- When: Thursday 15 October 2025 @ 1:00pm AEDT
- Duration: 1 hr
- Cost: FREE for ALA members | $65 non-members
About the session
Learning beyond the justice system: Insights from educator Adam Nobilia and Adult Learners Week 2026 Ambassadors – Pattie Phillips and Timothy Looker.
We know that a second chance needs to be more than a second chance at education. It means connecting learning with housing, employment, community connection and support after release, while also challenging the systems and structures that can perpetuate cycles of poverty, disadvantage and incarceration. This webinar will consider the role ACE and educators can play in creating opportunities, supporting people to rebuild their lives through literacy and learning, and helping to break these cycles.
Adam Nobilia
Adam Nobila grew up in Cabramatta and is an adult educator, teacher and musician, best known for his role in the SBS documentary Lost for Words, which followed adults on their literacy and numeracy learning journeys. Adam has spent much of his career supporting vulnerable learners, including teaching trauma-informed education and psycho-education programs in correctional centres, and teaching at TAFE, supporting apprentices with literacy and numeracy.
He has also taught on the IPROWD program, supporting young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students preparing for careers in policing, and continues to support Aboriginal inmates at Parklea Correctional Centre.
Adam is also a songwriter and musician, has released three albums, and is a passionate surfer. Adam is currently completing his debut memoir, Between the Bars: Teaching Australia’s Least Wanted, sharing stories from his experiences teaching and supporting people with an intellectual disability in the justice system.
Adam recently delivered the keynote address at the launch of Adult Learners Week 2026.
Pattie Phillips
Pattie’s story is one of resilience, transformation, and the power of learning to create new possibilities.
After four years incarcerated at Dame Phyllis Frost Centre and two years on parole, Pattie found new direction through education. While in prison, she participated in the Inside Out Prison Exchange Program through RMIT University, before going on to start a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Criminology.
During her time inside, Pattie also supported others by teaching English to Vietnamese women. Diagnosed later in life as neurodivergent, she reflects on her own learning journey, including failing Year 11 twice, with the belief that “no one’s journey is linear.”
Today, Pattie draws on her lived experience to support others. She has worked as a peer worker helping people transition back into the community and serves as Community and Stakeholder Engagement Coordinator at Hope Network (formally Prison Network), where she is passionate about creating opportunities and helping others succeed.
Timothy Looker
Leaving school at 15, Tim spent 14 years working in mining camps and Aboriginal communities in the NT, training equipment operators. At 30, he returned to Adelaide as a mature-age student, earning an education degree and embarking on a 34-year teaching career.
His interest in supporting young people, pastoral care and community service has continued throughout his life. He has been a volunteer in a community legal centre and now a volunteer Justice in the Magistrates Court, working with people released on bonds and bail. After two terms as a local councillor sparked an interest in law, Tim returned to study again, completing an Honours degree in Law. At 74, he was admitted to the South Australian Supreme Court as a Barrister and Solicitor.
Now 75, Tim sees education as an ongoing journey that can open unexpected opportunities. He brings a unique perspective to the conversation about second chances, sharing his experience and practical insights into creating better opportunities for people who have left school early or had contact with the justice system, and the possibilities that can emerge when people are given the chance to learn, change direction and start again.