Friends and patrons of Adult Learners' Week

Senator Ursula Stephens

Who are the funniest and most interesting people in your life?  When you really think about it, those people are the ones who are always trying new things or reading new things, and who want to tell you about what they've discovered.  Adult learning is about expanding your horizons. It might be work related, and then again, it might not!

It might be formal, structured learning, then again, it might be the learning that happens by chance.Live to learn and learn to live is my motto, because, the brain is one of the most vital parts of our body - and medical research shows that the old saying is very true - "use it or lose it!  So, in Adult Learners Week, get out there and give your brain cells a workout -there are so many events to choose from, there's sure to be something to inspire you.  Congratulations to all involved in making Adult Learners Week a wonderful success.

Senator Ursula Stephens, Labor Senator for New South Wales

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Pru Goward

To learn is to be human.  To keep learning is to have purpose.  It gives us a goal, something to strive for, something to be pleased by.  Adult Learners Week celebrates the importance for all of us of continuing to learn, whatever our age or status. Learning comes in many forms; what is important is being able to reflect upon the learning experience and know that is what we have done.

Ms Pru Goward,  Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner

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Jennifer Byrne

'It always strikes me as a tragic notion that learning ends at school or university. I'm fortunate enough to work in a learning job – journalism – and that always reminds you how much more there is to know. Refuse to vote for any politician who doesn't emphasise the importance of education, science and new technology. They are our highest priorities.

'I want to learn more languages, astronomy, history and archaeology… the course books always seem very alluring so even if I didn't start off with a subject in mind, I end up wanting to do all of them.

'I've been studying Spanish. Despite two courses so far, I wouldn't rank it as a 'new skill', but more a 'skill-in-development' I will be returning to more study this year!'

Jennifer Byrne, Presenter, 'Foreign Correspondent', ABC Television

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Elizabeth Chong

'I am constantly involved in informal adult learning and, as I learn, I give to others what I have learnt. One needs goals and challenges in order to stay really 'alive'. Routine is okay, but you can be deadly dull. Learning exercises the brain and imagination brings 'soul' to the person.

'Learning should be fun! It's surprising how much easier it is when you don't make heavy work of it. Don't pursue activities you really don't enjoy or have a real interest in. Follow your heart and your instincts.'

Elizabeth Chong, Author, Teacher of Chinese Cooking, Consultant and regular cooking segment presenter, 'Good Morning Australia', Channel Ten

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Mick Dodson

Most people who think their learning is over after they finish formal education are pretty boring people. I like to think I'm not boring.

I see learning as part of the ongoing pursuit of knowledge. I try to learn at least one thing now each day. Reading helps a lot. Learning just makes me feel better. It is part of the lifetime of personal development. I have been trying for years to learn Spanish.

Dr Michael (Mick) Dodson, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS)

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Nick Earls

Lifelong learning is important because stagnation is unhealthy. The brain needs stimulation - any brain, any age. It needs to be taken out and exercised. Treat it like a muscle - muscles stay strong and fit if they're used, and can atrophy if they aren't.

Sometimes learning is vocational, but I think we have to remember to be open to the prospect of learning new things even if our vocational needs are met (even if they were met long ago).

Having a brain that's trained to keep learning sees a person better prepared to stay connected with what's going on in the world and to engage with fresh ideas.

I work in an industry that's become a lot more organised in its approach to learning over the past decade or so, and I think that's a very good thing. You can become a writer at any time in life, and I think it's good that there are now a range of learning options available. It can take a long time to find your own path by instinct and trial and error. You still end up having to find your own way of doing things no matter how you learn, but there's now expertise to connect with to make that journey easier. And there's a big range - from undergraduate and postgraduate uni courses, to short courses at institutions, to workshops run by people like the Qld Writers Centre, to formal and informal mentoring.

I've now had nine books published, and I'm learning something new at the moment. I'm writing for TV for the first time - adapting my novel Bachelor Kisses into a telemovie series pilot - and obviously that needs some skills I don't yet have. The producer and I talked this through early on, and we decided the best way to do it was to line up a good script editor at the start and for her to take on a kind of mentoring role.

Since I've taken on that kind of role with a number of novelists, it's interesting being in the other position - being the person with the questions, the person going "OEAh ha ..". when some knew piece of knowledge suddenly falls into place.

I need to learn some new things about storytelling - I need to learn more about telling a story in pictures on a screen, rather than making a novelist's choices of what to put on a page. There are times when one image can replace thirty seconds of talk, and I need to develop the ability to see that image.

I also need to learn about structure. There are no ad breaks in novels, and there are quite a few in a telemovie for commercial TV. They have structural implications, but they present a challenge that you can turn into a positive I you're prepared to.

Fortunately, I think I've got a really good person to teach me, and the learning occurs in the midst of a healthy debate about story and characters and every facet of the job we're doing.

In terms of lifelong learning Australia is doing quite a few things right already, but we always have to make sure we're doing more than simply talking the talk.

We need to foster our ideas locally and franchise them globally. That can apply across the spectrum, from people who write novels, to biotechnology, to design and more.

We need to value the experience, expertise and contribution that can be made by people who have retired from full-time paid employment.

We need to present people with opportunites to extend and develop their skills and interests.

We need to use the freedom we have to speak openly in a more sophisticated way, and we need to remember to listen and to think as well. We need to move beyond the slogans that often characterise and spoil political debate, and to open our minds to a fair consideration of the details.

We need to remember to be compassionate.

For me, Adult Learners' Week highlights the importance of ongoing learning as a healthy and important part of life, whatever age we are.

Nick Earls, Author

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Anton Enus

I believe that there are two reasons to pursue lifelong learning: 1) acquiring new skills unlocks one's creativity and stimulates brain power, and 2) we often don't realise we have a particular skill, until tuition or coaching unlocks it..

'Australia needs to realise that investment in education at every level produces returns in every sector of society. I will never forget the joy I saw on the faces of older people in my former homeland of South Africa, as they acquired reading and writing skills.

'I wish I had the time to commit to learning an additional language. I really admire people who take on this challenge successfully, especially later in life.

'As I've discovered from 15 years in broadcasting and an eternity in life, one never stops discovering new elements to one's craft and skills. Doesn't it make perfect sense to seek profession assistance to speed up and maximise that process?'

Anton Enus, Presenter, 'SBS News', SBS Television

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Wayne Goss

Lifelong learning is so much fun. You get more our of life because you understand more about life but importantly you end up understanding a lot more about yourself.

Australia's goal to become a clever country is a worthwhile one, both in economic and social terms. We have to continue to invest in education, but importantly we have to understand as a community that people are increasingly going to have careers that have not been invented yet and people are going to require the capacity to be flexible and change to new careers.

After completing a law degree, practicing as a lawyer and spending some years in Parliament, I went off to University at the grand old age of 46 to do my MBA. It was interesting to do the course to look back on what I had been doing and to help plan what I might do in the future.

I have recently completed a photography course and am about to set up a dark room to develop my own black and white photographs. I might try to learn more about information technology or something completely different like cooking.

My message to anybody thinking about Adult Learning is - GO FOR IT!

Wayne Goss, Former Premier of Queensland and now Managing Partner of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu

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Jackie Huggins AM

The world is full of wonderful things to learn about and by doing this, we also learn much of ourselves and the lives of others. It also helps break down prejudices and stereotypes. Australia needs to acknowledge its past to move on with the future.

Working in education is a constant reminder that there is still a lot to learn. I personally would like to become more proficient in information technology, once I overcome my fear of it.

In my work at the University of Queensland I assist school leavers and mature age students to realise their potential through University education. It gives me so much pleasure when students graduate, get great jobs and look back on their experience with satisfaction.

Believe in yourself because in the end, you are your own destination.

Jackie Huggins AM, Author and Deputy Director, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Studies Unit, University of Queensland

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Rupert McCall

Lifelong learning is important because you get to a point in your life where certain challenges stop finding their way into your agenda and you actually have to get out there and find them yourself. If not, you tend to go a bit stale to the point of feeling depressed. Learning new things is the perfect way to stay fresh. It's never too late to wake up tomorrow and strive to learn something new.

I have just enrolled in a course to learn to play the guitar and I am also interested in doing some acting lessons.

I think it's important we, as Australians, continue to realise that our greatest attribute is an identity so very unique. Let's always be positive. Let's look into our own backyard and improve it. Let's look to the rest of the world not to condemn or imitate, but to learn and take a step forward.

Rupert McCall, Television Presenter

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Julie McCrossin

'My mother and I have gone along to short courses together and really enjoyed it. It gives us new things to talk about!'

Julie McCrossin, Presenter, 'Life Matters' ABC Radio National

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David Stratton

'Teaching film history at the Centre for Continuing Education (in Sydney and in Canberra) is the most rewarding thing I do. As someone who came late to teaching Adult classes, I find Adult Education the most stimulating experience of my life.

'Lifelong learning is important as the excitement of new discoveries provides constant stimulation. I believe that to become a clever country, Australia needs to have a government that doesn't tax books and that realises the overwhelming importance of education.'

David Stratton, film critic, lecturer and co-presenter, 'The Movie Show', SBS Television.

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Rosemary Stanton

'In the past couple of years, I have continued to learn more about native plants and spend at least four hours a day in keeping up to date on human nutrition. I have also mastered PowerPoint presentations. I would like to learn much more about Australian native plants and birds and also garden design. I am still wondering if I have time to do a correspondence course in garden design.

'As a child, I was expected to accept without question, whatever my parents believed. As an adult, I discovered the joy of questioning and finding new facts, new ideas and new ways of tackling problems.

'We need to take a more caring and compassionate approach to people and value society rather than attaching a monetary value to everything. We also need to support free education for all who want to learn, including migrants and older people. Resources put into good education are never wasted.'

Rosemary Stanton OAM, PhD, BSc, C.Nutr/Diet, Grad.Dip.Admin., APD, Nutritionist

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I was taken recently by a comment made about the world's second richest man, Warren Buffet, of the famed US investment company Berkshire Hathaway. Never mind his $60 billion fortune, his wife commented that 'all Warren needs to be happy is a book and a 60-watt bulb'.

This statement represents the essence of the relationship between learning and well being. To be happy one needs to be learning. Following our curiosity is one of life's greatest and most affordable pleasures.

Adult Learners' Week gives us an opportunity to reflect on where learning fits into our lives. Of course, we learn by osmosis in the great university of life but we also learn by design and effort. So my message to you is to take some time, do an audit of what your learning plan for the year is, and take action to make it happen.

Peter Thompson, Presenter, ABC Radio National Breakfast

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