National Literacy and Numeracy Week 2009. (August 24, 2009)

John Flanagan, author of the Ranger’s Apprentice adventure series, and Simon Pampena, stand–up mathematics comedian, are to be the Literacy and Numeracy Ambassadors respectively during National Literacy and Numeracy Week (August 31 - September 6).

John Flanagan's adventure series began as twenty short stories, which he wrote to encourage his twelve-year-old son to enjoy reading. The series has since been sold to more than twenty countries, regularly appears on the New York Times bestseller list and has been shortlisted in children's book awards in Australia and overseas.

Simon Pampena was an honours student in the Department of Maths and Stats at The University of Melbourne. He developed a one-man show to address “the real problem in Australian society today: the loss of mathematical consciousness”. The Angry Mathematician, (Melbourne International Comedy Festival, 2005) was “a quest against the dark forces that have taken one of humankind’s greatest gifts away from the common person: the mathematical spirit. The show is for anyone who hates mathematics, thinks it’s not for them, is scared of it, or just doesn’t give a flying Pythagorean about it.”

The theme for this year's NLNW is ‘Getting the Basics Right’ highlights the fact that students need to be literate and numerate to be able to fully realise their potential in the 21^st century.

John Flanagan and Simon Pampena will attend schools during the NLNW to encourage students to discover and explore the beauty and joys of letters and numbers.

Mr Flanagan says young readers should read books that are engrossing, but accessible, to make them feel as though they are living the story along with the characters in the book, while Mr Pampena hopes to inspire a new generation of potential mathematicians to use their imagination and enjoy exploring the concepts of mathematics.

According to the Minister for Education, Julia Gillard, together with the new National Curriculum currently under development, the Education Revolution is driving a renewed focus on the foundation skills of literacy and numeracy.

Well, two "ambassadors" and an annual NLNW do not an education revolution make, nor will just tossing in $500 million over several years. The building of a foundation to develop the human infrastructure for such a revolution has yet to be seriously undertaken, and it remains to be seen if this government, or any possible subsequent ones will have the will and the wit to accomplish it.