Tasmanians who did not complete their TCE will have the opportunity to complete it under new provisions in a draft adult education strategy.
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The draft, which has been released by the Education Department for public comment, outlines new goals the government and department hope to achieve to improve access to education for adults.
The paper was released last month, and the public comment period coincides with Adult Learners Week, which runs this week between September 2-8.
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"Adult learning underpins the success of our lives as individuals and as a community: it supports the Tasmanian economy and it supports the health and well-being of our people," Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff wrote in the foreword to the strategy.
"We are no longer in a world where a person can finish school or gain a post-school qualification and expect that their need for learning has ended."
Goals set out for the strategy include expanding pre-apprenticeship programs and incentives for business to employ an apprentice over the age of 21, establishing an adult learning fund for job seekers to access subsided training, establishing an online adult education portal to consolidate learning and expanding TasTAFE and Libraries Tasmania's digital literacy volunteers programs.
These goals are only phase one of the adult learners strategy, which aims to provide a holistic approach to adult education over three main goals.
Adult education is becoming an increasing cohort of learners, with 19 per cent of University of Tasmania students over the age of 35, and 40 per cent over 25.
Almost 70 per cent of government-funded vocational education and training (VET) learners are over 25 and about 72 per cent are employed at the same time as studying to acquire new qualifications.
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Digital literacy forms a big part of the strategy, with the paper demonstrating the growing digital divide between Tasmanians and their mainland cohorts.
"There is a growing digital divide between Tasmania and the rest of Australia, with Tasmania having the second-lowest digital inclusion index level of all states and territories, although it has shown the most improvement of all states from 2014 to 2018," the strategy read.
Libraries Tasmania Elizabeth Jack said this week the library and public schools were celebrating national eSmart Week, which focuses on the safe and responsible use of technology for learning and communication.
"We not only connect people to the internet and their community whether it be local, national or global; but we do it in a way that helps them understand they need to connect in a responsible, 'eSmart' way," she said.
In the last 12 months, Libraries Tasmania's statewide visitors and members connected to our wi-fi 764,100 times, which equates to an average of 2,500 sessions per day.
"That means a huge number of people are using our free service to connect online; and we want to do all we can to make sure those people are connecting safely, which is why we offer courses, guidance and support in safe internet use," Ms Jack said.
National eSmart Week runs September 1-7.
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