Adult and Community Education - Essay Example

Adult and Community Education (ACE) Inserts His/Her Inserts Grade Inserts (7, 04, 2009) Should Government Funding be used to enable Adult Community Education (ACE) Providers to Target Education Provision for Equity Groups Adult and Community Education (ACE) is a varied collection of planned educational activities. The organizers are local committees and they do this usually as a reaction to the pursuits and demands of the community people. Adult and Community Education tend to be quite flexible considering how they are managed, therefore, they can become the people of different capabilities and backdrops. Adult and Community Education programs are present across a variety of hobbies. Adult and Community Education courses are not taken so as to provide with a qualification but so that the people may get to reach a proper education and occupational training. Adult and Community Education helps in reduction of the obstacles which are faced by several people while aiming to access education and training so as to achieve occupational talents and qualifications. Other people may find Adult and Community Education courses to be rewarding because of the fact that they can achieve more personal or communal aims. Adult and Community Education proves to be a fine alterative for grown-ups who aim for informal type of learning. Sargant presented a study of UK provision according to which one of six persons try to gain knowledge informally; that may be at home, at vocation, or anywhere else (1991: 15). The literature and the practice of Adult and Community Education also include target groups. This is particularly the case in Australia (Sheared & Sissel, 2001). These target groups are conventionally seen as minorities, or those persons who have been disenfranchised due to past circumstances of domination and segregation. The idea of target groups happens to be a main principle of Australian educational policy and lies on the supposition of a steady core. The Australian Adult and Community Education (ACE) policy recognizes certain classes of adults who are not properly represented in employment and training. They require additional sufficient and approachable stipulation so as to assist them in fulfilling their needs. The categories are (Adult, Community and Further Education, 2004): Koories; Men aged over 45; People with a disability; People from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds; Young people aged15 and over; and People aged over 55 These groups of people specifically require Adult and Community Education so as to help them on with surviving properly. Adult and Community Education results in plenty of advantages for the learners and they have major impact on their development. For example, Adult and Community Education can lead to social and economic welfare of people as well as the communities, it can produce social output and lifelong learning can be promoted through Adult and Community Education (Centre for Research and Learning in Regional Australia, n.d.). Therefore, it is important that equity groups also get an equal chance in participating in Adult and Community Education so as to improve themselves. For this reason there are boards and groups that enable this. One such is the Adult, Community and Further Education Board (ACFE) which encourages education and training for a variety of people, along with specially focussing on those who are included in the equity groups, that is, those who do not have full access to education. Around 450 community-owned and directed organisations are entitled to pass over adult and community education with ACFE Board funding. The government assists in Adult and Community Education provision. Since quite a few years the government has engaged itself a lot in Adult and Community Education, and it did this by providing the organisations with enough funds so as to allow them to educate the people. This has been very important and has enabled to broaden the position of Adult and Community Education through community learning partnerships. Due to the funding provided by the government, the local community networks get improved, communications and communal erudition results get better and the transfer of student contact time is boosted. It is important that the less privileged get a chance to obtain Adult and Community Education so that they can also get on in life. In 2004 the Adult, Community and Further Education aimed for the prioritisation of areas, groups and particular people who require improved access to adult education and training (Adult, Community and Further Education, 2004). That is, the group would first and foremost provide with education to those people who have a desire to attain essential talents or those who are not enough educated and thus require training and learning. ACFE planned to set up a procedure for preparing training passages for certain groups of people, along with encouraging community based adult education organisations and other contributors to get nearer. Now there are less and less jobs available and managers tend to prefer employing younger employees. Therefore, the middle aged workers have to be retrained so that they can get employed again. Then there are people with disabilities who also find it difficult to get employed. Since they have a disability, they are unlikely to get good employment unless they have extremely good skills and are very competent at their work. Thus, these people greatly require the aid of Adult and Community Education. If they are made to participate in Adult and Community Education, their prospective can be vastly improved. Similar case is with the Koories; who are the Aboriginal and Torres Strait islanders. They may face discrimination which would make it difficult for them to obtain work and live. They also can be given education so as to enhance their future. Then there are people from culturally and linguistically varied backgrounds who require help. These people may have trouble in communication and thus that would pose as an obstacle to their career. They require help in this sector. Through Adult and Community Education they obtain training in English and other subjects, which allows them to be able to carry themselves on. Next is the group of young people aged 15 and over. These people are now increasingly participating in the Adult and Community Education as they either wish to continue with their studies or to polish their skills. Several organisations provide for this group since Adult and Community Education is the only remaining option for those students who have some issue with continuing school. They get the education from such organisations and become competent enough as they obtain the skills that are required for the kind of work that they wish to do. Another group of people that is regarded as an equity group is people over 55. They need to take on programs which comprise of adult literacy and numeracy programs. It can be said that this group and that of the middle aged people, which is mentioned above, is more or less similar. The government helps with the funding of entitled community based adult education organisations. This is required for the delivery of student contact time plus the financed program back up, capital works and works and services. Along with this the government also financially supports the expansion of Adult and Community Education organisations and the directing of novel proposals and schemes throughout the town. There were certain benefits of Adult and Community Education explained above and they would be very important for any person. While others may get on without Adult and Community Education, and thus without those advantages, there are the people from the equity groups who are very much in need of the education because it is more difficult for them to get employed as compared to others. Therefore, it is the duty of the government to see to it that these people are provided with whatever education that they require in order to make themselves competent in the employment area, and thus get a job. It is necessary that the government provides with the funding so as to make the equity groups' people more capable as a whole, as well as individually. The provision of government funds for the purpose of providing equity groups with the required education through the Adult and Community Education organisations should be continued; in fact, it should be increased. This would allow the differentiated persons to get an equal chance to get on in life and improve their persons as their skills would be enhanced due to the education that they would receive. Thus, there is no challenge to whether the government should provide for the financial back up for education of equity groups. In fact, there should be increased investment in this field and the Adult and Community Education organisations should be further improved so as to meet the needs of the specific groups of learners and to enhance the kind of education that they offer. That would lead to improved method of the advantages of Adult and Community Education for the learning people as well as the community. Bibliography Adult, Community and Further Education. 2004. Future Directions for Adult Community Education in Victoria. Victoria: the Communications Division for the Department of Education & Training. [Online] Available at: http://www.acfe.vic.gov.au/web11/rwpgslib.nsf/GraphicFiles/Future+Directions/$file/Future+Directions.pdf [Accessed 7 April 2009] Backing Australia's Future. 2004. Factsheet. [Online] Available at: http://www.backingaustraliasfuture.gov.au/fact_sheets/10.htm [Accessed 7 April 2009]. Education Network Australia. (n.d.). Building Communities: ACE, Lifelong Learning and Social Capital. Launceston: University of Tasmania. [Online] Available at: http://www.edna.edu.au/edna/referral/browse/http://www.crlra.utas.edu.au/files/discussion/reports/ACEreport.pdf [Accessed 7 April 2009] Sargant, N. (1991) 'Learning and 'Leisure'. A study of adult participation in learning and its policy implications, Leicester: National Institute of Adult Continuing Education. Sheared, V. & Sissel, P. A. 2001. Making Space: Merging Theory and Practice in Adult Education. US: Bergin & Garvey. Read More