Adult And Community Education Assn - Hobbs Speech
23 June 2001 Hon Marion Hobbs Speech Notes
Adult And Community Education Association,Taylors Restaurant And Function Centre, Te Awamutu, Sat June 23, 3.30pm
INTRODUCTION
Thanks for invitation.
These are exciting times for adult and community education
in this country, and I am delighted to be here today to
participate in your conference.
As an umbrella organisation with significant membership (around 200 individuals and organisations and over 500 on the newsletter mailing list), ACEA plays an important part in the adult and community education sector in this country. I note your goals include:
to ensure access to adult and
community education for marginalised individuals and
groups;
to secure statutory recognition for
adult and community education;
to develop
networks for the communication, support and dissemination of
information;
to work towards adequate, equitable
and secure funding mechanisms with effective accountability
procedures;
to develop and maintain a strong
research tradition; and
to provide adult and
community education with opportunities for professional
development.
To work for the creation of a
learning society founded on:
- effective partnerships
between formal and non-formal systems;
- recognition and
resourcing by central and local Governments;
- principles
of innovation, creativity and flexibility; and
-
commitment to social justice and civic well
being.
I'm pleased that ACEA’s goals are so aligned with what the Government is seeking to achieve, or should I say, the government is lined up with ACEA, not just within adult and community education in this country, but also within the wider tertiary education system.
ADULT
AND COMMUNITY EDUCATION WITHIN THE TERTIARY EDUCATION
SYSTEM
This Government is seeking a more
collaborative and co-operative tertiary education system –
in all its diversity – in which a sense of partnership
exists between the key contributors, and an environment
where participation by all is encouraged.
In April last year we appointed the Tertiary Education Advisory Commission (TEAC) to help develop a strategic direction for tertiary education in this country that is consistent with this vision. In working towards this, the Commission is producing a series of reports on various aspects of the sector. The Commission’s initial report, Shaping a Shared Vision, has been followed by Shaping the System. This second report sets out new directions for the tertiary education sector, and proposes mechanisms, policy instruments and structures that will allow the tertiary education system to be ‘steered’ more effectively.
TEAC’s Terms of Reference
recognised that in order to carry out its work effectively
the Commission would need to work in partnership with all
those who play a part in the system. The tertiary education
system has an important role in contributing to New
Zealand’s wider economic and social goals by creating
wealth, contributing to our sense of national identity, and
developing the skills and knowledge necessary to support a
knowledge society. It is, therefore, in everyone’s
interests that we have a strong, innovative tertiary
education system providing quality teaching, learning and
research.
In undertaking its work, the Commission is drawing on the expertise, experience and ideas of key stakeholders and decision makers including community groups, Mäori, the tertiary, research and business sectors, and government agencies.
Our concept of tertiary education has to be an inclusive one. The transition to a knowledge-based or learning society makes it increasingly important for individuals to engage in lifelong learning. Adult and community education is being recognised finally as a crucial part of the system necessary to deliver on this.
The adult and community education sector has a significant role to play in the 21st century in fostering individual and community development and in providing pathways into further lifelong learning. Adult and community education can make an important contribution to meeting government’s broad educational and social objectives. It can do this both by responding to the educational needs of individuals who have not successfully participated in secondary or tertiary education, and by supporting social cohesion and a civil society.
For me, one of the most important attributes that adult and community education brings to the total education community is its flexibility and responsiveness to the constantly changing needs of our society. You move to fill in gaps, to meet needs – and you have done it from love, awareness and closeness to the community.
TEAC is committed to providing a means for the recognition of the important role played by adult and community education and, to this end, it has proposed a functional classification of “community education and training”.
This would make it possible for the regulatory and funding system to recognise that community education is focussed on developing communities and people. It will also assist in identifying community education activities that occur within different types of providers and institutions, and in linking them across the tertiary education system.
ADULT AND COMMUNITY
EDUCATION BRIEFLY DEFINED
To understand how we
can strengthen and support the adult and community education
sector to make an effective contribution to these education
goals, we need to understand well the sector and its
distinctive characteristics; and I'm sorry if I'm describing
what you already know, but it bears repeating and
emphasising.
Adult and community education may be
defined as a process whereby adults participate in a range
of educational activities within the community. Adult and
community education occurs alongside the formal education
system and is accessible to all. Adult and community
education is:
- open to all learners;
- flexible and
capable of responding to the individual or group learning
needs of participants;
- not necessarily formally
assessed or certificated, but still achieves measurable
learning gains which can be formally recognised if the
learner wishes;
- promotes both personal development and
community benefit;
- responds to everyday issues by
providing learning opportunities and delivery of programmes
by community-based organisations.
Adult and community education has the flexibility and the philosophy, which makes it ideally placed to respond to the specific needs of people who require tailored programmes. The nature of adult and community education makes it well suited to deliver effective programmes in adult literacy, and for ESOL provision for example, and learners will often move on to more formal learning programmes after participating in community education programmes in these fields.
Education providers within the sector include:
-
community groups (such as Te Atärangi, WEA, Te Waka Pu
Whenua etc);
- Rural Education Activities Programmes
(REAPs);
- schools (mainly secondary) including the
Correspondence School;
- polytechnics; and
-
universities.
Key to adult and community
education is the learner, of whom there are more than
250,000. These learners participate through:
- School
based programmes – learners are mainly European women
between 25 and 44 years; and
- Community based programmes
– learners are less likely to be well educated, likely to
include more Mäori, Pacific or new settlers.
THE ADULT AND
COMMUNITY EDUCATION WORKING GROUP
In its policy
document, Pathways and Networks, the Government has made a
commitment to adult and community education. This
commitment is to formally recognise and support this sector,
which in the past has suffered from ad hoc decisions,
uncertainty and inadequate funding. One of the promises
made in Pathways and Networks was that a short term Working
Group would be established to prepare an action blue print
to put in place a comprehensive policy for adult and
community education.
True to our word, we established the Adult Education and Community Learning Working Group in August 2000 to provide advice to the Associate Minister of Education (Adult and Community Education) on a new policy and funding framework for this sector.
The 13 members of the Working Group,
representatives of the sector, were tasked to:
define objectives;
address accountability and
quality assurance aspects; and
identify:
-
priorities for action
- means to ensure effective local
input to planning and delivery
- roles and
responsibilities of national organisations
- effective
partnerships between providers and
- greater credibility
for the non-formal sector.
This was obviously no mean feat, and my use of the past tense here may give you some clue as to my delight at recently receiving the Working Group’s report, Towards a Learning Society: The Role of Adult and Community Education. At this point I would like to congratulate all of the members of the Working Group, and the wider adult and community education sector, for the part they have played in producing this document. This has been a huge task, and perhaps the saying that many hands make light work is not always true! It is true, however, that the experience and expertise of the Group’s members has led to the report being informed by a great deal of valuable discussion and consultation throughout the sector and across the country.
In total there were 82 submissions to the Working Group, from a wide range of organisations – schools, universities, polytechnics, community organisations – as well as from individuals.
These submissions
provided a very useful basis for the Working Group to
develop their conclusions. In general, they had several
common themes including:
- recognising the role of adult
and community education in providing opportunities for those
who have not succeeded in more formal education, and in
supporting communities in meeting their goals and
aspirations;
- the need to raise the profile and
performance of the sector, and to formalise its role in the
national educational structure;
- that ACE should focus
more on meeting the needs of disadvantaged groups; and
-
that quality and capability issues in the sector need to
addressed, and supported.
At this stage, I can
only speak relatively generally about the Working Group’s
report, as it has yet to be discussed by Cabinet. I welcome
the report as a statement from the adult and community
education sector which recognises the need for the sector
to:
- change to address challenges;
- focus more on
achieving government and community education goals;
-
meet the needs of those with poor educational qualifications
and those who are under-represented in tertiary education;
and
- develop effective ways of assessing and ensuring
quality provision.
The Working Group notes that
in other OECD countries adult and community education (ACE)
receives considerable attention, and is recognised as an
important part of lifelong learning, which produces
considerable short, medium and long term benefits to
individual learners and to communities.
In the
past in New Zealand, ACE has been poorly resourced, and
suffered from a lack of internal coherence, and a lack of
government policy support. As a result the sector has been
unable to live up to its potential of making an effective
contribution to educational social and economic goals and
community development. But, although it has not met its
potential, it has already made a significant contribution to
the forgotten areas – adult literacy/ESOL.
There
needs to be a more strategic focus from authorities on the
contribution which adult and community education could be
making to the achievement of broad education goals such
as:
- increasing participation in tertiary education,
particularly for currently under-represented groups;
-
raising student achievement;
- improving the quality of
providers, teaching and learning;
- improving Mäori
education; and
- engaging families and communities more
strongly in education.
Many of the Working
Group’s proposals provide ways to improve the integration
and focus of the sector, means for prioritising resources,
better quality assurance, stronger support for Mäori ACE,
and better links to the rest of tertiary education. They
provide a good framework for improving the contribution
which ACE makes to education and social outcomes.
For example, the report notes the need to
improve Mäori development through adult and community
education and increase Mäori participation and provision
through the development of ACE pathways for Mäori, the
co-ordination of ACE with other Maori educational and social
health initiatives, improved monitoring of ACE delivery to
Mäori, and means of measuring ACE outcomes by Mäori for
Mäori.
The Working Group recommends:
- that
there be a planned and co-ordinated approach to the
professional development of ACE practitioners to improve the
quality of provision. The report identifies the need for
improved staff training, the development of training needs
analyses, training resources, with key input from the sector
through an ACE professional development body; but from an
ACE perspective – building on the open attitudes and
skills.
- that there be improved local ACE networks to
co-ordinate local demand and provision so that ACE can
continue to respond effectively to community education
needs;
- that national goals and strategies for ACE be
developed from the local level up, to focus the sector more
clearly on educational outcomes for the sector, and better
monitoring and evaluation to improve quality and outcomes
for learners;
- priorities for ACE funding being for
programmes which meet the needs of identified priority
groups, which foster social development, which meet local
priorities, or which identify emerging needs and foster
innovation;
- that there be more dedicated capacity for
ACE in government policy and operations, and greater
priority given to ACE work.
Some proposals have
wider implications which need to be carefully considered in
the context of the establishment of the Tertiary Education
Commission, and the ongoing work of the Tertiary Education
Advisory Commission and its future reports.
I
expect further work on developing the Working Group’s
recommendations to progress in parallel with TEAC work over
the next few weeks and months. I will be discussing with my
Cabinet colleagues shortly the best ways to progress this.
We have already had a joint meeting of the five education
ministers. We envisage a process of long term evolution and
development in ACE. This will give us the opportunity to
consider the best ways of building up the sector to ensure
that it is effectively integrated into the broader tertiary
education system.
I aim to release the report as soon as we can get it printed, which is likely to be in a few weeks.
ACE is now alive and well inside the Ministry, and I was thrilled to be given this sector to work with, taking up from the great work of Lianne Dalziel.
CONCLUSION
We have some difficult paths to
walk: --
We want to build a national network of local
ACE's. For too long people have struggled unsupported.
But in building a structure we have to balance structure
and flexibility.
We have to balance support and
stifling.
We have to balance professional development and
creative individual skills.
My commitment to you is, that as we work to build, to include, to recognise adult and community education, we will not lose the very special values that you as an education sector have successfully nurtured in the learning society.
Kia manawanui, kia kaha,
nga hoa
ma.