Adult education

Adult Education provides undergraduate and postgraduate courses for people who work, or wish to work, as:

• human resource developers
• education and learning consultants
• community educators
• vocational educators and trainers
• language, literacy and numeracy educators, and
• Aboriginal educators and community managers.

Adult Education courses are shaped by the following educational principles derived from adult learning theory.

• Learning is a collaborative endeavour involving the mutual negotiation of meaning and understanding.
• Learning is enhanced through the recognition and use of experience and the acquisition and application of knowledge in practice-based activities.
• Learning is a lifelong and socially embedded activity, dependent on mutual respect, diversity of approach and the recognition of relevance to learning.
• Learning involves the appreciation and application of theories in the different and changing contexts of professional practice.
• Learning is enhanced through discussion, critical thought and reflection on taken-for-granted assumptions and practices.
• Learning involves mutual obligations based on the valuing of difference, respect for diversity, responsible and ethical self-management.
• Learning is a developmental process involving the recognition, articulation and transformation of knowledge, personal values and theoretical frameworks.

Workplace/flexible learning

Recognising the competing demands of work and home life for students, the Faculty offers adult education courses in a variety of study modes which can be tailored to meet student needs. Students can choose to study full time or part time, on campus or off campus. Many subjects are offered in a variety of learning modes including weekly classes, 'blocks' (intensive face-to-face learning programs conducted over a number of days each semester, often in school holidays) and weekend workshops.

Many postgraduate adult education courses are offered in distance mode supported by email and telephone contact with lecturers and web-based conferencing tools, which keep students in touch with others in their course.

Contact details