I’ve never before lived in a community with so many educational facilities and so little active use of them by the community.
We’ve had the State Education Minister as our local MP for a period (until he became Health Minister) and a policy supporting adult learning was approved.
But we see nothing of it in our community.
School-aged children are welcome in our local schools. Staff are welcome in our local schools. Parents of school-aged children are welcome to volunteer in our local schools.
Beyond that it virtually ceases.
There is use of the large school halls for some groups like dance and gym classes (mostly for school-aged children) and martial arts and some church gatherings.
Our adult community is impoverished for educational resources and facilities. Encouragement for the community to become involved in on-going adult education is noticeably lacking.
People running any sort of class are required to provide insurance cover that costs them an arm and a leg – this is a certain barrier that very few adult classes can afford to cross. This is criminal – the education system could easily facilitate people teaching classes without lumping insurance requirements on them. This is just a way to stop them.
Adult education has the potential to offer a community one of the most joyful rich aspects of local culture. In some countries learning circles are the thriving heart of community life. They are places adults make friends share deeply learn skills exchange knowledge and have a lot of fun and interest.
They can be a source of more advanced training to reskill or develop further skills needed for the workforce.
When I look at the educational riches we have in this community for the children I am left gasping at the contrast with the adult community. We make our children culturally rich and our adults culturally poor. Our young adults enter a world post-school that has much less to offer locally than school does. Our working-age adults and parents come home to surburbs with very little on offer outside of church and sport and poker machines.
Arana Hills Library is a shining light in the desert but it shouldn’t be alone. All the local schools and Brisbane TAFE at
Grovely should have their lights on at least once a week with a rich program of courses for adults.