Adults learn in significantly different ways to children and adolescents, yet many of the approaches that are commonly taken by educators are based on principles of child development. When adult learning principles are applied, learning experiences are more enjoyable, more respectful and more likely to result in real changes in behaviour. At this end of […]

Developing a social media strategy Social media expert, Kate vanderVoort from Social Mediology, will show you how you can get involved with online communities using social media to help your organisation build relationships with members, stakeholders and supporters.   0.15 Overview and getting started 7.20 Strategy considerations 11.20 Talent: Building the right team 20.15 Resourcing […]

Adult learners with low literacy come from diverse cultural, social, linguistic, religious, economic and political backgrounds. Some may have limited or disrupted educational experiences. They will all have diverse needs, interests, experiences, abilities and learning styles. Supporting learners with low literacy is complex. It’s not about using one simple approach or method. It’s about working […]

Professor Glen Postle AM talks about the ideas and inspiration for a new book on community capacity building. On the face of it, you’d think that Toowoomba was doing well.  It’s poised to undergo an economic boom with coal seam gas mining.  But Professor Glen Postle warns economic progress can often be at the cost […]

Professor Barry Golding, President of Adult Learning Australia, well known for his work in the Men’s Shed movement has had a long interest in men and lifelong learning. It’s an interest sparked in part by UK researcher Veronica McGivney’s landmark studies over a decade ago which identified that some groups of men are particularly disadvantaged […]

We were saddened to hear of the death of Professor Gordon ‘Blue’ Barclay, formerly President of the Australian Association for Adult Continuing Education which later became Adult Learning Australia. Professor Barclay was a founding professor and foundation head in the School of Chemistry at Macquarie University from 1965 to 1992.  In addition to his distinguished […]

Need legal advice, graphic design skills, fundraising expertise, training and HR advice? Sometimes finding the right volunteers for the work that needs to be done in your organisation can be a challenge. Some of your volunteers are likely to be giving time to your organisation because they want to develop their own skills.  Others might […]

Four days a week the large kitchen at Birallee Park Neighbourhood House (BPNH) is buzzing. On Mondays, it’s students from the Murray Valley Centre for Adults with a Disability, Wednesdays it’s VCAL students from a nearby high school who’ve come to learn hospitality skills and volunteer in their community, and on Thursday it’s a dedicated […]

In rural areas of Australia suicide rates are around double the national average. Inverell Community College, one and a half hours from Armidale in rural New South Wales, recently hosted a free community based education program to help prevent suicide among farmers. The program is known as SCARF which stands for Suspect, Connect, Ask, Refer […]

On Wednesday mornings the young mums start arriving around 9am, pushing prams, or carrying their babies into the Milligan Community Learning and Resource Centre in Bunbury, 180kms south of Perth. Kate Kelly, Co-ordinator of Nixi Teen and Young Mum’s Group is there to greet them.  By ten past nine, after some singing and stories with […]

  Learning to be a Lifelong Learner: Three Things I have Learnt This Australian College of Educators seminar will explore what it means to be a lifelong learner and will look at metacognition, self-directedness, information literacy and entrepreneurship, and whether these be measured, taught and developed. Presenter: Professor Michael Osborne, Chair — Adult & Lifelong […]

  Lifelong Learning in Scotland and Contemporary Europe This Australian College of Educators seminar will examine the recent policy contexts in Scotland and the European Union, demonstrating the growing tension which exists between promoting lifelong learning for the needs of the economy and the broader goals of personal development, education for citizenship, and tackling social […]

  Presented by Adult Learning Australia in partnership with Brotherhood of St Laurence, Centre for Adult Education and Federation University This half-day forum was underpinned and informed by a major challenge in an ageing society, drawn from a recent, major UK meta-analysis of international literature on learning and wellbeing. It was, in essence, about staying well […]

It’s validation time again! This webinar is for our language, literacy and numeracy practitioners to come together as a group to validate their learning and assessment strategies to the Australian Core Skills Framework (ACSF). This session is all about collaboration and peer appraisal. The structure for this webinar involves participants sharing one small teaching or […]

The SA Government have developed a website to showcase the features of the National Foundation Skills Workforce Development Project. View the site here.