ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the effects of rapid changes in adult literacy provision when a new culture of competency-based workplace training was introduced into Australian workplaces during a period of major industrial reform in the 1990s. Adult literacy provision can be identified by funding source (Commonwealth/state government and industry/community), location (schools, universities, vocational education and training institutes, workplaces and community centres), the curriculum framework in use and at times the industrial/university qualifications of the teacher. These parameters help to define an occupation – adult literacy work – and the knowledge base associated with that work. However, as I show below, these boundaries are anything but definitive.
