As some of you may know, I have worked at a university before I made the transition to training and adult education. I’m often asked if, and how, the two sectors are different. Yes, is my answer, they are very different and often interestingly so.

In adult learning you’re bound to see a more diverse audience. While universities are working hard to become more diverse, the reality is still that they predominantly attract young people. People traditionally under-represented in academic circles (BIPOC, those with a working-class background, those with caring responsibilities, to name just a few) sadly remain under-represented despite many laudable efforts to change this. Adult learners, on the other hand, come from all walks of life and have a very wide range of needs and interests.

Adult learners also tend to be more outspoken. As an Associate Tutor, I often found it hard to guess whether my students found my seminar engaging. As a Learning & Development Coordinator I have no difficulty figuring out whether delegates enjoy the course I’ve organised for them. If they feel it’s a waste of time they’ll walk into my office to tell me. This can be intimidating but it can also rewarding. If I do organise training that is enjoyable and helps delegates to do their job safely (particularly important for the carers and engineers I support), the benefits are equally obvious.

I’ve also found that adult learning is more open to being bite-sized and interactive. Although I believe academia would do well to reconsider it’s three-hour-lecture habit, the old school model of a professor talking to hundreds of bored students is still all too popular. Adult learning is more prepared to consider other ways of learning because its practitioners know their audience will simply walk out on them if they don’t up their game. And with so many technological opportunities available to us it really seems a waste not to use them.

Even though academia is often seem as the holy grail of learning (particularly by academics) I have found the transition to adult learning very rewarding. Through the training I organise for accountants, cleaners, architects and carers I get to see the direct impact of my work out there in the real world. If I do a good job, that helps them to do better in their jobs, which are all challenging in their own ways.

Impact (though defined slightly differently) has been a buzzword in academia for many years and its practical incarnations have often been disappointing. Despite efforts to tear down its walls the proverbial Ivory Tower is still very much in place. My belief is that academia can learn much from adult learning in thinking about how it can cater for a diverse audience and see impact as a two-way conversation, rather than a PR-mechanism to help it look good in rankings. But I digress.

Would I ever return to academia? Perhaps, if the right opportunity came my way. But for now, I’m happy where I am. What really gets me exited is the feeling of being in a growing field, where creativity is welcomed, and where what I do has a direct impact on people’s lives. Is it challenging? Absolutely. But is it exiting? Definitely so.

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