Ursula Stephens (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Science and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to speak on a very different matter today—that is, Adult Learners Week, which we celebrate around Australia this week, the first week of September, every year. Every year nearly 50 countries around the world organise and prepare learning festivals around Adult Learners Week from 1 to 8 September celebrating the joy of learning in all its forms and settings. They promote the idea of learning throughout life and give special emphasis to adults so that they can express their learning needs, explore the many learning possibilities and experience the joy of learning. Adult Learners Week is truly an international event.

Learning throughout life can be a journey of self-discovery which takes many forms and any direction. It can involve equipping oneself with the means to participate in a rapidly changing world, developing and improving skills, keeping abreast of scientific and technological discoveries and learning how to use them. It can also involve understanding one’s past and its influence on the present and future, discovering the wealth of other cultures, coming to terms with problems in everyday life or simply exploring personal interests. At the collective level, learning throughout life leads to a stronger community and a more equitable society.

The importance of learning throughout life was highlighted at the Fifth International Conference on Adult Education, held in Hamburg in 1997. The conference was a milestone for the development of a vision of adult education that recognises the crucial role of lifelong learning. It positioned adult education as not only a right but the key to the 21st century. In this context, adult learning can shape individuals’ identity and give meaning to their lives as well as ensure active citizenship and full participation in society for all adults.

Adult Learners Week in Australia serves to create and sustain a concerted effort to promote adult learning throughout life among the general public and within learning environments. In Australia, we have about 1.2 million adults enrolled in learning activities every year. Activities around the country raise awareness of the need to create more opportunities for adults to learn. They also celebrate the efforts and achievements of the thousands who find the courage to take that first step into learning. The pursuit of continuous learning for adults, whatever their age, background or circumstance, is such a rewarding and important endeavour. Adult learning has the power to transform lives, sometimes in ways that people never imagined when they set off to take a class, start a course or find that initial informal pathway into renewed development through learning.

Adult, community and continuing education courses have been an integral part of education and training since the first programs were offered around the country through organisations such as mechanics institutes and schools of art in the 19th century. Adult learning was extended through the Workers Educational Association and the establishment of community colleges, neighbourhood centres, church associations, TAFE and regional colleges, workplaces and community organisations such as Toastmasters International, one of the sponsors of Adult Learners Week this year.

As part of this week across Australia, adult learning opportunities and achievements will be celebrated. I mentioned the expression ‘festivals of learning’ and that was certainly the theme in South Australia, where I had the great honour to attend the launch of Adult Learners Week and the presentation of awards last week. A similar event occurred in Brisbane on Thursday, and the national launch of Adult Learners Week by the minister, Mr Hardgrave, occurred on Friday. Adult learning awards are being presented to learners, tutors, communities and training providers around the country in recognition of their achievements. For the ACT, it happened last night; for Victoria, it is this evening.

So who are the adult learners of the year? Learners are recognised through the awards this year like the young woman in South Australia who left school early, was homeless for years and has since found her way back to learning to support her children. She demonstrates life-changing experiences. Valle, in Queensland, who migrated from Spain in 1987, threw herself into adult learning and has turned her life around in just three years, going from her first tentative steps in English language classes to becoming a literacy tutor herself. Since then, she has completed a business certificate and is currently finalising certification to become an English-Spanish interpreter. Adult learners of the year are learners who demonstrate visible improvement to their lives and the lives of others as a result of learning experiences, they have worked hard to maintain their families and work responsibilities at the same time as pursuing their learning goals, they have supported and inspired others engaged in adult learning and their learning has allowed them to participate more intimately in their communities. These are awards that celebrate how individuals conquer the odds and discover the joy of learning and what it can bring. The stories I have heard about this year’s winners are inspiring and profoundly moving, and I commend all those nominated for these awards and congratulate the winners.

We are also recognising adult educators of the year. Each state and territory is recognising their adult educators though awards for their commitment and contribution to helping others to learn, and who demonstrate an incredible range of innovative, flexible and creative teaching skills and that extraordinary capacity to inspire learning in others—people such as Dot Piddington, who has run a group called Self Esteem for Women at Lifeline on the Gold Coast for 18 years. Dot started as a volunteer, then completed a first degree in her 50s and is now studying for her master’s degree. Her pathway is so typical: a volunteer tutor who discovers the joy of learning and follows through with her own learning in ways that transform not just her life but the lives of those with whom she is so intimately involved. Adult learning is infectious, and we heard more stories about that at the ACT awards last night.

This week we are also acknowledging Indigenous adult learners. We are all aware of the link between formal education and economic advantage and that Indigenous Australians are particularly disadvantaged. The winners of these awards have undertaken life-changing learning experiences, making significant improvements to their own lives and to the lives of others as a result of their learning. They include young women like Sandra, who has returned to learning after having a baby, and Troy, who decided to take up learning to gain entry to the police force and who wants to improve the social circumstances of his community.

We are also acknowledging adult and community education organisations in an awards program. These awards acknowledge the continuing efforts of providers of adult community education that have shown exceptional innovation, quality and commitment to success in the design and delivery of non-accredited learning opportunities for adults. Last night, Erindale College scooped the pool for the awards in that section. Providers include community based organisations, registered training organisations, evening colleges, private training providers, TAFEs and government agencies. Their work has included an amazing range of achievements in collaborative projects with other local agencies, including private agencies and government, and in integrating with other programs, such as reconciliation, environment and heritage learning, healthy ageing, active retirement, small business, rehabilitation, the arts, mental health, social welfare and, of course, employment service provision.

We have also acknowledged some very significant adult learning programs. These awards recognise best practice in program development, design and implementation. They include non-accredited courses, workshops, fields of study, seminars, action learning projects and any other form of structured, managed learning. Last night, members of the Vietnam Veterans Federation received awards for their program, which includes a range of learning opportunities, including a men’s shed and a fantastic men’s choir. There are so many opportunities for us to acknowledge the adult learning that is occurring in our communities, our electorates and our states.

The Adult Learners Week website has almost 900 events registered around Australia as part of Adult Learners Week. There are great events on offer, including ‘Learningful Conversations’, which creates opportunities for people to get together and become involved in conversations about issues of community and personal interest. There is ‘Streets of Learning’, which raises people’s awareness about the adult learning opportunities available in their communities. There is ‘Faces and Spaces’, which gives adult learners the opportunity to work with professional photographers to take photos of the faces of both the people involved in adult learning and the wide range of spaces where formal, informal and incidental learning occur.

These and other events in the program point to an inspiring 2006 Adult Learners Week. On Thursday evening, Mr Lou Hutchinson, the Director of Employment Programs in the South Australian department, reminded us all of something that he learnt growing up, and which I remembered when he recited it. He said:

Labour for learning before you grow old is worth all the riches of silver and gold. Silver and gold will diminish away but learning and manners will never decay.

Mr Hutchinson, like most of us, has his mother’s wise words echoing in his head. He reflected that confident learners are more optimistic about the future, support their children’s learning, readily acquire new knowledge and skills and are more active citizens.

Adult Learners Week is coordinated by Adult Learning Australia, and I would like to take this opportunity to commend the organisation for their continued research and advocacy work on behalf of adult learners everywhere. I particularly want to acknowledge the efforts of the national coordinator for Adult Learners Week, Peter Murphy, who has raised its profile so successfully. We have all received briefing packs and seen and heard the community service announcements, so let’s take them seriously. This year, we have much to celebrate, much to acknowledge and much to consider, as adults in many different circumstances embark on learning experiences that will change their lives.

One of the most important aspects of Adult Learners Week is an initiative called Learn @ Work Today, which is being celebrated quite specifically on Friday this week. I encourage everyone in this chamber to become involved. Learn @ Work Today is a national event, and during the learn at work day initiative individuals and organisations throughout Australia will be encouraged to reflect on their learning practices at work and to take opportunities to try something new. It is modelled on a similar promotion that is being held in the UK and the US. It is an opportunity for employers and employees to draw attention to the strategic importance of effective workplace learning and to highlight the enormous amount and variety of learning—from those informal exchanges over morning tea to formal training programs—that occur in workplaces. It also helps to ensure that we have fun and develop a positive attitude towards learning throughout life.

There are many things happening in Australia on Friday. People are having staff training and events. They are doing job swapping or job shadowing. They are having workplace awards. They are having debates in their workplaces. They are having festivals of hidden talents. They are having bite sized courses where people learn little bits of the skills they need, such as how to send an SMS message—even something as simple as that can be a structured learning opportunity.

We have lots of partners involved in the Learn @ Work Today initiative. I encourage all my colleagues to become partners in Adult Learners Week and to go to the Adult Learners Week website, log on and indicate our support. I encourage everyone to support the learning that is going on in our communities through our community colleges, ACE providers, TAFEs and employment program providers to ensure that people involved in this sector understand that they have the support of their parliamentarians in their important work.