Adult Learners' Week/
He Tangata Matauranga
WHAT IS ADULT LEARNERS WEEK -HE TANGATA MATAURANGA
Adult Learners' Week/He Tangata MÄtauranga is a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) initiative supported by the
Tertiary Education Commission and ACE providers at a local level. The Week also incorporates International Literacy Day on September 8 each year.
In 2008 ALW/HTM runs from Monday September 8th to Sunday September 14th. This year's theme is 'Adult Learners are Leaders He Rangatira te Akonga
Pakeke'
In Aotearoa New Zealand there are hundreds of opportunities to take part in adult learning which can take place anywhere, any time. Each year around
half a million adult New Zealanders participate in learning programmes.
Aims
The aims of the Week are to:
Celebrate the efforts, achievements and contributions of adult learners, educators and providers through 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 adults learning
Reflect upon and advance towards the removal of barriers to adults active participation in our society.
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.