This paper comments on the topic of literacy and politics by answering a question: "Why can't literacy educators seem to reach the politicians?" The discussion in the paper shows how educators and politicians communicate in different languages; when speaking about education educators tend to use their own jargon, while policymakers tend…

Recent history of policy development for adult literacy and basic education (ALBE) in Australia is in need of scrutiny. Two lines of analysis are useful for framing developments in language policy in Australia: the first examines the ways in which professional cultures operate to influence policy and the second looks at orientations in policy.…