As the rest of the world struggles with high unemployment in the wake  of the Global Financial Crises, Australia faces the problem of skills  shortages. This is in part fuelled by China¹s increasing appetite for  Australia's natural resources.  Prosperity in Australia has brought its  own problems and successive governments have reduced funding for adult  education. Skills shortages have created a "moral panic" that dismisses  learning that doesn't fill a specific skills shortage as unworthy of  support.

This session will examine adult and community education provision in  Australia and the particular contribution which Adult Learning is  making to developing communities.  It will also examine the current problems it is facing including funding and meeting diverse needs   and will look at some of the current challenges in keeping adult and community learning  on the political agenda.

Sally Thompson is the Chief Executive Officer at Adult Learning Australia  which   has acted as a an advocate for  adult  and community education for more than  52 years.   She has worked extensively in adult basic education and in flexible learning programmes in the further education  service in Australia.  She has held posts in Olympic Adult Education  and at the Alice Springs based Institute for Aboriginal Development

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Centre for Lifelong Learning

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