Paper presented to the 1997 Australian Association for Research in Education: Researching Education in New Times, 30/11/97-4/12/97, Brisbane, Qld. Learning and Literacy Development in Higher Education: An Issue of Institutional Change

Commitment to teaching and learning in higher education has long been premised on assumptions that: on enrolment, students are already equipped with generic skills of learning and literacy suitable for tertiary study; when they do not have the necessary skills, or do not begin to develop them appropriately, it is a remedial problem; and, that those responsible for development of generic and discipline-specific learning and literacy skills must be situated outside of the body of academics teaching in an academic program. These assumptions are no longer tenable. It is now recognised that academic success in higher education entails the acquisition of academic learning and language skills which are new to our average student at university entry. Facilitating the acquisition of such skills is thus not seen as a remedial strategy but a developmental goal which allows all students to be initiated into the academic and professional discourses of academia, and which gives all students greater chances to achieve at their potential. Integration of instruction in learning and literacy skills into mainstream teaching programs through curricula change, revised graduate outcomes and staff development isare essential to this goal. Achieving these objectives, however, requires institutional change which is often problematic in traditional university contexts. The presence of leadership, change agents and discontinuity can provide the impetus for such change to occur. This paper will discuss institutional change in this context with an illustrative case. using examples from past and current work being carried out at both the above institutions.