Making a Living: Making a Life- the role of community education for skills development and social inclusion. AONTAS Community Education Conference Thursday, 17th November 2011, Radisson Blu Hotel, Golden Lane, Dublin 8.
The conference will focus on the key role of community education in responding to the current challenges, and demonstrating why it is vital that this sector of the education system should be supported and strengthened.
The conference will be opened by the Minister for Training and Skills, Ciaran Cannon, TD.
Click here for further information and the conference brochure
Places are limited therefore we encourage you to book online www.aontas.com by October 28 2011.
Our ultimate goal is to use our collective brainpower, dialogue and imagination to contribute to the development of a strategy for the structural development of the community education sector; and to ensure that it becomes an integral and key part of the education system through a lifelong learning approach.
To assist us in this regard we have invited internationally renowned speakers including Professor John Field, Professor of Lifelong Learning at the University of Stirling, Britten Manssen-Wallin, Secretary General of the Swedish National Council for Adult Education and Senator Katherine Zappone, a renowned scholar and co-founder of An Cosan, a prominent community organisation dedicated to eradicating poverty through education.

The fourth annual nationwide Adult Learners’ Festival will take place from February 22nd to February 26th 2010.
AONTAS would like you to get involved…
AONTAS believes that all adults in Ireland should have equal access to learning opportunities.We believe that adult learning has a hugely important role to play in the economic and social future of Ireland.We know that adult learners and adult learning centres do vital work on a daily basis.
The Adult Learners’ Festival is about
* Celebrating adult learning and the achievements of adult learners
* Showcasing the work of adult education providers
* Promoting the work of AONTAS and the adult education sector
* Ensuring that adult education is placed firmly on the political agenda
We hope to showcase this work through the Adult Learners’ Festival, but we need your help…..If your organisation would like to become involved in the 2010 festival, please contact AONTAS on 01-4068220 or E-mail: mail@aontas.com

AONTAS invites libraries around the country to promote adult learning through the Adult Learners Festival 2010. The Festival runs nationwide next year for the fourth time, from February 22nd to February 26th. Events run during the week by a variety of groups involved in adult learning will contribute to a nationwide campaign designed to promote the value and benefits of learning as an adult.

Libraries are now an essential part of community infrastructure – providing up to date information and social contact for people recently made unemployed, facilitating research opportunities on everything from genealogy to Spanish lessons, as well as stocking the latest bestsellers. AONTAS recognises the huge role that libraries play as learning sites, and wants to gain recognition for that role through the participation of the libraries in next year’s Adult Learners’ Festival.

Last year, over 250 events took place around the country. Events locally and nationally were featured in local, regional and national media. A number of libraries hosted events over the week, with local libraries buzzing with the energy of people learning something new. Some of the libraries organised their monthly bookclubs to coincide with the Festival, while others hosted information mornings in conjunction with their Local VEC or organised taster courses in email and internet for older people.

If your library would like to get involved, AONTAS can help you to promote your events locally. AONTAS will provide you with:

• An Event Bag – all you need to organise your event, from posters and balloons to other goodies;
• A sample press release – which you can use to promote your event in local media;
• A toolkit of Ideas – of events that you can organise – simply by planning your existing calendar around the Festival, you can be part of the Festival. In addition AONTAS can advise you how you might collaborate with other local organisations if you want to organise a bigger event;
• Event promotion through our special Festival website www.adultlearnersfestival.com which will act as a unique information portal for people wanting to attend events.

AONTAS wants the festival to be a useful and relevant to organisations taking part. No event is too big or too small for inclusion. Here are a couple of suggestions as to what could take place in your library during the Festival:

• Encourage meetings of groups that use your facilities (eg bookclubs);
• ‘What’s in your local library’? Showcase the facilities and resources that libraries offer to the general public;
• Host a talk or workshop from another organisation. (AONTAS can help match you with another organisation in your area);
• Promote websites such as www.askaboutireland.com through internet access at your library;
• Organise a membership drive for your library, and promote the benefits of being a member!

You can also nominate your group for an adult learning STAR award. Full details are available from www.adultlearnersfestival.com. Nominations must be received by November 27th 2009. The awards ceremony will take place on February 22nd 2010.

For more ideas, contact AONTAS on 01 406 8220, or visit www.adultlearnersfestival.com.

AONTAS, the National Adult Learning Organisation, invites nominations for the 2010 STAR Awards for Adult Learning Projects. The awards which are now running for the fourth year, celebrate teamwork, and recognise the achievements of those involved in adult learning in a variety of settings around the country.
Nominations for the awards initiative can be submitted online through the website or by email and must be submitted to AONTAS by Friday November 27th. A sample nomination form is available online to assist people completing their nominations.
The awards ceremony takes place on Monday February 22 2010 at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham when the winners will be announced. The ceremony marks the official opening of the Adult Learners’ Festival 2010 – a week long event which aims to highlight the benefits of adult learning. This years’ Festival will promote the theme of collaboration between the main organisations responsible for the delivery of training and education for adults. The Festival will also promote a number of themes – including workplace learning, green learning, and community education, as well as highlighting the current policy challenges for the adult learning sector.
For further information contact: Niamh Farren, Communications Officer: 01 406 8220.

The national advertising campaign for the Adult Learners’ Festival (2-6 February) begins this weekend, using both radio and print media. It is important that libraries let AONTAS know as soon as they can about events that they are organising so that they can be added to the Festival website.
In addition to publicising your festival events on the website, in their E-bulletin and local and national press releases, AONTAS will provide all event organisers with an Event in a Bag.