Career Change – The Role of Adult Education
If you are contemplating career change, chances are you will have some involvement with adult education, whether it’s taking a short course to expand your current skills or studying to gain a qualification in a new field. However, many adults are concerned about going back to school because they had bad experiences the first time round.
Adult education has progressed rapidly with advances in technology and so there are many different ways in which adults can gain additional skills. It is possible to attend a college either full-time or part-time, to complete an entire course by distance learning or to reach your goal using a combination of both methods. Computer assisted learning has made it possible for students to undertake a wide range of tasks independently as well as in a classroom with a teacher present.
Technology and increased understanding of how students learn has made it possible for students to learn in their own preferred styles. So if you struggled with traditional book-based learning, you might find the use of audio and video makes it much easier to understand new material.
Most colleges provide learning support , in fact they are expected to do so in order to
ensure widening participation of students from all areas of society.
If you left school early and didn’t go to college, you may feel your childhood education didn’t give you a good enough grasp of English and maths. However, there are opportunities to learn basic skills and IT skills which will enable you to move into many fields of employment.. And don’t feel bad about it! Employers often say that even graduates aren’t up to scratch in communications skills.
Or perhaps you want to take a vocational course or learn a technical skill, so that you can become competent in a practical skill which is in demand in the workplace.
Studying at all levels is much more accessible to all adults nowadays, but it’s only one aspect of career change
© Waller Jamison 2008