Adult Education

Ms DIGANCE (Elder) (14:38): My question is to the Minister for Higher Education and Skills. How is the government assisting adults re-engage with education to develop the foundation skills necessary to participate in our transiting economy?

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Minister for Education and Child Development, Minister for Higher Education and Skills) (14:38): It is an excellent question to ask because, as all members in this house would be well aware, as we transition to an economy that has much greater demand for skilled workers and much greater demand for entrepreneurial leaders to create new products and to employ people in different jobs than previously, we need to make every effort to leave no-one behind. Obviously, within the school system that requires us to get more and more young people to finish school with a Certificate of Education and to be able to embrace lifelong learning.

I am not sure if members are aware, but South Australia is the best in Australia of all the states—we are slightly beaten by the ACT if we add in all the jurisdictions—in the rate of completion of our SACE at high school, but there are many adults who have not had a quality education in their younger years for very many reasons. We must not leave out those adults who are struggling with literacy, numeracy and digital literacy from having the opportunity to embrace the new opportunities.

Recently, the Department of State Development undertook a very deep engagement over a six-week period with some 130 current and potential adult community education providers, participants and tutors. As a result of that, we have made a decision to invest more into the adult community education world; that is, we have announced $3.83 million over the next four years into that sector to provide more education to adults who do not have the confidence, the literacy, the numeracy and the digital competence to be able to go out and get new jobs.

Recently, we also had Adult Learners' Week, when we celebrate people who have re-embraced education at a later age. I would like to very briefly mention the Adult Learner of the Year, Tania McHendrie. I met with Tania recently, and I know that the Minister for Disabilities attended the evening when she was awarded the Adult Learner of the Year. Tania is an extraordinary young woman who has had a hard time in life but has chosen to re-engage in education. She went to Catherine House, where she was first able to stabilise herself and realise that the path back was not simply to conquer her demons, not simply to lead a healthy life, but also to embrace education.

She has a good brain; she had done well at school until she disengaged. If she had not taken the path to education, she would not be where she is now. She has gone on from her Catherine House experience to a foundation course at the University of South Australia and now to working at the University of South Australia. That is an extraordinary trajectory for a woman who might otherwise have never been a participant in our economy and our society.

We cannot afford to lose the intellectual capital that sits in those people, those individuals, those young people and those adults who are not currently engaged in education. It is cruel and heartless to leave them aside, and it robs the rest of us of their potential. So, yes, we need to focus on high school education and high school completion, but so too must we focus on the power of adult community education. It was my absolute privilege to be part of the decision to increase the dollars for those centres. I am proud of everyone who chooses to pick up their life, sign up for a course and decide that they want to be part of this new economy and this new society.