WHAT IS ADULT LEARNERS WEEK -HE TANGATA MATAURANGA

Adult Learners' Week/ He Tangata Mātauranga  is a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) initiative supported by the

Tertiary Education Commission, adult and community education providers at a local level and the New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO. The Week

also incorporates International Literacy Day on September 8 each year.

It was established in Aotearoa New Zealand in 1998 with the goal of raising the profile of adult learning. It is an opportunity to celebrate the successes and

achievements of everyone participating in Adult and Community Education (ACE). It has also become a vehicle for encouraging anyone in the wider

community with needs or desires that can be met through learning to consider adult education, whether it be learning to adjust to life in a new country,

re-training to find employment, adjusting to life after prison, acquiring parenting skills or just getting out and doing an activity to make life better and meet

people.

In Aotearoa New Zealand there are thousands of opportunities to take part in adult learning which doesn’t necessarily take place in classrooms, require

enrolment, assignments or assessments. Each year around half a million adult New Zealanders participate in learning programmes.

Throughout the week which runs from September 7-13, over thirty regional coordinators will be organising programmes of events in their communities to

celebrate adult learning and highlight its benefits.

Aims

Adult learning can take place at many different places and levels of the community. Adult Learners’ Week/ He Tangata Mātauranga recognises that from

teaching English to an immigrant in a private home, attending a programme at the local library, or being part of a community support group, through to

attending a private training organisation or earning a university degree, all adult learning achievements are worth celebrating. Many stories are inspirational

and in being told, encourage people who thought learning was not for them that there are endless possibilities.

Aims of Adult Learners Week He Tangata Mātauranga are to:

• Celebrate the efforts, achievements and contributions of adult learners, educators and providers at both regional and national events
• Strengthen adult and community education and raise public awareness of the rich variety of learning opportunities for adults
• Widen access to learning opportunities and encourage more people to seek advice and guidance about returning to learn
• Foster collaborative and cooperative networks and pathways among those who share an interest in adult learning

International ALW

Did you also know that some 40 countries also celebrate Adult Learners' Week? To find out more about international activities, click on

www.unesco.org/education/uie/InternationalALW/

History

When governments met in Jomtien for the World Conference on Education for All in 1990, among the goals set were universal access to and completion of

primary education, and reduction of the adult illiteracy rate to one half its 1990 level by 2000. Ten years later, governments met in Dakar, but the situation

had not improved: 113 million children were said to have no access to primary education; and 880 million adults (the majority of them women), were

illiterate.

It is against this background that International Adult Learners' Week takes place.

The move to create a wider celebration of adult learning began with the American Association for the Advancement of Education (AAAE) in the late 1980s.

The US week focused on a Congressional Breakfast for outstanding adult learners backed by an activities pack for AAAE members.

Adult Learners' Week commenced in the United Kingdom in 1992.  Australia, along with South Africa and Jamaica, picked up on the success of Adult

Learners Week   in 1995 and in 1998 New Zealand began celebrating adult learners as a way of encouraging more participation in lifelong learning.

When UNESCOs General Conference in November 1999 approved the International Adult Learners' Week, the aim was expanded to encourage countries to

learn from each other and to amplify the cooperation between agencies active in the promotion of adult learning at international level.

Since then, organisers in more than 40 countries  have organised or are preparing learning festivals. These not only raise awareness of the need to create

more opportunities for adults to learn, but celebrate the efforts and achievements of the thousands who find the courage to take that first step back.

International Literacy Day and Adult Learners' Week are used as mobilisation initiatives in many countries. They become a key element of national adult

learning policies, promoting wider access to adult learning by celebrating individual and collective achievements, and using their experiences to stimulate a

demand for learning elsewhere.

Many of the most successful events take place in venues that adults find accessible, friendly, and familiar, such as cafes, bars, community centres, on public

transport, sports grounds or village halls. The experiences of some other countries illustrate the different festivals of learning now occurring.