Adult education lecturer : Job description

Adult education lecturers or tutors teach a very wide range of subjects and skills ranging from art appreciation to languages and IT skills and, increasingly, Skills For Life/Skills for Business (see Skills for Life ). It is difficult to define ‘adult education’ precisely, either in terms of who is being taught or where the teaching takes place, but typically the learners are over-18-year-olds who choose to study part time. Adult education lecturers frequently work on part-time contracts, often for several employers.

Employers include local adult community colleges, outreach centres, further education colleges, universities, and independent providers such as residential colleges and charitable organisations.

Typical work activities

The strongest defining feature of this work is its variety. Apart from teaching, administrative tasks are almost always a significant part of the work, though this varies from post to post. The amount of preparation and assessment activities required also depends on the responsibilities included in specific roles, but tasks typically include:

• designing courses appropriate to the learner group;
• identifying the needs of learners and adapting teaching methods accordingly;
• researching and developing new courses to fit with the programmes or curriculum requirements of, for example, community education projects, employer requests and local education authorities;
• preparing session or lesson plans appropriate to the size and type of learner group;
• developing and preparing appropriate learning materials;
• teaching groups through lectures, lessons, workshops and exercises to suit the size and learning needs of the group;
• accompanying students on field trips and educational visits and preparing risk assessments;
• evaluating the outcomes of individuals’ learning through formal assessment or informal methods and ensuring constructive feedback is given;
• helping individual learners with any difficulties they encounter with their studies;
• talking to learners about what further learning they might progress to after their current studies;
• promoting adult education initiatives within the target groups, e.g., at open days or through talks to community groups;
• talking to prospective learners about course choice and what will be involved;
• helping learners become more confident and self aware;
• preparing information for inspection visits and other quality assurance exercises;
• monitoring the effectiveness of, and the demand for, a course in order to predict future developments and changes;
• collecting information and course fees from students;
• managing a small budget for stationery, special materials, visits, etc.;
• liaising with administrative staff about room bookings, ordering equipment and enrolling learners;
• keeping up to date with relevant subject area(s) through further training and/or appropriate reading and private study;
• liaising with a range of providers to develop appropriate education provision.