Some people say that life begins at 40. St. Albert Further Education is hoping to celebrate its 40th anniversary as a strong opportunity to reflect on its successes while looking for other ways to make adult learning better in our community.
“We are mandated by the Government of Alberta to provide learning opportunities on essential skills for employability, adult literacy, language learning, pathways to higher learning and lifelong learning,” explained Further Ed’s executive director Crystal Krips. “This is accomplished by ourselves or through partnerships with various community agencies. We value these partnerships and would like to explore what else is needed in our community. What better time to do so than our 40th anniversary?”
She added that those learning opportunities include not only lifelong learning but also things like employability skills and English language learning.
“We’re really trying to move in that direction. We’re trying to figure out what’s needed out there. St. Albert has sort of fallen under this idea that it’s an affluent community so people think we don’t need Further Education. Everybody has a college degree and makes $100,000 a year. I don’t think that’s really the case. There’s other people out there that we’re not reaching. We want to find out what is needed in St. Albert.”
The organization is setting up to host a celebration and community dialogue called Building the Trail to Adult Learning. Its partners, tutors and learners have been invited to participate in the event that will feature a luncheon featuring keynote speeches by MLA Stephen Khan and city councillor Tim Osborne, as well as speakers from Alberta Innovation and Advanced Education, as well as Norquest College.
Those will be followed by a working session where everyone involved can discuss the good, the bad and possible areas where new education programs or new partnerships need to be developed. A facilitator will lead the conversation about adult learning in the city along with invested community groups including Stop Abuse in Families, the St. Albert Food Bank, representatives from the city itself and other government organizations.
“We’re going into our 40th year so we just want to see where we’re at in St. Albert right now in terms of adult education, what is out there right now, where are the gaps and how can we try and fill those gaps, not just ourselves but as partners with the rest of the community. I think we’re doing pretty good actually.”
“Sometimes we might think that we know what’s out there but maybe there’s something out there that we don’t really know about and maybe we should be looking at that market.”
St. Albert Further Education is best known for putting out its course calendar three times a year. The catalogue features courses offered by 70 partner groups, all ranging from personal development to arts and culture to physical education and sports.
“That’s only a portion of what we do.”
Stakeholders who are interested in attending the event must pre-register by calling the Further Ed office at 780-460-2207 or via email at [email protected]. Attendance is free.
Krips added that anyone from the community who wants to help shape the future of adult education in St. Albert could attend also.
Building the Trail to Adult Learning takes place on Tuesday, March 11 from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. It will be held at the St. Albert Curling Club, 3 Taché Street.
To learn more about Further Ed, visit www.stalbertfurthered.com.
