| “This is why it’s worth it” | | Print | |
| Bernadette Maria Brady | 19.04.2010 | Practice - Articles | ||||
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“Everybody knows that learning makes people happier, healthier, better neighbours and citizens. And we’re worth it.” Meeting your neighbours, sharing skills that are all but lost in a technological age, learning new ones, persuading more men to come, the importance of the rural bus, the need for broadband. Unpeeling the policy of social inclusion reveals a very simple and basic need to stay in touch with one another and keep minds and communities alive and active.
Bright stars, razzmatazz, broad smiles, songs, certificates, the fourth AONTAS Adult Learners’ Festival proved to be a magnificent celebration of learning. The holding of breath while the STAR Awards judges plucked the winning name from the envelope and the outburst of cheers at being the ONE in 2010 said everything about how important learning is to the adults who were nominated for STARs. Despite the challenges presented by the current recession in Ireland, adult and community education learners from all sorts of groups, women, men, disability, recovering addicts, travellers took the stage and provided us with the reason for resourcing learning for adults. It was magnificent and humbling at the same time. The voices of the singers from the “Song for All” project lit up the room and the hearts of everyone in it. “This is why it’s worth it”, someone said echoing the well worn L’Oreal ad. The STAR Awards Ceremony got the Festival off to a brilliant start. Later in the week the inspirational and powerful work undertaken in communities by community educators and learners filled the screen of the Lighthouse Cinema in Dublin and documented more reasons for resourcing learning for adults. The screen ‘actors ‘ were learners from community education groups in Dublin telling their own stories and letting the audience know how taking the first step to returning to learning changes lives. ‘Joining this group really saved my life’ said one young man, a recovering addict who now works as a volunteer with the group. A visit to a rural county during the week, spending the whole day with the local adult education service was both exhilarating and exhausting at the same time. The stories from the members of the community education groups spoke volumes about what social inclusion really means. Meeting your neighbours, sharing skills that are all but lost in a technological age, learning new ones, persuading more men to come, the importance of the rural bus, the need for broadband. Unpeeling the policy of social inclusion reveals a very simple and basic need to stay in touch with one another and keep minds and communities alive and active. And then the highlight of the evening. It’s awards night. Outside the temperature begins to drop and the snow begins to clog up the driveway to the hotel. Undeterred more than 200 people turn up dressed in their best; kids, mammies, daddies and grannies in tow, here to receive an award, maybe for the first time or maybe building on something already done. The excitement is infectious. Walking up the aisle to the podium, having your hand shaken, receiving a beautiful piece of paper, testament to a lot of hard work. Because it’s worth it. Later over a cup of tea a young Slovakian man who just received his ESOL award slips me a page with a thank you message written in Slovakian and English to everyone who has helped him. “ Ireland is a fantastic place for education,” he enthuses in perfect English. His accolade takes my breath away so refreshing is it in the midst of all the doom and gloom. Another man proudly introduces me to his basic English tutor telling me she has helped him to get a new lease of life. Years ago he thought about going back to finish his education but he just couldn’t summon up the courage. I can feel a little tug in my heart and am glad not to be in the office today. By the end of the Festival week AONTAS was ready to take its message to a higher level. The Adult Education Clinic organised as part of the Lobby for Learning day proved to be a highly effective way of bringing the current issues and challenges to the attention of the Minister for Lifelong Learning and his counterparts in the other political parties. Adult learners put a human face on what new policy on financial support really means and testified to the financial struggle adults face in trying to pursue their learning to third level. ‘Hear us please’, was the message and look at the effects of policies currently being pursued. All over the country during the Festival week adult and community education was alive and active. With more than 350 events recorded on the Festival website, hundreds of learners braved the cold on Green Learning day to learn how to go organic, or visit their local libraries, or take a taster class in something never before tried or join a training session at work on Workplace Learning day. More reasons for resourcing learning for adults. “It’s just simple common sense” someone says, “Everybody knows that learning makes people happier, healthier, better neighbours and citizens. And we’re worth it.” That ad again. Maybe L’Oreal could sponsor the Festival. Now there’s a thought. |
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