[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-592825-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":81,"doc-detail-592825-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","australian-journal-of-adult-learning-volume-60-number-1-april-2020-an-age-of-endarkenment-can-adult-education-still-make-a-difference","Australian Journal of Adult Learning - Volume 60 - Number 1 - April 2020 - An age of endarkenment? Can adult education still make a difference?","","Adult education in Australia is examined amid declining political support, public disenchantment, uncivil discourse, technological disruption, and environmental sustainability fears. The address argues that adult education can still matter by addressing varied learner needs, while confronting difficult contemporary conditions. It connects present challenges to lessons from Indigenous land acknowledgements and to post–World War I adult education history, highlighting citizenship, democratic health, and the role of community education organizations.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/australian-journal-of-adult-learning-volume-60-number-1-april-2020-an-age-of-endarkenment-can-adult-education-still-make-a-difference/592825/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/australian-journal-of-adult-learning-volume-60-number-1-april-2020-an-age-of-endarkenment-can-adult-education-still-make-a-difference/592825.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Marglet","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-30","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",10,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"Why does the address say adult education faces difficult times today?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"It points to declining support for adult education alongside growing political disenchantment, uncivil public discourse, technological disruption, and fears tied to environmental sustainability.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"What historical examples from 1919 are used to frame the argument?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"The address highlights the UK Ministry of Reconstruction’s Adult Education Committee report and the Weimar Republic’s constitutional inclusion of adult education through the Volkshochschulen.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"How does the address describe the purpose of adult education?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"It emphasizes adult education as supporting citizenship and the rights and duties within community, and as an activity indispensable to the health of democratic societies.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},592825,1792192725,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,96,101,106,111,115,120,123,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":97,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":102,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":103,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":105},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":107,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":108,"show_sort_weight":109,"slug":110},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":112,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":113,"slug":114},8,30,"research-report",{"id":116,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":117,"show_sort_weight":118,"slug":119},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":118,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":121,"show_sort_weight":118,"slug":122},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":55,"slug":125},"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":131},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":112,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145,"preview_page_count":4},2336477982702,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_9964176cb1d06d4a9deccf72a44ae3dc","Australian Journal of Adult Learning Volume 60, Number 1, April 2020  \nAn age of endarkenment?  \nCan adult education still make a difference?1  \nTony Brown University of Canberra  \nAdult education has the power to change lives, and in Australia has always been made up of educators and providers capable of adapting to the changing environments around them. Today, however, there is declining support for adult education at a time when there is growing public disenchantment with the political system, an uncivil public discourse, technological disruption and well-grounded fear for our environmental sustainability. This makes the challenge for adult education to meet the varying needs of adult learners more difficult. How might we think of adult education and learning for today’s challenging times?  \nTo begin I want to acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the Indigenous owners of the land where we meet and pay my respects. I learnt from listening to Welcomes to Country about personal connection to the land, about how integral the acknowledgement of forebears and country is to identity.Those who welcome acknowledge their past in order to locate themselves in the present.It is such an important lesson for allof us.  \n1 This paper is based on an address presented as the George Shipp Memorial Lecture WEA – Sydney in November 2019.  \nAn age ofendarkenment? Can adult education still make a difference? 9  \nI have been working in adult education for over 25 years now.I’ve worked in policy and administration in the public service; as the Director of Adult Learning Australia in an advocacy role; and then in two Universities teaching adult educators and researching in the broad field of adult learning. For a decade during that period I was also a Board member of my local Community College.I recently retired from full-time work but continue to write and do some casual teaching, but also, I am now a regular participant in short courses in areas including film making, photography, history, needlework, and travel writing.  \nI was asked to speak tonight about adult education today and to consider where it stands and whether it is positioned to continue to make adifference.To do so is to tella mixed story.  \nI want to say three things:  \n1. These are difficult times for adult education. But simultaneously there are inspiring examples of the power of community education – as there always have been in Australian adult education.  \n2. Is government policy, and our own thinking about what adult education is today, fit to meet the needs and challenges of our world?  \n3. And finally to consider the above in the context of some history.  \nLooking back  \nIn 2019, there were two significant centenary anniversaries that are important in the history of adult education.They both emerged in the aftermath of World War I and the need to rebuild societies devastated by war.  \na) In 1919 the UK Ministry of Reconstruction was given the task to report on what would be needed for Britain’s future.We face some crises today but the challenge confronting Britain then was immense. Yesterday’s 101st anniversary of the Armistice could have reminded us that in Britain 14 per cent of the entire population had been mobilised; 6 per cent of the population had been killed or wounded;  \n2.2 per cent of the population (mostly the young men of the land) had been killed.  \nThe Ministry of Reconstruction’s Adult Education Committee published its report titled The 1919 Report (UK Ministry of Reconstruction, 1919, see also Stanistreet, 1919, and Centenary  \n10 Tony Brown  \nCommission on Adult Education, 2020). It was hugely important. It lifted its gaze above the immediate to consider how education could contribute to ‘national life with a more durable foundation’. It could easily have adopted the view that skill development and physical infrastructure were the immediate and sole need.Yet it saw the goal of education as being ‘citizenship’– ‘the rights and duties of each i","cbCaivIAgOMvWmBV","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaivIAgOMvWmBV","pdf",122575,14,"English","# An age of endarkenment? Can adult education still make a difference?\n## Contemporary challenges for adult education\n## Looking back: 1919 reports and European democracy","[{\"question\":\"Why does the address say adult education faces difficult times today?\",\"answer\":\"It points to declining support for adult education alongside growing political disenchantment, uncivil public discourse, technological disruption, and fears tied to environmental sustainability.\"},{\"question\":\"What historical examples from 1919 are used to frame the argument?\",\"answer\":\"The address highlights the UK Ministry of Reconstruction’s Adult Education Committee report and the Weimar Republic’s constitutional inclusion of adult education through the Volkshochschulen.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the address describe the purpose of adult education?\",\"answer\":\"It emphasizes adult education as supporting citizenship and the rights and duties within community, and as an activity indispensable to the health of democratic societies.\"}]","Australian Journal of Adult Learning - Volume 60 - Number 1 - April 2020 - An age of endarkenment? Can adult education still make a difference? | PDF",1792075787,35]