One view given at the Friends of Adult Education meeting

June Hazzlewood's comments at the recent meeting:

"Lifelong learning may be defined as any formal, informal, non-formal,
serendipitous or incidental learning, which occurs over the increasingly
longer lifespan at any place, time or pace for any reason.
Learning in retirement, learning in later life, adult learning, learning
in the third age of active retirement and variations on the lifelong
learning theme are the concern of adult community educators, but what is
different from learning in any other cohort? Is it the what, the why,
the how, the when or the where? And does it matter?
Third age learners use positive words and phrases such as challenging,
enjoyable, indulgent and a sense of achievement. All value the journey
more highly than the award at graduation and in fact some do not mention
their achievements to any outside their immediate circle of family and
friends. The consensus view of many researchers is that there are a
variety of ways in which seniors can continue to work and continue to
learn in the final years of their careers and into their retirement.
There are many ACE places – ACE stands for Adult Community Education but
there are not many which are able to respond to otherwise unmet needs
and offer the breadth and depth of training that capital A capital E
Adult Education does. Adult Education together with its complementary
program School for Seniors, Launceston's U3A, in their self contained
venues can and do provide the what, the why, the how, the when and the
where adults require to lead fulfilling lives both before and after
retirement. And yes - it does matter."