I pay my respects first to Barani, in the words of the Eora, the original peoples of this land, “yesterday”. 

I recognize the traditional owners, the Cadigal band, and the thirty clans or bands with their distinctive language groups and heritage that are located right across greater Sydney.

I thank you for the welcome to Country; and acknowledge your natural presence, the cultural authenticity and the stories you bring to this place, and continue through the dreaming.

I acknowledge the Community Colleges of New South Wales for their initiative in hosting this conference; but also for their ongoing commitment to the self-determination of their communities – the path of social, cultural and economic development.

It is my great privilege to be able to share some of the ideas we are advancing in Aotearoa New Zealand, as an international perspective on community and adult education.

Every year, as part of the annual wananga I run for Te Runanga Tu Taua Mau Taiaha O Aotearoa, the National School of Māori Weaponry, I take the group up to the old pa site, Horehore, on the range just East of Takapau, the range we know as Ngahinaki-a-Tarawhata.

For those of you yet to make your way to our land, this is in the midst of the Hawkes Bay, which itself, is in the centre of the North Island.

Horehore is a sacred place; a place where literally you feel the spirits of our tupuna before us; our ancestors who have passed on.

It is the place I will be buried.  It is the site from whence I gain the sustenance to continue with the challenges of the day.

It is from our journey to Horehore that I hope my students can recognise the significance of yesterday leading us forward; e ako mo tenei ra me apopo – to learn for today and tomorrow.

That theme – to appreciate the impact of learning for our present and our future – is one which we in New Zealand embrace in our planning for Adult Learners Week in September, 2009.   It is the theme that I seek to explore at this Community Colleges Conference celebrating Adult and Community Education.

It is good to be in the company of like minds.

I am confident that all of us here know adult and community education to not only be of immediate value for the lives of adults and the communities most directly accessing it; but also to have the wider benefit of an investment in our future.

Adult and Community Education provides a second chance at learning for those who may have missed out earlier in their lives – through marginalization; economic constraints; racism; or any of the other factors which limit access to far too many people.  

Adult and Community Education is therefore synonymous with social empowerment  - it recognizes the circumstances that held people back from achieving their potential – and it ‘pays forward’ in terms of the value added to enhance the nation’s literacy, numeracy and language skills.

I will be interested in the views of Professor Tony Vinson who tomorrow, will be speaking about the social inclusion agenda.

Is Social Inclusion demonstrated through the locations and settings in which you find adult and community education; or through the curriculum?  Or is social inclusion the concept we draw on to describe the population that is attracted to adult and community education?

I want to look further at these three areas, using the example of Aotearoa as my landscape for thinking about these things.

Location, Location

At home adult and community education is delivered through a range of providers – but primarily tertiary education and schools.  For an idea of scale, out of 250,000 enrolments in 2007, roughly 65% - 162,000, of these enrolments were found in school community education.

Another 88,700 students enrolled in programmes at tertiary institutions, including seven universities, twenty polytechnics, seven private training establishments, and wānanga.

Wananga are higher education institutes “characterised by teaching and research that maintains, advances and disseminates knowledge and develops intellectual independence and assists the application of knowledge regarding ahuatanga Maori according to tikanga Maori”.

They are, if you like, another step on the journey of cultural revitalisation – a journey which came out of the drive to survive as Maori which was given life in our early childhood language nests (kohanga reo) and our schools in which the means of instruction and the philosophies are Maori (kura kaupapa).

Nearly three decades have passed since the first kohanga reo became recognised as worthy of state support.  The Maori led educational movement is now a distinctive part of our educational environment – and adult and community education reflects that.

In addition to the tertiary institutions and schools, adult and community education is delivered through a range of community providers, including:

• seven Workers’ Educational Associations which had an estimated 5,000 students attending their courses in 2007;  


• thirteen Rural Education Activities Programmes which worked with an estimated 14,000 learners in 2006.


• community-based groups funded indirectly through schools; 


• and adult education programmes through other government initiatives, for example: prisons, health.

The only thing missing, it seems, is the partridge in a pear tree.

The point about such incredible diversity of options, is that it basically reminds us that adult education  - and adult learning – can and does take place anywhere.  It can be on the farm, in the kitchen, in a school classroom, in a workshop, on the top of Horehore, in the middle of the ocean, in the midst of Sydney city.

Such diverse venue choices, also leads logically to curriculum options which reflect the full range of needs of our communities.

Again, referring to Maori, we may be promoting the goals of adult education in noho marae –that is, staying overnight at our marae, our tribal homes, where we are best able to promote the Māori concepts and characteristics that stimulate the learning process. 

We can draw on our tribal histories which are found in the carvings and tukutuku panels around the walls; we can enhance the learning through the appropriate waiata, our songs; we are learning and teaching in every aspect of the time spent together  - the karakia (our prayers); the rituals of the proceedings; the process of whakawhanaungatanga  - where we connect to each other along genealogical lines.

Curriculum

A central principle then, in basing learning at our marae, is that our education is transmitted through Mäori philosophies.  At this point, the connection between where we learn and what we learn is well-established.

The WHAT of adult and community education is probably the aspect most commonly discussed in international literature.

Later this year, the Sixth International Conference on Adult Education, CONFINTEA, will be held in Belem, Brazil, with its primary focus being on basic literacy skills.

The Brazil conference has set itself the task of highlighting the importance of adult learning in realizing the international development agenda.  It is a goal which I am sure has universal acceptance – the goal of investing in the levels of literacy which are required to fully participate in a modern economy.

A preparatory conference for the Asia Pacific Region was held in Seoul last year, and from what I have accrued from the reports of that forum, despite the incredible diversity of settings – whether New Zealand, or Samoa, or India or China – the outcome was pretty much the same : that Adult and Community Education has a role to play in enabling all these countries and their people to realize their goals for the future.

As communities and nations evolve, lifelong education will develop alongside it.  For some communities basic literacy and numeracy may be the aspiration; for others a wide range of vocational and arts education may offer promise.  The important thing, is how adult and community education evolves with its communities, to meet the new needs and challenges of that time.

Again, if I think of home, in thinking about the curriculum we offer in adult education, I am very conscious of the heat in the current education debates around national standards, and how we define the type of outcomes we expect of education.

What do we expect of our Year eight students; our Year twelve students; our adult students?  What are the skills and knowledge areas we want them to express confidence in?  How can we tell they are culturally competent, or sensitive to histories and contexts of their environment?

It becomes even more complex when we look at Maori medium learning.  The Clayton’s approach to standards of course might say, just translate the English version into Maori.  As the Associate Minister of Education and the Minister of Maori Affairs I’d oppose that every step of the way! 

Outcomes for Maori medium learning must reflect understanding of Maori values and principles; of the complex relationships and communication styles; the variations of tribal lore and dialect; the significance of the collective whanau  - the wider family – in all stages of learning and teaching.  They must be derived from Maori contexts; interpreted through Maori world views; explained using Maori concepts.

Curriculum, therefore, should as varied and distinctive as the very nature of the adult learning centres themselves.  

Who are our Adult learners?

Finally, I want to focus on the people who turn to adult and community education for fun; for fulfillment; for future planning.

In the adult education provided in the school setting at home, the most popular courses are those in the art, music and crafts, and fitness, sport and recreation disciplines.

At tertiary level, the preferences are for programmes in society and culture, management and commerce, and again, creative arts.

The programme choice demonstrates that adult education is not just about a second chance; catchup provision; or basic literacy and numeracy programmes  - as vital as they are to the growth of our nation.

Adult and community education is also distinguished by encouraging a love of lifelong learning; and importantly about strengthening communities by meeting the local needs.

And I want to close with a brief case study of the Rauawawa Kaumatua Trust.

The Rauawawa Kaumatua Trust has its roots in its community dating back to 1938.

Rauawaawa means “the sides of the waka that embrace the chief, tohunga, and the many tribes, providing added protection as they pursue their journey forward”.

The trust provides a range of services, including health, social, educational, and financial services to over 400 kaumātua, that is, respected elders, in the city of Hamilton. Its goal is to enhance their quality of life and well-being. The trust works closely with a range of local community and education partners to provide courses in music, crafts, health, computer literacy and culture.

There have been two important outcomes to my mind that have come directly from the work of this Trust. 

Many kaumatua have become more confident and more competent in their use of te reo Maori, to fulfil a wide range of community roles and obligations as elders. 

And for those who may otherwise have been alone, the course has meant a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with their community.

Concluding Comments

Of course, the challenges faced in education worldwide are in many ways very different to those of New Zealand or Australia.

However, as the influence of globalization and the impacts of the international recession bind us together, so too, is the connection that we can all make in recognizing the role of Adult and Community Education in ensuring the educational progress of the population.

Adult education not only as a human right, but also as the key to development in the 21st century, as the need for a literate, flexible work-force increases for all countries.

Whether a country is seeking to strengthen its communities, upskill an already largely educated adult population to face the challenges of the world economy, or simply seeking to provide basic education to those who may not previously have been able to participate in education, Adult and Community Education is a vital aspect of the social and economic aspirations of every country.

What I have tried to do in my time with you today, is to share some of the amazing versatility and variety that is being seen in the various settings; the diverse curriculum offered; and the distinctive needs of the adult learner community.

The key principles that I believe apply whether in the central Hawkes Bay or inner Sydney is that effective adult and community education will be community based - driven by and responding to the learning needs of their communities.

The key to success also lies in the connections made with existing educational institutions and community organizations.  It is about community development which incorporates social, cultural and economic development.

I have tried to chart some of the progress we have made in New Zealand in adult and community education, basing my examples on those which have emerged from the cultural renaissance within Maoridom.

This conference will hear from others who can share the best of Irish innovation in business or the innovations of the online community colleges in Canada.

There will be other sessions closer to home that will indicate the spread of programmes which give shape to adult and community education in New South Wales.

But throughout it all, I hope we remember that which is most important – and that is the people who will thrive, who will survive, who will flourish from the opportunities they can take up, from the pathway of adult and community education.

And it is in thinking of the people, that I want to share one final thought, a statement, a proverb, made by Tutuhou-ariki of Ngati Kahungunu  - one of my chiefly ancestors.  He said, “He toa takitini toku toa, ehara i te toa takitahi”.   My bravery is that of many followers – not a single person.  This is where our greatest challenge and opportunities lies – in the collective fortune of our peoples.  May everything that we do, be about making that investment count.