Adult educators are people with specialised knowledge, skills or interests in specific fields and who have the desire to convey their knowledge to other adults.
Adult basic education and training (Abet), is when adults attend literacy classes and study part-time or full-time to improve their qualifications.
These courses are offered by many institutes, community centres, universities and Further Education and Training (Fet) colleges.
The instruction provided by these teachers can be divided into three principle categories.
- Adult basic education (ABE) which is geared toward adults whose skills are either at, or below, eighth-grade level.
- Adult secondary education (ASE) which is geared towards students who wish to obtain their school certificates.
- English literacy provides instruction for adults with limited proficiency in English.
Some satisfying aspects of this career is seeing people become more independent and enriched and also the feeling of doing something worthwhile and useful.
If this career is something that you would want to do for a living, you need to have good communication skills and teaching ability, expertise in the specific field of teaching, empathy, patience and the ability to work with a variety of cultures and languages.
Having a matric is recommended for basic adult education.
English and any other official language is compulsory to have.
Employment options are universities and colleges, training departments of large corporations, job-training centres, trade unions, community organisations and recreation centres, institutions established for adult education and self-employment where you can give classes either at your home or somewhere else of your choosing.