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Adult learning meets growing need for social engagement

Adult learning meets growing need for social engagement

For Immediate Release: Wednesday 29 March, 2017

Selwyn Community Education, along with other adult education facilities around New Zealand, is experiencing a significant increase in people signing up for night classes and weekend workshops.

According to Anne Cave, Director of Selwyn Community Education, in Auckland’s eastern suburb of Kohimarama, learning is no longer simply about gaining knowledge or acquiring skills. “Learning has become a new form of social engagement. Taking a night class or attending a weekend workshop is now often about enjoying recreational activities — such as music, art, personal development, fitness or the latest cooking craze — in the company of others. Community courses get people out of their homes, away from their televisions and computers to meet people while pursuing a new interest or hobby.”

In the last few years Selwyn Community Education had a 25% increase in participants and this year with over 500 courses to choose from they are anticipating even more people signing up. As a result the programme is growing in diversity.

“We promote our courses and talks via our website http://www.selwyncomed.school.nz which allows us to be spontaneous and respond quickly to new trends. We also like to promote topics that encourage inclusiveness and acceptance of diversity such as our recent addition ‘Introduction to Islam," says Anne. "And we now run travel talks for the growing number of recreation and business travelers such as “When in Rome” and weekend intensives in Italian and French.”

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The courses are not only held in situ. There are walking tours of art and sculpture in Auckland’s central city, and gallery visits to the burgeoning creative hubs of West Auckland and the North Shore. The language section offers a choice of over 10 languages, including Spanish, Russian and te reo Māori, and courses in technology, social media, music, yoga, pilates, and paleo and sugar-free cooking are also very popular.

“We’re delighted to see more young people attending our courses now too” says Anne. “They’re saying they’re sick of sitting in front of screens all day and want to get out and engage with people face-to-face, and pick up a new skill along the way. By coming to a night class or workshop, they have direct access to the tutor and can ask questions because of the immediacy of that engagement. This is quite different from some tertiary courses which are often ‘low contact’ with a lot of the learning done online.”

The audience is also growing for ‘Think Talks’ — free lectures on new research and hot topics which provide access to current research coming out of the universities as well as coverage of new books on diverse subjects. Interesting speakers, often discovered via their RNZ or NZ Listener interviews, are invited to deliver a one-hour lecture on their specialist topic. And people come from all over Auckland to listen to them - once the traffic dies down, it’s only a 15 minute drive from the central city to Selwyn College.

Selwyn Community Education also holds a range of workshops for writers and readers, including the Writers’ Weekend in August. People have come from as far afield as Christchurch, impressed by the specialist nature and affordability of the workshops - and the calibre of the tutors. This year the two day course cost only $220 and tutors include Stephanie Johnson, Melinda Szymanik, Susanna Andrew and Lindsey Dawson.

It seems that adult education classes have become a new form of engagement for people of all ages and cultures, whether they want to share recreational activities, get out to enjoy an art tour, or simply learn a new skill in the company of others. It’s encouraging to hear that New Zealanders value the sense of community that lifetime learning promotes and are signing up in large numbers for new courses across town and city.


Selwyn Community Education
For full course information please go to: www.selwyncommed.school.nz
Some of 2017’s new courses include:
Brush Calligraphy for Beginners
Children’s Book Illustration
Coding and Programming for Children 8-11 years
Cooking Delicious Paleo Food
Crash Course in Practical Nutrition
Creating Your Future - Life and Work after 50
Creative Woodwork and Electronics
Decoupage
Demystifying Modern Art
Digital Textile Design
Digital Storytelling Using Your iPad
Family Stories to Fiction
How to Make Kombucha
Interior Design with Soft Furnishings
Introduction to Islam
Inventions for Climate Change
Japanese Tea Making
Jewish Festive Foods
Making Chocolates
Mexican Hair Decorations
Mindfulness – an Urban Retreat
Natural and Affordable Home Remedies
Organic Vegetable Gardening
Pilates & Ballet
Raw Power
School Holiday Programmes
Sculptures and Murals in the Central City
Simply Sauerkraut
The Art of Conversation
The Treaty of Waitangi for ‘New’ New Zealanders
Weaving Beautiful Baskets
Wellness as We Grow Older
Writing Children’s Picture Books

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