Chapter 5
Demographic and technological trends which are likely to
influence significantly the nature and extent of adult education provision
in Australia
General Trends
Australia is engaged in the demographic, technological, economic and
cultural changes that characterise most industrialised nations at this
time. Her citizens are also having to contend with a range of important
domestic issuessuch as unemployment, reconciliation with Australia's indigenous
people, potential constitutional change, the application of communications
technology to most areas of activity, and a reconfiguration of the relationship
between the public and private sectors. Adult and Community Education,
as a sector with a tradition of responsiveness to the needs and aspirations
of individuals, is well placed to both serve and guide its communities,
and to nurture the concepts of equity, social justice and civil society
through what is seen by many to be a period of unprecedented complexity.
Certain features of Australia's demographic adjustments will have particular
bearing upon the ACE sector. These include changing work practices and
occupations, the ageing of Australia's population, the drift from rural
to urban centres, shifts in regional patterns of socio-economic disadvantage,
and government policies seeking to outsource service delivery.
A number of important occupational trends are highlighted in Australia's
Workforce 2005: jobs in the future. [1]
This report suggests that, over the next ten years, workforce planning
(and therefore education and training arrangements) will need to take
into account:
- increased feminisation of the labour force, expected to rise from
42 per cent of the labour force in 1994 to 46 per cent
by 2005;
- increased part-time employment, projected to grow more quickly than
full-time labour force participation over the next ten years;
- `middle-ageing' of the labour force due to ageing of the baby boom
generation and continuing increases in the participation rates of middle-aged
women;
- greater reliance on life-long learning due to projected decrease in
the proportion of younger age groups in the labour force;
- occupational structural changes with some groups projected to increase
and others to decline in their shares of total employment;
- education attainment and skills balances with a projected increase
in the proportion of employed people with qualifications and a projected
shift in the employment pattern of qualification holders towards those
occupations currently with relatively low numbers of qualified workers;
and
- skills deepening trends, the projected growth of the number of higher
education qualification and vocational education and training qualification
holders indicating skills deepening of 14.8 per cent and 4.9 per cent
respectively.
All of these changes are affecting the ways in which the various sectors
of education and training see their relationship to one another, and the
ways in which the individual sectors perceive their role and carry out
their function. As students, teachers and administrators pursue a much
more flexible learning environment, the institutional arrangements, assessment
processes and curriculum delivery strategies are being re-configured,
or being modified through the application of technology. Some sectors,
and some providers within sectors, are better placed to respond to these
challenges than others. In the Committee's view, the nature of the educational
challenges facing Australia is such that much will be demanded of the
ACE sector.
ACE and older Australians
Perhaps the most significant change in the profile of Australia's population
is the greatly increased proportion of older Australians. Population ageing
`will accelerate between 2011 and 2021 when the baby boomers enter the
65 plus age group'. [2] Many of
these ageing baby boomers, are better educated, more mobile and in better
health than their predecessors and can generally look forward to another
twenty years or more of active living in what has come to be called their
`third age'.
With an abundance of capable and healthy senior citizens emerging on
to the scene, the tired stereotypes of old people as dependent and unproductive
should disappear once and for all. Older people remain intelligent and
curious, keen to learn and to teach each other and those in their circle
about a wide range of subjects. Moreover, the up-coming generation of
well educated and assertive senior citizens will expect continuing education
as a right.
The most prominent realm of ACE activity involving older Australians
is the University of the Third Age (U3A). This a convenient umbrella term
for a range of self-help adult education groups which involve burgeoning
numbers of men and women who `are seeking mental stimulation, social contact
and sharing of knowledge and experience'. [3]
Evidence presented to the Committee identified a range of learning opportunities
that were being sought by older people at an ever increasing rate. These
include:
- personal and self-development courses
- vocational training if they wish to remain economically active (which
they may well have to be if the proportion of younger people reduces)
- skills for coping with a changing world (eg. the use of information
technology)
- skills to take on caring and volunteer roles (which are likely to
increase)
- education for self-maintenance (eg. financial planning, health education).
[4]
The enthusiasm of older people for participation in U3A-type activity
is exemplified in the exponential increases in participation rates measured
in Victoria. The Caulfield U3A, for example, grew from less than fifty
participants in 1988 to over 1000 by mid-1996. [5]
A broad range of programs are offered, ranging from computer training
(100 students per week, plus a waiting list) to current affairs (approximately
100 students per week). Caulfield has recently embarked on a strategy
of videotaping classes for distribution to homebound participants.
This pattern of escalating interest is repeated across the country. In
Western Australia, for example, the Committee's attention was drawn to
the extensive participation in Seniors' Education. The provision covers
the spectrum of learning activities from formal classes across ten week
terms with paid professional lecturers to more casual meetings, gallery
visits and educational tours.
There is a really outstanding mood of cooperation and ready understanding
between the different groups. They appreciate the similarities and,
in particular, the differences between each organisation. [6]
The Committee was impressed by the enthusiasm and commitment of the volunteers,
and heard repeatedly of the benefits enjoyed both by participants and
the community more broadly.
I have been a student and a tutor and now I am responsible for
running the School for Seniors. I know from day-to-day experience what
this can do for large numbers of the community from all walks of life,their
economic status and so forth. For example, we had enrolments last week
and we started this term yesterday, and I was greeted by a 90 year
old saying how great it was to be back. It is part of their life, part
of their routine. It is a fixed point and they look forward to it, and
holidays are their worst fears. So I think it is a unique sector. The
second point I would make is, of course, that it is one which is going
to grow tremendously in size in the coming decades. [7]
Third age learning groups were keen to emphasise the self reliance and
volunteer spirit which they saw as a fundamental feature of their learning
enterprise. However, the expansion of both numbers and interests has made
it difficult to find adequate and appropriate meeting spaces and class
rooms.
As noted in Come in Cinderella, the issue of access to school
and TAFE facilities by bona fide non-profit community adult education
organisations remains unresolved in many areas. With the increased devolution
of management and responsibility away from central bureaucracies, individual
schools and colleges are increasingly likely to negotiate at the local
level with groups seeking access to facilities. However, the need for
schools to raise funds for their own purposes is likely to militate against
arrangements which do not return a profit to the school concerned.
There have been many instances in which schools and TAFE institutions
have made some facilities available for use by U3As, but this has seldom
been free use and has been granted through goodwill on the part of the
Principals of the institutions concerned, not as a consequence of any
State of Territory government policy. A more recent [Victorian] government
inquiry has commented on this matter of access to educational facilities
but has chosen to concentrate only on access to the intellectual resources
they hold, such as their libraries. [8]
| The Committee RECOMMENDS that the Commonwealth urge State
and Territory education authorities to develop guidelines for the
accessible and affordable use of public education facilities by bona
fide, non-profit ACE providers. |
One of the major problems highlighted by the Caulfield U3A group was
the difficulty in coping with the scale of administration required, especially
within an entirely volunteer model of operation. Such a situation reinforces
the comments of the Committee elsewhere about the importance of State
governments assisting community-based ACE providers in the development
of their infrastructure.
While the bulk of the U3A-type organisations manage extremely well with
their volunteer administrators, several of the larger groups saw professional
development for coordinators and tutors as a corollary of their increasingly
sophisticated operations.
Adult education and the wellbeing of older people
The much-lauded personal and social benefits of participation in ACE
have particular significance for older people. Witnesses from third age
learning groups consistently referred to the relationship between their
involvement in such programs and the maintenance of their physical and
psychological wellbeing. Their desire to remain vigorous and their steadfast
refusal to slip quietly into post-retirement inactivity is perhaps best
expressed by Tennyson in Ulysses' words:
How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnish'd, not to shine in use!
Ulysses, that intrepid voyager through life, also spoke of `this gray
spirit yearning in desire to follow knowledge like a sinking star'. Older
Australians clearly share that yearning.
While common sense would assert the benefits of remaining physically
and mentally active in one's old age, such benefits are being confirmed
by a number of studies. The Committee had its attention drawn to research
which is demonstrating some intriguing links between intellectual challenge
and good health. This is good news for those entering their `third age'
with both the experience of, and desire for, continuing education.
Recent studies reported in the British Medical Journal indicate
that adult education and mental activity may help in the development
of coping skills and problem solving, which in turn may help to offset
cognitive deterioration through ageing, and to delay the clinical symptoms
associated with diseases such as Alzheimer's. [9]
Given the `well-founded hypothesis that continued active engagement in
mentally stimulating learning has preventive efficacy in relation to a
range of physical and psychological health conditions' [10]
it is simply good practice for government to apply resources towards exploring
the matter further. The Committee notes that, in National Goals, Targets
and Strategies for Better Health Outcomes Into the Next Century [11]
governments have committed themselves to `strengthen[ing] at the Commonwealth
and State/Territory levels intersectoral action to promote healthy public
policy and environments'. The document includes a specific goal of `increased
participation in regular physical activity'. The Committee strongly advocates
the inclusion of a similar goal specifying `increased participation in
regular learning activity'.
In pursuing such a goal, attention must be paid both to learning as its
own reward (mental stimulation and enjoyment) and to learning of the practical
kind that enables older people to enjoy greater control over their health,
financial affairs and general wellbeing. The achievement of such goals
must be underpinned by research which guides and validates the particular
strategies chosen by government to meet those goals. Such research could
be linked to the Longitudinal Study of Women's Health initiated by the
previous Commonwealth government.
| The Committee RECOMMENDS that the Commonwealth government
establish a dedicated research program to examine the relationship
between intellectual activity and good health, and the ways in which
that relationship might be enhanced. |
The Committee is concerned that older people who have not enjoyed
adequate education at school may also lose out on benefits arising from
third age educational opportunities. Such groups of older citizens, including
those with limited English language skills, those who are poor, and who
lack access to community information, will again be disenfranchised unless
there is proper targeting to encourage their participation. The Committee
considers that the perpetuation of existing patterns of disadvantage into
the third age must be prevented.
Governments have an obligation to assist older Australians which can
be met, at least in part, through facilitating their engagement in adult
and community education. This requires, amongst other things, the provision
of adequate infrastructure to support the proven capacity of old people
to devise and run a diverse array of activities and programs geared to
sustaining intellectual and social activity.
Besides the expected large cohort of baby boomer retirees early in the
next century, there already exist significant clusters of older people
in nursing homes, retirement villages and other community settings. ACE
providers, with government support, should be exploring ways of conducting
outreach programs to meet the needs of these people. Information technologies
might have significant potential here.
At the same time, the groundwork should be laid for helping people to
learn about the transition phase into the third age period of their lives.
Some pre-retirement education is carried out in various settings around
the country, but this is often directed at people in employment facing
retirement or redundancy, or at people wanting to plan investments arising
out of superannuation. This leaves large sections of our ageing population
still likely to miss out on such preparation.
The Committee RECOMMENDS that the Commonwealth government:
- commission a report on best practice in (a) the provision of
pre-retirement education, and (b) in adult education programs
targeting older Australians living in institutional or retirement
village settings;
- draw together a coalition of peak senior citizens groups and
adult education organisations to advise on matters relating to
third age education;
- establish a steering group drawn from relevant Government departments
to develop and implement a nationwide promotional campaign on
the benefits of participation by older people in adult education.
|
There are substantial cost-benefits for governments when older people
remain intellectually stimulated and actively engaged with their community.
For example:
- A 1981 UK report referred to in Come in Cinderella concluded
that if fifty percent of people retiring attended adult education
activities, and were thereby kept active enough to postpone their
need for institutionalised accommodation by just one week,
the savings (in 1981 prices) would be 360 million pounds per year.
[12]
- In NSW, it currently costs $47,000 to keep one person in a nursing
home for one year, while to care for a recuperating person in hospital
costs approximately $10,000 per month. [13]
A particular centre for seniors, utilised by approximately 20,000
attendees over the last 2 years, has estimated it will need approximately
$30,000 per year to maintain services. This seems a small investment
for a large return in terms of potential savings should the involvement
of older people in activities at such a centre postpone by one week
(to follow the UK example cited above) their admission to a
nursing home.
- In America, the cost of caring for older people with dementia is
over 100 billion dollars, and if the onset of symptoms could
be delayed by five years, the number of dementia patients would be
halved. The report argues that:
- the discovery of activities that delay the onset of dementia
would likely have the same consequences as the discovery that
diet and exercise delayed the onset of cardiovascular disease
in older individuals... [14]
- On the basis of public savings alone, the Commonwealth should support
initiatives geared to a healthy third age for its citizens. As the
Committee has repeatedly emphasised, a key aspect of this support
is the provision of infrastructure for U3A-type activity.
The year 1999 has been declared by the UN to be International Year of
Older People. The Committee considers that this occasion should provide
an incentive for government action to support and celebrate older Australians.
The Commonwealth government should promote the third age as an `age of
living and learning', and work with U3A organisations in a major push
to enhance third age participation in education.
| The Committee RECOMMENDS that the Commonwealth adopt `learning
and living in the third age' as its theme for the 1999 International
Year of Older People. |
Footnotes
[1] Department of Employment, Education
and Training. Australia's Workforce 2005: jobs in the future, AGPS,
November 1995
[2] Submission no 55, vol 4, p 118 (Dr Hurworth)
[3] Transcript of evidence, Perth, 8
August 1996, p 147 (Mrs Kirwan)
[4] Submission no 55, vol 4, p 118 (Dr Hurworth)
[5] Submission no 42, vol 3, p 157 (University
of the Third Age, Vic)
[6] Transcript of evidence, Perth, 8
August 1996, p 148 (Mrs Kirwan)
[7] Transcript of evidence, Perth, 8
August 1996, p 151 (Mr Whitaker)
[8] Submission no 21, vol 3, p 17 (U3A Network,
Vic)
[9] Submission no 29, vol 3, p 64 (Dr Swindell,
Griffith University)
[10] AAACE. Lifelong Learning: The Third
Age, 1995, ANTA, 1995, p iv
[11] Department of Human Services and Health.
Better Health Outcomes for Australians, Canberra, 1994
[12] Quoted in Senate Employment, Education
and Training Committee report Come in Cinderella: the emergence of
adult and community education, November 1991, p 80
[13] Submission no 44, vol 3, p 178 (Consultative
Committee on the Ageing, NSW)
[14] Submission no 29, vol 3, p 64 (Dr Swindell,
Griffith University)