Karrayili Adult Education Centre Aboriginal Corporation

Karrayili Adult Education Centre
Aboriginal Corporation

ABOUT US

Karrayili is an Aboriginal-directed registered training organisation. Karrayili provides flexible, responsive training for people throughout the Fitzroy valley. Karrayili has its main campus in Fitzroy Crossing WA with an annex at Yakanarra Community. Yakanarra is approximately 140km from Fitzroy Crossing on bitumen and gravel roads.

Karrayili Adult Education Centre was established in 1982 by middle aged people who wanted to be able to read correspondence and understand government people who were coming to town to speak with them. Karrayili is a Walmajarri word meaning middle aged people. Over the years Karrayili has continued to provide a range of courses and services in response to community needs.

Courses that Karrayili is currently delivering:
• Certificates I & 2 in General Education for Adults (CGEA)
• Certificates 1, 2 & 3 in Business and Administration
• Certificate 2 in Aboriginal Environmental Health Work
• Course in Applied Vocational Study Skills (CAVSS)

The general education and business courses are used to teach a range of skills requested by people from the community.

These include:
• Driver education – helping people get their driver’s licences.
• Work readiness - writing resumes and job applications; searching the internet and other sources for work; understanding the rules and expectations of mainstream work.
• Submission writing
• Computer skills
• Administration and business
• General literacy, communication and numeracy skills

Students work individually or in groups.
The general education lecturers also provide workplace support for students.
The Environmental health course is run in a series of intense workshops. The workshops are held in different remote communities where the students learn about everything in the environment that affects health—pest control; sewerage, rubbish and environmental management; personal and home health; community water supplies; dog health and germ theory. Students learn how to identify good environmental health and how to resolve concerns. These student are also supported in literacy and numeracy tasks though the CAVSS course.
After the workshops students do field work in their own communities

In 2010 Karrayili will also be delivering Certificate IV in Bilingual work and Certificate IV in Business (Governance).

Cultural  Maintenance and Transfer:

Another essential role played by Karrayili is supporting the maintenance and transfer of local languages and culture. Karrayili runs a regular class of older Fitzroy Valley residents whose first languages are traditional Aboriginal Languages.
Since its inception Karrayili has played a pivotal role in providing social support and tuition for this group. The group have asked for support and training in ways to negotiate and interact with mainstream society. This group has a wealth of knowledge of their own culture and language and play an important role in the maintenance and transfer of their culture.
This group provides advice and information for cultural awareness programs and documents produced and delivered from Karrayili. Their presence and ongoing commitment to the organisation also ensures onsite cultural awareness and exposure to everyday community life essential to staff understanding and development.

Student support and employment officer:

Since 2008 Karrayili has employed a student support and employment officer who assists students with accessing training or finding work. In 2010 this role has expanded to include supporting people in negotiating the new requirements introduced through the changes to the Indigenous Employment Program(IEP) and the Community Development Employment Program(CDEP).

Staff and directors

Karrayili has 15 people on staff. Six staff are local Aboriginal people
Karrayili is governed by a board of directors. The directors have representatives from the four major language groups in the Fitzroy valley and have connections to all communities.

Community Service

Karrayili also has a conference room that is used by many organisations for training and meetings. This facility keeps Karrayili in touch with events and provides a community friendly venue for Aboriginal organisations.

Expanding services

One of the strengths of Karrayili is the trust people have in the place and the people who work here. Consequently many people approach Karrayili for support in many areas of life that cannot always be met by mainstream accredited training. Increasingly Karrayili is providing on the ground support for people, who are enrolled in other training courses; providing training and support in people’s workplaces, providing access and training in technology or support in dealing with mainstream bureaucracies.