ever before to the health and security of every nation,’ Professor Head said.

The Australian Academy of the Humanities has signed a joint statement with the British Academy, the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the Royal Society of Canada and the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia to help reverse the trend, particularly in predominantly English-speaking nations which are not producing enough speakers of languages other than English to meet 21st century needs.

Former AAH President, Professor Joseph Lo Bianco AM FAHA, played a key role in shaping the statement with international colleagues. A leading expert in Language and Literacy Education in Australia, he believes we need ‘a comprehensive, long-term approach to cultivate the multilingual resources of our country.’

Professor Lo Bianco says since 1975 in Australia there have been close to 70 separate reports or policies which combined have provided no clarity or consistency and which have changed at the whim of a new government.

‘Both sides of politics have dropped the ball on this. What we’ve seen over the years is the politicisation of something which should be in the national interest. Governments haven’t been listening to the experts,’ Professor Lo Bianco said.

‘When it comes to language policy it should never be about the government of the day picking winners at the expense of others.’

Professor Lo Bianco, who wrote the National Policy on Languages for Australia in 1987, the first multilingual national language policy for an English-speaking country, believes the time has come for Australia to embrace its diversity and for the adoption of a bipartisan approach, requiring a commitment to a concerted and consistent approach to language learning in our schools, universities, workplaces and at home.

‘We must also accept and build on the fact that, through their languages, migrants to Australia and our Indigenous communities present a special gift to the nation,’ he said.

‘These Australians should be supported in sharing their languages across generations, to help safeguard their traditions and be protected from discrimination on the basis of their language and culture,’ Professor Lo Bianco said.

We stand ready to assist the Australian government in developing a coordinated and comprehensive approach to language policy.

Media contact: Jeremy Lasek 0417 652771 or Jeremy.lasek@humanities.org.au

Advocacy as featured in our blog

Save Languages at Swinburne

We urge LCNAU members to continue to support the campaign to prevent the closure of languages at Swinburne. To sign the current petition, please go to: https://www.megaphone.org.au/petitions/protect-nationally-strategic-languages-chinese-japanese-at-swinburne-university

Update on Draft Legislation consultation (August 2020): LCNAU joined other HASS associations in responding negatively to the Federal Government’s proposal for a new funding framework for the tertiary sector. The issue has been brought to prominence once more with the release of draft legislation designed to implement the proposed funding …

LCNAU contributed to the different consultations conducted by the ARC for the ANZSRC review. We advocated for the retention of FoR code 2003 Language Studies. Our final submission can be read here. We have recently been informed that the review is now complete; you can see the outcomes of the …

Reports and submissions

LCNAU contributed to the different consultations conducted by the ARC for the ANZSRC review. We advocated for the retention of FoR code 2003 Language Studies. Our final submission can be read here. We have recently been informed that the review is now complete; you can see the outcomes of the …

Join us!

Becoming a member to support LCNAU’s advocacy activities has never been more important. Find out about unique membership benefits and how to sign-up here: