Adult and Community Education
As a lifelong learner, you can use Adult and Community Education
(ACE) to help you:
- expand your skills and knowledge
- prepare for possible career change
- gain a sense of personal achievement.
You may be wondering:
Why would you take an ACE
course?
ACE courses offer an informal and welcoming learning
environment. Formal qualifications are very important and employers
particularly value them, but there may be times when you prefer to
do an ACE course, particularly if you don’t like tests or
overly structured courses.
The advantages of ACE courses are that they are:
- available in a wide range of subjects
- flexible
- short
- part-time
- fee-for-service
- not as expensive as formal courses.
Many courses deal with employment and business related subjects.
Many are introductory level. ACE courses can be used as bridges to
further education and training, and some are accredited—that
is, they can count towards formal qualifications.
All courses present organised activities with a learning goal;
these may include classes, small group activities, one-to-one
learning and interaction with technology.
Mostly, there are no specific entry requirements for ACE
courses, although some vocational or advanced courses assume that
you have certain knowledge and skills. Age requirements vary from
state to state, particularly if a course is offered in conjunction
with a provider that offers programs for younger ages.
Concessions and discounts are available to eligible people for
many of the courses.
How can ACE help your career?
Adult and Community Education can help you to:
Returning to study
If you don’t feel confident of your ability to return to
study, you can make the transition into education and training
gently through short ACE courses in a learner-centred, part-time,
non-competitive environment. Use ACE to explore new learning areas,
too, or to supplement your current or planned study.
English and literacy
If you need to improve your English and literacy skills, ACE has
courses for all levels of English users, from beginners right
through to advanced. These can help you open up further study and
work options.
Professional
development
If you’re interested in professional development for
promotion purposes at work, you can gain advanced skills quickly
through ACE short courses in, for example, management, supervising
people or computing. Some of these courses can count towards more
substantial accredited programs at other education and training
institutions.
Life skills
All ACE courses help you develop useful skills for personal
growth, work and life in the community—communication skills,
interpersonal skills, time management and problem solving are just
some of them. Life skills are highly valued by employers.
Business skills
To start and grow an enterprise, business people need to be
skilled, capable and experienced in many areas. When their business
expands, they must respond quickly to market movements.
Business owners can’t always bring in staff with the
necessary skills and knowledge. Short ACE evening courses, a few
hours a week, offer a useful way to become multi-skilled. ACE
providers train a lot of people, mainly self-employed people, to
run small businesses.
Career change
As a career changer, what careers are open to you? With ACE
courses, you can explore skills and knowledge in career fields
similar to your present one, or experiment with courses relating to
very different careers.
For example, an administrator considering a career in
accountancy can start exploring the field by taking a MYOB course.
Or a homemaker can check out the finance industry by going to a
seminar about the stock market and investments.
Re-entering the
workforce
An ACE course can be your stepping stone back into the
workforce. If you’ve been away from the workforce for a
while, you might want to practise your communication and team
skills in the relaxed environment offered by ACE providers. Some
courses can help you build your vocational skills and demonstrate
to potential employers your self-motivation and ability to commit
to activities.
Life balance
A career is more than a job; it includes the skills, knowledge
and experience you gain in the various life roles you undertake.
Taking ACE leisure courses, programs about community issues, or
workshops about non-work-related topics that interest you allows
you to cultivate aspects of yourself that may not find expression
in your regular work.
Career portfolio
List any ACE courses you’ve attended in your Career
Portfolio. Using this form of education shows that you can
- learn
- be committed to completing tasks
- acquire skills and knowledge
- follow your interest in a field of study
- direct your own ongoing learning
- willingly grow as a person.
EdNA
online provides a comprehensive listing of ACE providers,
courses and related themes.
